The book of elves and fairies for story-telling and reading aloud and for the children's own reading

Front matter

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Foreword

Let a child open the covers of this book, and straightway he is in that land of all delights — Fairy Realm. Here Fairy Godmothers reward good children, and punish bad ones; here redcapped Little Men yield up their treasures of gold and magic gifts, while Pixies drop silver pennies in water-pails, and merry Spriggans and Fays hold nightly revels in the moonlight. Here, too, a child may dance in Fairy Rings, or hie away to Elfinland for a year and a day to play with wonder-children, pick Fairy flowers, listen to Fairy birds, and be fed on magic goodies.

Old favourites like “‘Cinderella,” “Toads and Diamonds,” and “Robin Goodfellow,” may charm the little reader, or other delightful tales, new to most children, such as “‘Butterfly’s Diamond” and “Timothy Tuttle and the Little Imps,” will fascinate as much as do the older tales. Stories are here from all lands where Fairies thrive — Elfin-lore, legends, myths, and wonder-tales from China, Japan, the South Seas, England, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, and Red Indian land, and from many other Elfin-haunted spots.

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And every story is about “‘Fairies black, grey, green, and white,” and every one has been selected for delightful humour, fancy, or ethical teaching. Nearly all have been retold to meet the needs of story-tellers and to please the children. As far as possible the language of the originals has been retained and elements that will] terrify little children or teach them that wrong is right, have been eliminated. The French tales — all but one — have been freshly translated.

A subject index is appended to aid the storyteller in choosing stories dealing with specific subjects, such as fruits, flowers, seasons, holidays, trees, also with moral qualities like obedience, thrift, honesty, and truth-telling.

To impart true Fairy spirit as well as literary flavour, many famous Fairy poems by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Michael Drayton, and other poets are included; so that the volume forms a collection of the best Fairy literature, not merely planned to give the children joy, but to be of real educational value.

“But of what possible educational value are Fairy tales?” asks the practical parent or teacher. 2

They are essential in the right development of a child’s mind. They embody the poetic fancy of the race. They stimulate a child’s imagination, feed his fancy, and satisfy poetically his groping

FOREWORD ix after things unseen. His craving for such tales ‘is due to a normal growth of mind. If he be deprived of Fairy tales in childhood, he is likely, as an adult, to lack the creative imagination which makes big-visioned men and women, and leads to success in literature, art, invention, or in the practical things of business life. There are, of course, children who do not like Fairy tales, but they are few and far between, and other forms of literature may be found which will, in part, help to develop their peculiar type of mentality. But Fairy tales are the heritage of the normal child, and if he be judiciously fed on them, in later life he will have a more plastic imagination and be able to enjoy more fully the beauties of great poetry and other fine literature.

Robert Burns said in a letter to Dr. Moore that in his infant and boyish days he owed much to an old woman who lived in his family; for her tales of Brownies, and Fairies, and other wonders ‘“‘cultivated the latent seeds of poetry” in the poet’s mind. And even the grave Luther said, “I would not for any quantity of gold part with the wonderful tales which I have retained from my earliest childhood, or have met with in my progress through life.”

Charles Lamb, and Coleridge too, believed heartily in Fairy tales. “Ought children to be permitted to read romances, and stories of x FOREWORD

Giants, Magicians, and Genii?” asked Coleridge. “I know all that has been said against it; but I have formed my faith in the affirmative. I know no other way of giving the mind a love of the Great and the Whole.... I read every book that came in my way without distinction, and my father was fond of me and used to take me on his knee, and hold long conversations with me. I remember when eight years old walking with him one winter evening, ... and he then told me the names of the stars, and how Jupiter was a thousand times larger than our world, and that the other twinkling stars were suns that had worlds rolling round them; and when I came home he showed me how they rolled round. I heard him with a profound delight and admiration, but without the least mixture of wonder or incredulity. For from my early reading of Fairy tales and about Genii, and the like, my mind had been habituated to the Vast; and I never regarded my senses in any way as the criteria of my belief.”

Such, then, is the educational mission of the Fairy tale, not only to give pure joy, but to enlarge the mind. And as childhood is the only time when this miracle takes place in its completeness, every child who so desires should be allowed to wander at will in the land of imaginative delights, where the King of Fairy Poets,

FOREWORD xi

Shakespeare, loved to wander as a child and as a man. In “‘The Plea of the Midsummer Fairies” that benign shape answers grisly Time who would cut down “‘all the assembled Fays”’: —

“‘ These be the pretty Genii of the flow’rs, Daintily fed with honey and pure dew — Midsummer’s phantoms in her dreaming hours, King Oberon, and all his merry crew, The darling puppets of romance’s view; Fairies, and Sprites, and Goblin Elves we call them, Famous for patronage of lovers true; — No harm they act, neither shall harm befall them, So do not thus with crabbed frowns appall them.

