THE HISTORY OF FAIRY TALES
The gods of ancient mythology were changed into the
demi-gods and heroes of ancient poetry, and these demi-gods
again became, at a later age, the principal characters of
our nursery tales.--MAX MÜLLER
Stories originally told about the characters of savage
tales, were finally attracted into the legends of the gods
of ancient mythology, or were attributed to demi-gods and
heroes.--ANDREW LANG.
I. THE ORIGIN OF FAIRY TALES
Now that we have indicated the worth of fairy tales, have observed
those principles which should guide the teacher in choosing and in
interpreting a tale, and have stated those rules which should govern
the story-teller in the telling of the tale, we may well ask a few
further questions concerning the nature of these fairy tales. What is
a fairy tale and whence did it come, and how are we to find its
beginning? Having found it, how are we to follow it down through the
ages? How shall it be classed, what are the available types which seek
to include it and show its nature? And lastly, what are the books
which are to be the main practical sources of fairy tales for the
teacher of little children? The remaining pages attempt to give some
help to the teacher who wishes to increase her resources with an
intelligent knowledge of the material she is handling.
Many times the question, "What is a fairy tale?" has been asked. One
has said: "The fairy tale is a poetic presentation of a spiritual
truth." George MacDonald has answered: "_Undine_ is a fairy tale." Mr.
G.K. Chesterton has said: "A fairy tale is a tale told in a morbid age
to the only remaining sane person, a child. A legend is a fairy tale
told to men when men were sane." Some, scorning to reply, have treated
the question as one similar to, "What poem do you consider best in the
English language?" As there are many tales included here which do not
contain a fairy, fairy tales here are taken to include tales which
contain something fairy or extraordinary, the magic or the
marvelous--fairies, elves, or trolls, speaking animals, trees, or a
talkative Tin Soldier. The Myth proper and the Fable are both excluded
here, while the _pourquois_ tale, a myth development, and the Beast
tale, a short-story fable development, are both included.
The origin of the word "fairy," as given by Thomas Keightley in his
_Fairy Mythology_, and later in the Appendix of his _Tales and Popular
Fictions_, is the Latin _fatum_, "to enchant." The word was derived
directly from the French form of the root. The various forms of the
root were:--
Latin _fatum_, "to enchant."
French _fee, feerie_, "illusion."
Italian _fata_.
Provençal _fada_.
In old French romance, _fee_ was a "woman skilled in magic." "All
those women were called Fays who had to do with enchantment and charms
and knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs, by
which they were kept in youth and in great beauty and in great
riches." This was true also of the Italian _fata_.
The word "fairy" was used in four senses. _Fairy_ represented:--
(1) Illusion, or enchantment.
(2) Abode of the Faes, the country of the Fays.
(3) Inhabitants collectively, the people of Fairyland.
(4) The individual in Fairyland, the fairy Knight, or Elf.
The word was used in the fourth sense before the time of Chaucer.
After the appearance of Spenser's _Faerie Queene_ distinctions became
confused, and the name of the real fairies was transferred to "the
little beings who made the green, sour ringlets whereof the ewe not
bites." The change adopted by the poets gained currency among the
people. Fairies were identified with nymphs and elves. Shakespeare was
the principal means of effecting this revolution, and in his
_Midsummer Night's Dream_ he has incorporated most of the fairy lore
known in England at his time. But the tales are older than their name.
The origin of fairy tales is a question which has kept many very able
scholars busy and which has not yet been settled to the satisfaction
of many. What has been discovered resolves itself mainly into four
different origins of fairy tales:--
I. Fairy tales are detritus of myth, surviving echoes of gods and
heroes. Against this theory it may be said that, when popular tales
have incidents similar to Greek heroic myths, the tales are not
detritus of myth, but both have a more ancient tale as their original
source. There was:--
(1) A popular tale which reflected the condition of a rude
people, a tale full of the monstrous and the miraculous.
(2) The same tale, a series of incidents and plot, with the
monstrous element modified, which survived in the oral
traditions of illiterate peasantry.
(3) The same plot and incidents, as they existed in heroic
epics of cultivated people. A local and historical character
was given by the introduction of known places and native
heroes. Tone and manners were refined by literary
workmanship, in the _Rig Veda_, the Persian _King-book_, the
_Homeric Epics_, etc.
The Grimms noted that the evolution of the tale was from a strongly
marked, even ugly, but highly expressive form of its earlier stages,
to that which possessed external beauty of mold. The origin is in the
fancy of a primitive people, the survival is through _Märchen_ of
peasantry, and the transfiguration into epics is by literary artists.
Therefore, one and the same tale may be the source of Perrault's
_Sleeping Beauty_, also of a _Greek myth_, and also of an _old tale of
illiterate peasantry_. This was the opinion held by Lang, who said,
"For the roots of stories, we must look, not in the clouds but upon
the earth, not in the various aspects of nature but in the daily
occurrences and surroundings, in the current opinions and ideas of
savage life."
In the savage _Märchen_ of to-day, the ideas and incidents are the
inevitable result of the mental habits and beliefs of savages. We gain
an idea of the savage mind through Leviticus, in the Bible, through
Herodotus, Greek and Roman geographers, Aristotle, Plutarch, Pliny,
etc., through voyagers, missionaries, and travelers, and through
present savage peoples. Savage existence is based on two great
institutions:--
(a) The division of society into clans.--Marriage laws depend on the
conception that these clans descend from certain plants, animals, or
inorganic objects. There was the belief in human descent from animals
and kinship and personal intercourse with them.
