Interactive Historical Fiction e-books
French Legends, Tales & Fairy Stories by Barbara Leonie Picard
Illustrated by John G. Galsworthy
France is full of folk-tales and fairy stories, heroic, courtly, plain and coloured. Barbara Leonie Picard, outstanding as a writer in the true Andersen tradition, has brought together and told anew a selection of these traditional stories, a distinguished addition to the Oxford Myths and Legendsseries.
The book is in four parts. The immortal Roland and Oliver open the tales of the French epic heroes; courtly tales of the Middle Ages include Aucassin and Nicolette, Huon of Bordeaux, Amis and Amile, and the enchanting story of The Grey Palfrey; in legends from the French provinces you will find, among others, The Stones of Plouhinec (from Brittany), The Cliff of the Two Lovers (from Normandy), and from Gascony the pleasantly entitled Prince of the Seven Golden Cows; and last come the fairy stories, which include a splendidly comic tall story, The Miller and the Ogre, as well as the delightful Mouse-Princess.
“This can be used in story hours for the more mature of the listeners, but the age at which the tales themselves carry spontaneous appeal seems to be from fourth to seventh grade. Traditional stories are here, legends from the provinces, courtly tales of the middle ages, and epic hero tales — and it is interesting to note how the quality of the stories, the particular regional and period flavor, differs from, for example, the collections of myths and legends from the British Isles in previous books in this series.”
