‘That was the time when wolves and lambs lay peacefully together in one
stall, and shepherds dined on grassy banks with kings and queens…’
From myths of magicians recorded on papyrus in Ancient Egypt to the stories preserved by Perrault in 17th-century France, the allure of the fairy tale is universal. First published in 1903, The Crimson Fairy Book was the eighth in Lang’s Rainbow Fairy Book series. Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy introduces, while Tim Stevens’s vibrant illustrations capture the magic of winged chimeras, valiant princes and fearsome dragons. Alongside these fantastical tales, The Crimson Fairy Book contains animal stories to rival Kipling: in ‘The Colony of Cats’, a little girl is adopted by a feline household; ‘The Six Hungry Beasts’ explains why foxes have white tips on their tails.
