Vol. II: Ten stories from Russia, Ethiopia, Switzerland, China, Norway, India, Finland, Sweden, and the United States. Folktales are among the most resilient types of lore one generation passes to another. Tales we tell today--whether they are cautionary, humorous, or embedded with moral instruction--date back to ancient civilizations. Storyteller, writer, and folktale enthusiast Pleasant DeSpain has an uncanny ear for those tales that transcend particular eras or cultures and have passed into the universal frame of reference. A pioneer of the storytelling renaissance, DeSpain first published some of the tales in these three volumes in the two volume Pleasant Journeys, later repackaged as the two-volume Twenty-Two Splendid Tales to Tell from Around the World. Now DeSpain has thematically arranged selections from the original collection (nine stories are included in each of The Books of Nine Lives) and updated the source notes and bibliographies. Repackaged into affordable digest-sized, kid-friendly readers--with updated pen-and-ink work by artist Don Bell--these three volumes are only the first in DeSpain's "Books of Nine Lives" series.

See also Tales of Tricksters and Tales of Wisdom and Justice. Like any species with extraordinary survival skills, folktales thrive because they are adaptive. DeSpain's adaptations carry his trademark elegance and succinct style.