“* Likewise to them are Poets much beholden For secret favours in the midnight glooms; Brave Spenser quaff’d out of their goblets golden, And saw their tables spread of prompt mushrooms, And heard their horns of honeysuckle blooms Sounding upon the air, most soothing soft, Like humming bees busy about the brooms, — And glanced this fair Queen’s witchery full oft, And in her magic wain soared far aloft.

** °T was they first school’d my young imagination To take its flights like any new-fledged bird, And show'd the span of wingéd meditation Stretched wider than things grossly seen or heard. With sweet swift Ariel how I soar’d and stirred The fragrant blooms of spiritual bow’rs ! °T was they endear’d what I have still preferr’d, Nature’s blest attributes and balmy pow’rs, Her hills and vales and brooks, sweet birds and flow’rs !”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Sprcrant acknowledgment is here made to the Saturday Magazine of the New York Evening Post for use of many stories included in this volume, which I have written for its columns.

Grateful acknowledgment is due also to the following publishers for material from their books :—

To Messrs. Houghton Mifflin Company, for “The Sick-Bed Elves,” from Strange Stories from the Lodge of Leisures, by George Soulié; ‘* The Brown Dwarf of Riigen,” by John Greenleaf Whittier ; “The Immortal Fountain,” and “A Little Knight and Little Maid,” by Lucy Larcom.

To Messrs. E. P. Dutton & Co., for “Little Niebla,” from The Purple Land, by W.H. Hudson.

Thanks are due to Mrs. Anna Todd Paddock for “Timothy Tuttle and the Little Imps,” and to Mrs. Julia Fish for the French stories specially translated for this volume.

F. J. O.

Contents

THE FAIRIES’ STORY HOUR

“?°T 1s THE Hour or Farry BAN AND SPELL,”’ Joseph Rodman Drake .

Come! Come! To THE FarrIEs’ STORY Hoth! 4

Part One Fairy-lore And Elfin Legends

AROUND! AROUND! IN FAIRY RINGS!

“In THE GLOowING LicHT of A SUMMER SKY,”’ William Jones .

ADVENTURES OF RosBIN ee eS Old ee. lish PACA Re EO

Tue Potato Supprr, [ aah

Tue Mitx-Wuaiter CALF AND THE FAIRY RANG Trish

Tue Woop-Lapy, ae }

Tue Dance OF THE FarrigEs, From The M hie Metamorphosis (1600)

ELFIN MOUNDS AND FAIRY HILLS *°T is THE Mipnicut Hour”

Monpay! Turspay! [rish Tur GREEDY OLD Man, Cornish .

LEGEND oF Botte Hitt, Irish , Tue Brown Dwarr, John Greenleaf Whittier .

xvi CONTENTS LITTLE MEN AND TREASURES OF GOLD

‘‘AND WILL YOU COME AWAY, MY Lap?” . . 62 THe Boy wHo FOUND THE Ports oF GOLD, Irish 5. 8 8 Oe Tur RaGweEep, Irish. . . . . 66 Tup Bap Boy AND THE LEPRECHAUN, ‘Trish wy ( Tom AND THE KnockeErs, Cornish 5 Wraw.) TS Tue Knockers’ Diamonps, Cornish . . . 77 SKILLYWIDDEN, Cornish. _._ 1 eae Tor LEPRECHAUN, OR FatRY SHOEMAKER, William Allingham > co pli Sr oe GLAD LITTLE, SAD LITTLE, BAD LITTLE ELVES “Saint FRANCIS AND SAINT BENEDICcT,” William Cartwright (1635?) oy ‘ye, ul ee Littte Repcap, [rish + et. ct aire a. Tur CURMUDGEON’S SKIN, Irish . . . . 97 JUDY AND THE Farry Cat, Irish . . . ~ . 108 Tue Boaaart, Enghsh . «.« 4 eo eeeeee 106 OwnsELF, English «<< 9.) 709th? THE Sick-BEp Eves, Chinese . . . . 109 How Preepine Kats was Piskrey-Lep, Cornish 111 OnE-EYED Pryine Joan’s Tate, Cornish . . 121 Tue Farry Foux, William Allingham « ne th ZO

FAIRY SERVANTS IN THE HOUSE

“TurtmR DWELLINGS BE,” From the Hierarchie of the Blessed Angells (1635) . . . . 182

