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Italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.]


Mother’s Nursery Tales




[Illustration]




    MOTHER’S
    NURSERY TALES

    _TOLD AND ILLUSTRATED_

    _BY_

    _KATHARINE PYLE_

    [Illustration]

    NEW YORK
    E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY
    681 FIFTH AVENUE




    COPYRIGHT, 1918

    BY

    E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY

    _All Rights Reserved_


    _Printed in the United States of America_




[Illustration]




CONTENTS


                                           PAGE
    The Sleeping Beauty                       1
    Jack and the Bean Stalk                  13
    Beauty and the Beast                     31
    Jack-the-Giant-Killer                    47
    The Three Wishes                         71
    The Goose Girl                           75
    The Little Old Woman and Her Pig         92
    The White Cat                           100
    Brittle-Legs                            115
    “I Went Up One Pair of Stairs,” etc.    124
    The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean       128
    The Water-Sprite                        132
    Star Jewels                             139
    Sweet Porridge                          146
    Chicken-Diddle                          152
    A Pack of Ragamuffins                   157
    The Frog Prince                         165
    The Wolf and the Five Little Goats      174
    The Golden Goose                        183
    The Three Spinners                      199
    Goldilocks and the Three Bears          207
    The Three Little Pigs                   215
    The Golden Key                          229
    Mother Hulda                            232
    The Six Companions                      241
    The Golden Bird                         256
    The Nail                                281
    Little Red Riding-Hood                  284
    Aladdin, or the Magic Lamp              291
    The Cobbler and the Fairies             323
    Cinderella                              328
    Jack in Luck                            345
    Puss in Boots                           356
    The Town Musicians                      369




ILLUSTRATIONS


    COLOR PLATES                                          PAGE
    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




[Illustration]




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.

Perhaps you did not know that fairy tales were ever truths, but they
are—the best and oldest of them. That does not mean they are facts like
the things you see around you or learn from history books. Facts and
truths are as different as the body and the spirit. Facts are like the
body that we can see and touch and measure; we cannot see or measure
the Spirit, but it is there.

We can think of these truths as of different shapes and colors, like
pears and apples, and plums and other fruits, each with a different
taste and color. But there is one great truth that flows through them
all, and you know very well what it is:—evil in the end must always
defeat itself, and in the end good always triumphs. The bad magician is
tripped up by his own tricks, and the true prince marries the princess
and inherits the kingdom. If any one of these stories had told it
otherwise, that story would have died and withered away.

So take this book and read, being very sure that only good will come to
you however often you read them over and over and over again.

                                               KATHARINE PYLE.




Mother’s Nursery Tales




THE SLEEPING BEAUTY


There were once a King and Queen who had no children, though they had
been married for many years. At last, however, a little daughter was
born to them, and this was a matter of great rejoicing through all the
kingdom.

When the time came for the little Princess to be christened, a grand
feast was prepared, and six powerful fairies were asked to stand as her
godmothers. Unfortunately the Queen forgot to invite the seventh fairy,
who was the most powerful of them all, and was also very wicked and
malicious.

On the day of the christening the six good fairies came early, in
chariots drawn by butterflies, or by doves or wrens or other birds.
They were made welcome by the King and Queen, and after some talk they
were led to the hall where the feast had been set out. Everything
there was very magnificent. There were delicious fruits and meats
and pastries and game and everything that could be thought of. The
dishes were all of gold, and for each fairy there was a goblet cut
from a single precious stone. One was a diamond, one a sapphire, one
a ruby, one an emerald, one an amethyst, and one a topaz. The fairies
were delighted with the beauty of everything. Even in their own fairy
palaces they had no such goblets as those the King had had made for
them.

They were just about to take their places at the table when a great
noise was heard outside on the terrace. The Queen looked from the
window and almost fainted at the sight she saw. The bad fairy had
arrived. She had come uninvited, and the Queen guessed that it was for
no good that she came. Her chariot was of black iron, and was drawn by
four dragons with flaming eyes and brass scales. The fairy sprang from
her chariot in haste, and came tapping into the hall with her staff in
her hand.

“How is this? How is this?” she cried to the Queen. “Here all my
sisters have been invited to come and bring their gifts to the
Princess, and I alone have been forgotten.”

The Queen did not know what to answer. She was frightened. However, she
tried to hide her fear, and made the seventh fairy as welcome as the
others. A place was set for her at the King’s right hand, and he and
the Queen tried to pretend they had expected her to come. But for her
there was no precious goblet, and when she saw the ones that had been
given to the six other fairies her face grew green with envy, and her
eyes flashed fire. She ate and drank, but she said never a word.

After the feast the little Princess was brought into the room, and she
smiled so sweetly and looked so innocent that only a wicked heart could
have planned evil against her.

The first fairy took the child in her arms and said, “My gift to the
Princess shall be that of contentment, for contentment is better than
gold.”

“Yet gold is good,” said the second fairy, “and I will give her the
gift of wealth.”

“Health shall be hers,” said the third, “for wealth is of little use
without it.”

“And I,” said the fourth, “will gift her with beauty to win all hearts.”

“And wit to charm all ears,” said the fifth. “That is my gift to her.”

The sixth fairy hesitated, and in that moment the wicked one stepped
forward. While the others had spoken she had been swelling with spite
like a toad. “And I say,” cried she, “that in her seventeenth year she
shall prick her finger with a spindle and fall dead.”

When the Queen heard this she shrieked aloud, and the King grew as pale
as death. But the sixth fairy stepped forward.

“Wait a bit,” said she. “I have not spoken yet. I cannot undo what our
sister has done, but I say that the Princess shall not really die. She
shall fall into a deep sleep that shall last a hundred years, and all
in the castle shall sleep with her. At the end of that time she shall
be awakened by a kiss.”

When the wicked fairy heard this she was filled with rage, but she had
already spoken; she could do no more. She rushed out of the castle and
jumped into her chariot, and the dragons carried her away, and where
she went no one either knew nor cared.

The other fairies also went away, and they were sad because of what was
to happen to the Princess.

