THE
MAGIC LANDS
By Kevin Crossley-Holland
Orion - November 2001
ISBN 1842550519 - TPB
Juvenile / Teenage / Adult - British Folk Tales
Reviewed by Rachel
A Hyde, MyShelf.com
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This is a compendium of folktales from all parts of the British Isles
by acclaimed juvenile author Kevin Crossley-Holland (see my reviews of
his Arthur trilogy). A knowledgeable folklorist, he has managed to vary
the retellings in a novel way with some of them traditional but others
with a modern setting. There are delightful fool stories told at the expense
of various villages, the confused history of Dick Whittington (an old
folktale grafted on to the life of a real person) and a lot of Celtic
stories, particularly from Ireland. Find out about why Ophelia says, "the
owl was a baker's daughter" and read the shortest folktale of them
all! I particularly liked his choice of some lesser-known gems and unusual
versions of classics; for example the gypsy "Mossycoat", which
is better known as Cinderella, and "The Small-Tooth Dog", a
version of Beauty and the Beast from Derbyshire. Quite a few of these
stories were originally told in ballad form and some of them still are
in the book; they possess a power that a prose telling wouldn't have.
At the reverse of the book, there is quite a bit of information about
each tale which is fascinating reading whether you are a folklorist or
not, although an index of tale types and motifs would have increased its
interest to the more serious folklorist.
I am not sure what age
group this book is aimed at but I don't think it truly matters; folktales
were created to be told to people of all ages. The tales vary from being
funny to scary, romantic to tragic. I feel that there is something for
everybody. A good introduction for anybody who thinks that folktales are
for buffs only.
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