These 18 stories from around the world, beautifully retold with attractive illustrations, all involve the power of magic. The Twelve Dancing Princesses from a French author tells the story of a King who kept his 12 daughters locked up at night. Yet every morning their dancing shoes are worn out and have to be replaced. The king promises that whoever can solve the mystery can marry one of his daughters, and the poor gardener Michel, helped by a fairy who makes him invisible, follows the princesses to an enchanted land where everyone is partying. His chosen bride rejects him at first, but when the fairy provides him with princely clothes, it all ends happily. The tale of Sigurd and Fafnir from Scandinavia is an old Norse legend about a magic ring and a dragon which finds its way into many European versions, including the works of Tolkien. The story of Cinderella is familiar from the version of the Brothers Grimm, but here we have a Chinese variation, where instead of a fairy godmother the orphan Ye-Tsien meets a magic fish. Her wicked stepmother kills the fish but Ye-Tsien finds that its bones will take her to magical places, including a Festival where Ye-Tsien loses her magic golden shoe. The familiar story ends with the fish's rather sinister reappearance. Snow White is one of the most famous tales from the Brothers Grimm, in which the young girl's kindheartedness makes her easy prey for the wicked Queen. The land of Wales gives us the strange story of the flower-woman Blodeuwedd who turns into an owl, and in the Russian story of The Doll and the Light we meet the celebrated witch Baba Yaga and her house standing on chickens' legs. 96pp, numerous colour illustrations.
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