(b) Belief in magic and medicine-men, which resulted in powers of
metamorphosis, the effect of incantation, and communion with the
dead.--To the savage all nature was animated, all things were persons.
The leading ideas of savage peoples have already been referred to in
the list of motifs which appear in the different fairy tales, as given
by Lang, mentioned under the "Preparation of the Teacher," in _The
Telling of the Tale_.
II. Fairy tales are myths of Sun, Dawn, Thunder, Rain, etc.
This is sometimes called the Sun-Myth Theory or the Aryan Theory, and
it is the one advocated by Max Müller and by Grimm.
The fairy tales were primitive man's experience with nature in days
when he could not distinguish between nature and his own personality,
when there was no supernatural because everything was endowed with a
personal life. They were the poetic fancies of light and dark, cloud
and rain, day and night; and underneath them were the same fanciful
meanings. These became changed by time, circumstances in different
countries, and the fancy of the tellers, so that they became sunny and
many-colored in the South, sterner and wilder in the North, and more
home-like in the Middle and West. To the Bushmen the wind was a bird,
and to the Egyptian fire was a living beast. Even _The Song of
Six-Pence_ has been explained as a nature-myth, the pie being the
earth and sky, the birds the twenty-four hours, the king the sun, the
queen the moon, and the opening of the pie, day-break.
Every word or phrase became a new story as soon as the first meaning
of the original name was lost. Andrew Lang tells how Kephalos the sun
loved Prokris the dew, and slew her by his arrows. Then when the first
meaning of the names for sun, dew, and rays was lost, Kephalos, a
shepherd, loved Prokris, a nymph, and we have a second tale which, by
a folk-etymology, became the _Story of Apollo, the Wolf_. Tales were
told of the sun under his frog name; later people forgot that _frog_
meant "sun," and the result was the popular tale, _A Frog, He Would
A-Wooing Go_.
In regard to this theory, "It is well to remember," says Tylor in his
_Primitive Culture_, "that rash inferences which, on the strength of
mere resemblances, derive episodes of myth from episodes of nature,
must be regarded with utter distrust; for the student who has no more
stringent criterion than this for his myths of sun and sky and dawn
will find them wherever it pleases him to seek them." There is a
danger of being carried away by false analogies. But all scholars
agree that some tales are evidently myths of sun and dawn. If we
examine the natural history of savages, we do find summer feasts,
winter feasts, rituals of sorrow for the going of summer and of
rejoicing for its return, anxious interest in the sun, interest in the
motion of the heavenly bodies, the custom of naming men and women from
the phenomena of nature, and interest in making love, making war,
making fun, and making dinner.
III. Fairy tales all arose in India, they are part of the common Aryan
heritage and are to be traced by the remains of their language.
They were first written in the _Vedas_, the sacred Sanskrit books of
Buddhism. This theory is somewhat allied to the Sun-Myth Theory. This
theory was followed by Max Müller and by Sir George Cox.
The theory of a common source in India will not answer entirely for
the origin of tales because many similar tales have existed in
non-Aryan countries. Old tales were current in Egypt, 2000 B.C., and
were brought from there by Crusaders, Mongol missionaries, the
Hebrews, and Gypsies.
The idea of connecting a number of disconnected stories, as we find in
_Arabian Nights_, _The Canterbury Tales_, and the _Decameron_, is
traced to the idea of making Buddha the central figure in the
folk-literature of India. And Jacobs says that at least one-third of
all the stories common to the children of Europe are derived from
India, and by far the majority of the drolls. He also says that
generally, so far as incidents are marvelous and of true fairy-like
character, India is the probable source, because of the vitality of
animism and transformation in India in all time. Moreover, as a
people, the Hindus had spread among their numbers enough literary
training and mental grip to invent plots.
And again, there is an accepted connection in myth and language
between all Aryan languages and Sanskrit. According to Sir George
Dasent, "The whole human race has sprung from one stock planted in the
East, which has stretched its boughs and branches laden with the fruit
of language and bright with the bloom of song and story, by successive
offshoots to the utmost parts of the earth." Dasent tells how the
Aryans who went west, who went out to _do_, were distinguished from
the nations of the world by their common sense, by their power of
adapting themselves to circumstances, by making the best of their
position, by being ready to receive impressions, and by being able to
develop impressions. They became the Greeks, the Latins, the Teutons,
the Celts, and the Slavonians. The Aryans who stayed at home, remained
to _reflect_, and were distinguished by their power of thought. They
became a nation of philosophers and gave to the world the Sanskrit
language as the basis of comparative philology. Dasent shows how
legends, such as the _Story of William Tell_ and _Dog Gellert_, which
have appeared in many Aryan peoples were common in germ to the Aryan
tribes before migration. Joseph Jacobs has more recently settled the
travels of _Gellert_, tracing its literary route from the Indian
_Vinaya Pitaka_, through the _Fables of Bidpai, Sindibad, Seven Sages
of Rome, Gesta Romanorum_, and the Welsh _Fables of Cottwg_, until the
legend became localized in Wales.
IV. Fairy tales owe their origin to the identity of early fancy.
Just as an individual, after thinking along certain lines, is
surprised to come upon the exact sequence of his thought in a book he
had never seen, so primitive peoples in remote parts of the world, up
against similar situations, would express experience in tales
containing similar motifs. A limited set of experiences was presented
to the inventive faculty, and the limited combinations possible would
result in similar combinations. The Aryan Jackal, the Mediaeval
Reynard, the Southern Brer Rabbit, and the Weasel of Africa, are near
relations. Dasent said, "In all mythology and tradition there are
natural resemblances, parallelisms, suggested to the senses of each
race by natural objects and everyday events; and these might spring up
spontaneously all over the earth as home-growths, neither derived by
imitation from other tribes, nor from the tradition of a common
stock."
