"A treasure-trove of living stories, and enormously fun to read. Enjoy!" - Neil Gaiman "Shivery, creepy, melancholy, funny, fantastic and very real . Neil Philip's classic collection offers us an overflowing cauldron of marvellous stories.' - Marina Warner "Collections of folktales as good as this should be bound in gold and brought out on ceremonial occasions as national treasures." - Philip Pullman "The generally admitted and admired glories of English literature rest on a much more neglected popular tradition of story-telling. This collection brings that tradition back to life, in a wonderfully accessible form." - Professor Ronald Hutton 'A book that inspires and informs, and opens hearts and minds to our story heritage.' - Professor Carolyne Larrington "A profound influence on me and Hookland.

" - David Southwell "This is the best collection of English folktales." - Professor Diane Purkiss "A superb anthology of more than one hundred extraordinary tales that reveal the exquisite nature of the English storytelling tradition. This is a dazzling book." - Professor Jack Zipes "Never was a better time for such a knowing, appreciative volume of our shared tales." - Gregory Maguire "An expertly chosen selection of English folktales that is highly readable, endlessly entertaining, and intellectually enlivened. If by some mysterious goblin's spell I was condemned to give away all the books in my library but one, this is undoubtedly the book I would keep." - Professor Andrew Teverson "Buckle up and prepare for close encounters with ghouls and boggarts, witches and merry-maids, talking cats and roaring bulls." - Professor Maria Tatar "A truly beautiful collection of over one hundred English stories .

collated with true wonder and love for the magic of storytelling." - LoveReading, starred book.