Charles Folkard's Illustrations for British Fairy and Folk Tales

Charles James Folkard (6 April 1878 – 26 February 1963) was an English illustrator. He worked as a conjuror before becoming a prolific illustrator of children’s books. In 1915, he created Teddy Tail, a popular cartoon character who ran in the Daily Mail newspapers for decades. Folkard is well known for his work on The Arabian Nights, Grimms' Fairy Tales, Aesop's Fables, and Pinocchio. (Wikipedia)

 Charles James Folkard

 Frontispiece

The King of Lochlin's Daughters

" I will do that," said he, and he sent up in the basket, first the three men, and then the king's daughters. The three great men were waiting at the mouth of the hole till they should come up, and they went with them to the king, and told the king that they themselves had done all the daring deeds.

 Fairies of the Downs and Commons

The brighter for that veil around it and above it was the mossy nest over which Teel now stood still. Here it was that the Fairies of the Wood, who stole her, held his little Clary cradled. Here she was sleeping happily, in form not a day older than when she was lost, soothed by singing from a choir of green Wood-Fairies, who were her attendants. But when Teel snatched her up, and fell to kissing her, the Fairies sang :
                                "Playfellow Clary, nice to steal,
                                You must go home with Father Teel.
                                Clary will be our playfellow for good
                                 If father don't leave his Gold Shoes in the wood."

 The Sea-Maiden

It was not long before she saw the beast making for shore. She took a ring off her finger and put it on the lad's. He awoke and went with his sword and his dog to meet the beast. What spluttering and splashing between them ! The dog was doing all he might, and the king's daughter was palsied with fear of the noise of the beast. They would now be under, and now above. At last he cut off one of the heads. The dragon gave one roar, and the son of earth, Echo of the rocks, called to his screech, and he drove the loch into fury from end to end, then in a twinkling went out of sight.
"Good luck and victory were following thee, lad !" said the princess. "I am safe for one night, but the beast will come again, and forever, until the other two heads come off him"

The Magic Mackerel

Music had been his sole refreshment in the intervals of work. A good-natured Siren used to bring her harp and sing with him. Sometimes, when she meant soon to come back, her harp had been left in a corner of his cave. There it was at that moment, ready to be touched, and the exulting Mackerel, taking it between his feet, swept his two thousand fingers through its many strings. Then music such as no ten-fingeredcreature ever made, brought all the Sirens to his door.

The Battle of the Birds

At the heat of day the giant's daughter felt her father's breath burning her back. "Put thy finger in the filly's ear, and throw behind thee whatever thou findest in it." He got a splinter of grey stone, and in a twinkling there were twenty miles, by breadth and height, of great grey rock behind them. The giant came full pelt, but past the rock he couldnot go.
" The tricks of my own daughter are the hardest things that ever met me," said the giant ...

 Melilot

 Melilot with her three wonderful neighbours, Dock, Dodder, and Squill, hopping arm in arm behind her, and getting a good hold on the stones with their web feet, began to climb the mountain. Rain still poured out fo the sky; runlets flooded their path, and the great cataract roared by their side.

Silver Tassels

Flying half round the world to escape being again waylaid and engaged in conversation for the rest of his life, Splug travelled in half a day to the Court of the Cockatoos, and stood before Teasel as she was combing out the Queen Cockatoo's crest.
"What, Splug !" she cried, " and with a thimble on your head !"
"Never mind that. Answer me quickly. Did you not work once at a girdle with two silver tassels ?"
The Queen Cockatoo gave a wild scream that brought King Cockatoo and half his army to her rescue.

The Chicken Market

 Ben Ody is Resolved on Carrying his Chickens to a Pretty Market

 Once upon a time there was a rustic whose name was Ben Ody, and he knew more of what is in an egg than that it is something good to eat. He understood how one thing comes out of another. Ben Ody, when he had no more sense than the rest of the world, kept fowls; and when he grew to be so wise, he had been carrying his chickens to a pretty market.