Stories
Quite a few people want to familiarise themselves or their family with the stories represented/referenced in the park before their visit.
While the blue 'Efteling Book of Fairy tales' is not sold outside of the world of the Efteling, it is one of the best resources for this as it mostly contains their versions of the Grimm stories but also some of their own (though not all) like: The Troll King Big Mouth The Gnome Village The Magic Clock The Dragon The Indian Waterlilies The Gardener and the Fakir It also contains many beautiful illustrations by Anton Pieck who designed most of the elements in fairy tale forest. |
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There is also a second official book with more retellings of Grimm's stories which are less relevant.
This book is red and is called 'More Fairy tales from the Efteling' Though it does have: Puss in Boots Wee Walter Messenger Pinocchio The Ugly Duckling Which are somewhat represented in the park. This one does not have illustrations by Anton Pieck. |
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Many of the fairy tales represented in the park are Grimm fairy tales. Some are Hans Christian Andersen and some are originals.
The Efteling books are not easily available in the UK but a good Grimm book should go a long way. One illustrated by Arthur Rackham would be ideal as his style is not dissimilar to Anton Pieck's. Though be aware that unabridged Grimm books are a bit bloody.(Cinderella's sisters cut off parts of their feet to fit into the slipper etc) So if you're not ready for that it can be an unpleasant surprise. These are most of the fairy tales represented in the park so if you do look at abridged ones, try and find one that has most of them: |
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The translation booklet which can be downloaded here might also help
This has translations for whenever a story is told over audio in the Efteling without translation.
This has translations for whenever a story is told over audio in the Efteling without translation.
There is a third official Efteling fairy tale book
'En Ze Leven Nog Lang en Gelukkig' which does have many of the fairy tales represented all over the park not just the ones in the fairy tale forest but unfortunately this book is only available in Dutch. But don't feel too badly as many of the stories in this book are also in the 'Efteling Book of Fairy tales'. For the enthusiast it may still be worth getting for the illustrations. Many of which I believe are original concept designs. You could even use Google translate to read some of the stories. It's not perfect but it's better then you'd expect. Even some of the food places have links to or names from fairy tales and legend and Bosrijk is of course Sandman themed. Polle's Keuken (Polle's Kitchen) - Polle is chef to the king of Symbolica the court which Pardoes serves. Gelaarsde Kat (Puss In Boots) - Lucky Constantino by Giovanni Francesco Straparola Het Witte Paard (The White Horse) - Efteling original Kogeloog (Bullet Eye) - The Six Servants by Grimm Het Wapen van Raveleijn (The Weapon of Raveleijn) - Paul Van Loon, Raveleijn Hoorn Des Overvloeds (Horn Of Plenty) - Greek mythology De Soete Inval (The Sweets Invasion) - Where Hansel & gretel dumped the sweets they took from the witch - Grimm Kashba (Kasbah) - the market where Sinbad traded Nomade (Nomad) - the market where Sinbad traded Frau Boltes Küche (Mrs Boltes Kitchen) - where Max & Moritz stole chickens from Bäckerei Krümel (Bakery Crumb) - where Max & Moritz got baked in bread Uncle Gijs - where Max & Moritz put may bugs in Uncle's bed |
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If you are curious about the Efteling's characters this page has profiles on many of the characters.
Translations of more obscure stories like the story behind the big treasure chest ATM and stories that the Efteling once told on vinyl records such as the one about The Old Peddler (Marskramer) can be found among the many pages of this website. Happy hunting!
Translations of more obscure stories like the story behind the big treasure chest ATM and stories that the Efteling once told on vinyl records such as the one about The Old Peddler (Marskramer) can be found among the many pages of this website. Happy hunting!
