Mother's Nursery Tales by Katharine Pyle

Mother's Nursery Tales is a collection of more than 30 classic fairy tales rewritten and illustrated by Katharine Pyle (1863-1938), a successful artist and younger sister of even more famous Howard Pyle (1853-1911).

The book was published by E. P Dutton & Company, New York, in 1918

It has seven color plates and more than thirty black and white drawings. We'll go through the books with the help of images. Considering the fact that Katharine Pyle was mainly an illustrator and that she shortened all the fairy tales in the collection, it's pretty obvious the images were her main focus in this project as well.

The book was printed in the USA which had a rising market for children's literature at the time but was technically still inferior to the top printing technology in Great Britain and especially in Germany.

CONTENTS

The Sleeping Beauty

Jack and the Bean Stalk

Beauty and the Beast

Jack-the-Giant-Killer

The Three Wishes

The Goose Girl

The Little Old Woman and Her Pig

The White Cat

Brittle-Legs

“I Went Up One Pair of Stairs,” etc.

The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean

The Water-Sprite

[vi]Star Jewels

Sweet Porridge

Chicken-Diddle

A Pack of Ragamuffins

The Frog Prince

The Wolf and the Five Little Goats

The Golden Goose

The Three Spinners

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

The Three Little Pigs

The Golden Key

Mother Hulda

The Six Companions

The Golden Bird

The Nail

Little Red Riding-Hood

Aladdin, or the Magic Lamp

The Cobbler and the Fairies

Cinderella

Jack in Luck

Puss in Boots

The Town Musicians

As you can see it's a mixture of fairy tales and fables from all over the world with titles from the Household Tales by the Brothers Grimm using about half of the space.

Katharine Pyle also wrote a short intro where she presents her belief that god will always defeat evil. And we are ready to go!

The Sleeping Beauty

It's a classic version with the Prince who saves the sleeping princess and an instant ending without further complications.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Jack's trip to the giant's land is the most famous fairy tale from the English-speaking countries.

Beauty and the Beast

We have already noticed that Katharine Pyle decided to focus on the charming and enticing in the stories, not so much on the conflicts. She already skipped the opportunity of portraying a giant above and we can see that her Beast is not terrifying at all.

On the other hand, she obviously enjoyed portraying another prince in a happy ending scene.

Jack the Giant Killer

One of the most bloody stories from the English corpus of fairy tales is not illustrated.

The Three Wishes

This a very good story about wasted wishes. We know it from Perralt's original Mother Goose Tales but is almost forgotten now. Too bad.

The Goose Girl

Probably the most known classic fairy tale about the stolen identity. Not so popular nowadays yet it will be more and more current in the future.

Surprisingly Miss Pyle decided to draw the picture with the dead horse but it doesn't look as scary as the cut-off talking head should, right?

The Little Old Woman and Her Pig

This is a typical cumulative nursery tale about a woman who wants to convince a pig to go over a stile and asks a dog to help, and asks a stick to help, and asks ... The list can go on and on but the main point is that she has to take some action before the sequence of events starts and develops in her favor.

The White Cat

This is a fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy with a very similar plot to the Beauty and the Beast.

Brittle-Legs

Let the title not mislead you, it's a famous story about Rumpelstiltskin.

“I Went Up One Pair of Stairs,” etc.

This is not a story, it's a joke with a lot of repetitions and a goal to trick the listener into convincing something stupid. It's presented in three versions but without illustrations.

The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean

Very well-known story that explains why beans have black stripes down the side.

The Water-Sprite

Water-sprite is a cautionary tale about children who fall into a well and become servants to a water-sprite. They eventually escape.

Star Jewels

This story is also known as Star Money. It's one of Grimm's tales with strong religious connotations.

Sweet Porridge

A poor girl earns a reward with magical powers. A pot with an endless capacity for making delicious porridge.

Not everything goes well but we got a happy ending.

Chicken-Diddle

A humorous story about a chicken who believes that the sky is falling.

A Pack of Ragamuffins

Another funny story, this time about the adventures of the cock and the hen. No illustrations, though.

The Frog Prince

A timeless classic about the importance of a given word.

The princess loses a golden ball and a frog is willing to help. But ...

The Wolf and the Five Little Goats

You probably are already familiar with this fairy tale in variation with seven little kids. This one is no different, except for the number of the kids.

We still can't do without sharp objects.

The Golden Goose

A funny story about a magical goose that you can touch but can't lose.

The Three Spinners

Essentially another version of Rumpelstiltskin.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We are all familiar with this story about an intruder. The illustration is used as a frontispiece of this book.

The Three Little Pigs

There are several variations of this story. It seems today the most popular one ends with all three pigs under the roof of the third one and a hungry wolf but a century ago another version was more common. The wolf eats the first two kids and ends up in the pot of the last one.

The Golden Key

It's an enigmatic tale without an end and traditionally the last story in the complete collection of fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm.

Mother Hulda

Another classic fairy tale about two daughters with the same mission - to serve Mother Hulda.

One does well and the other not so well.

The Six Companions

A soldier is discharged after the war and paid just three silver coins. He decided to get more but needed a few friends to help him.

The Golden Bird

Three princes try to catch a golden bird. One is successful, the other two are jealous.

Fortunately, the good guy has a magical helper and in the end, he gets princes for his wife too.

The Nail

A classic cautionary tale teaches us that often our haste could cost us dearly. No illustration, sorry.

Little Red Riding-Hood

We all know what happens here, don't we? Well, it's a bit different version that we are mostly familiar with. When the girl comes to granny's house, granny is not at home and the wolf is waiting in the bed. But before he eats the girl, a woodcutter enters, kills the beast and everybody survives. Except for the wolf, of course.

Aladin, or the Magical Lamp

A poor boy, an evil magician, naive princes, and two djinns with magical powers guarantee a story whose popularity spans centuries all over the world.

The Cobbler and the Fairies

A cobbler gets unsuspected help and wants to somehow return the favors.

Cinderella

The most popular fairy tale in the world is known in two major versions - by Perrault and by Grimms.

This one has a fairy mother, not the magical tree, so it belongs to the Perrault.

It also ends without blood.

Jack in Luck

Jack is a lucky guy. He worked hard and earned a huge lump of gold. Through a series of trades, he ends with nothing. He still feels lucky!

No illustration for this one, either.

Puss in Boots

Another fairy tale by Charles Perrault. Poor miller's son gets help from a talking cat and soon becomes a king.

The Town Musicians

A group of old animals decide to travel to the city and try to become town musicians. They never get there but find a cottage just perfect for them.

This is the end of the book. All used images are Public Domain, so you can use them for your projects as well. Don't hesitate to tell your friends!