Questions about the "Little Folk"

If it doesn't fit into any of the above categories, post it here!
User avatar
Lucky Star
Posts: 11485
Joined: 28 May 2006, 12:59
Favourite book/series: The Valley of Adventure
Favourite character: Mr Goon
Location: Surrey, UK

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Lucky Star »

I too had all the above mentioned Ladybird books and agree with the comments. Rumpelstiltskin and the Troll pictured above were very scary but really good as well. Did others have Beauty and the Beast in those editions? There is a picture of the beast sitting in a chair wearing very fine clothes but looking extremely sad which always made me feel very sorry for him.
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero

Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Beauty and the Beast was the first Ladybird fairy-tale my sister and I ever read. We borrowed it from the library and couldn't bear to give it back so we kept renewing it week after week. The illustrations are absolutely exquisite and the story touches the heart, Beast and all. Yes, the Beast does have a sad (and kind) face and I felt quite sorry when he turned into a man! I still remember the librarian eventually saying to my mum, "Have you considered buying your daughters a copy of the book?" My mum did, and that began our collection of Ladybird fairy-tale books (we already had some other Ladybird titles at home like Peter and Jane and The Party, but not fairy-tales up to that point).
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Rob Houghton
Posts: 16029
Joined: 26 Feb 2005, 22:38
Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
Favourite character: Snubby, Uncle Robert, George, Fatty
Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Rob Houghton »

My sister had a lot of the Fairytale ones, so I read those. We had Beauty and the Beast, Billy Goats Gruff, Jack and the Beanstalk, Princess and the Pea, The Gingerbread Man, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Puss In Boots, Dick Whittington, The Elves and the Shoemaker and quite a few others. The illustrations were all exquisite - I think they definitely gave me a love of fine illustrations. They didn't 'talk down' to children, as I feel many illustrations do nowadays.

Is this the picture of the Beast you mean? -

Image
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Talking of illustrators, Paul Crompton provided some wonderfully detailed and grotesque pictures of gnomes, goblins, etc. for various books including some of the World International Enid Blyton Library titles (e.g. Bottom of the Class! and Other Stories, 1991) and The First Green Goblin Book and The Second Green Goblin Book (Red Fox, 1992 and 1993).
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
sixret
Posts: 4130
Joined: 16 Aug 2006, 14:25
Favourite book/series: Five Find-Outers,Mr.Twiddle,Barney R
Favourite character: Mr.Twiddle,Fatty,Saucepan,Snubby

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by sixret »

You are absolutely right, Tony! I have just checked my copy of The Button Elves in Old Thatch series as well as my copy in W.K Johnston series. The Little Button Elves is clearly written on title page as well as on the head of story in both series! :D
I stand with justice and the truth. Palestine will be free from the river to the sea.

Learn the history. Do research.

The hypocrisy, double standard, prejudice and bigotry own by some people is so obvious.Shame on them!
User avatar
pete9012S
Posts: 17571
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 15:32
Favourite book/series: Five On A Treasure Island
Favourite character: Frederick Algernon Trotteville
Location: UK

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by pete9012S »

Some very intersecting posts.
I had thought that Enid never included Trolls in any of her stories until I read Anita's post.
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

Society Member
User avatar
Rob Houghton
Posts: 16029
Joined: 26 Feb 2005, 22:38
Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
Favourite character: Snubby, Uncle Robert, George, Fatty
Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Rob Houghton »

I'd forgotten that, too. Hence my mixing-up of Red Goblins with Trolls! ;-) I think Enid also mentioned trolls a few times in her short stories - but they were usually only peripheral characters rather than main parts of the story. 8)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



Society Member
User avatar
pete9012S
Posts: 17571
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 15:32
Favourite book/series: Five On A Treasure Island
Favourite character: Frederick Algernon Trotteville
Location: UK

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by pete9012S »

Does she ever mention Leprechauns?
" A kind heart always brings its own reward," said Mrs. Lee.
- The Christmas Tree Aeroplane -

Society Member
User avatar
Rob Houghton
Posts: 16029
Joined: 26 Feb 2005, 22:38
Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
Favourite character: Snubby, Uncle Robert, George, Fatty
Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Rob Houghton »

I don't recall that she does - or 'Piskies' ;-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



