3 ms·

What's the book you have?

• the_af 11y ago
  I'm not sure because it's a Spanish translation. I have it somewhere in the house, but I think it might be the Children's and Household Tales. It has most well-known fairy tales as well as some more overtly "Christian" tales, which as I mentioned I skipped as a child and never found the inclination to read as a grown-up. The folk tales are both entertaining and gruesome. I remember one story where the father of a family is forced to decapitate his wife and sons, but then there is something with magic blood (I don't remember the details) and when he sticks their heads together, they come alive as if nothing had happened. My favorites however were not the blood-soaked stories, but the stories where the resourceful younger brother of three -- or sometimes a veteran soldier who decided to make something of his life -- would either cheat others or, alternatively, reach success by being kind to a mischievous gnome or a mysterious old lady.