It is probable that all four theories of the origin of fairy tales are
correct and that fairy tales owe their origin not to any one cause but
to all four.
II. THE TRANSMISSION OF FAIRY TALES
Oral transmission. The tale, having originated, may have been
transmitted in many ways: by women compelled to marry into alien
tribes; by slaves from Africa to America; by soldiers returning from
the Crusades; by pilgrims returning from the Holy Land or from Mecca;
by knights gathering at tournaments; by sailors and travelers; and by
commercial exchange between southern Europe and the East--Venice
trading with Egypt and Spain with Syria. Ancient tales of Persia
spread along the Mediterranean shores. In this way the Moors of Spain
learned many a tale which they transmitted to the French. _Jack the
Giant-Killer_ and _Thomas Thumb_, according to Sir Walter Scott,
landed in England from the very same keels and warships which conveyed
Hengist and Horsa and Ebba the Saxon. A recent report of the Bureau of
Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution of the United States
expressed the opinion that the _Uncle Remus Tales_ have an Indian
origin. Slaves had associated with Indian tribes such as the
Cherokees, and had heard the story of the Rabbit who was so clever
that no one could fool him. Gradually the Southern negroes had adopted
the Indian tales and changed them. Joseph Jacobs claims to have found
the original of the "Tar Baby" in the _Jataka Tales_. A tale, once
having originated, could travel as easily as the wind. Certainly a
good type when once hit upon was diffused widely. Sir Walter Scott has
said: "A work of great interest might be compiled from the origin of
popular fiction and the transmission of similar tales from age to age
and from country to country. The mythology of one period would then
appear to pass into the romance of the next century, and that into the
nursery tales of subsequent ages. Such an investigation would show
that these fictions, however wild and childish, possess such charms
for the populace as to enable them to penetrate into countries
unconnected by manners and language, and having no apparent
intercourse to afford the means of transmission."
Thomas Keightley, in _Tales and Popular Fictions_, has given
interesting examples of the transmission of tales. Selecting _Jack the
Giant-Killer_, he has shown that it is the same tale as Grimm's _The
Brave Tailor_, and _Thor's Journey to Utgard_ in the Scandinavian
_Edda_. Similar motifs occur also in a Persian tale, _Ameen of Isfahan
and the Ghool_, and in the _Goat and the Lion_, a tale from the
_Panchatantra_. Selecting the _Story of Dick Whittington_ he has shown
that in England it was current in the reign of Elizabeth; that two
similar tales, Danish legends, were told by Thiele; that a similar
Italian tale existed at the time of Amerigo Vespucci, which was a
legend told by Arlotto in 1396-1483; that another similar Italian tale
was connected with the origin of Venice, in 1175; and that a similar
tale existed in Persia in 1300, before 1360, when Whittington of
England was born. He also pointed out that the _Odyssey_ must have
traveled east as well as west, from Greece, for Sindbad's adventure
with the Black Giant is similar to that of Ulysses with the Cyclops.
Another interesting set of parallels shown by him is connected with
the _Pentamerone_ tale, _Peruonto_. This is the Straparola _Peter the
Fool_, the Russian _Emelyan the Fool_, the Esthonian tale by
Laboulaye, _The Fairy Craw-Fish_, and the Grimm _The Fisherman and his
Wife_. The theme of a peasant being rewarded by the fish he had thrown
back into the water takes on a delightful varied form in the tale of
different countries. The magic words of Emelyan, "Up and away! At the
pike's command, and at my request, go home, sledge!" in each variant
take an interesting new form.
Literary transmission. The travels of a tale through oral tradition
are to be attempted with great difficulty and by only the most careful
scholarship. One may follow the transmission of tales through literary
collections with somewhat greater ease and exactness. Popular tales
have a literature of their own. The following list seeks to mention
the most noteworthy collections:--
No date. _Vedas_. Sanskrit.
No date. _Zend Avesta_. Persian.
Fifth century, B.C. _Jatakas_. Probably the oldest
literature. It was written at Ceylon and has been translated
into 38 languages, in 112 editions. Recently the Cambridge
edition has been translated from the Pali, edited by E.B.
Cowell, published by Putnam, New York, 1895-1907.
4000 B.C. _Tales of Ancient Egypt_. These were the tales of
magicians, recorded on papyrus.
600 B.C. (about). _Homeric Legends_.
200 B.C. (about). _Book of Esther_.
Second century, A.D. _The Golden Ass, Metamorphoses of Apuleius_.
550 A.D. _Panchatantra_, the _Five Books_. This was a
Sanskrit collection of fables, the probable source of the
_Fables of Bidpai_.
Second century, A.D. _The Hitopadesa_, or _Wholesome
Instruction_. A selection from the _Panchatantra_, first
edited by Carey, in 1804; by Max Müller, in 1844.
550 A.D. _Panchatantra_. Pehlevi version.
Tenth century, A.D. _Panchatantra_. Arabic version.
Eleventh century, A.D. _Panchatantra_. Greek version.
Twelfth century, A.D. _Panchatantra_. Persian version.
1200 A.D. _Sanskrit Tales_. These tales were collected by
Somadeva Bhatta, of Cashmere, and were published to amuse
the Queen of Cashmere. They have been translated by
Brockhaus, 1844. Somadeva's _Ocean of the Streams of Story_
has been translated by Mr. Tawney, of Calcutta, 1880.