Society Member
User avatar
Lucky Star
Posts: 11485
Joined: 28 May 2006, 12:59
Favourite book/series: The Valley of Adventure
Favourite character: Mr Goon
Location: Surrey, UK

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Lucky Star »

Rob Houghton wrote: Is this the picture of the Beast you mean? -

Image
Yes I believe that's it though for some reason I thought it was an internal illustration. The Ladybird books did all have wonderful pictures. Like you Rob I think that's why I really dislike the silly stick figure pictures we tend to see such a lot of nowadays.
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero

Society Member
User avatar
Rob Houghton
Posts: 16029
Joined: 26 Feb 2005, 22:38
Favourite book/series: Rubadub Mystery, Famous Five and The Find-Outers
Favourite character: Snubby, Uncle Robert, George, Fatty
Location: Kings Norton, Birmingham

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Rob Houghton »

The cover illustration always appeared inside the book too, I think - but I couldn't find the actual illustration online, only the cover! :-D

Apart from his old-fashioned clothes, The Beast looks rather like someone from Planet of the Apes! :lol:
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



Society Member
User avatar
Lucky Star
Posts: 11485
Joined: 28 May 2006, 12:59
Favourite book/series: The Valley of Adventure
Favourite character: Mr Goon
Location: Surrey, UK

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Lucky Star »

Rob Houghton wrote:
Apart from his old-fashioned clothes, The Beast looks rather like someone from Planet of the Apes! :lol:
Ha Ha yes indeed he does. :D
"What a lot of trouble one avoids if one refuses to have anything to do with the common herd. To have no job, to devote ones life to literature, is the most wonderful thing in the world. - Cicero

Society Member
User avatar
Anita Bensoussane
Forum Administrator
Posts: 26768
Joined: 30 Jan 2005, 23:25
Favourite book/series: Adventure series, Six Cousins books, Six Bad Boys
Favourite character: Jack Trent, Fatty and Elizabeth Allen
Location: UK

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

pete9012S wrote:Does she ever mention Leprechauns?
I don't remember any Enid Blyton stories featuring leprechauns but Enid refers to them in The Story of My Life:

"My grandmother was half Irish, and she had some amusing sayings. She told me a great many queer old Irish tales too, and I sometimes find her long-ago voice whispering in my mind still, when I think of leprechauns or banshees!"
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


Society Member
User avatar
Courtenay
Posts: 19274
Joined: 07 Feb 2014, 01:22
Favourite book/series: The Adventure Series, Galliano's Circus
Favourite character: Lotta
Location: Both Aussie and British; living in Cheshire

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Post by Courtenay »

She does have a banshee in a certain notorious Find-Outers book... well, sort of. :mrgreen:
Society Member

It was a nuisance. An adventure was one thing - but an adventure without anything to eat was quite another thing. That wouldn't do at all. (The Valley of Adventure)
User avatar
IceMaiden
Posts: 2290
Joined: 07 Jan 2016, 18:49
Favourite book/series: Too many to mention! All of them!
Favourite character: George
Location: North Wales

Re: Gnomes,Pixies,Elves,Goblins,Brownies etc

Post by IceMaiden »

:shock: That is a really creepy Troll. I didn't have that ladybird book, but I did have the Three Billy Goats Gruff in a large book of various fairy stories, and I also used to skip the pages that it was on as it used to scare me silly. I also had a Stories for Sevens book that had a horrible scary picture of a Loch Ness Monster type of serpent on one page which I also avoided looking at like the plague while for some reason daring myself to do so at the same time.

Those Ladybird books were wonderful, I had loads of them though not that Beauty and the Beast one (who doesn't look at all like the one from the Disney film!). I loved fairy tales and Enid's stories with little folk in them. I bet if you asked a child today what a Troll was they'd probably reply someone who posts things to deliberately wind people up on Internet sites :D .
Society Member

I'm just an old fashioned girl with an old fashioned mind
Not sophisticated, I'm the sweet and simple kind
I want an old fashioned house, with an old fashioned fence
And A̶n̶ ̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶f̶a̶s̶h̶i̶o̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶i̶l̶l̶i̶o̶n̶a̶i̶r̶e̶
Image
Post Reply