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
Little Tiny Or Thumbelina	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	Little Tiny Or Thumbelina: smallness, vulnerability, kindness, journey, marriage, belonging	1914
The Wicked Prince	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Wicked Prince: hubris, blasphemy, punishment, power, pride, downfall	1914
The Neighbouring Families	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Neighbouring Families: comparison, pride, domestic satire, rivalry, perspective	1914
The Buckwheat	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Buckwheat: pride, warning, destruction, humility, nature, punishment	1914
The Money-Box	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Money-Box: greed, self-importance, value, satire, materialism, emptiness	1914
The Loveliest Rose In The World	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Loveliest Rose In The World: love, sacrifice, purity, spiritual beauty, redemption	1914
The Dumb Book (2)	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Dumb Book (2): hidden feeling, memory, intimacy, silence, meaning, keepsake	1914
Grandmother	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	Grandmother: remembrance, family, ageing, tenderness, legacy, grief	1914
A Rose From Homer's Grave	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	A Rose From Homer’s Grave: poetry, memory, beauty, classical inheritance, reverence	1914
The Ugly Duckling (1)	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Ugly Duckling (1): identity, exclusion, transformation, self-discovery, belonging, beauty	1914
The Snow Man (1)	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snow Man (1): longing, innocence, transience, winter, desire, melting	1914
The Snail And The Rose-Tree	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snail And The Rose-Tree: effort, ease, artistry, patience, self-worth, satire	1914
By The Almshouse Window	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	By The Almshouse Window: poverty, memory, ageing, observation, quiet suffering	1914
What One Can Invent	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	What One Can Invent: ingenuity, progress, imagination, modernity, innovation, satire	1914
Beauty Of Form And Beauty Of Mind	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	Beauty Of Form And Beauty Of Mind: inner worth, appearance, virtue, judgement, contrast	1914
The Dryad - Part 1	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Dryad - Part 1: beauty, longing, transience, freedom, desire, modernity	1914
The Dryad - Part 2	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Dryad - Part 2: mortality, displacement, longing, beauty, sacrifice, transience	1914
The Snow Queen (2) - Story 1	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snow Queen (2) - Story 1: innocence, evil, fractured perception, friendship, foreboding	1914
The Snow Queen (2) - Story 2	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snow Queen (2) - Story 2: loss, searching, innocence, enchantment, perseverance	1914
The Snow Queen (2) - Story 3	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snow Queen (2) - Story 3: kindness, magic, journey, wisdom, female aid	1914
The Snow Queen (2) - Story 4	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snow Queen (2) - Story 4: captivity, power, wilderness, temptation, resilience	1914
The Snow Queen (2) - Story 5	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snow Queen (2) - Story 5: loyalty, friendship, trial, endurance, hope	1914
The Snow Queen (2) - Story 6	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snow Queen (2) - Story 6: maternal aid, wisdom, struggle, perseverance, innocence	1914
The Snow Queen (2) - Story 7	Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen	Hans Christian Andersen	Denmark	The Snow Queen (2) - Story 7: redemption, love, innocence, thawing heart, reunion	1914
The Jackdaw	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Jackdaw: trickster bird, greed, theft, comic mischief, animal tale, cunning, comeuppance	1888
The Lazy Beauty And Her Aunts	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Lazy Beauty And Her Aunts: laziness, beauty, family pressure, comic correction, domestic life, moral reproof	1888
Munachar And Manachar (2)	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	Munachar And Manachar: endless labour, comic repetition, futility, domestic chaos, absurd folklore, cumulative tale	1888
The Witches' Excursion	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Witches’ Excursion: witches, flight, sabbath journey, nocturnal magic, mischief, fear, supernatural travel	1888
The Horned Women (4)	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Horned Women: witches, domestic hearth, night visitation, female power, terror, Christian protection, folklore horror	1888
Flory Cantillon's Funeral	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	Flory Cantillon’s Funeral: funeral rites, ghostly return, social satire, death, Irish wake, reputation, dark humour	1888
Donald And His Neighbours	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	Donald And His Neighbours: neighbourliness, quarrel, mischief, rural life, community conflict, everyday folklore, humour	1888
A Legend Of Knockmany (3)	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	A Legend Of Knockmany: giants, wit, trickery, strength, rivalry, folklore landscape, humour, triumph of cunning	1888
The Confessions Of Tom Bourke	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Confessions Of Tom Bourke: drink, boasting, unreliable narrator, supernatural brush, humour, guilt, rustic character	1888
The Legend Of Knockgrafton (2)	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Legend Of Knockgrafton: fairies, hunchback, song, reward and punishment, kindness, envy, transformation	1888
Teig O'Kane And The Corpse (1)	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	Teig O’Kane And The Corpse: corpse journey, supernatural trial, fear, hospitality, moral testing, nightmarish adventure	1888
The Long Spoon	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Long Spoon: infernal bargain, greed, cautionary tale, devilry, moral test, wit, survival	1888
The Haughty Princess	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Haughty Princess: pride, punishment, humility, marriage, transformation, moral lesson, royalty	1888
The Twelve Wild Geese	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Twelve Wild Geese: transformation, exile, sibling loyalty, enchantment, perseverance, sorrow, redemption	1888
Conversion Of King Laoghaire's Daughters	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	Conversion Of King Laoghaire’s Daughters: Christianity, pagan Ireland, royal daughters, baptism, spiritual change, saintly influence	1888
The Priest's Supper (1)	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Priest’s Supper: hospitality, clerical life, supernatural disturbance, comic unease, folk religion, uncanny visitation	1888
The White Trout; A Legend Of Cong	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The White Trout; A Legend Of Cong: enchanted animal, lost maiden, lake legend, pity, transformation, melancholy	1888
The Pudding Bewitched	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Pudding Bewitched: bewitched food, household disorder, witchcraft, humour, domestic confusion, folk belief	1888
The Banshee Of The Maccarthys	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Banshee Of The Maccarthys: banshee, noble family, hereditary omen, death warning, lineage, sorrow, tradition	1888
The Brewery Of Egg-Shells	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Brewery Of Egg-Shells: changeling, fairy child, domestic suspicion, maternal anxiety, folklore remedy, uncanny household	1888
Jamie Freel And The Young Lady (2)	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	Jamie Freel And The Young Lady: romance, fairy woman, temptation, class contrast, enchantment, peril, longing	1888
The Enchantment Of Gearoidh Iarla	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Enchantment Of Gearoidh Iarla: sleeping hero, return motif, enchantment, noble legend, hidden king, hope	1888
Daniel O'Rourke (1)	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	Daniel O’Rourke: moon voyage, comic fantasy, misadventure, Irish humour, exaggeration, wonder, absurdity	1888
The Black Lamb	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Black Lamb: enchantment, animal symbolism, innocence, protection, fate, rural mystery, transformation	1888
The Fate Of Frank McKenna	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	The Fate Of Frank McKenna: destiny, warning ignored, misfortune, supernatural omen, tragic end, inevitability	1888
A Queen's County Witch	Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry	W B Yeats	Ireland	A Queen’s County Witch: witchcraft, suspicion, rural fear, curses, community tension, superstition, uncanny justice	1888

Page 1 of 1