| Little Brother and Sister | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | |
| The Lassie Riding Over the Sea on the Back of the North Wind | [10] |
| The Troll's Hut, the Lantern, and the Goat with the Golden Horns | [14] |
| "She Said She Would Sit and Drive in a Silver Spoon" | [46] |
| Just as Cinderlad Turned His Horse Around, the Princess Threw the Golden Apple | [52] |
| "And When He Set Her Down He Gave Her a Kiss" | [90] |
| Tattercoats Forgot All Her Troubles and Fell to Dancing | [102] |
| "The Giant and the Conjurer now Knew that Their Wicked Course Was at an End" | [108] |
| "He Flung Huge Masses of Rock After the Vessel" | [122] |
| "She Wore Them Always . . . Loose and Flowing" | [138] |
| "I Feel as if I were the Daughter of some Great King" | [158] |
| "He Was a Week Trying to Tread on This Fatal Tail" | [166] |
| The Mermaid Taking the King of the Golden Mines to the Steel Castle | [178] |
| "Micheal, Petrified, Stood Mute, . . . Contemplating with a Frightened Air this Incongruous Dance" | [200] |
| "Eliza Went, and the King and the Archbishop Followed Her" | [252] |
| "March Rose in Turn, and Stirred the Fire with the Staff, when Behold! . . . It was Spring" | [266] |
| "An Ugly Old Woman with the Most Monstrous Nose Ever Beheld" | [292] |
| "In This Way the Fisherman Carried Him to the Castle" | [304] |
| "In the Middle of the Night, when Griffin was Snoring Away Lustily, Jack Reached Up and Pulled a Feather Out of His Tail" | [328] |
| "Then Dummling's Lovely Maiden Sprang Lightly and Gracefully Through the Ring" | [332] |
| ""What Are You Standing There Gaping for?" Screamed the Dwarf" | [356] |
| "Falada, Falada, There Thou Hangest!" | [364] |
| "At Last He Reached the Tower . . . Where Brier Rose Was Asleep" | [370] |
| "Just as It Had Come to the End of the Golden Thread It Reached the King's Son" | [388] |
| "The Ranee Said, 'This is a Dear Little Girl'" | [434] |
Throned on a grassy knoll, I watch
The elfin host come trooping by,
And hear the whir of fairy wings,
The goblin voices, shrill and high.
Behind them glides a magic train
Of Kings and Princes, armor-clad,
And serving as their squires bold
Boots, Ashiepattle, Cinderlad.
With silken rustle, flash of gem,
Queen and Czaritsa sweep along,
While red-capped Troll and rainbow Sprite
Peep out amid the enchanted throng.
Ting-ling, ting-ling, how sweet the ring,
Like golden bells, of fairy laughter;
Rap-tap, rap-tap, how sharp the clap
Of fairy footfalls following after!
Where witch-grass grows and fern-seed lies,
A Fairy Ring is dimly seen;
And there a glitt'ring host is met
To dance upon the moonlit green.
Riquet, the Tufted, lightly turns
The Fair One with the Golden Hair;
And Prince Desire and Mignonette
Form yet another graceful pair.
Tall as a tower stands Galifron;
The Desert Fay, with snakes bedight,
First pirouettes with him and then
With wee Tom Thumb, King Arthur's Knight.
Ting-ling, ting-ling, how sweet the ring,
Like golden bells, of fairy laughter;
Rap-tap, rap-tap, how sharp the clap
Of fairy footfalls following after!
Sweet, unseen harpers harp and sing,
Faint elfin horns the air repeat;
Rapunzel shakes her shining braids,
The White Cat trips with velvet feet.
Rose-red, Snow-white, the faithful Bear,
Cross hands with gallant Percinet;
While Tattercoats, in turn, salutes
Yvon, the Fearless, and Finette.
—But hark! the cock begins to crow;
The darkness turns to day, and, look!
The fairy dancers whirl within
The crimson covers of this book!
NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH
INTRODUCTION
"THERE was once upon a time a king who had a garden; in that garden was an apple tree, and on that apple tree grew a golden apple every year."
These stories are the golden apples that grew on the tree in the king's garden; grew and grew and grew as the golden years went by; and being apples of gold they could never wither nor shrink nor change, so that they are as beautiful and precious for you to pluck to-day as when first they ripened long, long ago.
Perhaps you do not care for the sort of golden apples that grew in the king's garden; perhaps you prefer plain russets or green pippins? Well, these are not to be despised, for they also are wholesome food for growing boys and girls; but unless you can taste the flavor and feel the magic that lies in the golden apples of the king's garden you will lose one of the joys of youth.