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Fairy Tales: list of free e-books and resources

Updated on January 31, 2016

Fairy Tales for kids - best list ever

Looking for a list of fairy tales for kids or simply for your pleasure? You are in the right place.

Here is a big list of popular fairy tales of all times, together with resources of classical stories and fairy tales, including collections of brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.

Most of fairy tales you can read on-line or download them to enjoy them on your e-reader device wherever and whenever you want. Totally free! Enjoy the magical journey in the land of imagination:)

(All used images are Public Domain, sources: Clker.com, Wikipedia.org, Gutenberg.org and Archive.org)

G. K. Chesterton quote:

"Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."

Read them Online - This is only the first part of four!

Here is the ultimate listing of best sites dedicated to fairy tales with hundreds of fairy tales on-line:

Do you prefer audio or video versions?

Fairy Tales Transformations
Fairy Tales Transformations

Fairy Tales Stories

Experts are unsuccessfully trying to find a scientific definition for fairy tales stories for more than hundred years but we all know what we can expect from a fairy tale.

Like all stories it must have some interesting characters, some conflicts between characters and there must be some important event related to a goal of main character.

In fairy tales most often goals are searches for marriage and wealth. In fairy tales we can almost always find magical objects, magical creatures and magical transformations.

Are we ready for the list of fairy tales? Beware - these fairy tales are classics, not diluted and sweetened versions without real messages!

Fairy by Charles Perrault - illustrated by Harry Clarke

Source: Gutenberg.org, PD licence (Perrault's Fairy)
Source: Gutenberg.org, PD licence (Perrault's Fairy)

Click here to learn more about Harry Clarke's illustrations!

List of Classic Fairy Tales - Yes, this is the second part

Of course, we are talking about classics like Perrault, brothers Grimm and Andersen. All their works are public domain and we can download them on next addresses:

Classic Fairy Tales or Modern Fairy Tales? - Illustrated by Ivan Bilibin (source: Wikipedia.org, PD licence)

Do you prefer classic fairy tales or modern versions with less violance and more educational messages?

See results
Life is not always fair in fairy tales
Life is not always fair in fairy tales

My personal experience

Years ago when I started fairy tales and their background I was shocked when i found how 'dirty' can be some older versions of fairy tales like, for instance, The Sleeping Beauty.

But even more shocks came when I started to share my knowledge with wide world audience. It seems many people never heard the version where wolf eats Red Raiding Hood even exists!

This politically correct fairy tales where conflicts are reduced to minimum can be in my opinion very dangerous.

First of all: children can handle much more than we are in general willing to admit.

Second: classic fairy tales where hero goes through difficult tasks to achieve something precious teach us (not only kids) life can be cruel but it can also offer great rewards.

And third: parents have full control how much and when will their child(ren) get from supposedly too violent fairy tales.

I find this last one the most problematic of all. Many modern parents simply don't have time for their kids anymore. I ask myself: what can be more important than our children?

Albert Einstein quote:

"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales."

C. S. Lewis quote:

"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."

Famous Tales by Known Authors - The third of the four part list...

A lot of fairy tales have unknown authors, but in last centuries there were many great writers who have written their own fairy tales from scratch. Here is a selection of finest:

Illustration by Enrico Mazzanti

Fairy tales started their history so long ago there is no way to find out who wrote 'original' Snow White, Jack and Beanstalk, Rapunzel or Goldilocks. But we certainly know who wrote some classics from last two centuries. Here comes the selection of out of copyright works:

List of longer stories for children by known authors - The fourth and last part!

(Just click the title of fairy tale and you can read it!)

This is important!

Most of classic fairy tales are in public domain on base author's life + 70 years, but you should always check the copyright laws in your country, the rights of translator and everybody involved before the specific version was published.

Before using in any way always check and double-check!

Please be so kind to add an address related to fairy tales you found interesting. Our intention is to make the most complete list of fairy tales resources in the world. This simply means we will never get out of work... And thanks for stopping by!

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