Outfoxing Fear: Folktales from Around the World

“Kathleen Ragan is a contemporary Scheherazade.”―Jack Zipes

Humans of all eras and cultures have lived with fear―whether fear of becoming jaguar prey, of being besieged by Vikings, or of nuclear holocaust. For millennia we have created folktales to help us transform this fear into action, into a solution, into hope. Kathleen Ragan, editor of the anthology Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters, scoured the globe and collected these sixty-three tales that respond to fear in its wide variety of incarnations. From the old Japanese woman who tricks the tengu monster to the bluebird who uses the Chinook Wind to teach her mother compassion, Outfoxing Fear is a "satisfyingly pointed and ingenious" (Kirkus Reviews) collection of positive, even utopian, folktales arranged thematically around topics such as the nature of fear and courage and the importance of laughter.