[page i]
Thumbelina Came to Live with the Field-Mouse.
[page iii]
Childhood's Favorites
and Fairy Stories
Hamilton Wright Mabie
Edward Everett Hale
William Byron Forbush
Editors
Jennie Ellis Burdick
[page v]
Jennie Ellis Burdick
|
Woodrow Wilson, Twenty-eighth President of the United States. |
[page vii]
B
OOKS are as much a part of the furnishing 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 institution to dependent children; to-day no community would permit such an institution 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 [page viii] 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 constitute 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 [page ix] the occupations and resources of the home, addressed to parents no less than to children, with practical suggestions about books and reading, games and amusements, 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 space 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 [page x] 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 classic 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 substituted for more complex or abstract phrases, and passages 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 title by its real and fundamental service to children and parents alike.
Hamilton W. Mabie
[page xi]
INTRODUCTION
S
INCE 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' Classics.
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-Fashioned 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 Æsop, 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.
[page xii]
[page xiii]
|
General Introduction to Young Folks' Treasury |
vii |
|
Introduction |
xi |
|
Hush-a-bye, Baby, on the Tree-top; Rock-a-bye, Baby, thy Cradle is Green; |
1-31 |
|
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 |
|
Titty 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 Partnership |
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 |
|
The Three Children |
75 |
|
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat—Edward Lear |
75 |
|
Kindness to Animals[page xiv] |
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 Ships |
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 |
|
Buttercups 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 |
|
Hansel and Gretel |
113 |
|
The Fair Catherine and Pif-Paf Poltrie |
120 |
|
The Wolf and the Fox[page xv] |
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 |
|
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[page xvi] |
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 Snowbird's Song—Francis C. Woodworth |
217 |
|
For A' That and A' That—Robert Burns |
218 |
|
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 Ass 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[page xvii] |
224 |
|
The Crow and the Pitcher |
225 |
|
The Man, his Son, and his Ass |
225 |
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 Ass and the Watchdog |
229 |
|
The Lark and its Young Ones |
230 |
|
The Two Gems |
230 |
|
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 |
|
Buttercup—George Webbe Dasent |
275 |
|
Seven at One Blow—Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm |
279 |
|
One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes—Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm |
286 |
|
The Musicians of Bremen—Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm |
293 |
|
The Fisherman and his Wife—Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm |
296 |
|
Little Snow-White—Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm[page xviii] |
304 |
|
The Goose Girl—Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm |
313 |
|
The Golden Bird—Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm |
318 |
|
Beauty and the Beast—Adapted by E. Nesbit |
326 |
|
The White Cat—The Comtesse d'Aulnoy |
335 |
|
The Story of Pretty Goldilocks |
