A Book of Dragons

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A Book of Dragons is a 1965 anthology of 14 fairy tales from around the world that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It is one in a long series of such anthologies by Manning-Sanders.

In the foreword, Manning-Sanders states that "not all dragons want to gobble up princesses." She thus includes tales of kind and proud dragons, along with the savage ones. Also in the foreword, the author relates a condensed version of Saint George and the Dragon and concludes, "[Y]ou will not find St George and the Dragon among the stories in this book; because this is a book of fairy tales, and the story of St George belongs more properly to legend."

This book was first published in the United Kingdom in 1964, by Methuen & Co. Ltd.

Some of tales from this book are recollected in A Choice of Magic (1971) by Manning-Sanders. And some of tales from this book are recollected in Folk and Fairy Tales (1978) by Manning-Sanders.

Table of contents

1. Constantes and the Dragon (Greece)
2. Chien Tang (China)
3. Stan Bolovan (Romania)
4. My Lord Bag of Rice (Japan)
5. The Nine Doves (Greece)
6. The Yellow Dragon (China)
7. Pepito (Greece)
8. Yanni (Macedonia)
9. The Dragon and His Grandmother (Germany)
10. The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin (Ireland)
11. Baskets in a Little Cart (China)
12. The Prince with the Golden Hand (Slav)
13. The Three Dogs (Germany)
14. The Dragon of the Well (Greece)

See also

Children's literature portal

• Dragon
• Chinese dragon
• European dragon
• Japanese dragon
• Slavic dragon
• List of dragons in mythology and folklore
• List of fictional dragons