Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories Part 1

Childhood's Favorites and Fairy Stories.

by Various.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Books are as much a part of the furnis.h.i.+ng of a house as tables and chairs, and in the making of a home they belong, not with the luxuries but with the necessities. A bookless house is not a home; for a home affords food and shelter for the mind as well as for the body. It is as great an offence against a child to starve his mind as to starve his body, and there is as much danger of reducing his vitality and putting him at a disadvantage in his lifework in the one as in the other form of deprivation. There was a time when it was felt that shelter, clothing, food and physical oversight comprised the whole duty of a charitable inst.i.tution to dependent children; to-day no community would permit such an inst.i.tution to exist unless it provided school privileges. An acute sense of responsibility toward children is one of the prime characteristics of American society, shown in the vast expenditures for public education in all forms, in the increasing attention paid to light, ventilation, and safety in school buildings, in the opening of play grounds in large cities, in physical supervision of children in schools, and the agitation against the employment of children in factories, and in other and less obvious ways.

Children are helpless to protect themselves and secure what they need for health of body and mind; they are exceedingly impressionable; and the future is always in their hands. The first and most imperative duty of parents is to give their children the best attainable preparation for life, no matter at what sacrifice to themselves. There are hosts of fathers and mothers who recognize this obligation but do not know how to discharge it; who are eager to give their children the most wholesome conditions, but do not know how to secure them; who are especially anxious that their children should start early and start right on that highway of education which is the open road to honorable success. There are many homes in which books would find abundant room if the heads of the families knew what books to buy, or had the means to put into the hands of the growing child the reading matter it needs in the successive periods of its growth.

This condition of eagerness to give the best, and of ignorance of how or where to find the best is the justification for the publication of this set of books. The attempt has been made in a series of twelve volumes to bring together in convenient form the fairy stories, myths, and legends which have fed the children of many generations in the years when the imagination is awakening and craving stimulus and material to work upon;--that age of myth-making which is a prelude to the more scientific uses of the mind and of immense importance in an intensely practical age;--a group of tales of standard quality and an interest and value which have placed them among the permanent possessions of English literature; a careful selection of stories of animal life; a natural history, familiar in style and thoroughly trustworthy in fact; an account of those travels and adventures which have opened up the earth and made its resources available, and which const.i.tute one of the most heroic chapters in the history of the long struggle of men to possess the earth and make it a home for the highest kind of civilization; a record of heroism taken from the annals of the patriots and of those brave men who, in all ages, ranks of society and occupations, have dared to face great dangers in the path of duty and science, with special attention to that everyday heroism in which the age is specially rich and of which so many good people are grossly ignorant; a survey of scientific achievement, with reports of recent discoveries in knowledge and adaptation of knowledge to human need; a group of biographies of the men and women--mostly Americans--who are the most stimulating companions for boys and girls; a volume on the Fine Arts dealing with music, painting, sculpture, architecture, in a way to instruct young readers and making accessible a large number of those songs which appeal in the best way to children in schools and homes; a collection of the best poetry for the youngest and oldest readers, chosen not only for excellence from the standpoint of art, but deep and abiding human interest; and a volume devoted to the occupations and resources of the home, addressed to parents no less than to children, with practical suggestions about books and reading, games and amus.e.m.e.nts, exercise and health, and those kindred topics which have to do with making the home wholesome and attractive.

These twelve volumes aim, in brief, to make the home the most inspiring school and the most attractive place for pleasure, and to bring the best the world has to offer of adventure, heroism, achievement and beauty within its four walls.

Special attention has been given to the youngest children whose interests are often neglected because they are thought to be too immature to receive serious impressions from what is read to them.

Psychology is beginning to make us understand that no greater mistake can be made in the education of children than underrating the importance of the years when the soil receives the seed most quickly.

For education of the deepest sort--the planting of those formative ideas which give final direction and quality to the intellectual life--there is no period so important as the years between three and six, and none so fruitful. To put in the seed at that time is, as a rule, to decide the kind of harvest the child will reap later; whether he shall be a shrewd, keen, clever, ambitious man, with a hard, mechanical mind, bent on getting the best of the world; or a generous, fruitful, open-minded man, intent on living the fullest life in mind and heart. No apology is offered for giving large s.p.a.ce to myths, legends, fairy stories, tales of all sorts, and to poetry; for in these expressions of the creative mind is to be found the material on which the imagination has fed in every age and which is, for the most part, conspicuously absent from our educational programmes.

America has at present greater facility in producing "smart" men than in producing able men; the alert, quick-witted, money-maker abounds, but the men who live with ideas, who care for the principles of things, and who make life rich in resource and interest are comparatively few. America needs poetry more than it needs industrial training; though the two ought never to be separated. The time to awaken the imagination, which is the creative faculty, is early childhood; and the most accessible material for this education is the literature which the race created in its childhood. The creative man, whether in the arts or in practical affairs, in poetry, in engineering or in business, is always the man of imagination.

