Is there any reference for this one? I'm planning to do a routine where you bring your audience in a world of fairy tales. I mean some effects and stories that will make them feel like a child again, thus believing in fairies and candies.

Great idea.

Grim's Fairy Tales....pick up a copy of that collection.

You won't regret it.

You may be interested in Sheherazade as well. It has some excellent stories and some nice effects to go along with them. The first part of the book is fairy tales and then moves onto to darker tales and some great mentalism.

Hope this helps on your journey.

Take Care.

Look for Once Upon a Time by Punx.

Dave

As far as stories are concerned there are many, but I'd suggest you look for the reprints of what were known as the Blue, Red, Green & Yellow Fairy Tale books of the early 20th century. These are the original fairy tale format in which the wolf wins, the dogs die, and other such displays of the macabre that were modified in latter editions (so as to sate the demands of a passifist public.) Believe me, many of those little fairies were vicious little dudes!

There is a book (I don't recall the accurate title) that includes a fairly strong compilation of Irish lore about the little people as well. I think it was something about the Celtic Fairy Faith and it's a "anthropological" styled work.

As to effects... well, I've found that getting familiar with the stories and having a fetile imagination will lead one down the right path. Try to stay away from commercial systems or else find ways to modify them so as to meet your needs... making them more "original" if you would. This is the secret of the adept storyteller, who allows the magic to be secondary, serving more as a "special effect" vs. the chief focus.

On the topic of Grimms'. Those two brothers put forth the stuff of Bizarre way before many of us were gleams in our great grandsire's eyes.
Do be sure to READ some of the un-adulterated and Disneyfied versions, it is not pretty stuff. If you want the fun fairies, then use those Red, Blue fairy books, but if you want the bizarre, then hit the Grimm's, and some of the various books on the folktales of Ireland, or other countries that were "converted" early on, their friendly pookas and helpers were turned to demons and minions of the great evil.

Grimm's fairy tales were definitely early Bizarre! Red Riding Hood was eaten by the wolf at the end but the woodsman came in and cut her out of the wolf's belly.

Cool...

Aesop's Fables, some of my favorite literature and almost everyone is familiar with them.

Get a copy of Eddy Lenihan wonderful book: “Meeting the Other Crowd”, or Henry Glassie “Irish Folk Tales”.

There are a million stories there to work with.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det......v=glance

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/det......v=glance

I second the idea about Punx. His books ,if you can find them, make for magical reading.

The color fairy tale books are available from Dover at very reasonable prices. There is a variety of stuff in them from original folk tales to full blown literary adaptations. (Abielle by Anatole France is one of my favorites)

I think all of the original Grimm's can be found online.

Also, don't forget Andersen and Wilde for some great stories.

Finally, read Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens for some interesting fairy lore. This is not the famous Peter Pan story, but part of another collection that tells how Peter Pan came to the fairy world. There's some very cool ideas here. One of my favorites is the idea that all babies speak the language of fairies, but as they get older, they loose the ability and can eventually only speak human.

There is an abundance of fairy stories all throughout the late 19th and early 20th century. A lot of people during this time took fairies pretty seriously and believed they were real. Arthur Conan Doyle very much believed in fairies and if you can find a copy of his father's journals, you will see he also believed in them also.

Good luck,
Richard

Don't forget the Silver Fairy book (and the gold one). The first story is a text by French actress Sarah Bernhard, and totally adaptable to a routine...

IF you want magic, look to our literature.

If you want theatrical works, look to the theater.

If you want tricks/routines/presentations... then you may as well wallow in the magiK shoppppee

Ha ha! That made me laugh long and hard.