Tue Farry’s Servants, Basque . . . . 183

CONTENTS xvii

Tue Prxims, English. . . .. 7 9188 Tue Brownie or BLEDNOocH, Scottie yee tC) Esa AND THE TEN Exves, Swedish . . . 145 Piskry Fine! anp Piskrey Gay! Cornish. . 149 Tue Farry WeppING, Swedish . . . . 151 Tue Tomrs, Swedish Ba ec a . 155 SONG oF THE Exrin Miter, Allan Gistcn eek e 1BT FAYS OF WATER, WOOD, AND MEADOW “Over Hitt, over Date,” Shakespeare . . 160 KiInTARO THE GOLDEN Boy, Japanese . . 161 Tuer FLOWER Farrins, Chinese . . . . 166 THe Farry Isuanp, Welsh . . . . . 169 Tue Four-LEAVED CLover, Cornish . . . 171 Tue Giutuir Duv, Scottish . . . . 174 How KanuKURA LEARNED TO MAKE NETs, N ew Zealand te . 176 Ecno, THE Cave Farry, Reif the ee of Mangaia . . . 179

Tue IsLEs OF THE Sai Jae M ary y Howitt 182

AWAY! AWAY! TO FAIRYLAND ‘‘Burt WE THAT LIVE IN FarrYLAND,” Old Ballad IO DNA) iia Co) ¥is070) Po tbe ed eh BOO Tue Maaic Ferns, Cornish . . . . . 189 THE SMITH AND THE Farriss, Scottish . . 194 Tue Coat-Buiack Steep, English Pretaur ts” Los

Tur GIRL WHO WAS STOLEN BY THE FarrIgs, Trish e J ° tJ ° ° es * ° . 901 xviii CONTENTS

Tuer GIRL WHO DANCED WITH THE Farrtigs, Irish 203 ELIDORE AND THE GOLDEN Batu, Welsh . . 206

At THE Court oF FarryLanp, Selections from Ben Jonson, Michael Drayton, Joseph Rodman Drake, Shakespeare, and Old Ballads _ . 209

Part Two Fairy Stories Fairy Godmothers And Wonderful

GIFTS “Rap! Rap! Rap!” 9.) . > 2 ee CINDERELLA, Charles Perrault . Rees

SLEEPING BEAUTYIN THE Woop, Charles Perrault 231 Prince Cuéri, Madame Le Prince de Beaumont 239

Toaps AND D1amonps, Charles Perrault . . 254 BLANCHE AND Ross, Madame Le Prince de Beaumont? FG o nia eae THe ENCHANTED WatTcH, J ean 1M acé . . 264 QuEEN Mar, Thomas Hood . . . . . 2%6 FAIRY ADVENTURES “A Lirrte Knicut AND Littte Mar,” ee Larcom ade . 280 Farry Do-NotTHING AND Grae Swan BU Catherine Sinclair . . . « -« . 281 TimotHy TuTrtLE AND THE LITTLE ae Dr- Jorn Todd ieee . 290

ButtEeRFLY’s Diamonp, Lydia Ma aria Child . 304 LitttE Nrepua,W.H.Hudson . . . . 312

CONTENTS xix

Lirtur Tiny, Hans Christian Andersen . . 319 Tue Immortau Fountain, Lydia Maria Child 337 TueSrtory or CuHiItpE Cuarirty, Frances Browne 348

THE SHINING CHILD AND THE WICKED fi Wc MmGGmed .. . s : . 361 MABEL ON Mi1psUMMER Die. M ary H owitt . 400

FAREWELL! FAREWELL! DEAR FAIRIES “Ou! WHERE DO FAIRIES HIDE THEIR HEADS?”’

Thomas Haynes Bayly . . . 412 Tue Farrtzs’ PassaGE, James Claret ts angan 413 Oxtp WINTER’S FAIRYLAND, Anonymous . . 418

SuBsEect INDEX FOR STORY-TELLERS . ... 423

ILLUSTRATIONS

“Tuts 1s Mas, THE Mistress Farry” Frontispiece **DERMOD GAZED AT THEM IN WONDER” AAR ED (|

*‘SHE SAW A WHOLE TROOP OF SPRIGGANS HOLDING AN ELFIN Fair”’ PY SS PRIA ig: phen Cae Lae CoM WB |

*“CHILDE CHARITY CAME OUT AND ASKED THE OLD WOMAN TO TAKE HER SHARE OF THE SUPPER” . 350

E FAIRIES’ STORY HOUR

‘ Jf - i 4 A “ a eens —_ q ‘ =

ers oe! ar:

°T is the hour of Fairy ban and spell; The wood-tick has kept the minutes well; He has counted them all with click and stroke Deep in the heart of the mountain oak, And he has awakened the sentry Ile Who sleeps with him in the haunted tree, To bid him ring the hour of twelve, And call the Fays to their revelry; Twelve small strokes on his tinkling bell — (’T was made of the white snail's pearly shell: —) ** Midnight comes, and all is well ! Hither, hither, wing your way ! °T is the dawn of the Fairy day.”

