What is the theme in Favorite Folktales from Around the World by Jane Yolen?

Life and death make up the major themes of tyhese stories. There is a constant reminder of the theme of life and death in the many different stories gathered in this book. The many stages of life are looked at in the section titled "The Very Young and The Very Old." There is often a view of how people change and the similarities that people encounter between their youth and their very old age. There are many stories that look at the beginning of life and what their individual culture has to say on the subject of the way that life begins. There are some stories that seem to lessen the value of life while others seem to put a very high value on it.