Anthony R. Montalba's 1849 collection gathers twenty-four fairy tales from sources as varied as Danish, Slavonic, Arabic, German, Hebrew, French, Swedish, Polish, Russian, Sanskrit, Betschuanian, Wendian, Norwegian, Norman, and African traditions. The preface explicitly defends such tales against a 'spurious utilitarianism' that had previously dismissed fancy and imagination. Montalba asserts that 'innocent amusement is good for its own sake,' a stance that frames the entire volume as a deliberate counter to didacticism.

The book's structure—a preface, then tales each attributed to a specific language and author—invites readers to compare narrative strategies across cultures. Richard Doyle's twenty-four illustrations further shape the reading experience, though the text itself must be examined for how voice and pacing differ from tale to tale.

A Defensive Preface and Its Implications for Narrative Voice

Montalba's preface is not merely a polite introduction; it is a polemic against what he calls the 'pedantic folly' of judging literature solely by utility. He writes that 'fancy and imagination were told to fold their wings,' a phrasing that personifies creative faculties as creatures forced into submission. This defensive tone suggests that the editor anticipated resistance from readers who might still harbor utilitarian biases. The preface thus sets up an expectation that the tales themselves will be unapologetically fanciful, but the actual narratives vary widely in tone. For instance, 'Eastward of the Sun, and Westward of the Moon' opens with a starkly realistic description of poverty—'so great, that he knew not how to feed them from day to day'—before introducing the supernatural bear. This juxtaposition of hardship and magic may reflect Montalba's effort to show that fairy tales can engage with real-world concerns even as they 'fly into the region of the supernatural.'

Pacing and Dialogue in 'Eastward of the Sun, and Westward of the Moon'

The excerpt from this Norwegian tale illustrates a deliberate, almost leisurely pacing that contrasts with the compressed action of other tales in the collection. The narrative lingers on details: the storm is described as 'dark as pitch, the rain came down in torrents, and the wind blew till the windows cracked again.' The bear's proposal unfolds through a series of polite exchanges—'Good evening to you!' / 'Good evening!'—and the father's consultation with his daughter is given in full. The maiden's initial refusal and eventual consent are narrated without haste, creating a rhythm that emphasizes the weight of the decision. Once she agrees, the journey is described in a single sentence: 'she seated herself on his back, and off they went.' This sudden shift from detailed negotiation to swift departure marks a change in pace that recurs in the tale: long descriptive passages alternate with rapid transitions, a technique that keeps the reader engaged while allowing moments of reflection.

Recurring Motifs and Their Cultural Variations

Several motifs appear across the collection's tales, but their treatment varies by cultural origin. In 'Eastward of the Sun, and Westward of the Moon,' the motif of a supernatural spouse who can only be visited in darkness is handled with a focus on the maiden's curiosity and loneliness. The bear gives her a silver bell and a castle with 'rooms all lighted with lamps, and glittering with gold and silver,' yet the nightly visitor remains unseen. The condition that she must not speak to her mother alone introduces a test of trust. By contrast, the Hebrew tale 'The Two Misers' likely treats a different motif—perhaps greed or deception—with a different narrative voice. Montalba's selection from 'more than a hundred volumes' ensures that motifs such as magical helpers, transformations, and prohibitions appear in multiple forms, allowing readers to compare how different cultures embed moral lessons or psychological insights within similar story structures. The collection thus becomes a comparative study in narrative voice, where pacing and detail shift according to each tale's origin.

Readers approaching this collection should attend to the editorial choices that shape its texture: the preface's defense of fancy, the attribution of each tale to a specific language and author, and the illustrations by Richard Doyle. The tales reward comparison not only of plot but of pacing—how quickly a story moves from crisis to resolution, how much space is given to dialogue versus description. Montalba's claim that none of these tales had been previously translated into English invites a fresh encounter with global folklore, unburdened by familiar retellings. Let the variations in voice guide your reading.