Popular Tales and Fictions

Clouston's classic study of international folktales, their common origins, and their cultural variations is updated with new research.

This classic study of popular tales and fictions is a global map of human imagination reaching back to a time that the author calls "the childhood of the world."

First published in two volumes more than a century ago, the book traces familiar themes from strikingly different times, places, and cultures: invisible caps and cloaks, shoes of swiftness, inexhaustible purses, gold-producing animals, life tokens, bird maidens, forbidden rooms, fairy hinds, magic barks, thankful beasts, and magical transformations. The author investigates their origins, examines their variations, and follows their migration from one culture to another. Editor Christine Goldberg brings this classic up to date with an introduction that evaluates and expands the original work in the light of current scholarship.

• Takes a thematic approach to the study of folktales, exploring topics like gold-producing animals, invisible caps and cloaks, and bird maidens
• An introduction by contemporary folklorist Christine Goldberg places W. A. Clouston's classic work in historical and scholarly context