More English Fairy Tales

In Short

This volume is an energetic anthology of traditional English and Lowland Scotch fairy tales, rustic drolls, and rhyming nursery lore. Collected from rare chap-books, local oral histories, and folk ballads, the stories follow resourcefully clever peasants, monstrous worms, magical changelings, and treacherous kings. Characters must rely on sharp wit, bold bravery, or sheer luck to outsmart magical adversaries and claim their rightful fortunes. Re-told in a lively, vernacular English style, it serves as an accessible preservation of regional British folk heritage.

The Story

The collection opens with a playful invitation to unlock its contents, leading into a sprawling series of independent folk narratives. In "Hereafterthis," a well-meaning but gullible wife surrenders her husband Jan's rent money to a stranger named Hereafterthis. Jan takes the front door off its hinges to serve as their bed, and together they wander the countryside in search of the lost fortune. When they take refuge in a tree, Jan accidentally drops the heavy wooden door onto a table of drinking robbers below; the terrified thieves flee, allowing Jan and his wife to gather up the abandoned bags of gold and return home wealthy.

Other tales turn on stranger, darker bargains. "The Golden Ball" sees a young lass accidentally drop a prized golden ball over a park fence, leading straight to a mysterious house where it disappears, condemning her to hang unless it can be recovered. In "Yallery Brown," a farmhand named Tom Tiver frees a tiny, ancient-looking creature trapped beneath a heavy stone, only to learn that unearthly favor comes with troublesome strings. Meanwhile, heroic exploits take center stage in "Tom Hickathrift," where an eight-foot-tall, seemingly lazy youth turns his monstrous physical strength to honest farm work, carrying whole cartloads of straw and giant trees on his shoulders to the amazement of his neighbors.

Clever trickery continually wins the day against tyrannical power. In the story of Gobborn the wise man and his son Jack, an ungrateful king plans to execute them after they finish building his grand castle so they cannot build another for a rival. Gobborn outsmarts the monarch by sending the king's son back to Jack's home under the guise of fetching a missing tool called "Crooked and Straight." Jack's sharp-witted wife traps the prince in a heavy chest, forcing the king to release Gobborn and Jack unharmed in exchange for his son's safe return.

In "Tamlane," a courageous woman named Burd Janet stands her ground at a midnight crossroad to rescue her love from the Queen of Elfland. She holds tight to Tamlane as the shrieking elf court transforms him into ice, fire, an adder, a snake, a dove, and a red-hot iron, which she quenches in a well to break the enchantment forever. Elsewhere, "The Lambton Worm" cautions against impiety as an ungodly youth catches a hideous, nine-holed monster while fishing on Sunday, a creature that grows to terrorize the countryside. Concluding with detailed academic notes tracing regional variations and chap-book sources, the book demonstrates how ordinary peasants, armed with sharp sense or sheer nerve, repeatedly overcome kings, monsters, and magical horrors.

How It Unfolds

The journey begins Jan and his wife set out with their heavy house-door upon their backs after a trickster makes off with their rent money. They camp high in the branches of a tree at the foot of a hill, where they happen upon a gang of thieves counting stolen gold below.

A terrifying drop Sensing their moment, Jan drops the heavy wooden door straight down onto the middle of the robbers' table. The terrified thieves abandon their treasure and flee, allowing Jan and his wife to pack up the bags of gold and return home in peace.

Rescuing the creature Tom Tiver hears a heartbroken, whimpering voice calling out from beneath a heavy flat stone in the weeds. Pitying the creature, he lifts the stone from the damp earth to reveal a tiny, wrinkled man with bright eyes and long yellow hair wrapped around his body.

Outwitting the king When an ungrateful king plots to kill Gobborn and Jack to keep their castle-building skills unique, Gobborn devises a ruse to send the king's son on an errand. Jack's wife captures the prince in a chest, forcing the king to grant the builders their freedom and full payment.

Defying the Elfin court Burd Janet waits at Miles Cross at midnight, pulling Tamlane down from his milk-white steed as the Queen of Elfland's court rides by. She refuses to let go as the magical crew repeatedly transforms him into ferocious beasts and burning fire before her eyes.

Breaking the enchantment Janet casts the red-hot iron form of Tamlane into a well, transforming him back into a human man. She quickly wraps her green mantle over him to secure his freedom, leaving the frustrated Queen of Elfland to march away defeated.

The People

• Jan: A pragmatic farmer who faces ruin after his wife gives away his rent money. He carries their house-door on his back through the countryside until a lucky stroke of timing turns him into a wealthy man.
• Jan's Wife: A naive woman who foolishly surrenders a bag of groats to a stranger named Hereafterthis, but later helps her husband recover their fortune from a gang of bandits.
• Tom Tiver: An eighteen-year-old farmhand on the Hall Farm who acts out of pity when he hears a crying creature trapped under a stone, freeing the strange entity named Yallery Brown.
• Tom Hickathrift: A lazy, giant youth who sits in the chimney-corner until his incredible physical strength is discovered, allowing him to carry entire cartloads of straw and massive trees with ease.
• Gobborn: A master builder whose extraordinary skill in constructing grand castles draws the jealousy and lethal paranoia of a tyrannical king.
• Jack's Wife: A quick-witted woman who understands her father-in-law's cryptic instructions and ambushes the king's son, trapping him in a chest to secure her family's safety.
• Burd Janet: A fearless heroine who ventures to a haunted crossroad at midnight, holding fast to her enchanted love through terrifying magical transformations to win him back from the Elfin court.

In Its Own Voice

"Then, if you are very quiet, you will hear a teeny tiny voice say through the grating 'Take down the Key.'" — An opening note invites the reader to figuratively unlock the volume's hidden treasures.

"From former experience, I find that each of these principles has met with some dissent from critics who have written from the high and lofty standpoint of folk-lore, or from the lowlier vantage of 'mere literature.'" — The collector's preface defends rewriting these traditional English stories in a lively, colloquial style.

"'She's taken away my bonniest knight, Left nothing in his room.'" — The Queen of Elfland laments her defeat after Burd Janet successfully rescues young Tamlane from her grasp.

What It's Really About

The collection explores how resourcefulness, sharp wit, and unyielding resolve level the playing field for the weak against the powerful. Kings, corrupt landowners, and eldritch beings hold immense power, but they are consistently outmaneuvered by ordinary folks who think quickly on their feet. Faithfulness and moral courage are tested repeatedly, whether a heroine must endure terrifying magical threats to rescue a loved one or a simple worker must navigate the consequences of his own curiosity. Beneath the magical elements lies a practical worldview that values earthly common sense over abstract learning, celebrating the clever rustic over the foolish authority figure.

Why Read It Today

This volume appeals to lovers of classic folklore, fantasy writers seeking authentic British mythos, and readers interested in the history of storytelling. Reading it feels like sitting near a crackling fireplace in an old country inn, listening to a seasoned local tale-teller spin yarns filled with archaic dialect, rustic humor, and dramatic flourishes. The narrative style moves rapidly, delivering colorful imagery without bogging down in lengthy descriptions.

Readers should be prepared for period difficulties, including heavy regional phonetic dialects, archaic phrasing like "Lawkamercy," and casually harsh fairy-tale logic where characters face sudden hanging or brutal trickery for minor missteps. Additionally, the academic notes at the end offer a historical perspective on how folk literature was collected, edited, and classified in the late nineteenth century. The book's lasting charm lies in its vibrant, unfiltered human voice—capturing the resilient humor, eerie wonder, and sharp-witted optimism of everyday folk who manage to pull good fortune out of dire circumstances.