Folk tales are a shared genealogy. To read them is to recognize where one story descends from another, to learn the preoccupations of the storytellers and their communities, to make note of universal tales whose concerns are eternal, and to see where trade across borders has shared as many ideas as miles of road. They are a map of what we hold dearest and pass down, and to discover new tales is to piece together long-lost family.
NPR Books reviews The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales and talks about the importance of fairy tales to our shared history.
