Ruth L. Tongue (1898–1981)

This is a scholarly collection mean for folklorists, not children or casual readers, though some of the individual stories might be amusing. The foreword gives a history of folktale collecting in England from the 18th century onward, and the introduction discusses the tales in terms of the international tale motif classifications. The tales themselves are organized thematically, with three broad categories (Wonder Tales, Legends, and Jocular tales, the two latter larger categories being subdivided into more meaningful divisions such as saints, giants, ghosts, etc. The tale sources range from medieval to contemporary.… (mehr)