In this library for young people the attempt has been made not only to give the child what it needs but in the form which is most easily understood. For this reason some well-known stories have been retold in simpler English than their cla.s.sic forms present. This is especially true of many tales for any young children reprinted by special arrangement from recent English sources. In some cases, where the substance has seemed of more importance to the child than the form, simpler words and forms of expression have been subst.i.tuted for more complex or abstract phrases, and pa.s.sages of minor importance have been condensed or omitted.

The aim in making the selections in this set of books has been to interest the child and give it what it needs for normal growth; the material has been taken from many sources old and new; much of the reading matter presented has been familiar in one form or another, to generations of children; much has appeared for the first time within the last ten years; a considerable part has been prepared especially for the Treasury and a large part has been selected from the best writing in the various fields.

It is the hope of the Editor that this "Treasury" or "Library" will justify its t.i.tle by its real and fundamental service to children and parents alike.

HAMILTON W. MABIE

INTRODUCTION

Since this series of books is intended for all young people from one to one hundred, it opens with about eighty of the old MOTHER GOOSE RHYMES. Nothing better was ever invented to tell to little folks who are young enough for lullabies. Their rhythm, their humor, and their pith will always cause us to prize them as the Babies' Cla.s.sics.

Next come a score of the most famous NURSERY TALES, the kind that children cry for and love to hear fifty times over. And since, just as soon as little folks like stories they love to hear them in rhyme, here are forty CHILDREN'S FAVORITE POEMS.

What would young life be without "Puss in Boots" and "Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Sleeping Beauty"? Our TREASURY would indeed be poor without them, so these FAVORITE STORIES come next, yoked with some OLD-FAs.h.i.+ONED POEMS in story-form, as "The Night before Christmas," "The Wonderful World," and "Little Orphant Annie." All who love pets and animals have always liked FABLES, so here are the noted parables of aesop, and the lesser-known but even more jolly tales from East Indian sources.

The fairy-tale age is supposed to come from four to nine, but the editors are sure it lasts much longer than that. However this may be, the better half of our first volume is given up to FAIRY TALES AND LAUGHTER STORIES from all over the world.

It ends with TALES FOR TINY TOTS, the kind that mother reads beside the fire at bedtime, some of them old, like the "Little Red Hen" and "Peter Rabbit," and some of them newer, like "The Greedy Brownie" and "The Birthday Honors of the Fairy Queen."

WILLIAM BYRON FORBUSH.

CONTENTS

General Introduction to Young Folks' Treasury vii Introduction xi

NURSERY RHYMES

Hush-a-bye, Baby, on the Tree-top; Rock-a-bye, Baby thy Cradle is Green; Bye, Baby Bunting; Hush Thee, my Babby; Sleep, Baby, Sleep; This Little Pig Went to Market; etc., etc. 1-31

NURSERY TALES

The Three Bears 32 Cinderella 35 The Three Brothers 41 The Wren and the Bear 42 Chicken-Licken 45 The Fox and the Cat 47 The Rats and their Son-in-Law 48 The Mouse and the Sausage 50 Johnny and the Golden Goose 51 t.i.tty Mouse and Tatty Mouse 56 Teeny Tiny 58 The Spider and the Flea 60 The Little Shepherd Boy 61 The Three Spinners 62 The Cat and the Mouse in Partners.h.i.+p 65 The Sweet Soup 68 The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean 68 Why the Bear Has a Stumpy Tail 70 The Three Little Pigs 71

CHILDREN'S FAVORITE POEMS

The Three Children 75 The Owl and the p.u.s.s.y-Cat--_Edward Lear_ 75 Kindness to Animals 77 How Doth the Little Busy Bee--_Isaac Watts_ 77 Suppose--_Phoebe Cary_ 78 Twinkle, Twinkle 79 Pretty Cow--_Jane Taylor_ 80 The Three Little Kittens--_Eliza Lee Follen_ 80 The Land of Counterpane--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 82 There was a Little Girl--_Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_ 82 The Boy who never Told a Lie 83 Foreign Children--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 84 The Unseen Playmate--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 84 I saw Three s.h.i.+ps 85 A Was an Ant--_Edward Lear_ 86 The Table and the Chair--_Edward Lear_ 91 Precocious Piggy--_Thomas Hood_ 93 A Boy's Song--_James Hogg_ 94 b.u.t.tercups and Daisies--_Mary Howitt_ 95 The Violet--_Jane Taylor_ 96 If ever I See--_Lydia Maria Child_ 97 The Little Land--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 97 A Lobster Quadrille--_Lewis Carroll_ 99 Where Go the Boats--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 100 The Wind and the Moon--_George Macdonald_ 101 Where are you Going my Pretty Maid 103 The Lost Doll--_Charles Kingsley_ 104 Foreign Lands--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 104 Bed in Summer--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 105 Try Again 106 A Good Play--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 106 Good Night and Good Morning--_Richard Monckton Milnes_ 107 The Wind--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 108 The Spider and the Fly--_Mary Howitt_ 109 Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite--_Isaac Watts_ 110 Child's Evening Hymn--_Sabine Baring-Gould_ 111

