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The Watkins Book of English Folktales

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The Watkins Book of English Folktales

By: Neil Philip, Neil Gaiman - foreword
Narrated by: Hannibal Hills
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With a foreword by Neil Gaiman, this comprehensive, entertaining, and authentic collection of English folktales is perfect for fans of Madeline Miller, Philip Pullman, and the Brothers Grimm.

This is a golden treasury of over one hundred English folktales captured in the form they were first collected in past centuries. Listen to these classic tales as they would have been told when storytelling was a living art—when the audience believed in boggarts and hobgoblins, local witches and will-o'-the-wisps, ghosts and giants, cunning foxes and royal frogs. Find "Jack the Giantkiller", "Tom Tit Tot", and other quintessentially English favorites, alongside interesting borrowings, such as an English version of the Grimms' "Little Snow White"—as well as bedtime frighteners, including "Captain Murderer", as told to Charles Dickens by his childhood nurse.

Neil Philip has provided a full introduction and source notes on each story that illustrate each tale's journey from mouth to book, and what has happened to them on the way. These tales rank among the finest English short stories of all time in their richness of metaphor and plot and their great verbal dash and daring.

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This collection of English Folktales is both interesting, informative and well read (don't be put off by the slightly over egged reading of the intro and authors notes, the narration settles down as the book goes on and Hannibal bring back memories of how I had some of the tales I knew delivered to me as a child, and tackles regional accents really well bringing the tales to life). This collection brings together some well know Folktales and many more that were new to me. The approach is scholarly with plenty of source references and explanation on variations. For anyone looking for an authoritative book on Folktales, look no further, sit back and enjoy.

Really Entertaining Collection of Folktales

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