Rags and Bones: Fairytales for Halloween - in pictures

Figures of Earth ‘…This tale of the pig-keeper and very reluctant hero Manuel is a colourful romp touching on all the finer points of chivalry and heroism. Falling into and out of beds and bedrooms and high adventures and quests at every opportunity, Manuel moulds, as his mother has told him to do, a fine figure of himself from every available material at his disposal.’
Illustration: Charles Vess

Kai Lung’s Golden Hours ‘English author Ernest Bramah wrote several collections of stories that feature his droll storyteller, Kai Lung... They are all set in a China created entirely from Bramah’s own imagination (since he never even visited the country), a misty landscape rife with sly dragons, ferocious bandits, wily mandarins, and beguiling maidens...’
Illustration: Charles Vess

The King of Elfland's Daughter ‘Here the reader finds Alveric, the prince of the Vale of Earl, who is sent by his father, the king, into Elfland so that when he returns it will be with some bit of magic that will enrich the lives of the mundane people who live within the fields we know.’
Illustration: Charles Vess

The Shaving of Shagpal ‘The adventure gives us a heroic barber who seeks to follow the seemingly helpful advice of the sorceress Noorna bin Noorka, and shave the celebrated and revered Shagpat, the son of Shimpoor, the son of Shoolpi, the son of Shullum, “a veritable miracle of hairiness.”’
Illustration: Charles Vess