Floating Prince and Other Fairy Tales

Frank R. Stockton brought an inventor's imagination and a prankster's glee to the fairy tale form, and this 1893 collection showcases his finest original fantastics. Here princes float mid-air, pirates negotiate with wizards, and nothing proceeds quite the way a reader expects. Stockton, best known for the notorious ending of "The Lady, or the Tiger?" , infuses each tale with gentle subversion and quiet astonishment. The stories possess the logic of dreams: internally consistent, surprising at every turn, and strangely satisfying. These are not Brothers Grimm darkness or Disney enchantment, but something distinctively American and Victorian: witty, surprising, and utterly unlike any fairy tale you've read before. Perfect for readers who loved "The Phantom Tollbooth" or Roald Dahl's more mischievous work, these tales reward anyone seeking stories that refuse to go where they should.