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The Birds and Beasts and the Carpenter
Anonymous · 1885 · Fantasy, Children's & Fable
A frightened duck reaches an island and opens a chain of fables about counsel, trust, cunning, appetite, and the dangerous art of believing too quickly. This illustrated LitLab edition presents the tale as a self-contained world of birds, beasts, humans, maps, scenes, recaps, and story medallions.
Inside this edition
Every LitLab edition is illustrated from the text itself — the world of the book mapped, its people drawn, its scenes staged. 37 plates are open to everyone in this book; here are 8 of them.
This edition
- Title
- The Birds and Beasts and the Carpenter
- Author
- Anonymous
- First published
- 1885
- Illustrated plates
- 69 original artworks · 37 open to everyone
- Chapters
- 12 · about 18,924 words
- Reading time
- 1 h 16 min
- Language
- EN
- Formats
- Read online · EPUB and PDF download with a subscription
- Publisher
- LitLab — The Illustrated Classics
- On LitLab since
- September 2026
- Rights
- Text in the public domain. Illustrations and edition © LitLab.
- Source text
- Project Gutenberg #52564
Neighbours in the library
Chosen by what they share with The Birds and Beasts and the Carpenter — the same genre.
The Wonderful Wizard of OzFantasy · 1900s
Alice's Adventures in WonderlandFantasy · 1860s
Abu Mohammed Lazybones and Other Court TalesFantasy · 1880s
Ala al-Din Abu al-ShamatFantasy · 1880s
Hatim of Tayy and Other Tales of Generosity and AdventureFantasy · 1880s
King Omar bin al-Nu'uman and His SonsFantasy · 1880s