ANDREW LANG'S FAIRY BOOKS


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The Crimson Fairy Book (1903)

Preface

Table of Contents

Online versions:

 

Preface:

Each Fairy Book demands a preface from the Editor, and these introductions are inevitably both monotonous and unavailing. A sense of literary honesty compels the Editor to keep repeating that he is the Editor, and not the author of the Fairy Tales, just as a distinguished man of science is only the Editor, not the Author of Nature. Like nature, popular tales are too vast to be the creation of a single modern mind. The Editor's business is to hunt for collections of these stories told by peasant or savage grandmothers in many climes, from New Caledonia to Zululand; from the frozen snows of the Polar regions to Greece, or Spain, or Italy, or far Lochaber. When the tales are found they are adapted to the needs of British children by various hands, the Editor doing little beyond guarding the interests of propriety, and toning down to mild reproofs the tortures inflicted on wicked stepmothers, and other naughty characters.

These explanations have frequently been offered already; but, as far as ladies and children are concerned, to no purpose. They still ask the Editor how he can invent so many stories--more than Shakespeare, Dumas, and Charles Dickens could have invented in a century. And the Editor still avers, in Prefaces, that he did not invent one of the stories; that nobody knows, as a rule, who invented them, or where, or when. It is only plain that, perhaps a hundred thousand years ago, some savage grandmother told a tale to a savage granddaughter; that the granddaughter told it in her turn; that various tellers made changes to suit their taste, adding or omitting features and incidents; that, as the world grew civilised, other alterations were made, and that, at last, Homer composed the 'Odyssey,' and somebody else composed the Story of Jason and the Fleece of Gold, and the enchantress Medea, out of a set of wandering popular tales, which are still told among Samoyeds and Samoans, Hindoos and Japanese.
All this has been known to the wise and learned for centuries, and especially since the brothers Grimm wrote in the early years of the Nineteenth Century. But children remain unaware of the facts, and so do their dear mothers; whence the Editor infers that they do not read his prefaces, and are not members of the FolkLore Society, or students of Herr Kohler and M. Cosquin, and M. Henri Guidoz and Professor Child, and Mr. Max Muller. Though these explanations are not attended to by the Editor's customers, he makes them once more, for the relief of his conscience. Many tales in this book are translated, or adapted, from those told by mothers and nurses in Hungary; others are familiar to Russian nurseries; the Servians are responsible for some; a rather peculiarly fanciful set of stories are adapted from the Roumanians; others are from the Baltic shores; others from sunny Sicily; a few are from Finland, and Iceland, and Japan, and Tunis, and Portugal. No doubt many children will like to look out these places on the map, and study their mountains, rivers, soil, products, and fiscal policies, in the geography books. The peoples who tell the stories differ in colour; language, religion, and almost everything else; but they all love a nursery tale. The stories have mainly been adapted or translated by Mrs. Lang, a few by Miss Lang and Miss Blackley.

CRIMSON LOVELY ILONKA European. Hungarian. Ungarische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON LUCKY LUCK Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
CRIMSON HAIRY MAN European. Slavic. Russian. Russische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON STORY OF SEVEN SIMONS European. Hungarian. Ungarische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON LANGUAGE OF BEASTS Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
CRIMSON BOY WHO COULD KEEP A SECRET European. Hungarian. Folk Tales of Magyars. VIEW
CRIMSON PRINCE AND DRAGON European. Slavic. Serbian. Volksmärchen der Serben. VIEW
CRIMSON LITTLE WILDROSE European. Romanian. Roumanian (adapted) VIEW
CRIMSON TIIDU THE PIPER European. Estonian. Ehstnische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON PAPERARELLOO European. Italian. Sicilianische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON GIFTS OF MAGICIAN European. Finnish Finnische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON STRONG PRINCE European. Hungarian. Ungarische Volksmärchen. VIEW
CRIMSON TREASURE SEEKER Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
CRIMSON COTTAGER AND HIS CAT European. Icelandic. Islandische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON PRINCE WHO WOULD SEEK IMMORTALITY European. Hungarian. Ungarische Volksmärchen. VIEW
CRIMSON STONE-CUTTER Asian. Japanese. Japanische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON GOLD-BEARDED MAN European. Hungarian. Ungarische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON TRITILL. LITILL. AND THE BIRDS European. Hungarian. Ungarische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON THREE ROBES European. Icelandic. Islandische Märchen. Poestion Wien. VIEW
CRIMSON SIX HUNGRY BEASTS European. Finnish Finnische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON HOW THE BEGGAR BOY TURNED INTO COUNT PIRO European. Italian. Sicilianische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON ROGUE AND HERDSMAN European. Icelandic. Islandische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON EISENKOPF European. Hungarian. Ungarische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON DEATH OF ABU NOWAS AND OF HIS WIFE African. Tunisian. Tunische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON MOTIRATIKA African. Baronga. Junod. VIEW
CRIMSON NIELS AND THE GIANTS Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
CRIMSON SHEPHERD PAUL European. Hungarian. Ungarische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON HOW THE WICKED TANUKI WAS PUNISHED Asian. Japanese. Japanische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON CRAB AND MONKEY Asian. Japanese. Japanische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON HORSE GULLFAXI AND SWORD GUNNFODER European. Icelandic. Islandische Märchen. VIEW
CRIMSON STORY OF SHAM PRINCE. OR AMBITIOUS TAILOR Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
CRIMSON COLONY OF CATS Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
CRIMSON HOW TO FIND OUT A TRUE FRIEND European. Italian. Sicilianische Märchen. Laura Gonzenbach VIEW
CRIMSON CLEVER MARIA European. Portuguese. VIEW
CRIMSON MAGIC KETTLE Asian. Japanese. Japanische Märchen. (adapted) VIEW

Laura Gibbs (laura-gibbs@ou.edu). Date: July 12, 2003 6:45 PM