The Text Gutenberg Project ebook http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/11339 G.K.Chesterton Introduction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._K._Chesterton Gilbert Keith Chesterton (May 29, 1974 - June 14, 1936) was an influential English writer of the early 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy, and detective fiction. Arthur Rackham Illustrator http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/rackhm11.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/rackham.htm&start=2&h=561&w=414&sz=44&tbnid=jQWoPeXXg31AkM:&tbnh=133&tbnw=98&hl=en&um=1&prev=/images%3Fq%3DArthur%2BRackham%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX Arthur Rackham was born in 1867 into a Victorian age that he perpetuated and documented by way of his art. He was one of twelve children. He studied at the City of London School where he won prizes and a reputation for his art. At the age of 18, he became a clerk. It was, after all, a Dickensian world as well, where clerks played a significant role in both fiction and real life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham Major works of Arthur Rackham include the children's books Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (1900), Rip van Winkle (1905), Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906), and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1907) and many others. While he may be best known for his elaborate children's literature illustrations, he also illustrated books for adult readers, e.g., A Midsummer Night's Dream (1908), Undine (1909), The Rhinegold and the Valkyrie (1911) (also known as Das Rheingold), short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, and several fairy tale books. Mappe Malory Sir Thomas Malory (ca. 1405-1471) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Malory Sir Thomas Malory (c. 1405 - March 14, 1471) was the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur. The antiquary John Leland believed him to be Welsh, but most modern scholarship assumes that he was Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel in Warwickshire. The surname appears in various spellings, including Maillorie, Mallory, Mallery, and Maleore. The name comes from the Old French adjective maleüré (from Latin male auguratus) meaning ill-omened or unfortunate. http://www.luminarium.org/medlit/malory.htm Mabinogian Medieval Welsh tales. Pronounced Mabinogion (mɑb-ïn'ɔg-ï-ɔn). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Branches_of_the_Mabinogi The Four Branches of the Mabinogi are the best known tales from the medieval Welsh prose collection known as the Mabinogion. The word "Mabinogi" originally designated only these four tales, which are really parts or "branches" of a single work, rather than the whole collection. The tales contain most of what is recorded of Welsh mythology. Perrault Charls Perrault - Frengh author of fairy tales. http://www.ricochet-jeunes.org/eng/biblio/author/perrault.html Charles Perrault was born in Paris on January 1628. Son of an upper-class burgeois family, he attended the best schools and becomes a lawyer in 1651. He wrote Parall�es des anciens et des modernes (Parallels between the Ancients and the Moderns), 1688-1697, which compared the authors of antiquity unfavorably to modern writers, and became a member of the Academie Fran�ise in 1671. His ideals are made clear in his writings: he critisizes authority and states that progress is possible in both arts and sciences, thus highlighting Louis' superiority over Auguste. His Stories or Tales from Times Past, with Morals: Tales of Mother Goose (1697) gave him great popularity and opened up a new literary genre: fairytale. Among his most famous versions of fairy tales we can find Blue Beard, Sleeping Beauty on the Woods, Little Red Riding Hood, The Master Cat or Puss in Boots, Cinderella, Little Thumb and Donkey Skin. He died in Paris on May 1703. Phrygian Pronunciation: frĭj´ē-ǝn Definition: Of or relating to Phrygia or its people, language, or culture. Crœsus Last king of Lydia (reigned c. 560-546). Pronunciation: krē´sŭs http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9027951/Croesus renowned for his great wealth. He conquered the Greeks of mainland Ionia (on the west coast of Anatolia) and was in turn subjugated by the Persians. Herodotus Herodotus of Halicarnassus - pronunciation: hĭ-rŏd´ǝ-tǝs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodotus a Greek historian from Ionia who lived in the 5th century BC (ca. 484 BC–ca. 425 BC) and is regarded as the "Father of History". Babrius Author of a collection of Aesop's fables written in Greek verse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babrius Practically nothing is known of him. He is supposed to have been a Roman, whose gentile name was possibly Valerius, living in the East, probably in Syria, where the fables seem first to have gained popularity. Balzac Honor�de Balzac (May 20, 1799 - August 18, 1850) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honor�de_Balzac a nineteenth-century French novelist and playwright. His work, much of which is a sequence (or Roman-fleuve) of almost 100 novels and plays collectively entitled La Com�ie humaine, is a broad, often satirical panorama of French society, particularly the petite bourgeoisie, La Fontaine Jean de La Fontaine (July 8, 1621 - April 13, 1695) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_de_la_Fontaine the most famous French fabulist and probably the most widely read French poet of the 17th century. Reynard the Fox http://bestiary.ca/etexts/morley1889/morley1889.htm Reynard the Fox was medieval Europe's trickster figure, a nasty but charistmatic character who was always in trouble but always able to talk his way out of any retribution.