"A treasure-trove of living stories, and enormously fun to read. Enjoy!" -
Neil Gaiman "Shivery, creepy, melancholy, funny, fantastic and very real ... Neil Philip's classic collection offers us an overflowing cauldron of marvellous stories.' -
Marina Warner "Collections of folktales as good as this should be bound in gold and brought out on ceremonial occasions as national treasures." -
Philip Pullman "The generally admitted and admired glories of English literature rest on a much more neglected popular tradition of story-telling. This collection brings that tradition back to life, in a wonderfully accessible form." -
Professor Ronald Hutton 'A book that inspires and informs, and opens hearts and minds to our story heritage.' -
Professor Carolyne Larrington "A profound influence on me and Hookland." -
David Southwell "This is the best collection of English folktales." -
Professor Diane Purkiss "A superb anthology of more than one hundred extraordinary tales that reveal the exquisite nature of the English storytelling tradition. This is a dazzling book." -
Professor Jack Zipes "Never was a better time for such a knowing, appreciative volume of our shared tales." -
Gregory Maguire "An expertly chosen selection of English folktales that is highly readable, endlessly entertaining, and intellectually enlivened. If by some mysterious goblin's spell I was condemned to give away all the books in my library but one, this is undoubtedly the book I would keep." -
Professor Andrew Teverson "Buckle up and prepare for close encounters with ghouls and boggarts, witches and merry-maids, talking cats and roaring bulls." -
Professor Maria Tatar "A truly beautiful collection of over one hundred English stories . . . collated with true wonder and love for the magic of storytelling." -
LoveReading, starred book
