Public-domain ebook
Language: en4,913 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Children & Young Adult Reading·Mythology, Legends & Folklore
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #26711.
Gertrude Landa’s Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends offers a collection of short narratives drawn from Talmudic and Midrashic sources, reshaped for a young audience. The volume opens with a warm note from the author, explaining her aim to present “something Jewish” that can sit beside the familiar world of fairy‑tale romance. After a brief preface, the first story, The Palace of the Eagles, introduces a complacent king whose kingdom is beset by famine, prompting an expedition beyond a rocky barrier to a mysterious palace guarded by eagles. The tale unfolds as a quest for a hidden door, blending mythic elements with moral reflection, and sets the tone for the varied legends that follow in the table of contents.
Written in early‑20th‑century prose, Landa’s style is clear and didactic, yet infused with the imaginative flair of folk narrative. The language is accessible to children while retaining the cadence of traditional storytelling, making the book appealing to young readers interested in cultural myths, educators seeking multicultural material, and adults who enjoy gentle, historically rooted fantasies.
The opening · free to read
The very cordial welcome given to my earlier volume of "Jewish Fairy Tales and Fables" has prompted me to draw further upon Rabbinic lore in the interest, chiefly, of the children. How the wise Rabbis of old took into account the necessities of the little ones, whose minds they understood so perfectly, is obvious from such legends as those dealing with boyish exploits of the great Biblical characters, Abraham, Moses, and David. These I have rewritten from the stories in the Talmud and Midrash in a manner suitable for the children of to-day.
I have ventured also beyond the confines of these two wonderful compilations. There is a wealth of delightful imagination in the legends and folk-lore of the Jews of a later period which is almost entirely unknown to children. I have drawn also on these sources for some of the stories here presented. My desire is to give boys and girls something Jewish which they may be able to regard as companion delights to the treasury of general fairy-lore and childish romance.
AUNT NAOMI. LONDON, March, 1919.
The book keeps going
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
New illustrated classics
Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.
