"No end to her loveliness..."

This is a book of old fairy tale illustrations from Dover Publications. Dover is a great source for unusual and inexpensive art books. Most are copyright free. The drawings and paintings in this one go back to the days when a simple picture book could keep kids engrossed for hours. No wonder--some of the plates are downright creepy and mature enough for the grown-up reading aloud. The stories aren't pretty, and each has a heavy lesson. Most have a happy ending, but not always. The purpose of fairy tales was to entertain and educate.

In 1910 Reginald Knowles illustrated a book of grim old Norse fairy tales. Between Nook freebie downloads and the Internet, I easily found the obscure stories that match up with the illustrations in my new picture book. Such is the wonderful world we live in now.

These just are the first lines of the tales with Knowle's illustrations. All you need is a dark imagination to fill in the story...

"East o' the Sun, West o' the Moon"

Once upon a time there was a poor peasant who had so many children that he did not have enough of either food or clothing to give them. Pretty children they all were, but the prettiest was the youngest daughter, who was so lovely there was no end to her loveliness.

One day -- it was on a Thursday evening late in the fall -- the weather was wild and rough outside, and it was cruelly dark. The rain was falling and the wind blowing, until the walls of the cottage shook. They were all sitting around the fire busy with this thing and that. Then all at once something gave three taps on the window. The father went out to see what was the matter. Outside, what should he see but a great big white bear.

"Good evening to you," said the white bear.

"The same to you," said the man.

"Will you give me your youngest daughter? If you will, I'll make you as rich as you are now poor," said the bear.

"Princess on the Glass Hill"

The King of the country had a daughter whom he would give to no one who could not ride up to the top of the glass hill, for there was a high, high hill of glass, slippery as ice, and it was close to the King's palace. Upon the very top of this the King's daughter was to sit with three gold apples in her lap, and the man who could ride up and take the three golden apples should marry her, and have half the kingdom. The King had this proclaimed in every church in the whole kingdom, and in many other kingdoms too. The Princess was very beautiful, and all who saw her fell violently in love with her, even in spite of themselves.

"Three Princesses of Whiteland"

There was once upon a time a fisherman, who lived hard by a palace and fished for the King's table. One day he was out fishing, but caught nothing at all. Let him do what he might with rod and line, there was never even so much as a sprat on his hook; but when the day was well nigh over, a head rose up out of the water, and said:

"If you will give me what your wife shows you when you go home, you shall catch fish enough."