Tales of the West came from the East in two sources:--
1262-78. (1) _Directorium Humanæ Vitæ_, of John of Capua.
This was translated from the _Hebrew_, from the _Arabic_ of
the eighth century, from the _Pehlevi_ of Persia of the
sixth century, from the _Panchatantra_, from the _Sanskrit
original_. This is the same as the famous Persian version,
_The Book of Calila and Dimna_, attributed to Bidpai, of
India. There was a late Persian version, in 1494, and one in
Paris in 1644, which was the source of La Fontaine.
Thirteenth century. (2) _The Story of the Seven Sages of
Rome_, or _The Book of Sindibad_. This appeared in Europe as
the Latin _History of the Seven Sages of Rome_, by Dame
Jehans, a monk in the Abbey of Haute Selve. There is a
Hebrew, an Arabic, and a Persian version. It is believed the
Persian version came from Sanskrit but the Sanskrit original
has not yet been found.
Tenth century. _Reynard the Fox_. This was first found as a
Latin product of the monks, in a cloister by the banks of
the Mosel and Mass. _Reynard the Fox_ shares with _Æsop's
Fables_ the distinction of being folk-lore raised into
literature. It is a series of short stories of adventure
forming a romance. These versions are known:--
1180. German-_Reinhart_, an epic of twelve
adventures by Heinrich Glichesäre.
1230. French-_Roman de Renard_, with its
twenty-seven branches.
1250. Flemish-_Reinaert_, part of which was
composed by Willem, near Ghent.
1148. _Ysengrimus_, a Latin poem written at Ghent.
Thirteenth century. _Of the Vox and of the Wolf_,
an English poem.
Later date. _Rainardo_, Italian.
Later date. Greek _mediaeval version_.
_Reynard the Fox_[5] was first printed in England
by Caxton in 1481, translated from a Dutch copy. A
copy of Caxton's book is in the British Museum.
Caxton's edition was adapted by "Felix Summerley";
and Felix Summerley's edition, with slight
changes, was used by Joseph Jacobs in his Cranford
edition.
A Dutch prose romance, _Historie von Reynaert de
Vos_ was published in 1485. A German copy, written
in Lower Saxony was published in 1498. A
chap-book, somewhat condensed, but giving a very
good account of the romance, was published in
London in 1780, printed and sold in Aldermary
Churchyard, Bow Lane. This chap-book is very much
finer in language than many of the others in
Ashton's collection. Its structure is good,
arranged in nine chapters. It shows itself a real
classic and would be read with pleasure to-day.
Goethe's poem, _Reineke Fuchs_, was published in
1794. This version was more refined than previous
ones but it lost in simplicity. Monographs have
been written on _Reynard_ by Grimm, Voigt, Martin,
and Sudre.
Raginhard was a man's name, meaning "strong in
counsel," and was common in Germany which bordered
on France. This name naturally was given to the
beast who lived by his wits. Grimm considered
_Reynard_ the result of a Teutonic Beast Epic of
primitive origin. Later research has exploded this
theory and has decided that all versions are
descended from an original French one existing
between 1150 and 1170. Modern editions have come
from the Flemish version. The literary artist who
compiled _Reynard_ took a nucleus of fables and
added to it folk-tales which are known to have
existed in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and
which exist to-day as tradition among some folk.
The folk-tales included in _Reynard_ are: _Reynard
and Dame Wolf_; _The Iced Wolf's Tail_; _The
Fishes in the Car_; _The Bear in the Cleft_; _The
Wolf as Bell-Ringer_; and _The Dyed Fox_. The
method of giving individual names to the animals
such as Reynard, Bruin, and Tibert, was current
among the Folk before a literary form was given to
_Reynard_. As this was the custom in the province
of Lorraine it is supposed that the origin of
these names was in Lorraine. Other names, such as
Chanticleer, the Cock, and Noble, the Lion, were
given because of a quality, and indicate a
tendency to allegory. These names increase in the
later development of the romance. In the beginning
when the beasts had only personal adventures,
these were told by the Folk to raise a laugh.
Later there was a meaning underneath the laugh and
the Beast Epic Comedy of the Folk grew into the
world Beast Satire of the literary artist.
_Reynard_ exhibits the bare struggle for existence
which was generally characteristic of Feudal life.
Cunning opposes force and triumphs over it. The
adventurous hero appeals because of his faculty of
_adjustment_, his power to adapt himself to
circumstances and to master them. He also appeals
because of his small size when compared with the
other animals. In the Middle Ages _Reynard_
appealed because it was a satire upon the monks.
Of _Reynard_ Carlyle has said, "It comes before us
with a character such as can belong only to very
few; that of being a true World's Book which
through centuries was everywhere at home, the
spirit of which diffused itself into all languages
and all minds."
* * * * *
About one tenth of European folk-lore is traced to
collections used in the Middle Ages: _Fables of Bidpai_,
_Seven Wise Masters_, _Gesta Romanorum_, and _Barlaam and
Josophat_. These tales became diffused through the _Exempla_
of the monks, used in their sermons, through the _Novelle_
of Italy, the _Decameron_ of Boccaccio, the _Tales of
Chaucer_, Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, and the
_Elizabethan Drama_ of England. One half of La Fontaine's
_Fables_ are of Indian sources.
1326. The _Gesta Romanorum_, written in Latin. This was a
compilation, by the monks, of stories with a moral appended
to each. It was the most popular story-book before the
invention of printing. In England it was printed by Wynkyn
de Worde, of which edition the only known copy is at St.
