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Places to find texts of stories. Currently this site provides bibliographies and links to original sources. If members obtain texts of stories not already available elsewhere, that can be published without infringing authors' rights, they may be added here.

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Texts of stories

All of these are links to collections of full-text sources of stories available on the Internet. Most of them are significant, and older, collections of primary documents. All these works are in the public domain.

Aesop's Fables
Several different sources.
Aesopica
The full text of thousands of the fables in Greek, English, and other languages. Includes a search engine to find specific fables. Source: Myth and Folklore Web site.
Aesop's Fables
Brief tellings of some of the fables. Source: MIT English Server.
Aesop's Fables
Brief tellings of more than 300 fables. Source: University of Virginia Electronic Text Center.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson, 1832­98). Carroll's works are modern original stories, but often fit well into storytelling venues. Source: MIT English Server.
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen, 1805-1875. Andersen's works are well known, but they are modern original stories rather than folk tales. Many are morality teachings about his own culture and politics. Two sources:
Andersen's Fairy Tales and Stories
Source: Zwi Har'El.
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Source: Project Gutenberg.
Arabian Nights Entertainments, The
compiled by Andrew Lang, 1844-1912. This is Lang's extract and compilation for children. Project Gutenberg also has volumes 3 through 12 of the full Arabian Nights. Source: Project Gutenberg.
Beowulf
Source: MIT English Server.
Bulfinch's Mythology
Thomas Bulfinch, 1863. Source: Bob Fisher.
Cinderella
The Cinderella Project
Multiple versions of Cinderella published between 1729 and 1912. Source: University of Southern Mississippi.
Variations on the Story Cinderella
Source: David Brown, University of Calgary.
Fairy Books
The series of compilations by Andrew Lang, 1844-1912.
The Blue Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Brown Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Crimson Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Green Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Grey Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Lilac Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Orange Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Pink Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Red Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Violet Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
The Yellow Fairy Book
Source: Project Gutenberg.
Text and Indexes to Andrew Lang's Fairy Books
Laura Gibbs. Source: Myth and Folklore Web site.
Good Stories for Great Holidays
Frances Jenkins Olcott 1914. Folktales, myths, and historical stories. Source: University of Virginia Electronic Text Center.
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. First published 1812. Source: Project Gutenberg.
Indian Legends, Old
Zitkala-Sa [aka Gertrude Simmons Bonnin] 1901. Stories of Iktomi and other legends of the Dakotas. Source: University of Virginia Electronic Text Center.
Irish Fairy Tales
James Stephens, 1882-1950. Source: Project Gutenberg.
Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant-Killer Project, The
Multiple versions of the story. Source: University of Southern Mississippi.
Japanese Fairy Tales
Ozaki, Yei Theodora. Source: Project Gutenberg.
Little Red Riding Hood Project, The
Multiple versions of the story. Source: University of Southern Mississippi.
Ninteenth-Century German Stories
Source: Virginia Commonwealth University Foreign Language Department.
Scottish Folktales
Source: Dalriada Celtic Heritage Society gopher server.
Sioux, Myths and Legends of the
Marie McLaughlin 1916. Source: University of Virginia Electronic Text Center.
Snow White
Multiple versions of the story. Source: Rutgers University.
Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson, 1832­98). Carroll's works are modern original stories, but often fit well into storytelling venues. Source: MIT English Server.
Uncle Remus, His Songs and Sayings
Joel Chandler Harris. Source: Project Gutenberg.
Verne's Stories
Jules Verne (1828­1905). Verne's works are well known, but they are modern original stories rather than folk tales. Source: Zwi Har'El.
Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
This is a collection of hundreds of texts of individual stories, indexed by story type. Source: University of Pittsburgh
SurLaLune Fairy Tales
A comparative study of 27 fairy tales, including full texts of hundreds of versions and variants.
Tales of Wonder
Archive of story texts by Richard Darsie. Source: Richard Darsie

Sources for these Collections

Carnegie Mellon University
MIT English Server
Myth and Folklore Web site
Project Gutenberg
Rutgers University
SurLaLune Fairy Tales
David Brown's Stories and Folk Tales page at University of Calgary
University of Southern Mississippi
University of Pittsburgh Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
University of Virginia Electronic Text Center
Virginia Commonwealth University Foreign Languages Department

About this Document

This document was originally assembled by Glenn Holliday. His comments follow:

I found all of the information in this document by searching, and accumulated some of it over a long time. Though one of the pleasures of storytelling is oral tradition, there is also great value in the invention of writing. Similarly, though one of the pleasures of reading is a good library, there is also great value in the invention of the Internet. I compiled this list of links while many miles away from a good library.