In nearly three dozen MÑrchen--``strange little tales''- -newly translated and illustrated, Alderson mixes the usual suspects--``The Bremen Town Musicians,'' ``The Frog King,'' ``Little Snow White,'' ``The Twelve Dancing Princesses,'' etc.- -with less common entries, such as the gruesome, peculiar ``Fitcher's Bird'' and a variant on ``The Three Sillies'' called ``The Sad Tale of Clever Elsie,'' in which the suitor later repents of his marriage and tricks the foolish girl into running off. The translations are unusually readable; Alderson is formal without being stiff, scattering earthy details (``The Fisherman and His Wife'' begins and ends in a pisspot), and occasionally breaking into evocative dialect, most notably in a cluster of tales called ``Lazy 'Arry; Sunny Jim; and Skinny Lizzie.'' Foreman contributes amusing, Rackhamesque full-color paintings and black-and-white vignettes to the tales, and the collection closes with a brief section of comments and source notes. A nicely balanced, mid-sized gathering. (Folklore. 10+)