John's College, Cambridge. The earliest manuscript of the
collection is dated 1326. Between 1600 and 1703 fifteen
editions of the book prove its popularity. One English
version is by Sir Frederick Madden, who lived 1801-73. The
author of the _Gesta Romanorum_ is unknown, but was likely a
German. The stories included are miscellaneous and vary in
different editions. Among its stories are Oriental tales,
tales of the deeds of Roman Emperors, an early form of _Guy
of Warwick_, the casket episode of _The Merchant of Venice_,
a story of the Jew's bond, a tale of the Emperor Theodosius,
being a version of _King Lear_, the story of the Hermit, and
a tale of Aglas, the daughter of the Roman Emperor Pompey,
being a version of _Atalanta and her Race_.
1000 A.D. (about). _Shah-Nameh_, or _King-book of Persia_,
by Ferdousee, born about 940 A.D. This book is the pride and
glory of Persian literature. It was written by the Persian
poet at the command of the king, who wished to have
preserved the old traditions and heroic glories of Persians
before the Arabian conquest. Ferdousee declared that he
invented none of his material, but took it from the
_Bostan-Nameh_ or _Old-Book_.
The _King-Book_ is very ancient, it is the Persian Homer. It
was the labor of thirty years. It consisted of 56,000
distichs or couplets, for every thousand of which the Sultan
had promised the poet one thousand pieces of gold. Instead
of the elephant-load of gold promised, the Sultan sent in
payment 60,000 small silver coins. This so enraged the poet
that he gave away one third to the man who brought them, one
third to a seller of refreshments, and one third to the
keeper of the bath where the messenger found him. After the
poet's death the insult was retrieved by proper payment.
This was refused by his one daughter, but accepted by the
other and used to erect a public dike the poet had always
desired to build to protect his native town from the river.
The fine character of the tales of the _King-Book_ is shown
in the tale of _Roostem and Soohrab_, taken from this book,
which Keightley has translated in _Tales and Popular
Fictions_. Keightley considered it superior to any Greek or
Latin tale. Modern literature knows this tale through
Matthew Arnold's poem.
1548 (not later than). _The Thousand and One Nights_,
Arabian. 12 volumes. Galland's French translation appeared
in 1704. This was supplemented by Chavis and Cazotte, and by
Caussin de Percival. Monsieur Galland was Professor of
Arabic in the Royal College of Paris. He was a master of
French and a fairly good scholar of Arabic. He brought his
manuscript, dated 1548, to Paris from Constantinople. He
severely abbreviated the original, cutting out poetical
extracts and improving the somewhat slovenly style. In his
translation he gave to English the new words, _genie, ogre_,
and _vizier_. His work was very popular.
Boulak and Calcutta texts are better than the Galland. They
contain about two hundred and fifty stories. The Cairo
edition has been admirably translated by Edward W. Lane, in
3 volumes (1839-41) published in London. This is probably
the best edition. It also omits many poetical quotations. A
recent edition using Lane's translation is by Frances
Olcott, published by Holt in 1913. Editions which attempt to
be complete versions are by John Payne (13 volumes,
1882-84), and by Sir Richard Burton (16 volumes, 1885-88).
Lane and Burton give copious notes of value. The recent
edition by Wiggin and Smith used the editions of Scott and
Lane.
The stories in _Arabian Nights_ are Indian, Egyptian,
Arabian, and Persian. Scenes are laid principally in Bagdad
and Cairo. Lane considered that the one hundred and fifteen
stories, which are common to all manuscripts, are based on
the Pehlevi original. The idea of the frame of the story
came from India. This was the birth of the serial story.
There is authority for considering the final collection to
have been made in Egypt. Cairo is described most minutely
and the customs are of Egypt of the thirteenth century and
later. The stories must have been popular in Egypt as they
were mentioned by an historian, 1400-70. Lane considered
that the final Arabic collection bears to Persian tales the
same relation that the _Æneid_ does to the _Odyssey_. Life
depicted is Arabic, and there is an absence of the great
Persian heroes. Internal evidence assists in dating the
work. Coffee is mentioned only three times. As its use
became popular in the East in the fourteenth century this
indicates the date of the work to be earlier than the very
common use of coffee. Cannon, which are mentioned, were
known in Egypt in 1383. Additions to the original were
probably made as late as the sixteenth century. _The Arabian
Nights_ has been the model for many literary attempts to
produce the Oriental tale, of which the tales of George
Meredith are notable examples.
Thomas Keightley, in _Tales and Popular Fictions_,
considered Persia the original country of _The Thousand and
One Nights_, and _The Voyages of Sinbad_, originally a
separate work. He showed how some of these tales bear marks
of Persian extraction and how some had made their way to
Europe through oral transmission before the time of
Galland's translation. He selected the tale, "Cleomedes and
Claremond," and proved that it must have been learned by a
certain Princess Blanche, of Castile, and transmitted by her
to France about 1275. This romance must have traveled to
Spain from the East. It is the same as "The Enchanted Horse"
in _The Thousand and One Nights_, and through Keightley's
proof, is originally Persian. Keightley also selected the
Straparola tale, _The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and
the Beautiful Green Bird_, and proved it to be the same as
Grimm's _Three Little Birds_, as a Persian _Arabian Night's_
tale, and also as _La Princesse Belle Etoile_, of D'Aulnoy.
But as Galland's translation appeared only the year after
Madame D'Aulnoy's death, Madame D'Aulnoy must have obtained
the tale elsewhere than from the first printed version of
_Arabian Nights_.
No date. _The Thousand and One Days_. This is a Persian
collection containing the "History of Calaf."
