"From its roots in the oral tradition to the sophisticated, postmodernist reworkings of the present day, the fairy tale has retained its powerful hold over the cultural imagination of Europe and North America for centuries. The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales provides an authoritative reference source for this complex, captivating genre, exploring the tales themselves, both ancient and modern, the writers who wrote and reworked them and the artists...

"Challenges the ableism of fairy tales and offers new ways to celebrate the magic of all bodies. In fairy tales, happy endings are the norm - as long as you're beautiful and walk on two legs. After all, the ogre never gets the princess. And since fairy tales are the foundational myths of our culture, how can a girl with a disability ever think she'll have a happy ending? By examining the ways that fairy tales have shaped our expectations of disability,...

These fantastic stories have travelled across cultural borders, and been passed on from generation to generation, ever-changing, renewed with each re-telling. Few forms of literature have greater power to enchant us and rekindle our imagination than a fairy tale. But what is a fairy tale? Where do they come from and what do they mean? What do they try and communicate to us about morality, sexuality, and society? The range of fairy tales stretches...

"This bestselling anthology of folk and fairy tales brings together 54 stories, 9 critical articles, and 24 color illustrations from a range of historical and geographic traditions. Sections group tales together by theme or juxtapose variations of individual tales, inviting comparison and analysis across cultures and genres. An accessible section of critical selections provides a foundation for readers to analyze, debate, and interpret the tales for...

A treasury of tales about merfolk and water spirits from different cultures, ranging from Scottish selkies to Hindu water-serpents to Chilean sea fairies. All tales are accompanied by commentary that explores their undercurrents, showing us how public perceptions of this popular mythical hybrid--at once a human and a fish--illuminate issues of gender, spirituality, ecology, and sexuality. -- adapted from back cover.