Just about everyone is familiar with folk and fairy tales. Children learn about them from parents, teachers, and other adults, while researchers study these tales at colleges and universities. At the same time, folk and fairy tales are inseparable from everyday life and popular culture. Movies, music, art, and literature offer imaginative retellings and interpretations of fairy and folk tales. But despite the pervasiveness of this folklore type, most people have only a vague understanding of these tales. This reference is a convenient introduction to folk and fairy tales for students and...

Fairy lore concerns beliefs about elves, dwarfs, gnomes, trolls, mermaids, brownies, pixies, leprechauns, and many other beings found in world folklore. Written for students and general readers, this book is an introduction to fairy lore from around the world. The handbook defines and classifies types of fairies, provides numerous examples and texts, overviews scholarship, and discusses the role of fairies in art, film, and popular culture. It closes with a glossary and a bibliography of print and electronic resources.

Students of folklore and storytellers will find this new guide useful. Ashliman has followed the Aarne-Thompson classification system fairly closely in his geographical classification and his tale type headings. . . . Ashliman's main aim is to help readers find reliable texts of any given folktale, not only in its best-known version, but also in less familiar variants.' There are cross-references from one tale type to another, a complete listing of Grimm's 200 tales with type classifications as an appendix, and an index of best-known titles and key words from typical plots. "Choice"

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