A Book of Wizards
Encyclopedia
A Book of Wizards is a 1967 anthology of 11 fairy tales from around the world that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders was a prolific British poet and author who was perhaps best known for her series of children's books in which she collected and retold fairy tales from all over the world. All told, she published more than 90 books during her lifetime. The dust jacket for A Book of Giants...

. It is one in a long series of such anthologies by Manning-Sanders.

In the book's foreword, Manning-Sanders writes: "Every country in the world has stories to tell about wizards. There are Red Indian wizards, and Chinese wizards, African wizards, English wizards, Celtic wizards, Greek, Italian, Arabian and Persian wizards. You will even find wizards in the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...

..."

There are tales of good and bad wizards within the book. Of the good ones, the author writes: "The good wizards often go about disguised as poor old beggars, to test men's characters, and find out who has a kind heart and who a hard one." And, of the bad ones, the author writes: "[E]vil-minded wizards, clever as they may be, are never quite clever enough. Some little thing they overlook, and that little thing defeats them. ... And this, of course, is all as it should be; because, as every fairy tale assures us, there is that in evil
Evil
Evil is the violation of, or intent to violate, some moral code. Evil is usually seen as the dualistic opposite of good. Definitions of evil vary along with analysis of its root motive causes, however general actions commonly considered evil include: conscious and deliberate wrongdoing,...

 which brings about its own ruin; and in the fairy tale world, at any rate, wickedness never pays."

This book was first published in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in 1966, by Methuen & Co. Ltd.
Methuen & Co. Ltd.
Methuen Publishing Ltd is a British publishing house. It was founded in 1889 by Sir Algernon Methuen and began publishing in London in 1892. E. V...



Some of tales from this book are recollected in A Choice of Magic
A Choice of Magic
A Choice of Magic is a 1971 anthology of 32 fairy tales from around the world that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders. In fact, the book is mostly a collection of tales published in previous Manning-Sanders anthologies...

(1971) by Manning-Sanders. And some of tales from this book are recollected in Folk and Fairy Tales
Folk and Fairy Tales
Folk and Fairy Tales is a 1978 anthology of 25 fairy tales from around the world that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders. In fact, the book is mostly a collection of tales published in previous Manning-Sanders anthologies...

(1978) by Manning-Sanders.

Table of contents

  • 1. Aniello (Sicily
    Sicily
    Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

    )
  • 2. The Two Wizards (Africa
    Africa
    Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

    )
  • 3. Long, Broad and Sharpsight
    Long, Broad and Sharpsight
    Long, Broad and Sharpsight or Long, Broad, and Quickeye is a Bohemian fairy tale, collected by Louis Léger in Contes Populaires Slaves.Andrew Lang included it in The Grey Fairy Book.A. H...

     (Bohemia
    Bohemia
    Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

    )
  • 4. Gold (Tyrol
    County of Tyrol
    The County of Tyrol, Princely County from 1504, was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1814 a province of the Austrian Empire and from 1867 a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary...

    )
  • 5. Farmer Weathersky
    Farmer Weathersky
    Farmer Weathersky is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in Norske Folkeeventyr.Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book as "Farmer Weatherbeard"....

     (Norse
    Norse mythology
    Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

    )
  • 6. Aladdin
    Aladdin
    Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....

     (Arabia)
i. The Idle Boy
ii. The Underground Palace
iii. The Slave of the Lamp
iv. The Princess
v. New Lamps for Old
vi. The Slave of the Ring
  • 7. Jack and the Wizard (Wales
    Wales
    Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

    )
  • 8. The Silver Penny (Hungary
    Hungary
    Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

    )
  • 9. Kojata (Russia
    Russia
    Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

    )
  • 10. Rich Woman, Poor Woman (Flanders
    Flanders
    Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...

    )
  • 11. Cannetella
    Cannetella
    Cannetella is an Italian literary fairy tale told by Giambattista Basile in his 1634 work, the Pentamerone. Andrew Lang included it in The Grey Fairy Book, as collected by Hermann Kletke....

     (Italy
    Italy
    Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

    )

See also

  • Wizard (fantasy)
    Magician (fantasy)
    A magician, mage, sorcerer, sorceress, wizard, enchanter, enchantress, thaumaturge or a person known under one of many other possible terms is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...

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