Dutch Fairy Tales, Folktales and Fables

Read Dutch fairy tales and enjoy many happily ever after stories from popular authors like William Elliot Griffis. Jump to full list of Dutch fairy tales

“The Kabouter took the wood and shaped it on the inside.” Illustration by Rachel Robinson Elmer. Published in Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks (1919), Thomas Y. Crowell Co.

Tales of good fairies abound in Dutch folklore. In fact, one would hardly know how the world existed without them! They had their hands in just about every new development and invention. Dutch fairy tales are charming and delightful stories full of interesting cultural facts and traditions from the countries they spring from, namely, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. Quaint colloquialisms are woven into the stories that distinguish them as uniquely Dutch. The smiling face of a happy women is otherwise known as a “penny white,” and cheese and bread at the dinner table very merrily makes it way “down the little red lane,” of a hungry boy’s throat.

William Elliot Griffis popularized these fairy tales as children’s stories across the world with his collection “Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks.” Enter the fairy rings and dance until dawn with these scintillating tales of traditional rural life that intersect with the fantastic world of mythical beings. Dutch fairy tales are joyous stories for children where everyone lives happily ever after.