Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Aladdin, Sinbad, the Little Mermaid, Tom Thumb, Thumbelina, the Frog-Prince, the Three Bears, the Three Little Pigs, and the Ugly Duckling.
Fairy tales are among the first stories most children hear. They are almost universal, originating from countries all over the world, passed down from generation to generation.
The have been collected by such famous names as The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault, and Andrew Lang. Many have been updated over the years, and others even adapted into films. All the editions in this compilation are as they were originally presented.
Over the years, many of them have changed. For example, Goldilocks never actually met the three bears. In some versions of Little Red Riding Hood, the hero dies, while in others, she lives happily ever after. We have endeavored to include those versions that are dramatically different in this volume, as well as those written in both verse and prose.
Most of you will discover that these are not the Disney versions of familiar stories, nor are they necessarily politically correct. These are the original versions, in their entirety, dating back to the 1600s, and some of the spellings, words, and concepts might seem a bit dated.
We feel that they are all tales worth telling, retelling, and passing on to future generations. We couldn't include all of them, and if your favorite is not in this book, perhaps it will appear in another volume. So, without further ado, we proudly present, the greatest fairy tales the world has ever told.
