“A Mothers Tail”. A baby cub pulls on his mother's tail to get attention. Photo location: Masai Mara, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Tori Marsh/National Geographic Photo Contest)

It doesn’t make for the most flattering photoshoot, but there is a reason these zebras at Lewa wildlife conservancy in Kenya in the second decade of August 2025 are stood head to tail: they use their tails to swat flies from each others’ faces. (Photo by Andrew Campbell/Solent News & Photo Agency)

A picture made with a tilt-shift lens shows “Dwarf Empire” cast member 19-year-old Han Zhen Yan posing in her fairy costume backstage outside one of the fairy tale-like houses at the Dwarf Empire theme park outside Kunming, China's Yunnan province, 04 April 2013. The Dwarf Empire theme park opened in mid-2009, employing a number of dwarves to create the show. Depending on what type of job they do at the park, employees earn between 800-2,000 CNY (100-250 Euros) per month, most of which goes towards their savings as lodging is provided, and their living quarters are equipped with kitchens where they prepare their own meals. (Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA)

The tail of a stranded whale is pictured on the beach of De Haan, Belgium on October 25, 2018. (Photo by Francois Lenoi/Reuters)

Vickie Leuenberger (L) practices with a mermaid tail with AquaMermaid founder Marielle Chartier Henault in a pool in Montreal, February 19, 2015. The school teaches kids and adults how to swim wearing mermaid tails, and offers mermaid-themed parties. (Photo by Christinne Muschi/Reuters)

A Thai wildlife department official carries a long-tailed macaque to a cage at a village in Bangkok, Thailand, September 21, 2015. Thai authorities were relocating the long-tailed macaques on Monday to lessen conflicts with the local community. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

The Sugar Plum Fairy, Katherine Free, left, dances with the dog, Pig, during the Birmingham's Ballet “Mutt-cracker”, a rendition of the famous ballet “The Nutcracker”, in Birmingham, Alabama, December 8, 2016. (Photo by Brynn Anderson/AP Photo)

Justin Rowe creates these magical sculptures from hand cut books and found images with the help of just a touch of gum arabic and 24 carat gold or palladium leaf. Some are very much in the realms of fairy stories like the one above, but my favourites are the stories below where Justin’s skill brings the book’s own illustrations to life.