The Islands of Magic: Legends, Folk and Fairy Tales from the Azores
Azorean Folk Tales, Portuguese Fairy Legends, and Atlantic Island EnchantmentsBy Elsie Spicer Eells
Length4h 20m
About this audiobook
The Islands of Magic gathers legends, folk narratives, and fairy tales from the Azores, presenting the archipelago as a richly imaginative meeting place of Atlantic, Iberian, and insular traditions. Eells preserves stories of enchantment, supernatural intervention, heroic trials, transformed beings, and encounters between the human and otherworldly realms, while allowing their distinctive local atmosphere to remain visible. Her literary style combines folkloric clarity with the narrative momentum of literary retelling: the tales are accessible to general readers, yet retain the motifs, repetitions, moral structures, and communal imagination characteristic of oral tradition. The collection consequently belongs both to the study of comparative folklore and to the early twentieth-century tradition of bringing regional storytelling into English literary culture. Elsie Spicer Eells was an American writer, translator, and collector of folklore whose work reflects the period's growing scholarly and popular interest in preserving vernacular traditions. Her attention to the Azores is significant: rather than treating folklore as the property of celebrated national centers, she foregrounds an island culture shaped by migration, Catholic belief, maritime isolation, and sustained contact with neighboring worlds. The book's purpose is therefore not merely decorative; it records cultural memory while interpreting the imaginative structures through which communities explain fate, danger, desire, and the marvelous. Readers interested in folklore, fairy-tale history, Atlantic cultures, and comparative literature will find The Islands of Magic especially rewarding. It offers both the pleasure of compelling storytelling and an illuminating record of Azorean narrative heritage. Eells's collection is recommended to anyone seeking a thoughtful, historically situated encounter with the persistence and adaptability of oral tradition.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.8 (108)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, LibraryThing
GenreLiterary Classics
Length4 hrs 20 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateNov 26, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1A Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle (Annotated)
2Nothing but the Sea, Sky and Rock
3The Story of the Origin of the Azores
4King Graywhite struck his royal sword against the great wall
5Another Story of the Origin of the Islands
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6She could not hold them all
7The Story of the Dogs' Dinner Party
8"Will somebody please pass the pepper?"
9The Story of Three Friends
10The three friends journeyed on together
11The Story of the King's Laborer and His Wages
12"Table, set yourself," said the man
13The Story of the Girl Who Did Not Like To Be Pretty
14She quietly stole out of the house
15The Story of a Clever Youth and a Foolish One
16The two rabbits came running up to him
17The Story of a Sharp Lad and a Sharper
18He buried it halfway in the sand
19The Story the Lame Old Women Told
20The two old women, the princess, the king and queen, and all the courtiers followed
21The Story of a Boy who Learned His Lessons in School
22The horse had changed into a kernel of corn
23The Story of Antonia who became a King's Page
24He climbed up the high wall of the palace
25The Story of a Maid's Choice
26"Oh, stone from my garden wall," she was saying
27The Story of a Robber Who was Outwitted
28They were big and heavy, but her great fear gave her strength
29The Story of How He Helped His Father
30He saw the quantities of gold
31The Story of a Water-nymph and an Island Lad
32"Take me home as fast as you can!"
33The Story of a Prince's Quest
34Then he sorrowfully returned to his waiting ship
35The Story of a King and His Fate
36The Story of How Honoria Kept Her Promise
37"We never have looked so neat and clean"
38The Story of the Trouble Which Came to Him
39The miller and his wife were the most surprised people in the whole country
40The Story of a Boy Who Grew Up in the Forest
41He frowned down at José
42The Story of Euphemia and Her Good Deeds
43The Story of the Bird of Good Luck
44A Story of the Bird Who Walks Humbly
45A Story of Why She Stays Outside
46"Alms! Alms!"
47A Story of Good St. Anthony
48Pedro lifted the two great jars and slowly climbed up the hill
49The Story of a Man Who Outfitted Another
50The Story of a Maid Who Was Betrothed to One She Trusted
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