English Fairy Tales

Before you could read me in a book, I was a whisper in the wind and a story told by a warm fire on a chilly night. I was the thump-thump-thump of a giant’s footsteps and the clever trick of a boy named Jack. I was the huff and puff of a big bad wolf and the squeal of a little pig safe in his brick house. For hundreds of years, I traveled from person to person, a secret shared between grandparents and children. I lived in the wonderful imaginations of people all over England. I am the magic that grew in the fields and forests, and I am a collection of stories called the English Fairy Tales.

For a very long time, I didn't live on paper. I lived in people's memories. But then, a man named Joseph Jacobs worried that I might be forgotten. He loved hearing stories of brave heroes and magical creatures, and he wanted to make sure they would last forever. Around the year 1890, he decided to gather all of my scattered pieces together. He listened carefully to the way people told my stories and wrote them down in a book called 'English Fairy Tales,' which was published in 1890. He wanted children like you to be able to hold me in their hands and read about the adventures of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' or laugh at the silly tale of 'Henny Penny' whenever they wanted. He used simple, playful words so that reading me would feel just as exciting as hearing a storyteller shout, 'Fee-fi-fo-fum.'.

After Joseph Jacobs put me into a book, I could travel the world. Children in faraway places learned that even the smallest person can outsmart a giant, and that it's wise to build your house with strong bricks. My stories, like 'Jack and the Beanstalk,' have been told again and again in movies, cartoons, and plays. The magic you feel when you hear about a beanstalk growing to the sky is the same wonder children felt hundreds of years ago when they heard the story for the very first time. I am here to remind you that with a little bit of courage and a big imagination, you can be the hero of your own adventure. My pages are still turning, and my magic is waiting for you.