



Produced by JC Byers, Carrie Lorenz, and Gaston Picard





THE PINK FAIRY BOOK

By Various


Edited by Andrew Lang




Preface


All people in the world tell nursery tales to their children. The
Japanese tell them, the Chinese, the Red Indians by their camp fires,
the Eskimo in their dark dirty winter huts. The Kaffirs of South Africa
tell them, and the modern Greeks, just as the old Egyptians did, when
Moses had not been many years rescued out of the bulrushes. The Germans,
French, Spanish, Italians, Danes, Highlanders tell them also, and the
stories are apt to be like each other everywhere. A child who has read
the Blue and Red and Yellow Fairy Books will find some old friends with
new faces in the Pink Fairy Book, if he examines and compares. But the
Japanese tales will probably be new to the young student; the Tanuki is
a creature whose acquaintance he may not have made before. He may remark
that Andersen wants to 'point a moral,' as well as to 'adorn a tale; '
that he is trying to make fun of the follies of mankind, as they exist
in civilised countries. The Danish story of 'The Princess in the Chest'
need not be read to a very nervous child, as it rather borders on a
ghost story. It has been altered, and is really much more horrid in the
language of the Danes, who, as history tells us, were not a nervous or
timid people. I am quite sure that this story is not true. The other
Danish and Swedish stories are not alarming. They are translated by
Mr. W. A. Craigie. Those from the Sicilian (through the German) are
translated, like the African tales (through the French) and the Catalan
tales, and the Japanese stories (the latter through the German), and an
old French story, by Mrs. Lang. Miss Alma Alleyne did the stories from
Andersen, out of the German. Mr. Ford, as usual, has drawn the monsters
and mermaids, the princes and giants, and the beautiful princesses, who,
the Editor thinks, are, if possible, prettier than ever. Here, then, are
fancies brought from all quarters: we see that black, white, and yellow
peoples are fond of just the same kinds of adventures. Courage, youth,
beauty, kindness, have many trials, but they always win the battle;
while witches, giants, unfriendly cruel people, are on the losing hand.
So it ought to be, and so, on the whole, it is and will be; and that is
all the moral of fairy tales. We cannot all be young, alas! and pretty,
and strong; but nothing prevents us from being kind, and no kind man,
woman, or beast or bird, ever comes to anything but good in these oldest
fables of the world. So far all the tales are true, and no further.



Contents


     The Cat's Elopement.
     How the Dragon was Tricked
     The Goblin and the Grocer
     The House in the Wood
     Uraschimataro and the Turtle
     The Slaying of the Tanuki
     The Flying Trunk
     The Snow Man.
     The Shirt-Collar
     The Princess in the Chest
     The Three Brothers
     The Snow-queen
     The Fir-Tree
     Hans, the Mermaid's Son
     Peter Bull
     The Bird 'Grip'
     Snowflake
     I know what I have learned
     The Cunning Shoemaker
     The King who would have a Beautiful Wife
     Catherine and her Destiny
     How the Hermit helped to win the King's Daughter
     The Water of Life
     The Wounded Lion
     The Man without a Heart
     The Two Brothers
     Master and Pupil
     The Golden Lion
     The Sprig of Rosemary
     The White Dove
     The Troll's Daughter
     Esben and the Witch
     Princess Minon-Minette
     Maiden Bright-eye
     The Merry Wives
     King Lindorm
     The Jackal, the Dove, and the Panther
     The Little Hare
     The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue
     The Story of Ciccu
     Don Giovanni de la Fortuna.




The Cat's Elopement

[From the Japanische Marchen und Sagen, von David Brauns (Leipzig:
Wilhelm Friedrich).]


Once upon a time there lived a cat of marvellous beauty, with a skin as
soft and shining as silk, and wise green eyes, that could see even in
the dark. His name was Gon, and he belonged to a music teacher, who
was so fond and proud of him that he would not have parted with him for
anything in the world.

Now not far from the music master's house there dwelt a lady who
possessed a most lovely little pussy cat called Koma. She was such a
little dear altogether, and blinked her eyes so daintily, and ate her
supper so tidily, and when she had finished she licked her pink nose so
delicately with her little tongue, that her mistress was never tired of
saying, 'Koma, Koma, what should I do without you?'

Well, it happened one day that these two, when out for an evening
stroll, met under a cherry tree, and in one moment fell madly in love
with each other. Gon had long felt that it was time for him to find a
wife, for all the ladies in the neighbourhood paid him so much attention
that it made him quite shy; but he was not easy to please, and did not
care about any of them. Now, before he