Andrew Lang's Fairy Books

Andrew Lang's Fairy Books — also known as Andrew Lang's "Colored" Fairy Books or Andrew Lang's Fairy Books of Many Colors — are a series of twelve collections of fairy tales, published between 1889 and 1910. In all, 437 tales from a broad range of cultures and countries are presented.

The books are required reading for anyone trying to understand many of the fairy tale references found throughout the official King's Quest games both common and obscure, the King's Quest Companion, and related literature. This article attempts to cover point out and connect many of the references by book.

Roberta Williams mentions in a couple of interviews that she read these books as a young girl, and that they were the inspiration behind Wizard and the Princess and the King's Quest series.

Note that some versions of these stories can also be found within Brother's Grimm collections as well, or other authors such as Hans Christian Andersen.

Background
Andrew Lang (1844–1912) was a Scots poet, novelist, and literary critic. Although he did not collect the stories himself from the oral tradition, the extent of his sources, who had collected them originally — with the notable exception of Madame d'Aulnoy — made the collections immensely influential. Lang gave many of the tales their first appearance in English. As acknowledged in the prefaces, although Lang himself made most of the selections, his wife and other translators did a large portion of the translating and retelling of the actual stories. According to Anita Silvey, "The irony of Lang's life and work is that although he wrote for a profession—literary criticism; fiction; poems; books and articles on anthropology, mythology, history, and travel ... he is best recognized for the works he did not write."[1] Many of the books were illustrated by Henry J. Ford, with Lancelot Speed and G. P. Jacomb-Hood also contributing some illustrations.

Blue Fairy Book

 * Little Red Riding Hood
 * The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood (minor reference in King's Quest: See No Weevil)
 * Cinderella or the Little Glass Slipper (Source of the Fairy Godmother)
 * Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp]]
 * Rumplestiltskin
 * Beauty and the Beast
 * The Forty Thieves
 * Hansel and Gretel
 * The Goose-girl (minor reference in the KQ2 manual)
 * The History of Jack the Giant Killer

Red Fairy Book

 * Jack and the Beanstalk
 * Rapunzel
 * The Ratcatcher (The Piper)

Orange Fairy Book

 * The Ugly Duckling

Green Fairy Book

 * Rosanella (inspired name of Rosella and Valanice, inspired information about fairy shape-shifting)
 * Heart of Ice (source of Genesta)
 * The Enchanted Ring (Ring of invisibility)
 * The Story of the Three Bears
 * Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida (source of Lolotte, and other information on fairies)
 * The White Snake (magical whitesnake)
 * The Story of the Fisherman and his Wife
 * The Three Dogs (a dragon that demands a yearly maiden's sacrifice)

Yellow Fairy Book

 * The Nightingale

Pink Fairy Book

 * The Snow Queen
 * Snowflake