| kailyn,s book of wizards | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Ruth Manning-Sanders |
| Illustrator | Robin Jacques |
| Cover artist | Robin Jacques |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fairy Tales |
| Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
| Publication date | 1967 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 127 pp |
A Book of Wizards is a 1967 anthology of 11 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 book's foreword, Manning-Sanders writes: "Every country in the world has stories to tell about wizards. There are Red Indian wizards, and Chinese wizards, African wizards, English wizards, Celtic wizards, Greek, Italian, Arabian and Persian wizards. You will even find wizards in the Bible..."
There are tales of good and bad wizards within the book. Of the good ones, the author writes: "The good wizards often go about disguised as poor old beggars, to test men's characters, and find out who has a kind heart and who a hard one." And, of the bad ones, the author writes: "[E]vil-minded wizards, clever as they may be, are never quite clever enough. Some little thing they overlook, and that little thing defeats them. ... And this, of course, is all as it should be; because, as every fairy tale assures us, there is that in evil which brings about its own ruin; and in the fairy tale world, at any rate, wickedness never pays."
This book was first published in the United Kingdom in 1966, 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.