Giveaway: Perrault’s Complete Fairy Tales

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The Los Angeles Times writes: “Perrault was an iconoclast, a rebel against the tyranny of classical education in the 17th century, who set out to prove that myths based on European folk tales could have as enduring and profound an appeal as the stories of the Greeks and Romans. A new translation of his little book, by Christopher Betts, proves him triumphantly right about that.”

In this beautiful gift edition (including 26 illustrations by Gustave Dore, an attractive ribbon marker, and colorful end papers) are the fairy tales of Perrault: “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood”, “Bluebeard”, “Puss in Boots.” Also included is the notorious “Donkey-Skin,” often just left out of nineteenth-century editions. Includes appendices on related tales and selected variants, bibliography, chronology, and notes. Simply lovely!

We are Wonders & Marvels are offering three copies of Oxford University Press’ The Complete Fairy Tales by Charles Perrault for our giveaway. To enter, just enter a comment in response to today’s nonsensical question: “In ‘Cinderella,’ a pumpkin is famously transformed into a coach. What other magical use can you think of for a pumpkin?” Please enter by 11:59 PM, Eastern Standard Time, December 22, 2009. Sorry, at this time books cannot be shipped outside of the U.S. Good luck!

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30 Comments - Leave a comment!
  • http://theviewfromsarisworld.blogspot.com sari

    Every Thanksgiving my mother magically turns two pumpkins into wonderful pies. Eating her pumpkin cheesecake pie is all the magic I need. But if I had to pick I would say a pumpkin can be turned into a hot air balloon with enough magic left over to take me to medieval Ireland.

  • http://hayleyelavik.blogspot.com Hayley E. Lavik

    It’s just killing me that there are so many fabulous giveaways this week and I can’t enter for any of them. Great job offering so many excellent books, though!

  • http://thetruebookaddict.blogspot.com/ Michelle Miller/the true book addict

    A pumpkin could magically be turned into a cute little house for the mice in Cinderella (Disney version…LOL!).

    Thanks :)

  • http://giveawayroundup.blogspot.com/ Sheila

    I think, since it is Christmas, that a giant leftover pumpkin from Halloween is magically turned into a Santa’s sleigh on Christmas eve, to deliver all the presents to the good little boys and girls of the world.

  • Kriti

    I bet you could make an awesome pumpkin cannon. That would be a formidable weapon. Magically.

  • Callie

    The pumpkin could be magically transformed into a dainty tea kettle, which magically produces spicy cinnamon pumpkin tea. The leaves and vines could also be changed into teacups, plates, and saucers.

  • Anne

    Pumpkins in general have so much personality, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if one of these years, one of them turned itself into my new best friend.

  • Breiab

    I used to work with a lady that made awesome pumpkin cake and cookies.

  • laura

    A mouse zeppelin! OK, maybe more of a hot air balloon, given the shape, but mouse zeppelin sounds better…

  • http://theviewfromsarisworld.blogspot.com sari

    Laura, yes a mouse zeppelin sounds awesome!
    Callie, I like your idea. I was just thinking of making some tea as it is very cold this morning.

  • Sarah Emmerson

    I think a pumpkin would make a great basketball, given that they are both orange and round.

    Please enter me in this giveaway!

  • Urbano

    I think that if you had wife and couldn’t keep her,
    You could put her in a Pumpkin Shell,
    And there you’d keep her very well.

  • http://lifeandtimesofanewnewyorker.blogspot.com Amanda

    I was going to say an balloon that could pick you up up and away! But then I saw someone already said that. Sooo…I would say an underwater submarine that lets you explore the deep underwater ocean and seas.

    Thanks!

  • http://cleerysalley.blogspot.com/ Donell C.

    How about a magic fishbowl that keeps your goldfish alive?

  • http://www.wondersandmarvels.com Editor

    Balloons (and a zeppelin) seem popular — airborne pumpkins! All terrific comments. Can’t wait to see more.

