In the late 19th century, Scottish poet, novelist and literary critic Andrew Lang - along with his wife Leonora Blanche Alleyne - began collecting tall tales, fairy stories and mythological fables from around the world and publishing them in a series of color-coded books - the "Rainbow" Fairy Books - that would become best-sellers for the next century.

Drawing from various cultures and translated from numerous languages, the stories feature characters from Norse mythology, French fairy tales, Portuguese bedtime stories and dozens of other sources and offer origin stories for many familiar classics, from Rumplestiltskin to Snow White, Rapunzel to Jack and the Beanstalk and many more.

Presented here is the couple's most famous collection: The Red Fairy Book, containing more than three dozen of these children's classics. It is presented here in its original and unabridged format.