Epic stories of love, adventure, and resilience featuring LGBTQ+ narratives and heroes, published as a collection of queer classics for the first time. These are the fairy tales that history forgot—or concealed. Ten tales in which gender is fluid and where queer stories can have a happy ending. Some are rare examples of LGBTQ+ folklore, like “The Dog and the Sailor,” which features a male protagonist who meets his own handsome prince. These stories include folklore from Europe, Asia, and the African savanna. Vibrant illustrations from an international group of artists enhance the multicultural identities showcased here, including artists from India, Germany, Cape Verde, Russia, Canada, China, and more. They remind readers that folk tales are our tales, and invite them to be whoever they want to be. Researcher Pete Jordi Wood has combed through generations of history to collect and adapt these ten unforgettable stories celebrating LGBTQ+ themes and characters. This title is already included on the Puffin Classics list, indicating its importance in preserving the ancient folklore of queer histories. “This accessible, joyful sampling is both entertaining and educational, and a provocative springboard from which readers will be compelled to seek out more queer literature.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review “A creative and insightful achievement in folktale adaptation.”—Kirkus “A unique offering that gives the LGBTQIA+ community the representation they deserve in folk literature and a nice addition to folkand fairy-tale collections.” —Kirkus Reviews Pete Jordi Wood is a British author, illustrator, and screenwriter who describes himself as a “fairy tale detective.” He is based in Cornwall in the United Kingdom. A long time ago in the Dahomey Kingdom, many years before the country of Benin was founded, there stood a vast city in the western savannah. Its walls stretched one hundred miles, each brick cast in bronze. The city was ruled by the young King Dadase, who took the throne when he was just eighteen, upon the death of his father. His days were now filled with public engagements and meetings with his advisors, amidst endless schooling from his strict teachers. His lessons were held in a tower that overlooked the city, and during them Dadase often found himself staring out of the windows into the streets, where boys and girls his own age smiled and joked together. Dadase wished he could join them, just for a day, to have some fun and forget the responsibility he had inherited with his title. And so one morning Dadase decided to venture out beyond the palace gates in disguise. He had noticed that when the cook came to work he brought with him a beige robe into which he changed to pray. So Dadase removed his fine jewelry and went to the kitchens in search of it. The cook was outside in the courtyard, busying himself plucking a chicken. Dadase found the robe neatly folded on a shelf, and hurriedly removed his elegant embroidered tunic. Pulling the robe over his head, he stared at his reflection in one of the silver dishes and smiled; he looked no longer like a king but an ordinary man. Bowing his head, and careful not to look the guards in the eye, Dadase quietly left the palace and stepped barefoot into the dusty streets of the world beyond. He headed to the market, which he had long yearned to visit. Within a labyrinth of alleyways, its traders hawked their treasures. Dadase breathed in the sweet scents of this wondrous place. Laid out before him were pyramids of pineapples and baskets of cashews, yams, and corn. An old man roasted chicken on a spit as a queue of customers licked their lips in anticipation of their first bite. Of course, Dadase was no stranger to the rich and varied flavors of his kingdom. Every evening he dined on the very finest cuts of meat and the freshest vegetables and spices that the cook had gathered for his meal. But he had never set foot in the market himself. As Dadase turned a corner and saw a girl in the market, he immediately fell in love with her. Many great rulers had brought their daughters to the kingdom in the hope that Dadase would take one of them as his wife. He had met some of the most beautiful women in the world, dressed in the most splendid clothes, their hands and necks heavy with the weight of jewels. And yet the girl in the market, who had no rings on her fingers and not a single thread of silk in her headscarf, had qualities no other possessed: a sparkle in her eyes, a smile that illuminated the shady corner in which she sat, and a laugh that made him laugh ­too . . . for the first time in forever. The girl, the same age as Dadase, sat upon a step, her legs crossed in front of her as she called to passersby to sample her grandmother’s delicious peanut sauce. After just a spoonful, her customers eagerly bought jars to take home with them. Dadase approached the girl and placed some gold coins at her feet, offering to buy every single jar she had brough