CHILDREN'S FAVORITE STORIES

Hansel and Gretel 113 The Fair Catherine and Pif-Paf Poltrie 120 The Wolf and the Fox 122 Descreet Hans 123 Puss in Boots 126 The Elves and the Shoemaker 131 Hans in Luck 133 Master of All Masters 138 Belling the Cat 139 Little Red Riding-Hood 140 The Nail 144 Jack and the Beanstalk 145 How to Tell a True Princess 149 The Sleeping Beauty 150

OLD FAs.h.i.+ONED POEMS

The Man in the Moon--_James Whitcombe Riley_ 158 Sage Counsel--_Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch_ 160 Limericks--_Edward Lear_ 161 More Limericks--_Rudyard Kipling_ and _Anonymous_ 162 The Dead Doll--_Margaret Vandergrift_ 163 Little Things--_Ascribed to Julia A. F. Carney_ 165 The Golden Rule--_Unknown_ 165 Do the Best You Can--_Unknown_ 165 The Voice of Spring 166 The Lark and the Rook--_Unknown_ 166 Thanksgiving Day--_Lydia Maria Child_ 168 The Magpie's Nest--_Unknown_ 169 The Fairies of Caldon Low--_Mary Howitt_ 169 The Land of Story Books--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 172 A Visit From St. Nicholas--_Clement Clarke Moore_ 173 Little Orphant Annie--_James Whitcombe Riley_ 175 The Chatterbox--_Ann Taylor_ 177 The Voice of Spring--_Felicia Dorothea Hemans_ 178 The History Lesson--_Anonymous_ 179 Song of Life--_Charles Mackay_ 180 The Good Time Coming--_Charles Mackay_ 181 Windy Nights--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 183 The Wonderful World--_William Brighty Rands_ 184 Hark! Hark! The Lark--_William Shakespeare_ 185 Jog On, Jog On--_William Shakespeare_ 185 Sweet Story of Old--_Jemima Luke_ 186 My Shadow--_Robert Louis Stevenson_ 186 By Cool Siloam's Shady Rill--_Reginald Heber_ 187 The Wind in a Frolic--_William Howitt_ 188 The Graves of a Household--_Felicia Dorothea Hemans_ 189 We Are Seven--_William Wordsworth_ 190 The Better Land--_Felicia Dorothea Hemans_ 193 The Juvenile Orator--_David Everett_ 194 The Fox and the Crow--_Little B. (Taylor?)_ 195 The Use of Flowers--_Mary Howitt_ 196 Contented John--_Jane Taylor_ 197 The Old Man's Comforts, and How He Gained Them--_Robert Southey_ 198 The Frost--_Hannah Flagg Gould_ 199 The Battle of Blenheim--_Robert Southey_ 200 The Chameleon--_James Merrick_ (_from M. de Lamotte_) 202 The Blackberry Girl--_Unknown_ 205 Mabel on Midsummer Day--_Mary Howitt_ 207 Llewellyn and his Dog--_Willim Robert Spencer_ 214 The s...o...b..rd's Song--_Francis C. Woodworth_ 217 For A' That and A' That--_Robert Burns_ 218

FABLES

FABLES FROM aeSOP

The Goose that Laid Golden Eggs 220 The Boys and the Frogs 220 The Lion and the Mouse 220 The Fox and the Grapes 221 The Frog and the Ox 221 The Cat, the Monkey, and the Chestnuts 221 The Country Maid and Her Milkpail 222 The a.s.s in the Lion's Skin 222 The Tortoise and the Hare 223 The Vain Jackdaw 223 The Fox Without a Tail 224 The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing 224 The Crow and the Pitcher 225 The Man, his Son, and his a.s.s 225

FABLES OF INDIA

_Adapted by P. V. Ramaswami Raju_

The Camel and the Pig 226 The Man and his Piece of Cloth 227 The Sea, the Fox, and the Wolf 227 The Birds and the Lime 228 The Raven and the Cattle 228 Tinsel and Lightning 229 The a.s.s and the Watchdog 229 The Lark and its Young Ones 230 The Two Gems 230

FAIRY TALES AND LAUGHTER STORIES

SCANDINAVIAN STORIES

The Hardy Tin Soldier--_Hans Christian Andersen_ 232 The Fir Tree--_Hans Christian Andersen_ 236 The Darning-Needle--_Hans Christian Andersen_ 245 Thumbelina--_Hans Christian Andersen_ 248 The Tinder-Box--_Hans Christian Andersen_ 258 Boots and his Brothers--_George Webbe Dasent_ 268 The Husband who was to Mind the House _George Webbe Dasent_ 273 b.u.t.tercup--_George Webbe Dasent_ 275

GERMAN STORIES