Edith M. S. Hodgetts (died 1902) was a Russian-born British writer of

children's stories A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

, folk tales, and

fairy tales A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the Folklore, folklore genre. Such stories typically feature Magic (supernatural), magic, Incantation, e ...

Biography

She was born in Russia, where she spent her childhood, and was god daughter to Michael Nicolaevitch and Sophie Nicolaevna. Later she moved to England. She is best known for her book ''Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar'', a collection of

Russian fairy tales ''Russian Fairy Tales'' (, variously translated; English titles include also ''Russian Folk Tales'') is a collection of nearly 600 fairy and folktales, collected and published by Alexander Afanasyev between 1855 and 1863. The collection cont ...

first published in 1890 in London. It was reprinted in 1891, 1892, 1972, 1974, 1983, 2013, 2015 and 2017. In the introduction to her book, Hodgett says the stories were originally sourced from her childhood - as dictated to her at school and told to her by her nanny and household servants - as well as translated from Russian collections. The book is dedicated:

To their Excellencies Michael Nicolaevitch and Sophie Nicolaevna de Kapoustine, this little book is most affectionately dedicated by the translator, their god-daughter, Edith.

Two of the Russian stories, '' The Blacksmith and the Devil'' and ''The Wonderful Trade,'' were republished in a 2017 anthology called ''The Sorcerer's Apprentice: An Anthology of Magical Tales'' by

Jack Zipes Jack David Zipes (born June 7, 1937) is a literary scholar and author. He is a professor emeritus in the Department of German, Nordic, Slavic and Dutch at the University of Minnesota. Zipes is known for his work on fairy tales, folklore, crit ...

, published by

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

. Other stories include Vaselesa the Beautiful, The Silver Plate and the Transparent Apple, The Soldier and the Demons, The Snow-Maiden,

Jack Frost Jack Frost is a personification of frost, ice, snow, sleet, winter, and freezing cold. He is a variant of Old Man Winter who is held responsible for frosty weather, nipping the fingers and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, a ...

, Ivan and the Chestnut Horse, The Three Kopeks, The Red Flamingoes, The Witch and the Sister of the Sun, Princess Vera the Wise, Count Daniel Nathaniel, The Witch, Mary and Netty, The Robbers, Ivashko and the Witch, Prince Kid-Skin, Want, An Angry Wife, The Lucky Child, The Potter and the Evil Spirit, Princess Grey-Goose, The Grey Wolf and the Golden Cassowary, Starveling, King Vladimir and the Skeleton, The Quick Runner, Honesty and Dishonesty, Foma Berennekoff, The Roguish Peasant, A Hoax, The Wonderful Sailor, Senka the Little, Elie Muromitch, The King of the Sea and Melania the Clever, The Last of the Russian Warriors, "If you don't like it, don't listen, but don't spoil my lies", and The Little Brown Cow. Thirty of the 38 Russian stories in this collection were new to English readers at the time of first publication.

References

Sources

* Hodgetts, Edith M. S. (2005). Alan Hager, Christine L. Krueger, George Stade, and Karen Karbiener. ed. Encyclopedia of British Writers: 16th–20th Centuries (Encyclopedia of World Literature Series). New York: Facts on File.

External links

* Hodgetts, E. M. S. (1891). Tales and legends from the land of the Tzar: a collection of Russian stories tr. from the original Russian. London: Griffith, Farran & Co. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgetts, Edith 1902 deaths Year of birth missing British children's writers British women children's writers Collectors of fairy tales Folklore writers British folklorists British women folklorists Russian folklorists Russian women folklorists Russian children's writers Russian women children's writers Folklorists from the Russian Empire