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hazelalaska 's review for:
The Green Fairy Book
by Andrew Lang
3.5 stars. It’s so difficult for mw to rate this as a whole because some stories are good and some are just okay. I also don’t assign ratings to the individual stories in the traditional sense.
I finally finished this one after it’s been languishing on my currently reading shelf for over a year. I put it down because I wasn’t feeling it at that time and the story I was on was long and one that I wasn’t enjoying.
Many of these stories contain fairies, and I have to say that the fairies, although they are supposed to be helping, usually seem more like they are meddling and sometimes make things worse, not better. I also didn’t always agree with the punishments given, as sometimes at the end of the stories innocent people were killed when they did nothing wrong. It was kind of hard to deal with the stupidity of the characters sometimes, especially when they were told explicitly what to do or what not to do but they did the opposite instead.
I did enjoy getting to read unfamiliar tales yet being able to find familiar tropes within them. A few reminded me of Cinderella and one reminded me of East of the Sun and West of the Moon from the Blue Fairy Book, which is one of my favorites. I also enjoyed finding new tales that I might want to use as material for my own writing someday, even if I didn’t necessarily like the story and it was more of me thinking of what I would change.
Favorites:
The Blue Bird-This one is probably my favorite of the stories in this book.
King Kojata
Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida
Good:
The Story of Caliph Stork
Sylvain and Jocosa
Fairy Gifts
Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla
The Little Soldier
The Dirty Shepherdess
The Enchanted Snake
The Biter Bit
Prince Fickle and Fair Helena
The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs
Little One-Eye, Little Two-Eyes, and Little Three-Eyes
Jorinde and Joringel
The Twelve Huntsmen
Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle
The Story of a Clever Tailor
The Golden Mermaid
The War of the Wold and the Fox
The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife
Okay:
The Half Chick
Rosanella
Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine
The Three Little Pigs
The Enchanted Ring
The Snuff-Box
The Golden Blackbird
The Magic Swan
Puddocky
The Story of the Three Bears
Allerleirauh; or, The Many-Furred Creature
The Crystal Coffin
The Three Snake-Leaves
The Golden Lads
The White Snake
The Three Musicians
The Three Dogs
Didn't like:
The Enchanted Watch
Heart of Ice-This is the story I was reading when I put the book down, and even on a second read it was long and uninteresting so I think it’s probably my least favorite of all the stories in this book.
The Riddle
Jack My Hedgehog
I finally finished this one after it’s been languishing on my currently reading shelf for over a year. I put it down because I wasn’t feeling it at that time and the story I was on was long and one that I wasn’t enjoying.
Many of these stories contain fairies, and I have to say that the fairies, although they are supposed to be helping, usually seem more like they are meddling and sometimes make things worse, not better. I also didn’t always agree with the punishments given, as sometimes at the end of the stories innocent people were killed when they did nothing wrong. It was kind of hard to deal with the stupidity of the characters sometimes, especially when they were told explicitly what to do or what not to do but they did the opposite instead.
I did enjoy getting to read unfamiliar tales yet being able to find familiar tropes within them. A few reminded me of Cinderella and one reminded me of East of the Sun and West of the Moon from the Blue Fairy Book, which is one of my favorites. I also enjoyed finding new tales that I might want to use as material for my own writing someday, even if I didn’t necessarily like the story and it was more of me thinking of what I would change.
Favorites:
The Blue Bird-This one is probably my favorite of the stories in this book.
King Kojata
Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida
Good:
The Story of Caliph Stork
Sylvain and Jocosa
Fairy Gifts
Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla
The Little Soldier
The Dirty Shepherdess
The Enchanted Snake
The Biter Bit
Prince Fickle and Fair Helena
The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs
Little One-Eye, Little Two-Eyes, and Little Three-Eyes
Jorinde and Joringel
The Twelve Huntsmen
Spindle, Shuttle, and Needle
The Story of a Clever Tailor
The Golden Mermaid
The War of the Wold and the Fox
The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife
Okay:
The Half Chick
Rosanella
Prince Featherhead and the Princess Celandine
The Three Little Pigs
The Enchanted Ring
The Snuff-Box
The Golden Blackbird
The Magic Swan
Puddocky
The Story of the Three Bears
Allerleirauh; or, The Many-Furred Creature
The Crystal Coffin
The Three Snake-Leaves
The Golden Lads
The White Snake
The Three Musicians
The Three Dogs
Didn't like:
The Enchanted Watch
Heart of Ice-This is the story I was reading when I put the book down, and even on a second read it was long and uninteresting so I think it’s probably my least favorite of all the stories in this book.
The Riddle
Jack My Hedgehog