  • Rene’ Nilsson

    It could be made into an adorable pumpkin cottage… Though once those seeds sprout, you have an instant housing development, and once some of the other fairy-tale creatures move in, the neighborhood just goes downhill.

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  • Lindsey

    A magical pumpkin library for all these great giveaway books! =)

  • http://fairytalenewsblog.blogspot.com/ Gypsy Thornton

    That flame-like orange would be a perfect place to hold a rascally fire-elemental captive and out of harm’s ways for a while. They could dance around and feed on the innards of their temporary quarters (making your abode smell delicious with a safe, warm glow in the meantime), the colors boosting their energy and not dampening their spirits until it was time for them to move on as will o’ the wisps in the dark of the night… hang on. Little glowing fire-prisons that make you want to eat pie? That sounds like Halloween! :D

  • http://kjankowski.blogspot.com Kathryn Jankowski

    Enchant it so it’s always full of pumpkin pudding and place it in the town square for all to partake.

  • Alex Cigale

    A pumpkin is kin to a pump, of course. It’s contents are under great pressure and when it is left to grow and grow and grow, it explodes. The seeds then, when they scatter, may even lacerate bystanders, so that it is nature’s EID, or explosive incendiary device, hence it’s second use when disarmed, as a lamp. A straw, when inserted in one may, by means of a slow leak, be used to inflate humps.

    (Puzzle: What am I?)

    A week later
    splattered pumpkins
    litter the street.

  • http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/ Gaby @ Starting Fresh

    A magical pumpkin can be turned into a musical gourds. The sound of the magic pumpkin gourd would encourage plants to grow and increase the harvest, calm fierce animals (and angry people), and promote a sense of well being.

    If the owner of the magical pumpkin isn’t musically inclined, the pumpkin can be cut open, its seeds roasted and the magic ingested during troubled times. One seed would give magical power for at least a month, the power would manifest itself differently for each person – some might be able to control the elements (water, fire, air, wood, earth, stone), some might have unusual strength or sensitivity, some might have remarkably increased intelligence or skills, some might stop time or become invisible – the ways are endless. The other parts of the magical pumpkin could be made into a paste/salve that would heal any wound or disfiguration or cooked as a pudding or pie and any sick person who ate the magic pumpkin would suddenly recover and live an unnaturally long life, a strong person might live forever.

    Thank you for this entry!
    gaby317nyc at gmail dot com

  • http://www.tarotbyarwen.com Arwen

    I think a magical pumpkin would be handy if it cranked out perfect pumpkin pies every time you tapped a leaf.

    Can you tell I’m hungry?

  • Rachel W.

    I still think jack-o-lanterns are the best use for pumpkins!

    Thanks for the giveaway!!

  • Penny Klein

    Thank You for this blog. It brings back some nice memories of my
    childhood. Maybe one day I will read this book and go back there in my imagination.

    Penny

  • http://atravelerslibrary.com Vera Marie Badertscher

    When a little girl went to pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, one looked very sad. She picked it up carefully, and it said, kiss me and I will turn into a prince. She kissed the pumpkin and lo and behold a prince stood before her. She rushed him off to the dermatologist to do something about his horrid orange complexion before they lived happily ever after.

  • Suzanne

    In my town Pumpkins are used as “invisibility squash”. Naked runners put carved pumpkins over their heads and run down the main street on Halloween rendering them “invisible” to the police and photographers trying to identify them.

  • Alissa Barvina

    A pumpkin that would tie its tendrils to the ends of my eyelashes, and grow in the form of my dreams while I slept.

  • David

    I’ve seem just about every part of the pumpkin used. The innards are used to make pie, the shells are decoratively carved, and the seeds are roasted into a tasty treat. I’ve also recently discovered pumpkin beer, which is sort of like alchemy…
    I imagine one could use a pumpkin for divination by cracking it open and examining the patterns in the seeds and innards.

  • http://alternate-parallel.blogspot.com Swati

    How about a pumpking?