When a princess learns of her husband's secret past, he turns into a snake. The princess must be brave in order to help him. Can they work together to break the prince's curse? A young man is given a special shape-changing power. He and his brother use the new power to trick and take from others. Will they get caught and pay the price for their trickery?
A brilliant collection of folk tales: from the girl whose stepmother turned her into a dragon, to the werewolf's bride, and the god who became a fish but was caught in his own net... Stories from the Americas, Asia, Scandinavia and Europe make this a wonderfully inclusive anthology, stunningly illustrated in papercut style.
collected and retold by Edna Ledgard The people of Burma/Myanmar call it Shwe Pyidaw, the Golden Land, their fertile valley cradled in a horseshoe of mountains. When squabbling Western nations vied for control of the newly-mapped country a century ago, the local population had already lived in the mountainous land for over a millenium. Throughout those centuries, the legends and tales rooted in animist religions created a rich tapestry of spirits that underlie the later arrival of Buddhism. "Nat" spirits, dragons, winged lion-dogs, ogres, mythical galon birds, sorceresses and many more populated the land. This volume brings together 25 of the most-loved of these folk tales.
In this updated retelling of the Brothers Grimm's "Jorinda and Joringel," a shape-changing witch protects her privacy at all costs. When the engaged couple Jorinda and Jacob stumble into the witch's part of the forest, she takes them captive. The hateful witch changes Jorinda into a singing bird. Will her fiancé save her, or will the witch keep her singing bird caged forever?
The South Asian region has been especially prone to mass displacement and relocations owing to its varied geographical settings as well as socio-political factors. This book examines the women’s perspective on issues related to displacement, loss, conflict, and rehabilitation. It maps the diverse engagements with women’s experiences of displacement in the South Asian region through a nuanced examination of unexplored literary narratives, life writing and memoirs, cultural discourses, and social practices. The book explores themes like sexuality and the female body, women and the national identity, violence against women in Indian Partition narratives, and stories of exile in real life and fairy tales. It also offers an understanding of the ruptures created by dislocation and exile in memory, identity, and culture by analyzing the spaces occupied by displaced women and their lived experiences. The volume looks at the multiplicity of reasons behind women’s displacement and offers a wider perspective on the intersections between gender, migration, and marginalization. This book will be useful for scholars and researchers of cultural studies, literature, gender studies, conflict studies, development studies, South Asian studies, refugee studies, diaspora studies, and sociology.
A princess makes a daring deal with the Queen of the Snakes. A lonely sister weaves stinging plants together in order to save her brothers from their mother. A curious boy suddenly becomes a wolf cub. Discover a worldwide collection of shape-shifter stories, based on folktales and lore from the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Europe. From cursed princes to the first werewolves, things aren't always what they seem!
