Karel Capek wrote novels, short stories, essays, and plays in a number of different genres. This is his book of fairy tales, and it has the same casual, rambling, humanistic feeling as many of his other stories and novels. The main problem I had with this one was that some of the stories were too sweet – too-happy endings, Jesus-y figures. I guess that’s to be expected with fairy tales. The rambling tangents and daily Czech life with ordinary people running into the supernatural were entertaining though.

The first story “The Great Cat’s Tale” is a long one and has a very long tangent where the princess believes her cat is stolen and there’s a big chase but it turns out that the cat was somewhere else. The first part of the story is an amusing bit with an old woman outwitting the king, and the depiction of the cat-dog friendship is fun as well. However, this one definitely has its too-sappy moments.

In “The Dog’s Tale” Peanut the dog sees some fairy dogs, but the descriptions of his early life are the best part. Capek wrote another book about cats and dogs – his affectionate familiarity is in this story and the first one.

“The Bird’s Tale” reminded me a bit of his play “The Insect Play”, about anthropomorphic insects, although here they are anthropomorphic birds.

The two robbers’ stories are amusingly twisty – the first has the narrator’s great-grandfather finding himself in a sticky situation with a gang of robbers, the second is an ironic tale of the head thief’s son, who was brought up to be a courteous gentleman and who finds it difficult taking over the family business.

“The Tramp’s Tale” is a quixotic story about a man who is wrongly accused and a shaggy dog explanation.

Stories about the police, the mailman and doctors have nymphs, water sprites, dragons and others running into everyday problems and running up against bureaucracy. ( )

A delightful collection of stories that brighten the mind and are sure to lighten any mood. In this book fantasy is spoken of in such a way that it is simply a reality. Elves, goblins and ghosts, as in all good fairy tales are real and the reader doesn't need to be convinced, they simply know that it makes perfect sense for creatures of fantasy to work in a post office after hours and be able to play cards with the envelopes.

Each story is beautifully written and is full of charm and combines modern with the past in such a way that the stories almost have a time of their own. I literally could not bring myself to put the book down and read each tale, one after the other. My only warning to readers would be not to misjudge this book as being a collection of unrelated stories that you can set aside at the end of an adventure, because like with chips, it's impossible to have just one. ( )

Book Description: Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1990. As New. in As New dj. Illustrated by Josef Capek. First Edition. 8vo - 8" Tall. 252 pages. Blue cloth. A fine, clean, sturdy copy