ILLUSTRATIONS

COLOR PLATESpage
Goldilocks and the Three Bears [Frontispiece]
Beauty and the Beast[31]
Brittle-Legs[115]
The Water-Sprite[132]
The Three Spinners[199]
Mother Hulda[232]
Little Red Riding-Hood[284]
BLACK AND WHITE
Contents (Headband)[v]
Introduction (Headband)[ix]
The Sleeping Beauty[10]
Jack and the Beanstalk (Half title)[13]
Beauty and the Beast (Tailpiece)[46]
The Three Wishes (Headband)[71]
The Goose Girl (Half title)[75]
The Goose Girl (Tailpiece)[91]
“The Pig would not go over the Stile”[94]
The White Cat[105]
The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean (Headband)[128]
The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean (Tailpiece)[131]
Star Jewels (Half title)[139]
Sweet Porridge (Headband)[146]
“Come little Pot”[150]
A Pack of Ragamuffins (Headband)[157]
The Frog Prince (Headband)[165]
The Frog with the Ball[167]
The Wolf and the Five Little Goats (Tailpiece) [182]
The Golden Goose (Headband)[183]
The Three Little Pigs (Half title)[215]
The Three Little Pigs (Tailpiece)[227]
The Golden Key (Headband)[229]
Mother Hulda (Tailpiece)[240]
The Six Companions (Half title)[241]
The Golden Bird (Headband)[256]
The Golden Bird (Tailpiece)[280]
Aladdin, or the Magic Lamp (Half title)[291]
The Cobbler and the Fairies (Headband)[323]
Cinderella (Headband)[328]
Cinderella and the Prince[335]
Cinderella (Tailpiece)[344]
Puss in Boots[363]
The Town Musicians (Tailpiece)[376]

INTRODUCTION

These are not new fairy-tales, the ones in this book that has been newly made for you and placed in your hands. They are old fairy-tales gathered together, some from one country, and some from another. They are old, old, old. As old as the hills or the human race,—as old as truth itself. Long ago, even so long ago as when your grandmother’s grandmother’s grandmother was a little rosy-cheeked girl, and your grandfather’s grandfather’s grandfather was a noisy shouting little boy, these stories were old.

No one knows who first told them, nor where nor when. Perhaps none of them was told by any one particular person. Perhaps they just grew upon the Tree of Wisdom when the world was young, like shining fruit, and our wise and simple first parents plucked them, and gave them to their children to play with, and to taste. They could not harm the children, these fruits from the tree of wisdom, for each one was a lovely globe of truth, rich and wholesome to the taste. Magic fruit, for one could eat and eat, and still the fruit was there as perfect as ever to be handed down through generations, until at last it comes to you, as beautiful as in those days of long ago.