a less whimsical illustration that encapsulates the fun of searching an archive of over 15

The Archive...

Have a wander through the Fireside folktale archive below, and see what you stumble into. Use the filters to narrow the world down, or fling the doors wide and browse by country, region, theme, collector, or whatever takes your fancy, then let the table do the rest. A few clicks can carry you from storm-tossed coasts to mountain villages, from clever tricksters to quiet miracles, and you will often find that the story you meant to read is not the one that chooses you.

Archive under construction...

Structured Filters

Use these drop down lists to choose one or more filters to select groups of tales to investigate in more detail

Other than my own versions of tales (as indicated), the stories in this archive are in the public domain

Stories in this view:

3988

Title	Book	Author / Collector	Country	Subject	Year
Lazy Jack (1)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Lazy Jack: simple-minded luck, obedience, and comic reward	1890
Tom Tit Tot	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Tom Tit Tot: impossible tasks, naming power, and clever deliverance	1890
Jack The Giant-Killer	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Jack The Giant-Killer: bravery, cleverness, and victory over tyranny	1918
The Story Of The Three Little Pigs	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Story Of The Three Little Pigs: foresight, hard work, and resilience against danger	1890
Mr Fox (2)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Mr Fox: forbidden curiosity reveals murderous deception hiding beneath charm	1890
Henny-Penny (2)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Henny-Penny: panic, rumour, and collective foolishness	1890
Caporushes	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Caporushes: misunderstood love, exile, and reconciliation	1918
Dick Whittington And His Cat	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Dick Whittington And His Cat: poverty, enterprise, luck, and social rise	1918
The Rose Tree	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	The Rose Tree: murder, transformation, and truth returning through song	1918
Childe Rowland (2)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Childe Rowland: faerie abduction, heroic rescue, taboo, courage and perseverance	1890
Mouse And Mouser	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Mouse And Mouser: playful domestic rivalry and comic animal behaviour	1890
The Red Etin (1)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	The Red Etin: monstrous challenge, brotherly contrast and perseverance rewarded	1918
Mr Miacca	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Mr Miacca: childish peril, captivity, and clever escape	1890
Cap O' Rushes	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Cap O’ Rushes: misunderstood love, exile, service, and reunion	1890
The True History Of Sir Thomas Thumb	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	The True History Of Sir Thomas Thumb: miniature heroics, courtly adventure, and wonder	1918
Titty Mouse And Tatty Mouse (2)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Titty Mouse And Tatty Mouse: domestic friendship, grief, chaos and cumulative nonsense	1890
Little Red Riding-Hood (1)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Little Red Riding-Hood: innocence endangered by deception and predatory cunning	1918
The Three Heads Of The Well (1)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Three Heads Of The Well: kindness rewarded, cruelty punished, fate shaped by conduct	1890
Whittington And His Cat (1)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Whittington And His Cat: poverty to prosperity through luck, enterprise and perseverance	1890
The Magpie's Nest	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Magpie’s Nest: wit, imitation, and explaining the natural world	1890
Titty Mouse And Tatty Mouse (1)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Titty Mouse And Tatty Mouse: grief, exaggeration, and comic chain reactions	1918
The Cauld Lad Of Hilton (1)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Cauld Lad Of Hilton: household haunting, helpful spirits, and restless domestic ghosts	1890
The Fish And The Ring (2)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Fish And The Ring: fate fulfilled despite every attempt to prevent it	1890
Master Of All Masters (2)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Master Of All Masters: language, obedience, and comic misunderstanding	1918
Childe Rowland (1)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Childe Rowland: fairy peril, rescue, and steadfast courage	1918
Tattercoats (1)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Tattercoats: neglect, hidden worth, and unexpected elevation	1918