1550. _Straparola's Nights_, by Straparola. This collection
of jests, riddles, and twenty-one stories was published in
Venice. The stories were taken from oral tradition, from the
lips of ten young women. Some were agreeable, some unfit, so
that the book was forbidden in Rome, in 1605, and an
abridged edition prepared. There was a complete Venetian
edition in 1573, a German translation in 1679, a French one
in 1611, and a good German one with valuable notes, by
Schmidt, in 1817. Straparola's _Nights_ contained stories
similar to the German _The Master Thief, The Little Peasant,
Hans and the Hedge-Hog, Iron Hans, The Four Brothers, The
Two Brothers_, and _Dr. Know-all_.
1637. _The Pentamerone_, by Basile. Basile spent his early
youth in Candia or Crete, which was owned by Venice. He
traveled much in Italy, following his sister, who was a
noted singer, to Mantua. He probably died in 1637. There may
have been an earlier edition of _The Pentamerone_, which
sold out. It was republished in Naples in 1645, 1674, 1714,
1722, 1728, 1749, 1788, and in Rome in 1679. This was the
best collection of tales formed by a nation for a long time.
The traditions were complete, and the author had a special
talent for collecting them, and an intimate knowledge of
dialect. This collection of fifty stories may be looked upon
as the basis of many others. Basile wrote independently of
Straparola, though a few tales are common to both. He was
very careful not to alter the tale as he took it down from
the people. He told his stories with allusions to manners
and customs, to old stories and mythology. He abounds in
picturesque, proverbial expressions, with turns and many
similes, and displays a delightful exuberance of fancy. A
valuable translation, with notes, was written by Felix
Liebrecht, in 1842, and an English one by John Edward
Taylor, in 1848. Keightley, in _Fairy Mythology_, has
translated three of these tales and in _Tales and Popular
Fictions_, two tales. Keightley's were the first
translations of these tales into any language other than
Italian. Among the stories of Basile are the German
_Cinderella, How Six got on in the World, Rapunzel, Snow
White, Dame Holle, Briar Rose_, and _Hansel and Grethel_.
1697. _The Tales of Mother Goose_, by Charles Perrault. In
France the collecting of fairy tales began in the
seventeenth century. French, German, and Italian tales were
all derived independently by oral tradition. In 1696, in
_Recueil_, a magazine published by Moetjens, at The Hague,
appeared _The Story of Sleeping Beauty_, by Perrault. In
1697 appeared seven other tales by Perrault. Eight stories
were published in 12mo, under a title borrowed from a
_fabliau_, _Contes de ma Mere l'Oye_. In a later edition
three stories were added, _The Ass's Skin_, _The Clever
Princess_, and _The Foolish Wishes_. The tales of Perrault
were:--
1. The Fairies.
2. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood.
3. Bluebeard.
4. Little Red Riding Hood.
5. Puss-in-Boots.
6. Cinderella.
7. Rique with the Tuft.
8. Little Thumb.
9. The Ass's Skin.
10. The Clever Princess.
11. The Foolish Wishes.
Immediately afterwards the tales appeared published at Paris
in a volume entitled, _Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passe,
avec des Moralites--Contes de ma Mère l'Oye_. The earliest
translation into English was in a book containing French and
English, _Tales of Passed Times, by Mother Goose, with
Morals. Written in French by M. Charles Perrault and
Englished by R.S., Gent_. An English translation by Mr.
Samber was advertised in the English _Monthly Chronicle_,
March, 1729. Andrew Lang, with an introduction, has edited
these tales from the original edition, published by the
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1888. These tales made their way
slowly in England, but gradually eclipsed the native English
tales and legends which had been discouraged by Puritan
influence. In Perrault's time, when this influence was
beginning to decline, they superseded the English tales,
crowding out all but _Jack the Giant-Killer, Tom
Hickathrift, Jack and the Beanstalk, Tom Thumb_, and _Childe
Rowland_.
1650-1705. _Fairy Tales_, by Madame D'Aulnoy. In France
there were many followers of Perrault. The most important of
these was Madame D'Aulnoy. She did not copy Perrault. She
was a brilliant, witty countess, and brought into her tales,
entitled _Contes de Fées_, the graces of the court. She
adhered less strictly to tradition than Perrault, and
handled her material freely, making additions,
amplifications, and moral reflections, to the original tale.
Her weaving together of incidents is artistic and her style
graceful and not unpleasing. It is marked by ornamentation,
sumptuousness, and French sentimentality. It shows a lack of
naïveté resulting from the palace setting given to her
tales, making them adapted only to children of high rank.
Often her tale is founded on a beautiful tradition. _The
Blue-Bird_, one of the finest of her tales, was found in the
poems of Marie de France, in the thirteenth century. Three
of her tales were borrowed from Straparola. Among her tales
the most important are:--
_Graciosa and Percinet_. (Basile.)
_The Blue-Bird_. (Contains a motif similar to one
in _The Singing, Soaring Lark_.)
_The White Cat_. (Similar to _Three Feathers_ and
_The Miller's Boy and the Cat_.)
_The Hind in the Wood_. (Similar to _Rumpelstiltskin_.)
_The Good Little Mouse_. (Basile.)
_The Fair One with the Golden Locks. (Ferdinand
the Faithful.)_
_The Yellow Dwarf_.
_Princess Belle Etoile_. (Straparola.)
The careful translation of Madame D'Aulnoy's tales by Mr.
Planché faithfully preserves the spirit of the original.
There were many imitators of Countess D'Aulnoy, in France,
in the eighteenth century. Their work was on a much lower
level and became published in the _Cabinet des Fées_, a
collection of stories including in its forty volumes the
work of many authors, of which the greater part is of little
value. Of those following D'Aulnoy three deserve mention:--
1711-1780. _Moral Tales_, by Madame de Beaumont.
