The dwarf's spectacles, and other fairy tales: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
The dwarf's spectacles, and other fairy tales: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
The dwarf's spectacles, and other fairy tales is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Nordau, Max Simon (1849–1923). The listed translation credits are Safford, Mary J. (Mary Joanna) (1842–1916).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
"The dwarf's spectacles, and other fairy tales" by Max Simon Nordau is a collection of fairy tales written in the early 20th century. Framed as gentle bedtime fables for a child, the stories feature animals, toys, and humble folk whose misadventures teach clear moral lessons about kindness, humility, gratitude, and prudence. Expect vignettes about a sorrowing nightingale, a world‑weary fly, a proud doll, grateful sparrows, steadfast glow‑worms, and a country lad named Michel, all rendered with warm, simple charm. The opening of the collection presents a sequence of brief, moral tales: a nightingale loses her brood to a cat, whereupon the rose‑bush grows thorns to protect future nests—and the bird’s song turns forever wistful; Buzz‑Buzz the fly survives winter only to be rejected by heedless youths and drifts into a painless death, underscoring the cycle of life; a girl’s cherished white mouse fears her giant “monster” touch until a fairy lets the child hear the mice speak, teaching that creatures seek their own kind; Aennchen’s grand doll Kunigunde scorns humbler companions and meets a sordid end, a warning against pride; a little girl who feeds sparrows is thrice saved by them—from poisoned sweets, a runaway horse, and even gypsies who abduct her—after which her family honors the birds; six glow‑worms kidnapped to light an owl student’s studies are freed by the very youth, and the meadow revelers rejoice as the owl stops forcing scholarship; and, at the start of the title tale, the honest farmhand Michel is twice swindled on the road, helps a stranded dwarf across a river, receives spectacles that reveal human thoughts, and immediately uses them to avoid undercutting local laborers, who in turn feed and clothe him.
Book and edition facts
- Title: The dwarf's spectacles, and other fairy tales
- Author credits: Nordau, Max Simon (1849–1923)
- Catalogue language: English
- Translator credits: Safford, Mary J. (Mary Joanna) (1842–1916)
Catalogue subjects
- Fairy tales
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Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
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