Usborne Illustrated Fables from Around the World

Abstract

This is a physically heavy, padded-cover, book of 256 pages. The cover illustration features a lavish red dragon and a colorful frog perched on a colorful rock. The eighteen stories listed on the beginning T of C, we are told in the prefatory comment, "explain how things came to be." The comment also says that these stories are "known as myths or fables." The stories strike me as a collection of, yes, myths and also pourquoi stories. I would be hard pressed to call any of them a fable. There are many gods and spirits operating in these stories! I do notice a lovely sequence in "The Missing Goddess" (110-127) where LM is nicely integrated into a larger overall story. There is even an excellent Illustration of the mouse sitting on the netted lion's nose (121). One of the book's loveliest features is its vivid use of color in the illustrations. I only wish it were more about fables!