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Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 07 Jan 2017, 22:39
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.

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 07 Jan 2017, 22:49
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).

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 00:07
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

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 08:52
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).

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 11:09
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

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 14:18
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.

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 14:37
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)

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 15:59
by pete9012S
Does she ever mention Leprechauns?

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 17:10
by Rob Houghton
I don't recall that she does - or 'Piskies' ;-)

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 18:35
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.

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 19:48
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:

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 19:51
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

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 19:56
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!"

Re: Questions about the "Little Folk"

Posted: 08 Jan 2017, 20:00
by Courtenay
She does have a banshee in a certain notorious Find-Outers book... well, sort of. :mrgreen:

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

Posted: 13 Jan 2017, 02:02
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 .