341 |
|
Toads and Diamonds |
346 |
|
The History of Tom-Thumb—Adapted by Ernest Rhys |
349 |
|
Jack the Giant Killer—Adapted by Joseph Jacobs |
356 |
|
The Three Sillies—Adapted by Joseph Jacobs |
366 |
|
King O'Toole and his Goose—Adapted by Joseph Jacobs |
370 |
|
The Haughty Princess—Adapted by Patrick Kennedy |
373 |
|
Jack and his Master—Adapted by Joseph Jacobs |
376 |
|
Hudden and Dudden and Donald O'Neary—Adapted by Joseph Jacobs |
383 |
|
Connla of the Golden Hair and the Fairy Maiden—Adapted by Patrick Weston Joyce |
389 |
|
Pinocchio's Adventures in Wonderland—Carlo Lorenzini |
394 |
|
The Story of the Man who did not wish to Die—Adapted by Yei Theodora Ozaki |
420 |
|
The Accomplished and Lucky Teakettle—Adapted by A. B. Mitford |
427 |
|
The Tongue-cut Sparrow |
428 |
|
Battle of the Monkey and the Crab[page xix] |
429 |
|
Momotaro, or Little Peachling |
431 |
|
Uraschina Taro and the Turtle |
432 |
|
The Son of Seven Queens—Adapted by Joseph Jacobs |
436 |
|
Who Killed the Otter's Babies—Adapted by Walter Skeat |
444 |
|
The Alligator and the Jackal—Adapted by M. Frere |
446 |
|
The Farmer and the Money Lender |
450 |
|
Tit for Tat—Adapted by M. Frere |
452 |
|
Singh Rajah and the Cunning Little Jackals—Adapted by M. Frere |
454 |
|
The White Stone Canoe—Adapted by H. R. Schoolcraft |
456 |
|
The Maiden who Loved a Fish |
459 |
|
The Star Wife |
462 |
|
The Story of Caliph Stork |
468 |
|
Persevere and Prosper—Adapted by A. R. Montalba |
473 |
|
The Most Frugal of Men |
476 |
|
The Moon-Cake |
477 |
|
The Ladle that Fell from the Moon |
478 |
|
The Young Head of the Family |
480 |
|
A Dreadful Boar |
484 |
|
King Kojata |
487 |
|
The Story of King Frost |
492 |
[page xx]
|
Tell Us a Tale—Edward Shirley |
496 |
|
Little Red Hen |
497 |
|
In Search of a Baby—F. Tapsell |
498 |
|
Jock and I and the Others |
500 |
|
Dolly Dimple—F. Tapsell |
502 |
|
The Tale of Peter Rabbit—Beatrix Potter |
503 |
|
The Miller, His Son, and Their Ass |
506 |
|
The Visit to Santa Claus Land |
507 |
|
The Greedy Brownie |
511 |
|
The Fairies' Passage—James Clarence Mangan |
513 |
|
The World |
515 |
|
White Magic |
516 |
|
The Brownies—Juliana Horatia Ewing |
517 |
|
The Story of Peter Pan |
522 |
|
Sir Lark and King Sun—George MacDonald |
525 |
|
The Imps in the Heavenly Meadow—Kate E. Bunce |
526 |
|
The Birthday Honors of the Fairy Queen—Hapgood Moore |
531 |
[page xxi]
ILLUSTRATIONS
|
Thumbelina Came to Live with the Field-Mouse (color) |
Frontispiece |
|
facing |
|
|
Simple Simon Went a-Fishing |
6 |
|
There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe |
9 |
|
Little Miss Muffet |
9 |
|
Old Mother Hubbard |
18 |
|
The Death of Cock-Robin |
25 |
|
"Who Has Been Tasting My Soup?" |
34 |
|
It Was Her Fairy Godmother! |
37 |
|
I Was the Giant Great and Still, that Sits Upon the Pillow Hill |
82 |
|
I Found My Poor Little Doll |
104 |
|
A Fair Little Girl Sat Under a Tree |
107 |
|
Hansel and Gretel |
118 |
|
Do Not Grieve, Dear Master |
126 |
|
Little Red Riding-Hood |
140 |
|
Red Riding-Hood and the Wolf |
142 |
|
Prince Florimond Finds the Sleeping Beauty |
150 |
|
The Tortoise and the Hare |
222 |
|
The Fox without a Tail |
222 |
|
A Voice Said Aloud, "The Tin Soldier!" |
234 |
|
Two-Eyes, the Goat, and the 'Magic Table |
286 |
|
Little Snow-White and the Peddler-Woman |
306 |
|
The Prince Starts Homeward with His Treasure |
322 |
|
The Castle of the White Cat |
336 |
|
She Was Happy All Day Long in Fairyland[page xxii] |
340 |
|
This is the Valiant Cornishman Who Slew the Giant Cormoran |
358 |
|
Connla and the Fairy Maiden |
390 |
|
A Pheasant Also Came Flying and Said: "Give Me a Dumpling" |
434 |
(Many of the illustrations in this volume are reproduced by special permission of E. P. Dutton & Company, owners of the American rights.)
[page 1]
|
H USH-A-BYE, baby, on the tree-top, |