"The tales in this volume are intended for children, who will like, it is hoped, the old stories that have pleased so many generations.
The taste of the world, which has veered so often, is constant enough to fairy tales. The children to whom and for whom they are told represent the young age of man. They are true to his early loves, they have his unblunted edge of belief, and his fresh appetite for marvels. The instinct of economy so works that we are still repeating to the boys and girls of each generation the stories that were old before Homer sang, and the adventures that have wandered, like the wandering Psyche, over all the world. We may alter now and again the arrangement of incidents, but these always remain essentially the same, and of all the combinations into which they can be fitted, the oldest combinations are still the favourites."
Andrew Lang.
Fairy tales in this volume:
The Bronze Ring
Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess
East of the Sun and West of the Moon
The Yellow Dwarf
Little Red Riding Hood
The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood
Cinderella, or the Little Glass Slipper
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was
Rumpelstiltzkin
Beauty and the Beast
The Master-Maid
Why the Sea Is Salt
The Master Cat; Or, Puss In Boots
Felicia and the Pot of Pinks
The White Cat
The Water-Lily. The Gold-Spinners
The Terrible Head
The Story of Pretty Goldilocks
The History of Whittington
The Wonderful Sheep
Little Thumb
The Forty Thieves
Hansel and Grettel
Snow-White and Rose-Red
The Goose-Girl
Toads and Diamonds
Prince Darling
Blue Beard
Trusty John
The Brave Little Tailor
A Voyage to Lilliput
The Princess on the Glass Hill
The Story of Prince Ahmed and the Fairy Paribanou
The History of Jack the Giant-Killer
The Black Bull of Norroway
The Red Etin
