Czech Folk Tales

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 183K words
Chapters: 19

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.Czech Folk Tales by Josef BaudišAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: GR: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Folklore, Release Date: Jul 17, 2016

Editor's review

This is a collection of Czech folk tales edited by Josef Baudiš, released by Project Gutenberg as an English electronic edition; it is a documentary work of folklore and folk literature. Its value lies not in ornate narrative technique but in preserving a body of Czech oral tradition that can be compared and retold, letting readers see how beliefs, taboos, humor, and moral lessons of Central European village life are woven into stories. For those who enjoy folk tales, comparative literature, or Eastern European culture, it is plain but reliable primary material. No need to pursue narrative continuity; it is better dipped into as a short-story collection, noting recurring motifs and character types and the local color preserved by the translator or editor in language transfer. As a public-domain e-book, its layout and notes are plain, so readers need to build their own background framework. Overall, it suits as supplementary reading for an introduction to folklore, not as an illustrated storybook for children.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in Czech or Central European folk literature
Students and researchers in folklore and comparative literature
Writers or storytellers needing short story material
Readers who like public-domain e-books and are comfortable reading English

Not a good fit for

Parents expecting a richly illustrated book suitable for young children
Researchers needing systematic scholarly annotation and detailed background research
Readers who only read Chinese and are not used to English originals

Reading tips

Read the contents first, pick three to five short tales to sense the narrative style, then decide whether to read through.
Keep a notebook to record recurring motifs and character types for cross-comparison.
For research, compare with other Slavic folk tale collections to observe variants of the same motif.
Treat it as bedtime or commute reading, one or two tales at a time.

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

Is this book in English or Czech?

According to Project Gutenberg records, the book's language is English; it is an English translation or edited selection of Czech folk tales, with the original stories from Czech oral tradition.

Is it suitable as a bedtime story for children?

Not really for reading aloud directly. Folk tales often contain violence, punishment, or supernatural elements, and the English is difficult for young children; parents should screen and adapt them first.

Does this book have scholarly annotations?

As a public-domain e-book, its layout and notes are plain; it mainly provides the story texts themselves without systematic scholarly research or detailed background notes, so researchers need to supplement materials themselves.

Comments

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About the author

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Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.