These were collected while the author was in
England. Of these we use _Prince Cherry_. Madame
de Beaumont wrote a children's book in which is
found a tale similar to _The Singing, Soaring
Lark_, entitled _The Maiden and the Beast_. She
also wrote 69 volumes of romance.
1765. _Tales_, by Madame Villeneuve. Of these we
use _Beauty and the Beast_.
1692-1765. _Tales_, by Comte de Caylus. The author
was an antiquarian and scholar. Of his tales we
use _Sylvain and Yocosa_.
Very little attempt has been made in modern times to include
in our children's literature the best of foreign literature
for children, for there has been very little study of
foreign books for children. Certainly the field of
children's literature would be enriched to receive
translations of any books worthy of the name classic. A
partial list of French fairy tales is here given, indicating
to children's librarians how little has been done to open up
this field, and inviting their labor:--
_Bibliothèque Rose_, a collection. (What should be
included?)
_Bibliothèque des Petits Enfants_, a collection.
(What should be included?)
1799-1874. _Fairy Tales from the French_, by
Madame de Ségur. These tales are published by
Winston. We also use her _Story of a Donkey_,
written in 1860 and published by Heath in 1901.
1866. _Fairy Tales of all Nations_, by Edouard
Laboulaye.
1902. _Last Fairy Tales_, also by Laboulaye.
_Tales_, by Zenaide Fleuriot. (What should be
included?)
1910. _Chantecler_, by Edmund Rostand. Translated
by Gertrude Hall, published by Duffield.
1911. _The Honey Bee_, by Anatole France;
translated by Mrs. Lane; published by Lane.
1911. _The Blue-Bird_, by Maurice Maeterlinck;
published by Dodd.
In Great Britain many old tales taken from tradition were included in
the Welsh Mabinogion, Irish sagas, and Cornish Mabinogion. Legends of
Brittany were made known by the poems of Marie de France, who lived in
the thirteenth century. These were published in Paris, in 1820. In
fact, most of the early publications of fairy tales were taken from
the French.
Celtic tales have been collected in modern times in a greater number
than those of any nation. This has been due largely to the work of
J.F. Campbell. Celtic tales are unusual in that they have been
collected while the custom of story-telling is yet flourishing among
the Folk. They are therefore of great literary and imaginative
interest. They are especially valuable as the oldest of the European
tales. The Irish tale of _Connla and the Fairy Maiden_ has been traced
to a date earlier than the fifth century and therefore ranks as the
oldest tale of modern Europe. The principal Celtic collections are:--
_Iolo M. S_., published by the Welsh M. S. Society.
_Mabinogion_, translated by Lady Guest. (Contains tales
that trace back to the twelfth century.)
_Y Cymrodor_, by Professor Rhys.
1825. _Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of
Ireland_, by T. Crofton Croker.
1842. _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_. Chambers.
1860-62. _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, by J.F.
Campbell.
_Tales_, collected and published with notes, by Mr. Alfred
Nutt.
1866. By Patrick Kennedy, the Irish Grimm. _Legendary
Fictions of the Irish Celts; Fireside Stories of Ireland_
(1870); and _Bardic Stories of Ireland_ (1871).
In England the publication of fairy tales may be followed more readily
because the language proves no hindrance and the literature gives
assistance. In England the principal publications of fairy tales
were:--
1604. _Pasquil's Jests_. Contained a tale similar to one of
Grimm's.
1635. _A Tract, A Descryption of the Kynge and Quene of
Fairies, their habit, fare, abode, pomp, and state_.
Eighteenth century (early). _Madame D'Aulnoy's Tales_, a
translation.
1667-1745. _Gulliver's Travels_, by Dean Swift. (One modern
edition, with introduction by W.D. Howells, and more than
one hundred illustrations by Louis Rhead, is published by
Harpers. Another edition, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, is
published by Dutton.)
1700-1800. _Chap-Books_. Very many of these books,
especially the best ones, were published by William and
Cluer Dicey, in Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, London.
Rival publishers, whose editions were rougher in engraving,
type, and paper, labored in Newcastle.
The chap-books were little paper books hawked by chap-men,
or traveling peddlers, who went from village to village with
"Almanacks, Bookes of Newes, or other trifling wares." These
little books were usually from sixteen to twenty-four pages
in bulk and in size from two and one half inches by three
and one half inches to five and one half inches by four and
one quarter inches. They sold for a penny or six-pence and
became the very popular literature of the middle and lower
classes of their time. After the nineteenth century they
became widely published, deteriorated, and gradually were
crowded out by the _Penny Magazine_ and _Chambers's Penny
Tracts and Miscellanies_. For many years before the
Victorian period, folk-lore was left to the peasants and
kept out of reach of the children of the higher classes.
This was the reign of the moral tale, of Thomas Bewick's
_Looking Glass of the Mind_ and Mrs. Sherwood's _Henry and
His Bearer_. Among the chap-books published by William and
Cluer Dicey, may be mentioned: _The Pleasant and Delightful
History of Jack and the Giants_ (part second was printed and
sold by J. White); _Guy, Earl of Warwick; Bevis of Hampton;
The History of Reynard the Fox_, dated 1780; _The History of
Fortunatus_, condensed from an edition of 1682; _The Fryer
and the Boy; A True Tale of Robin Hood_ (Robin Hood Garland
Blocks, from 1680, were used in the London Bridge Chap-Book
edition); _The Famous History of Thomas Thumb; The History
of Sir Richard Whittington_; and _The Life and Death of St.
