Red Book of Animal Stories

Andrew Lang

Aug 2012 · Tuttle Publishing

About this ebook

This collection of children's animal stories is a classic of juvenile literature and still delights children today, just as in the past.

Not only do we find fiery dragons here, but dangerous dogs and demons; bears, bats, boars, and baboons; greyhounds and griffins; cows and crocodiles; hyenas and hippopotamuses; snakes, saints, and sheep; monkeys, mermaids, and mammoths; lions and llamas; and dozens of others from the wide and wonderful animal world. What a menagerie to excite the senses and lure the adventurous!

The Author, Lang, a noted historian, was also an incurable romantic—hence his great success in writing children's books. These stories, first published in 1899, were selected and edited by Lang. The ones about Tom the Bear are from the French work on natural history by Alexander Dumas. Most of the tales in the chapter "Thieving Dogs and Horses" were published by Sir Walter Scott. Sixty-eight excellent and evocative illustrations enhance the stories and the reader's enjoyment of them.

About the author

Andrew Lang was born at Selkirk in Scotland on March 31, 1844. He was a historian, poet, novelist, journalist, translator, and anthropologist, in connection with his work on literary texts. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy, St. Andrews University, and Balliol College, Oxford University, becoming a fellow at Merton College. His poetry includes Ballads and Lyrics of Old France (1872), Ballades in Blue China (1880--81), and Grass of Parnassus (1888--92). His anthropology and his defense of the value of folklore as the basis of religion is expressed in his works Custom and Myth (1884), Myth, Ritual and Religion (1887), and The Making of Religion (1898). He also translated Homer and critiqued James G. Frazer's views of mythology as expressed in The Golden Bough. He was considered a good historian, with a readable narrative style and knowledge of the original sources including his works A History of Scotland (1900-7), James VI and the Gowrie Mystery (1902), and Sir George Mackenzie (1909). He was one of the most important collectors of folk and fairy tales. His collections of Fairy books, including The Blue Fairy Book, preserved and handed down many of the better-known folk tales from the time. He died of angina pectoris on July 20, 1912.