A collection of six Polish folktales, culled from various sources by Virginia Haviland, whose Favorite Fairy Tales series, begun with Favorite Fairy Tales Told in England in 1959, eventually grew to include sixteen volumes. This entry in the series, with illustrations by Felix Hoffman, includes:

About the Hedgehog Who Became Prince, in which a strange hedgehog-boy saves the king, wins the hand of the princess, and breaks the enchantment placed upon him by Jendza the Witch. This story was taken from Elsie Byrde's Polish Fairy Book, published in 1927.

The Jolly Tailor Who Became King, in which Mr. Nitechka the tailor sets out to fulfill a gypsy's prophecy, and, together with his scarecrow companion, saves the town of Pacanow from its troubles. Married to the princess as his reward, Nitechka becomes King, and appoints the scarecrow "Great Warden of the Kingdom." This selection was taken from Lucia Borski's The Jolly Tailor and Other Fairy Tales Translated from the Polish.

Krencipal and Krencipalka, in which a hapless couple wanders about, finding all that they need, eventually driving a goblin out of his cottage in the wood. This tale was also taken from Byrde's Polish Fairy Book.

The Lark, the Wolf and the Fox, in which a wolf saves the lark's young from a mole, in return for a fine meal, all he can drink, and some entertainment. But the fox, jealous of the wolf's good fortune, decides to play a trick... This story was taken from Lucia Borski's The Gypsy and the Bear and Other Tales Translated from the Polish.

About Jan the Prince, Princess Wonderface, and the Flamebird, in which Prince Jan wins the Falmebird, Golden Mane the horse, and the beautiful Princess Wonderface, all with the help of the wind-wolf. Fairy-tale lovers will immediately recognize this story, a Polish variant of the more well-known Russian tale, The Tale of Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire-bird and Grey Wolf. This variant is taken from Byrde's Polish Fairy Book.

And finally, The Jester Who Fooled A King, in which Matenko the jester finds a way to trick the king into providing for him and his wife, in their old age. This selection was taken from The Master Wizard and Other Polish Tales by Josephine B. Bernhard and E. Frances Le Valley.

I enjoyed this collection - my first from Haviland - although I occasionally found the text somewhat stilted. I understand that these tales were simplified for younger readers, making me want to read them in the original. Perhaps I will hunt down the source-books Haviland used. This was pleasant enough, but I advise contemporary readers looking for an introduction to Polish folklore to try the more recent The Dragon of Krakow and Other Polish Stories. ( )

This novel is a collection of old fairy tales that originated in Poland. As with most fairy tales, there is a lesson to be learned in each of them. ( )