ANDREW LANG'S FAIRY BOOKS


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The Yellow Fairy Book (1894)

 

Preface

Table of Contents

Online versions:

Preface:

Dedication
TO
JOAN, TODDLES, AND TINY

Books Yellow, Red, and Green and Blue,
All true, or just as good as true,
And here's the Yellow Book for you!

Hard is the path from A to Z,
And puzzling to a curly head,
Yet leads to Books -- Green, Blue, and Red

For every child should understand
That letters from the first were planned
To guide us into Fairy Land

So labour at your Alphabet,
For by that learning shall you get
To lands where Fairies may be met.

And going where this pathway goes,
You too, at last, may find, who knows?
The Garden of the Singing Rose.

THE Editor thinks that children will readily forgive him for publishing another Fairy Book. We have had the Blue, the Red, the Green, and here is the Yellow. If children are pleased, and they are so kind as to say that they are pleased, the Editor does not care very much for what other people may say. Now, there is one gentleman who seems to think that it is not quite right to print so many fairy tales, with pictures, and to publish them in red and blue covers. He is named Mr. G. Laurence Gomme, and he is president of a learned body called the Folk Lore Society. Once a year he makes his address to his subjects, of whom the Editor is one, and Mr. Joseph Jacobs (who has published many delightful fairy tales with pretty pictures)1 is another. Fancy, then, the dismay of Mr. Jacobs, and of the Editor, when they heard their president say that he did not think it very nice in them to publish fairy books, above all, red, green, and blue fairy books! They said that they did not see any harm in it, and they were ready to `put themselves on their country,' and be tried by a jury of children. And, indeed, they still see no harm in what they have done; nay, like Father William in the poem, they are ready `to do it again and again.' Where is the harm? The truth is that the Folk Lore Society -- made up of the most clever, learned, and beautiful men and women of the country -- is fond of studying the history and geography of Fairy Land. This is contained in very old tales, such as country people tell, and savages:

`Little Sioux and little Crow,
Little frosty Eskimo.'

These people are thought to know most about fairyland and its inhabitants. But, in the Yellow Fairy Book, and the rest, are many tales by persons who are neither savages nor rustics, such as Madame D'Aulnoy and Herr Hans Christian Andersen. The Folk Lore Society, or its president, say that their tales are not so true as the rest, and should not be published with the rest. But we say that all the stories which are pleasant to read are quite true enough for us; so here they are, with pictures by Mr. Ford, and we do not think that either the pictures or the stories are likely to mislead children.

As to whether there are really any fairies or not, that is a difficult question. Professor Huxley thinks there are none. The Editor never saw any himself, but he knows several people who have seen them -- in the Highlands -- and heard their music. If ever you are in Nether Lochaber, go to the Fairy Hill, and you may hear the music yourself, as grown-up people have done, but you must go on a fine day. Again, if there are really no fairies, why do people believe in them, all over the world? The ancient Greeks believed, so did the old Egyptians, and the Hindoos, and the Red Indians, and is it likely, if there are no fairies, that so many different peoples would have seen and heard them? The Rev. Mr. Baring-Gould saw several fairies when he was a boy, and was travelling in the land of the Troubadours. For these reasons, the Editor thinks that there are certainly fairies, but they never do anyone any harm; and, in England, they have been frightened away by smoke and schoolmasters. As to Giants, they have died out, but real Dwarfs are common in the forests of Africa. Probably a good many stories not perfectly true have been told about fairies, but such stories have also been told about Napoleon, Claverhouse, Julius Cæsar, and Joan of Arc, all of whom certainly existed. A wise child will, therefore, remember that, if he grows up and becomes a member of the Folk Lore Society, all the tales in this book were not offered to him as absolutely truthful, but were printed merely for his entertainment. The exact facts he can learn later, or he can leave them alone.

