Way back in 2019, we were delighted to spend an engaging afternoon in London’s Bethnal Green neighborhood visiting the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art and Unnatural History.
Upstairs is an absinthe bar. Downstairs, a basement that promises “the bizarre and the beautiful, including unicorns, mermaids, two-headed lambs, magical soaps, and even skeleton fairies.”
We were not disappointed. And we’ll be going back soon and staying much longer.
Now comes word that the proprietor of this curious museum, Viktor Wynd, has a new book coming out that’s a collection of curious fairy tales he’s collected during his travels around the world.
Dark Fairy Tales: Stories from Around the World (That Are Definitely Not Suitable for Children), published by Prestel, is described as “a wicked trove of trolls, witches, shapeshifters and other curiosities disgusting as they are delightful.”
Which is entirely and somewhat scarily true.
Wynd explains that these frightful and, at times, gruesome tales, which cover everything from the birth of leeches to why mosquitoes are always buzzing in our ears, are not his own creations but his version of some of the wild and traditionally-told stories he heard while visiting Germany, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Borneo and other places in the world.
Open the book if you dare
Most of the titles of the stories in this book seem innocent enough, but heed the “definitely not suitable for children” warning.
Here, for example, is the note that accompanies The Juniper Tree story:
Some people should never, every marry. Some people should never be left alone with someone else's child. This is the story of one of those people; a story of love and loss, death, pain, cannibalism and redemption.
And here’s the note before The Discovery of the Moon:
Scorned by his one true love, a boy cuts a baby out of her mother's tummy and tries to marry her, but she floats away. Will he find her? Will she marry him - and what will the sun have to say about it all?
Adding to the magic and drama of these stories are Transylvanian artist Luciana Nedelera’s pen and ink drawings, which include Viktor Wynd’s Fairy Tale Map of the World, printed on the inside of the front and back covers.
In the book’s final chapter, Wynd outlines why he encourages you to “throw away your television, your Internet, smash your smartphone and make your own entertainment,” by learning and telling stories.
And he shares an 11-point list of how he does it. Which is frightfully well.
*This post contains an affiliate link to the book. If you click and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission.
