The Grey Fairy Book

                      The Grey Fairy Book
                     Edited by Andrew Lang



                            Preface



The tales in the Grey Fairy Book are derived from many countries-
-Lithuania, various parts of Africa, Germany, France, Greece, and
other regions of the world. They have been translated and adapted
by Mrs. Dent, Mrs. Lang, Miss Eleanor Sellar, Miss Blackley, and
Miss hang. ‘The Three Sons of Hali' is from the last century
‘Cabinet des Fees,' a very large collection. The French author
may have had some Oriental original before him in parts; at all
events he copied the Eastern method of putting tale within tale,
like the Eastern balls of carved ivory. The stories, as usual,
illustrate the method of popular fiction. A certain number of
incidents are shaken into many varying combinations, like the
fragments of coloured glass in the kaleidoscope. Probably the
possible combinations, like possible musical combinations, are
not unlimited in number, but children may be less sensitive in
the matter of fairies than Mr. John Stuart Mill was as regards
music.





                            Contents



Donkey Skin
The Goblin Pony
An Impossible Enchantment
The Story of Dschemil and Dachemila
Janni and the Draken
The Partnership of the Thief and the Liar
Fortunatus and his Purse
The Goat-faced Girl
What came of picking Flowers
The Story of Bensurdatu
The Magician's Horse
The Little Gray Man
Herr Lazarus and the Draken
The Story of the Queen of the Flowery Isles
Udea and her Seven Brothers
The White Wolf
Mohammed with the Magic Finger
Bobino
The Dog and the Sparrow
The Story of the Three Sons of Hali
The Story of the Fair Circassians
The Jackal and the Spring The Bear
The Sunchild The Daughter of Buk Ettemsuch
Laughing Eye and Weeping Eye, or the Limping Fox
The Unlooked for Prince
The Simpleton
The Street Musicians
The Twin Brothers
Cannetella
The Ogre
A Fairy's Blunder
Long, Broad, and Quickeye
Prunella





                          Donkey Skin



There was once upon a time a king who was so much beloved by his
subjects that he thought himself the happiest monarch in the
whole world, and he had everything his heart could desire. His
palace was filled with the rarest of curiosities, and his gardens
with the sweetest flowers, while in the marble stalls of his
stables stood a row of milk-white Arabs, with big brown eyes.

Strangers who had heard of the marvels which the king had
collected, and made long journeys to see them, were, however,
surprised to find the most splendid stall of all occupied by a
donkey, with particularly large and drooping ears. It was a very
fine donkey; but still, as far as they could tell, nothing so
very remarkable as to account for the care with which it was
lodged; and they went away wondering, for they could not know
that every night, when it was asleep, bushels of gold pieces
tumbled out of its ears, which were picked up each morning by the
attendants.

After many years of prosperity a sudden blow fell upon the king
in the death of his wife, whom he loved dearly. But before she
died, the queen, who had always thought first of his happiness,
gathered all her strength, and said to him:

‘Promise me one thing: you must marry again, I know, for the good