There are Russian, German, French, Icelandic, Red Indian, and other stories here. They were translated by Miss Cheape, Miss Alma, and Miss Thyra Alleyne, Miss Sellar, Mr. Craigie (he did the Icelandic tales), Miss Blackley, Mrs. Dent, and Mrs. Lang, but the Red Indian stories are copied from English versions published by the Smithsonian Bureau of Ethnology, in America. Mr. Ford did the pictures, and it is hoped that children will find the book not less pleasing than those which have already been submitted to their consideration. The Editor cannot say `good-bye' without advising them, as they pursue their studies, to read The Rose and the Ring, by the late Mr. Thackeray, with pictures by the author. This book he thinks quite indispensable in every child's library, and parents should be urged to purchase it at the first opportunity, as without it no education is complete.

[1] You may buy them from Mr. Nutt, in the Strand.

YELLOW CAT AND MOUSE IN PARTNERSHIP Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW SIX SWANS Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW DRAGON OF NORTH European. Estonian. Ehstnische Märchen. Der Norlands Drache. Kreutzwald. VIEW
YELLOW STORY OF THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES European. Danish. Hans Christian Andersen VIEW
YELLOW GOLDEN CRAB European. Greek. Schmidt. Griechische Märchen. Prinz Krebs VIEW
YELLOW IRON STOVE European. German. Grimm. VIEW
YELLOW DRAGON AND HIS GRANDMOTHER Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW DONKEY CABBAGE Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW LITTLE GREEN FROG European. French. Cabinet des Fées VIEW
YELLOW SEVEN-HEADED SERPENT European. Greek. Schmidt. Griechische Märchen. Siebenkopfige Schlange VIEW
YELLOW GRATEFUL BEASTS European. Hungarian. Kletke. VIEW
YELLOW GIANTS AND HERD-BOY European. Bukowniaer. Von Wliolocki. VIEW
YELLOW INVISIBLE PRINCE Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW CROW European. Slavic. Polish. Kletke. VIEW
YELLOW HOW SIX MEN TRAVELLED THROUGH THE WIDE WORLD Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW WIZARD KING European. French. Fees illustres. VIEW
YELLOW NIXY European. German. Kletke. VIEW
YELLOW GLASS MOUNTAIN European. Slavic. Polish. Kletke. VIEW
YELLOW ALPHEGE. OR THE GREEN MONKEY Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW FAIRER-THAN-A-FAIRY Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW THREE BROTHERS European. Slavic. Polish. Kletke. VIEW
YELLOW BOY AND WOLVES. OR BROKEN PROMISE American. Native American. North American Indian story VIEW
YELLOW GLASS AXE European. Hungarian. Kletke. VIEW
YELLOW DEAD WIFE American. Native American. Iroquois. VIEW
YELLOW IN THE LAND OF SOULS American. Native American. VIEW
YELLOW WHITE DUCK Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW WITCH AND HER SERVANTS European. Slavic. Russian. Kletke. VIEW
YELLOW MAGIC RING Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW FLOWER QUEEN'S DAUGHTER European. Bukowinaer. Von Wliolocki. VIEW
YELLOW FLYING SHIP European. Slavic. Russian. VIEW
YELLOW SNOW-DAUGHTER AND FIRE-SON European. Bukowinaer Tales and Legends. Von Wliolocki. VIEW
YELLOW STORY OF KING FROST European. Slavic. Russian. VIEW
YELLOW DEATH OF SUN-HERO European. Bukowinaer Tales and Legends. Von Wliolocki. VIEW
YELLOW WITCH European. Slavic. Russian. VIEW
YELLOW HAZEL-NUT CHILD European. Bukowniaer. Van Wliolocki. VIEW
YELLOW STORY OF BIG KLAUS AND LITTLE KLAUS Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW PRINCE RING European. Icelandic. VIEW
YELLOW SWINEHERD Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW HOW TO TELL A TRUE PRINCESS Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW BLUE MOUNTAINS Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW TINDER-BOX Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW WITCH IN STONE BOAT European. Icelandic. VIEW
YELLOW THUMBELINA Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW NIGHTINGALE Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW HERMOD AND HADVOR European. Icelandic. VIEW
YELLOW STEADFAST TIN-SOLDIER Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW BLOCKHEAD-HANS Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW
YELLOW STORY ABOUT A DARNING-NEEDLE Unknown. (without bibliography by Lang) VIEW

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