Customer Reviews

The Snake Prince and Other Stories: Burmese Folk Tales (International Folk Tales)

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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THE SNAKE PRINCE is not a book of fairy tales for children, but an enjoyable, serious collection for the adult reader. The stories are spellbinding in themselves; in addition, Edna Ledgard has written a Preface in which she tells of her childhood in Burma in the 1930s when her interest in the traditional Burmese folk tale was whetted. She follows this with a fascinating narrative of the history of Burma and the life of the Burmese people before World War II. To read Edna Ledgard's beautiful prose is pure pleasure: it is clear and lyrical, with brilliant images that bring Burma and its people to the reader's eyes as vividly as a painting.

"High in the jungle trees, shrieks of magpie and lorikeet and the chatterings of the over-excited monkeys cease at last. Instead, night peepers, crickets, and an owl are heard, and in the distance, the cry of a lonely jackal.

Now, at last, perched cross-legged on a platform in the center of the village, the old storyteller begins:

"Listen, oh my children...."

I bought this book for review in a college Southeast Asia class. Having been a fan of Grimm's fairy tales and stories of that type, I found a lot of these retellings familiar in plot. However, the characterizations and behaviors, as well as the settings, provided a distinctively Burmese flavor to the universal stories. With a large historical and cultural overview to start it off, this book provided a good general idea of Southeast Asian culture within and easily understandable and entertaining framework.

A large portion (perhaps 1/4) of the book is the Introduction. The stories are good (not fantastic), but for $15 I would like more stories and less explination. We own the Russian Gypsy Folk Tales book from this series and it is excellent. This book pales in comparison.

Having recently been to Myanmar I was very interested in reading the introductory pages.They are very informative and certainly educate the reader on many aspects of Burmese life.