Joseph Jacobs Fairy Tales

More English Folk and Fairy Tales

By Joseph Jacobs

Putnam

Reading Level: Ages 9-12

Pages: 268

Genre: Folk and Fairy Tales

Summary: "The Golden Ball" was about these sisters that are given a golden ball by a nobleman. They are told that if they lose it they will lose their life. One sister loses hers in a haunted house so she is sentenced to death. Her sweetheart wanted to get it back for her and save her. So he spends three nights in the house. He kills goblins every night, on the last night he hears them playing with the ball under the bed so the sweetheart cuts of a one of the goblin's limbs every time it pokes out from under the bed until they are all dead. Her retrieves the ball and saves the girl just in time.

"The Pied Piper of Franchville" is about a town that is over run with rats. A piper comes and offers to get rid of them for a fee. The own agrees and the piper plays his pipe and all them rats follow and are drowned. The town refuses to pay the piper the agreed wage so the piper leads all the children away and they never return.

"Tamlane" is about a girl named Burd Janet and a young man named Tamlane were in love and betrothed to be married. Right before the wedding Tamlane disappears and everyone is sad. Buurd Janet goes walking in the woods and discovers Tamlane has been turned into a tree by the fairy folk. Tamlane tells her that he thinks they plan to uses him to pay the teind, or tithe to the netherworld, and then Tamlane instructs her how to save him. She waits at midnight and the fairies come on horses. Burd Janet sees Tamlane in one of the horses and runs to him and pulls him off his horse and holds on to him without letting go while the fairies turn him into different shapes. They turn him into a hot coal and Burd Janet throws him into the well. Tamlane come out a naked man and Burd Janet put her robe on him. They go home and get married.

"Catskin" is about a girl who is being forced to marry a man. She ask for three special made dresses and a coat of catskins. She then runs away and gets a job at another kingdom in the kitchen, where they are mean to her. She puts on her nice dresses to go to the balls the prince has but the prince doesn't know who she is. He figures out she is the kitchen girl, but still wants to marry her because he is in love, but the queen wont allow it until the prince gets sick and it's the only way to save him. After they get married they find Catskin's father and take him to the castle.

My Reaction: I'd never heard the golden ball story and thought it was really good. The others i was familiar with so I enjoyed them, I also like how they were different from the versions I'd heard before.

Potential Problems: I could see that they might be a little scary for timid youngsters. These stories contain death, goblins, ghost, and talk of human sacrifice.

Recommendations: I would recommend these to anyone who likes a good story. They would be fun to tell to a variety of ages and are fun reading if you love fairy tales.