Selected from Henri Pourrat's classic Le tresor des contes, one of the finest folktale collections in the world, these one-hundred-odd legends, fairy tales, devotional pieces, jokes, and animal stories from the rural provinces of France comprise a magical volume. Fairies, changelings, giants, demons, bumpkins, knaves, bewitched and bewitching princesses, bandits, and others enact stories of perilous tests of love, contests with the devil, the beneficence of saints, and more. Royall Tyler's translation deftly captures the vigor and resonance of the originals, and his cogent introduction illuminates for the reader the earthy, chilling, mischievous, and mystical realm these tales evoke.
