Those who three years ago welcomed the appearance of "The Japanese Fairy
Book" will be grateful to Madame Ozaki for the new treat afforded in the
present volume. "The Japanese Fairy Book" appealed alike to the child,
in or out of the nursery, to the student of folk-lore, and to the lover
of things Japanese. To all of these the stories here told will come as
old friends with new faces.
In a country whose people are born story-tellers, where story-telling
long since rose to the dignity of a profession, and the story-teller is
sure of an appreciative audience, whether at a village fair or in a city
theatre, the authoress had not to go far afield in search of her
materials. But the range of this class of literature is wide, embracing
as it does all that goes to make folk-lore, legendary history, fairy
tales, and myths.
From all these sources the present stories are drawn, and in each case
the selection is justified and the story loses nothing in the telling.
The simple directness of narrative peculiar to Japanese tales is not
lost in the English setting, and the little glimpses we are given into
Japanese verse may tempt the reader to do like Oliver Twist and "ask for
more."
J.H. Gubbins.
Tokyo, May, 1909.