JosePpH RopMAN DRAKE

COME! COME!

TO THE FAIRIES’ STORY HOUR!

IN THE MOONLIT MEADOW

Farriszs! Fairies everywhere! Hear them come! See them come in the pale moonlight to this lovely meadow! They rush through the air; they throng from the wood; they spring up from the ground; they peep from the flowers and leaves. They are all hastening to the Fairies’ Story Hour. The Midsummer moon is shining, shining; while the Midsummer breeze is swaying, swaying the harebells, lilies, and grasses.

Laughter! whisper! Laughter! whisper! See, through the air comes gliding a whole host of radiant little Fairies. They poise lightly on their silvery wings, and float down to the harebells and lilies. They flicker over the meadow like gay butterflies. Laughter! whisper!

Hum! whirr! Hum! whirr! What is that noise in the tree-tops? From among the dark leaves fly hundreds and hundreds of broad-backed beetles, bumping and thumping each other. They are followed by a silent cloud of bats, that wheel and whirl, and flap their leathery wings. And to the back of every beetle and every bat clings a tiny roguish Elf peeping down at the meadow below.

Rap! tack! tack! Rap! tack! tack! From behind each tree-trunk steps a little Leprechaun as big as your thumb. They are the Fairy Shoemakers. Their long beards and red caps wag in the moonlight; and the little men smile and chuckle to themselves, for well they know where the pots of Fairy Gold are hidden. Near them, peering from behind stones and bushes, are the Curmudgeons, rolling their mischievous eyes.

Skip! skip! Knock! knock! What have we here? From out of the earth pours a swarm of little Spriggans and Pixies gaily dressed, and Knockers with their tiny hammers in their tiny hands. They have left the meadows and moors; they have left the mines of tin and copper, and the diamond caves, to come to the Fairies’ Story Hour. How they hustle, how they bustle, out of the earth!

Gallop-a-trot! Gallop-a-trot! What comes from the wood? A long line of prancing goats and house-cats! And on the back of each is a House- Elf, to be sure! —The Brownies, the Boggarts, the Tomts, the Piskeys, are all there. They have left their snug corners in human homes; they have left cellars, barns, and threshing-floors; they have left bowls of loppered cream on warm: hearthstones, to come to the Fairies’ Story Hour.

THE FAIRIES’ STORY HOUR 5

And who is this that lights their way with a Will-o’-the-Wisp lantern? ’T is Robin Goodfellow, freakish Elf! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Sing! cling! Sing! cling! What are these that come sailing through the air? Mother-of-pearl boats with coral masts and sails of sea-lace! Each little boat is crowded with Sea-Queens and Water- Fairies. Their green hair is long and flowing, and their robes are of rainbow spray. And near them, astride frisky sea-horses, are the Kelpies, blowing loudly on their conch-shell trumpets. And each Kelpie is armed with a shield of pearl and a sword-fish weapon. They have all left the foaming green waves and the pink coral palaces to come to the Fairies’ Story Hour.

Now! Listen! Listen! The harebells and lilies are ringing sweet music, while from meadow flowers and acorn-cups and forest nuts tumble lazy, sleepy Elves rubbing their eyes, and hastening to join the others at the Fairies’ Story Hour.

The harebells and lilies ring louder and louder. And from out the cool wood step King Oberon and Queen Mab, with all their Fairy train that glitters in the moonshine like a long string of jewels.

The royal train advances into the middle of the meadow. The King and Queen seat themselves on a throne of moss. At their left is capering Puck mowing and mouthing; at their right,

Ariel the sweetest singer. All present bow themselves before the throne.

See! Queen Mab raises her wand, and each little Elf and Fairy scurries and hurries to make himself comfortable. Some sway on the blades of grass; others climb the flower stalks and curl up inside the fragrant blossoms; while still others swing and rock in the trees, or nestle among the ferns and under toadstool umbrellas.

Every wee Elf, and every tiny Fairy, and every little Imp, from all the world over, is here. Indeed, all the members of the entire Fairy Family are present except the human-sized ones. They are too busy to come. The Elfin Princes are searching cottages and palaces for mortal brides to carry off to Fairyland. The Elfin nurses are leaving Changelings in babies’ cradles; while the Fairy Godmothers are far away bestowing wonderful gifts on good children, and punishing bad ones.

Look! Look! Queen Mab waves her wand! The Fairies’ Story Hour is beginning. All is hushed.

Listen now to the Fairy tales.