Maria Tatar, ’10 Lesser-Known Fairy Tales That Should Get More Love’

Some of these tales I had heard of; others not, and my curiosity has been strongly stirred. The expert on folklore Maria Tatar gives a precis here of a variety of vivid tales from Italy, Japan, West Africa, and elsewhere that exemplify the richness and strangeness of the genre. The Red Riding Hood variant, ‘Uncle Wolf’, from Italo Calvino’s collection is an unexpected take on a familiar motif, as is Basile’s disturbing version of the ‘Cinderella’ tale.