The Lady or the Tiger and Other Stories - Frank Stockton

I had assumed "The Lady or the Tiger" was written in the Middle Ages, but apparently it was written in the mid-1800s by Frank Stockton. Who also wrote an equally ambiguously ending sequel called "The Discourager of Hesitancy". 

So this is a collection of 11 stories Stockton wrote over his life, most of them involving magical creatures and people alternately behaving stupidly or nobly. The three stories involving his fairy character, Ting-a-ling most require every other character to be a complete moron, but they're absurd enough to be silly.

Most of the stories seem written for schoolkids, so they have some sort of moral. Appreciate how good you have it, don't complain about having to do a little work, don't keep expecting someone else to take care of your problems, that sort of thing.

A little of that goes a long way, but he occasionally shows a level of nuance to it that keeps it from being too irritating. "The Sisters Three and the Kilmaree" is actually about three guys who want to reach an island with three sisters on it, but a Fairy Godmother deposits them on an island of mythical creatures to "work the nonsense out of them", as she puts it. One of the three is a smart man, but has been content to farm his vegetable garden in his little village to provide for his mother and sister. I was getting annoyed reading it, the implication he was wrong for squandering his talent, but the Godmother acknowledges he got lighter treatment (he got to read a lot of books about other places and ideas) than the other two because he had still been working hard to provide for his family. There's still the implication he owes it to humanity to use his gifts whether he it's what makes him happy or not, but it's at least tempered by the acknowledgement there are other considerations.

Stockton ends a couple of stories by killing off magical creatures that feature prominently, even if they weren't doing any harm. Which didn't make a lot of sense. Didn't really seem like a thread that needed to be tied off, but perhaps he wanted to assure the children there were no griffins running around who would might eat people a couple of times a year.

"There need be no trouble about that," said the Ninkum, "I can build a room, right here, on this side of the house. I never work," he said to Jorn, "but I hate idleness. So what I want is to go into partnership with a person who will work - an industrious person like you. Then my conscience will be at ease. Please agree as quickly as you can, for it's beginning to grow dark, and I hate to walk in the dark."