The Laughing Prince: Jugoslav Folk and Fairy Tales

Fillmore, Parker, 1878-1944Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.6

Word count: 260K words
Chapters: 26

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Laughing Prince: Jugoslav Folk and Fairy Tales by Parker FillmoreAuthor: Fillmore, Parker, 1878-1944,Language: English, Class: PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres, Release Date: Nov 4, 2006

Editor's review

This is a collection of Yugoslav folk and fairy tales selected by Parker Fillmore, taking its title from one of the stories and aimed at young readers; it is one of the more representative public-domain fairy-tale compilations. The stories retain the vivid features of oral literature: plot moves directly, good and evil are clear-cut, and wit, humor, and repetition often drive the narrative, making the book suitable for reading aloud and storytelling. The editor’s language is clean and economical, without excessive embellishment, preserving the rhythm of folk narration and offering a useful reference for understanding Balkan folk literature. Readers may note the repeated phrasing, number motifs, and reward-and-punishment logic, which are common skeletons of folk tales. The book suits family bedtime reading and can also serve as supplementary material for courses in folklore and children’s literature; for writers, it is a practical sample for studying story structure and adaptation techniques. Note that some episodes carry the roughness of traditional tales, so younger children should read with an adult.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Parents and teachers looking for public-domain folk and fairy tales for children
Folklore students studying folk literature, fairy-tale structure, and oral narrative
Writers seeking story material for adaptation or storytelling practice
General readers interested in Balkan folk culture

Not a good fit for

Novel readers expecting long, continuous plots and deep character development
Young children sensitive to the rough punishment episodes in traditional tales
Readers seeking a systematic introduction to Yugoslav history and culture

Reading tips

Read by individual tale rather than in order; after each, retell the outline to feel the oral rhythm.
When reading with children, skim the plot first and adjust tales with punishment or frightening episodes.
Use a chart to record recurring numbers, objects, and tasks, and summarize common folk-tale structures.
Choose two or three tales to compare with fairy tales from your own country and discuss differences in similar motifs across cultures.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What age are these stories suitable for?

Most tales suit independent reading from the upper primary grades; younger children should read with a parent. Traditional tales often include punishment and monsters, so parents may skim first and decide how to tell them, simplifying or skipping sensitive episodes.

Are the stories original folk records or adapted versions?

This is the editor’s retold English version for English-language readers, especially young people; the language is polished but the folk skeleton and motifs remain. For academic research, note that it is a compilation, not a field-recording-style original record.

Can this book teach me Yugoslav history?

No. It is a collection of folk and fairy tales reflecting the imagination and values of oral tradition, not historical fact. For regional history, consult historical works; this book can serve as side reference for cultural atmosphere.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Fillmore, Parker, 1878-1944 Author

Parker Fillmore (1878–1944) was an author best known for collecting and retelling folk and fairy tales; public information about him is limited, and many details of his life remain unknown. Seven of his works are held in this collection, mostly fairy tales and folk tales from Central Eastern and Northern Europe: he compiled a book of Czechoslovak fairy tales and selections of Yugoslav and Finnish folk tales, and wrote storybooks for young readers such as The Laughing Prince and Mighty Mikko. He also produced non-folkloric works including The Rosie World and The Hickory Limb. His method was to retell oral tales in clear, fluent English, preserving their humor and local color so that these legends were accessible to English-language readers, giving him a place of some influence in the field of fairy-tale compilation.