Andrew Lang's Fairy Books

Andrew Lang's Fairy Books — also known as Andrew Lang's "Coloured" 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 from the British author Andrew Lang. 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 the references to the books.

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. In fact Andrew Lang pulled from these sources.

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

• Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess (see KQ7, twentieth year must look towards marriage)
• Little Red Riding Hood (Little Red, Grandmother, and the Wolf)
• 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 in KQ1, and also Wicked Stepmother (KQ6), and influences on Beauty's story (KQ6).
• Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (see KQ2)
• Rumplestiltskin (The Old Gnome in KQ1, KQ3, and KQ5, and some influences on Valanice's backstory)
• Beauty and the Beast (KQ6)
• The Forty Thieves (Desert Temple and the Endless Desert bandits. see KQ5.)
• Hansel and Gretel (Woodcutter and his Wife, the Gingerbread House, the witch Dahlia, see KQ1)
• The Goose-girl (minor reference in the KQ2 manual)
• The History of Jack the Giant Killer (KQ1, mostly related to Jack and the Beanstalk style tales, and Companion)
• The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou (Telescope, Magic Carpet, Magic Fruit)
• The Princess on the Glass Hill (Glass Mountains, see King's Quest: Kingdom of Sorrow)
• Snow-White and Rose-Red (The Dwarf thief, see KQ1/KQ2)

Red Fairy Book

• Jack and the Beanstalk (Beanstalk, Magic Beans, Cloud giant/Ogre and his Wife, and Jack the Englishman, see KQ1 and KQ4)
• Rapunzel (Alicia, Herbert, & Witch of the Dark Forest, as well as Hagatha and Valanice in KQ2, and birth of twin boy and girl in KQ3)
• The Ratcatcher (The Piper)
• The Enchanted Ring (KQ1: Ring of invisibility)
• Farmer Weathersky (evil wizard enslaves boy, slave-boy defeats evil wizard by turning magic back upon him through transformation spells, see KQ3 (Gwydion/Alexander), and Wizard and the Princess)
• The Story of Sigurd (a sword named Gram, a classic knight vs dragon story, a hoarding dwarf, involves the "Danes" (which Daventry name originated), and a magic ring, could have inspired a number of elements of KQ1) Also contains references to 'serpent's venom'.
• Snowdrop is a variation on Snow White. See magic mirror, Huntsman, poison, etc.
• The Death of Koshchei the Deathless. See Baba Yaga.
• Princess Mayblossom (see KQ7, 20th year and marriage)

Green Fairy Book

• Rosanella (inspired name of Rosella and Valanice, inspired information about fairy shape-shifting)
• Heart of Ice (source of Genesta)
• The Story of the Three Bears (Goldilocks, and the Three Bears, porridge)
• Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida (source of Lolotte, and other information on fairies, see KQ4 and Companion. Kingdom of the Green Lands)
• The White Snake (magical whitesnake, see KQ5, Tree of Life with Golden Apple see KQ4)
• The Story of the Fisherman and his Wife (Fisherman & his Wife in KQ4)
• The Three Dogs (a dragon that demands a yearly maiden's sacrifice, king’s daughter is the latest victim, see KQ3)
• The Three Little Pigs (appears in King's Quest reboot, another variation on The Wolf)
• Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla (another Ring of invisibility)
• Sylvain and Jocosa/The Yellow Bird (High Court of Etheria)

Yellow Fairy Book

• The Little Green Frog (See KQ2): A summary of this story appears in Companion. Prince sees a girl in magic mirror and falls in love with her. A reflection of a mirror within the mirror helps him find her.
• The Dragon of the North (see KQ2): General idea of dragon coming from the north, destroying land as it comes.
• The Nightingale (See KQ2, KQ6, Companion)
• The Glass Mountain (Glass Mountains, see King's Quest: Kingdom of Sorrow)
• The Yellow Dwarf (see KQ2, evil dwarf living inside a tree).

Pink Fairy Book

• The Snow Queen (See KQ5)
• Snowflake (See KQ5)

Violet Fairy Book

• The History of Dwarf Long Nose (brief reference to Haroun alRaschid, see Companion)
• The Fairy of the Dawn (this is the source of the 'bridle being tossed onto an enchanted' creature puzzle, along with some of Andrew Lang's or others' books on Greek mythology, see Pegasus and Leather Bridle)

In the same story is a flying horse the first of the Welwa who tasks him to kill a dragon/worm in the air with his sword and sheaf the sword before he lands (likely the inspiration for the Magic sword in KQ2). The story has several dragons including a Three-headed Dragon (plus even dragons with even more heads, seven and twelve).

Crimson Fairy Book

• The Language of the Beasts (King of the Snakes).
• The Gifts of the Magician (also talks about throwing bridles on a horse).
• The Treasuere Seeker (magic-chest filled with unlimited treasure/gold)

Orange Fairy Book

• The Magic Mirror (a story about a mirror that grants all wishes, and is a king's precious treasure, which he loses. Magic mirrors are common in fairy tales).
• The Magic Book (magicians servant, boy disobeys magician's rule, finds magic book to learn forbidden magic/shapeshifting, boy runs away from wizard, any number of influences on both KQ3 see Gwydion/The Sorcerery of Old, and KQ5, see Iconomancy . This is another magic bridle story (see KQ2), this time a horse (the boy) turns into a dove when the bridle is removed)
• The Rover of the Plain - General idea of poisoned porridge.
• The Story of Hassebu - King of the Snakes.
• The Language of Beasts - Understanding the Language of Creatures

Olive Fairy Book

• The Story of Zoulvisia: Nothing particularly special but this Armenian folk tale has 'poisonous snakes' in it.
• The Snake Prince: 'Poisonous snakes' and a "Queen of the Snakes" (See King of the Snakes).

Lilac Fairy Book

• The Hoodie-Crow: Hill of Poison, covered with Poison Brambles/Poisoned Brambles (KQ2).

Behind the scenes

Some stories referenced by the fan games might also appear in some of these books or others. Such as a version of the Ugly Duckling appearing in the Orange fairy book.