Stories jolly: stories new: stories strange & stories true — Inside the Classic

Contrasting Narrative Voices

The anthology's range of authors produces markedly different narrative tones. Fanny Barry's prose in 'The Fountain Angel' is lush and unhurried, with sentences that linger on visual details: the orange trees 'in tubs,' the white benches 'with banks of flowering plants behind them.' This descriptive richness establishes a serene, almost painterly setting. In contrast, the anonymous author of 'The Giant Fishers of Hertzenberg' adopts a boisterous, exaggerated voice. The giant's dialogue is punctuated with multiple exclamation marks and threats: 'I'll kill and stew that cheating rope-maker, I will!' The narrator also inserts wry asides, noting that working himself 'into a towering passion' was 'an amusement that he was very fond of indulging in.' This tonal variety means the reader moves from quiet observation to broad comedy within a few pages.

Pacing Through Physical Description

Pacing shifts noticeably between stories, often controlled by the density of physical description. In 'The Fountain Angel,' the slow accumulation of setting details—the fountain's horn, the fluted shell, the marble basin, the grass, the flower beds, the orange trees—creates a deliberate, almost static opening. Action is deferred. By contrast, 'The Giant Fishers' accelerates through rapid, physical comedy: the giant's head is unscrewed and thrown, his wife is sent 'upstairs to fetch the other one,' and the rope-maker flees 'with a sickly smile and trembling limbs.' The narrative moves quickly from threat to chase to preparation for confrontation. The rope-maker's pre-woven steel-wire rope, 'provided with a slip-knot and a noose,' is introduced as a payoff, tightening the suspense. This variation in descriptive density gives the collection an uneven but engaging rhythm.

Recurring Motifs of Escape and Deception

Several stories share motifs of escape and clever deception. In 'The Giant Fishers,' the prisoner escapes with the giant's wife's help, and the rope-maker has secretly prepared a reinforced rope to protect himself. The giant's two heads—one good-natured, one scowling—literalize the theme of deception: the head 'grumbling away to itself in the drawer' while the other is worn. In 'The Fountain Angel,' the setting itself suggests a kind of escape into beauty. The editor's preface notes that fairy tales were mostly excluded, yet these stories still rely on fantastic elements (a two-headed giant, a child-figure fountain) to explore moral lessons about honesty, courage, and resourcefulness. The rope-maker's 'guilty conscience' and the giant's rage at being cheated reinforce a pattern where deception is punished or outwitted.

Readers may find it useful to note the authors' names as they move through the collection, since the narrative voice and pacing shift dramatically from story to story. The anthology was designed for children aged six to fourteen, and the variety of styles means that some tales may appeal more to younger listeners (the comic giant story) and others to older readers (the descriptive opening of 'The Fountain Angel'). Pay attention to how each author builds suspense or moral lessons through setting and dialogue.