various authors. The History Press (192p) ISBN: 9781837050048. Folklore, read 26/04/26, Paperback ★★★★☆

The Anthology of English Folk Tales

Picked this one up on a whim (and to make more space on the shelves!) and it was such a fun read.

Full of tales from around England, well everywhere except Durham and Northumberland which I found really weird as both are rich in stories?

Each tale was accompanied by a little bit of biographical info on the storyteller who brought the tale to the anthology plus a little about the background and history of the tale.

This is a nice varied anthology, with some well-worn tales I’d heard before, such as; ‘The Devil in the Fireplace’, ‘William and the Bull’, and ‘The Wherwell Cockatrice’.

And there was a nice collection of new to me tales; ‘Hunchback and the Swan’, ‘The Little Tailor of Yarpole’, and one of my favourites of the whole book ‘The Giant of Pen Hill’ (I’ve walked Penhill, sadly didn’t see a giant or Wodin).

A great collection of cautionary tales done in a variety of styles, kept me interested from start to finish.