In one of the most startling literary discoveries of recent years, Jack Zipes has uncovered this neglected treasure trove of Sicilian folk and fairy tales. Like the Grimm brothers before her, Laura Gonzenbach, a talented Swiss-German born in Sicily, set out to gather up the tales told and retold among the peasants. Gonzenbach collected wonderful stories - some on subjects that readers will know from the Grimms or Perrault, some entirely new - and published them in German. Her early death and the destruction of her papers in the Messina earthquake of 1908 only add to the mystery behind her achievement. Beautiful Angiola is an instant classic: a nineteenth-century collection of stories in the great tradition of fairy and folk tales now translated into English for the first time. Gonzenbach delights us with heroines and princes, sorcery and surprise, the deeds of the brave and the treacherous, and the magic of the true storyteller. The Green Bird , The Humiliated Princess , sorfarina , The Magic Cane, the Golden Donkey, and the Little Stick that Hits are titles destine to become new favourites for readers everywhere. Yet while the stories enchant us, the wry taglines with which they often end ('And so they remained rich and consoled, while we keep sitting here and are getting old') gently bring us back to earth.

Collected by Laura Gonzenbach, this anthology of Sicilian folk and fairy tales is now translated into English for the first time.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, attitudes toward history and national identity fostered a romantic rediscovery of folk and fairy tales. This is the period of the Golden Age of folk and fairy tales, when European folklorists sought to understand and redefine the present through the common tales of the past, and long neglected stories became recognized as cultural treasures. In this rich collection, distinguished expert of fairy tales Jack Zipes continues his lifelong exploration of the story-telling tradition with a focus on the Golden Age. Included are one hundred eighty-two tales--many available in English for the first time--grouped into eighteen tale types. Zipes provides an engaging general Introduction that discusses the folk and fairy tale tradition, the impact of the Brothers Grimm, and the significance of categorizing tales into various types. Short introductions to each tale type that discuss its history, characteristics, and variants provide readers with important background information. Also included are annotations, short biographies of folklorists of the period, and a substantial bibliography. Eighteen original art works by students of the art department of Anglia Ruskin University not only illustrate the eighteen tale types, but also provide delightful—and sometimes astonishing—21st-century artistic interpretations of them.

The Robber with the Witch's Head presents almost fifty new stories about demons and clever maidens and princes. Bursting with life, this is a storyteller's dream, full of adventure and magic, translated by Jack Zipes.