How Jack Went Out To Seek His Fortune	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	How Jack Went Out To Seek His Fortune: wandering luck, absurdity, and accidental triumph	1918
Johnny-Cake	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Johnny-Cake: escape, pursuit, and overconfidence ending badly	1890
The Ass, The Table, And The Stick (2)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	The Ass, The Table, And The Stick: magical gifts, theft, and justice restored	1918
Jack And The Beanstalk (2)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Jack And The Beanstalk: daring, luck, theft, and rising through courage	1890
The Three Feathers	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	The Three Feathers: humility, hidden merit, and surprising success	1918
The Story Of The Three Bears (1)	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Story Of The Three Bears: trespass, curiosity, and consequences	1890
Lazy Jack (2)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	Lazy Jack: simple-minded luck, obedience, and comic reward	1918
The Strange Visitor	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Strange Visitor: death’s intrusion, unease, and the uncanny supernatural	1890
The Master And His Pupil	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Master And His Pupil: magical apprenticeship, stolen knowledge, shapeshifting pursuit, wit and escape	1890
The Three Sillies (2)	English Fairy Tales	Flora Annie Webster Steel	England	The Three Sillies: foolish fears, comic logic, and shared absurdity	1918
Jack And His Golden Snuff-Box	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	Jack And His Golden Snuff-Box: adventure, magic, perseverance, and winning the princess	1890
The Golden Arm	English Fairy Tales	Joseph Jacobs	England	The Golden Arm: greed, grave-robbing, guilt and supernatural retribution	1890
O'Donoghue	Fairies and Folk of Ireland	William Henry Frost	Ireland	O’Donoghue: memory, Killarney legend, loss, endurance, prophecy, hidden kingship, return, Irish hardship, hope, enchantment.	1900
The Little Good People	Fairies and Folk of Ireland	William Henry Frost	Ireland	The Little Good People: fairy ambivalence, domestic haunting, reverence, offence and reward, rural belief, invisible neighbours, charm, caution, custom, peasant life.	1900
The Time For Naggeneen's Plan	Fairies and Folk of Ireland	William Henry Frost	Ireland	The Time For Naggeneen’s Plan: revenge, fairy scheming, abduction, trickery, courtship, supernatural interference, patience, mischief, desire, consequence.	1900
Little Kathleen And Little Terence	Fairies and Folk of Ireland	William Henry Frost	Ireland	Little Kathleen And Little Terence: grief, childbirth, inheritance, fairy theft, vulnerable childhood, naming, family bonds, sickness, destiny, mourning.	1900
The Iron Crucifix	Fairies and Folk of Ireland	William Henry Frost	Ireland	The Iron Crucifix: iron against faery, Christian power, protection, haunting, confrontation, fear, priestly authority, sacred objects, rescue, boundary magic.	1900
The Old King Comes Back	Fairies and Folk of Ireland	William Henry Frost	Ireland	The Old King Comes Back: return of the hidden ruler, deliverance, courage, memory, awakening, national renewal, supernatural aid, homecoming, hope, fulfilled promise.	1900
The Legend Of Knockfierna	Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland	Thomas Crofton Croker	Ireland	The Legend Of Knockfierna: fairy hill, fairy kings, subterranean world, local sovereignty, enchantment, folklore of place, otherworld court, hidden splendour	1844
The Legend Of O’Donoghue (2)	Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland	Thomas Crofton Croker	Ireland	The Legend Of O’Donoghue: lake lord, return of the hero, Killarney legend, seasonal apparition, sovereignty, romance, landscape myth, enduring presence	1844
Teigue Of The Lee (2)	Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland	Thomas Crofton Croker	Ireland	Teigue Of The Lee: river setting, adventure, supernatural encounter, local colour, courage, comic strain, Irish identity, marvel	1844
Fior Usga	Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland	Thomas Crofton Croker	Ireland	Fior Usga: water spirit, shapeshifting, danger, seduction, supernatural trickery, liminal waters, fear of the unknown, Irish fairy lore	1844
Daniel O'Rourke (3)	Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland	Thomas Crofton Croker	Ireland	Daniel O’Rourke: moon voyage, comic fantasy, exaggeration, animal companion, Irish wit, marvel, ordinary man in wonder, tall tale	1844
Flory Cantillon’s Funeral	Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland	Thomas Crofton Croker	Ireland	Flory Cantillon’s Funeral: death, wake customs, supernatural disturbance, dark humour, burial, restless forces, communal ritual, uncanny spectacle	1844

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