Old Wives' Fables

• Main Author: Laboulaye, ??douard
• Other Authors: With two hundred and twenty-five illustrations
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: George Routledge and Sons 1883
• Subjects: Norway; Yvon; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10504/76102

Buying this book was a mistake, prompted by the title. This seems to be a collection of fairy stories or fairytales. I will quote from the archives of The Spectator: very lively stories, with, perhaps, just a touch of satire in them, which would be well away, for a fairy-tale ought to be absolutely simple in intention, and never remind us of questions of the every-day world. Still, they are very amusing, and present us with a great variety of adventure. They come, too, from many parts of the world. Yvon, the hero of the first tale, is a Breton lad then there are Bohemian stories, and tales from Italy, Finland, Norway, and Iceland. 'Piff Paff, or the Art of Government : a Tale of All Lands,' is perhaps as clever as any, but then it is of the satirical kind. Listing it here may keep me others from seeking fables in this book. Edouard Laboulaye