This is an excellent book for anyone studying fairy tales- Luthi explains a number of key features of the fairy tale clearly and illustrates them with bits of tales from around the world. The only thing I didn't like was when he went into this whole snob-and-a-half thing about how "primative peoples are so far behind because they have animal stories instead of our refined local legends and fairy tales." I was just about ready to put the book down at that part, but I kept reading, and I felt like Luthi missed some points about his "primative peoples'" tale. I also thought the last chapter, where he rants about the miracle in literature was a waste of time. ( )