The Animal Story Book

What It's About

The Animal Story Book is an anthology gathered and edited by Andrew Lang as a companion volume to his popular Fairy Book series, first published in 1896. Rather than fairy tales, it collects true anecdotes, fables, and literary retellings about animals from around the world, drawing on sources ranging from Pliny to Théophile Gautier, many of them translated for this volume by Lang's wife, Leonora Blanche Lang. The stories cover a wide range of creatures, domestic and wild alike, including dogs, cats, lions, wolves, parrots, and dolphins, and mix tales of loyal pets and tamed wild animals with straightforward natural history sketches and hunting narratives.

Key Concepts

Running through the collection are themes of animal loyalty, intelligence, and the bond between animals and the humans who care for them. Some stories carry a moral in the tradition of the fable, while others are presented as simple factual accounts of remarkable animal behaviour, reflecting Victorian curiosity about the natural world alongside its taste for sentimental and adventurous storytelling.

About the Author

Andrew Lang (1844–1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and folklorist, born in Selkirk and educated at St Andrews and Balliol College, Oxford. He is best remembered today as a prolific collector and editor of folk and fairy tales.