Review of
Hidden
Tales from Eastern Europe, edited by Shena Guild ISBN 978-0711219496
Five out of five stars
These seven fairy
tales are like those from central and western Europe. “The Twelve Months”
features a pretty girl being mistreated by her stepmother and ugly half-sister
until the spirits act kindly towards her and are unkind to her tormentors. “The
Hundred Children” describes a clever man called Bukur that encounters a
powerful dragon and must outwit him by pretending to be so powerful that the
dragon prefers to perform the tasks required of Bukur. “The Shepherd King” is
about a king and his daughter shipwrecked in another kingdom and forced to work
hard as ordinary people until the proper time comes for them to reveal their
true social station.
The stories
come from Slovakia, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia, Russia, Croatia and Romania, covering
most of eastern Europe. While the themes will be familiar to readers of other
fairy tales, the stories in this collection are original enough that reading
them will still entertain you.
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