The Crimson Fairy Book

The Crimson Fairy Book

Edited by

Andrew Lang



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.



Contents

Lovely Ilonka
Lucky Luck
The Hairy Man
To your Good Health!
The Story of the Seven Simons
The Language of Beasts
The Boy who could keep a Secret
The Prince and the Dragon
Little Wildrose
Tiidu the Piper
Paperarello
The Gifts of the Magician
The Strong Prince
The Treasure Seeker
The Cottager and his Cat
The Prince who would seek Immortality
The Stone-cutter
The Gold-bearded Man
Tritill, Litill, and the Birds
The Three Robes
The Six Hungry Beasts
How the Beggar Boy turned into Count Piro
The Rogue and the Herdsman
Eisenkopf
The Death of Abu Nowas and of his Wife
Motikatika
Niels and the Giants
Shepherd Paul
How the wicked Tanuki was punished
The Crab and the Monkey