ANDREW LANG'S FAIRY BOOKS

The Blue Fairy Book (1889)

Preface Table of Contents Online versions: Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library (illustrated) Classic Reader Gutenberg Online Literature Baldwin Project (illustrated)

Preface:

TO ELSPETH ANGELA CAMPBELL

PREFACE

THE TALES in this volume are intended for children, who will like, it is hoped, the old stories that have pleased so many generations.

The tales of Perrault are printed from the old English version of the eighteenth century.

The stories from the Cabinet des Fées and from Madame d'Aulnoy are translated, or rather adapted, by Miss Minnie Wright, who has also, by M. Henri Carnoy's kind permission, rendered "The Bronze Ring" from his Traditions Populaires de l'Asie Mineure (Maisonneuve, Paris, 1889).

The stories from Grimm are translated by Miss May Sellar; another from the German by Miss Sylvia Hunt; the Norse tales are a version by Mrs. Alfred Hunt; "The Terrible Head" is adapted from Apollodorus, Simonides, and Pindar by the Editor; Miss Violet Hunt condensed "Aladdin"; Miss May Kendall did the same for Gulliver's Travels; "The Fairy Paribanou" is abridged from the old English translation of Galland.

Messrs. Chambers have kindly allowed us to reprint "The Red Etin" and "The Black Bull of Norroway" from Mr. Robert Chambers' Popular Traditions of Scotland.

"Dick Whittington" is from the chap book edited by Mr. Gomme and Mr. Wheatley for the Villon Society; "Jack the Giant-Killer" is from a chap book, but a good version of this old favourite is hard to procure.