George. Tom Hickathrift_ was printed by and for M. Angus and
Son, at Newcastle-in-the-Side: _Valentine and Orson_ was
printed at Lyons, France, in 1489; and in England by Wynkyn
de Worde. Among the chap-books many tales not fairy tales
were included. With the popularity of _Goody Two Shoes_ and
the fifty little books issued by Newbery, the realistic tale
of modern times made a sturdy beginning. Of these realistic
chap-books one of the most popular was _The History of
Little Tom Trip_, probably by Goldsmith, engraved by the
famous Thomas Bewick, published by T. Saint, of Newcastle.
This was reprinted by Ed. Pearson in 1867.
Of _Jack the Giant-Killer_, in Skinner's _Folk-Lore_, David
Masson has said: "Our _Jack the Giant-Killer_ is clearly the
last modern transmutation of the old British legend, told in
Geoffrey of Monmouth, of Corineüs the Trojan, the companion
of the Trojan Brutus when he first settled in Britain; which
Corineüs, being a very strong man, and particularly
good-humored, is satisfied with being King of Cornwall, and
killing out all the aboriginal giants there, leaving to
Brutus all the rest of the island, and only stipulating
that, whenever there is a peculiarly difficult giant in any
part of Brutus' dominions, he shall be sent for to finish
the fellow."
_Tom Hickathrift_, whose history is given in an old number
of _Fraser's Magazine_, is described by Thackeray as one of
the publisher Cundall's books, bound in blue and gold,
illustrated by Frederick Taylor in 1847. According to
Thackeray this chap-book tale was written by Fielding.
Speaking of the passage, "The giant roared hideously but Tom
had no more mercy on him than a bear upon a dog," he said:
"No one but Fielding could have described battle so." Of the
passage, "Having increased his strength by good living and
improved his courage by drinking strong ale," he remarked:
"No one but Fielding could have given such an expression."
The quality of the English of this chap-book is apparent in
the following sentence, taken from Ashton's version: "So Tom
stepped to a gate and took a rail for a staff."
In regard to their literary merit the chap-books vary
greatly. Some evidently are works of scholars who omitted to
sign their names. In the collection by Ashton those
deserving mention for their literary merit are: _Patient
Grissel_, by Boccaccio; _Fortunatus_; _Valentine and Orson_;
_Joseph and His Brethren_; _The Friar and the Boy_; _Reynard
the Fox_, from Caxton's translation; _Tom Hickathrift_,
probably by Fielding; and _The Foreign Travels of Sir John
Mandeville_.
1708-90. Chap-Books. Printed by J. White, of York,
established at Newcastle, 1708. These included: _Tom
Hickathrift; Jack the Giant-Killer_; and _Cock Robin_.
1750. _A New Collection of Fairy Tales_. 2 vols.
1760. _Mother Goose's Melodies_. A collection of many
nursery rhymes, songs, and a few old ballads and tales,
published by John Newbery. The editor is unknown, but most
likely was Oliver Goldsmith. The title of the collection may
have been borrowed from Perrault's _Contes de ma Mère
l'Oye_, of which an English version appeared in 1729. The
title itself has an interesting history dating hundreds of
years before Perrault's time. By 1777 _Mother Goose's
Melodies_ had passed the seventh edition. In 1780 they were
published by Carnan, Newbery's stepson, under the title
_Sonnets for the Cradle_. In 1810 _Gammer Gurton's Garland_,
a collection, was edited by Joseph Ritson, an English
scholar. In 1842 J.O. Halliwell issued, for the Percy
Society, _The Nursery Rhymes of England_. The standard
modern text should consist of Newbery's book with such
additions from Ritson and Halliwell as bear internal
evidence of antiquity and are true nursery rhymes.
1770. _Queen Mab, A Collection of Entertaining Tales of
Fairies_.
1783. _The Lilliputian Magazine_. Illustrated by Thomas
Bewick, published by Carnan.
1788. _The Pleasing Companion, A Collection of Fairy Tales_.
1788. _Fairy Tales Selected from the Best Authors_, 2 vols.
1770-91. Books published by John Evans, of Long Lane.
Printed on coarse sugar paper. They included: _Cock Robin_,
1791; _Mother Hubbard; Cinderella_; and _The Tragical Death
of an Apple Pye_.
1809. _A Collection of Popular Stories for the Nursery_,
translated from French, Italian, and Old English, by
Benjamin Tabart, in 4 volumes.
1810 (about). _Lilliputian Library_, by J.G. Rusher, of
Bridge St., Banbury. The Halfpenny Series included:
_Mother Hubbard and Her Dog; Jack The
Giant-Killer; Dick Whittington and His Cat; The
History of Tom Thumb_ (Middlesex); _Death and
Burial of Cock Robin; and Cinderella and Her Glass
Slipper_.
The Penny Series included:--
_History of a Banbury Cake, and Jack the
Giant-Killer_, designed by Craig, engraved by Lee.
Of Rusher's books those engraved by the Bewick School were:
_Cock Robin; The History of Tom Thumb_; and
_Children in the Wood_.
Rusher's books also included:
_Mother Hubbard and Her Dog, Cinderella and Her
Glass Slipper_, and _Dick Whittington and His
Cat_, all designed by Cruikshank, engraved by
Branstone.
1818. _Fairy Tales, or the Lilliputian Cabinet_, collected
by Benj. Tabart, London. This was a new edition of the
collection of 1809, and contained twenty-four stories. A
full review of it may be seen in the _Quarterly Review_,
1819, No. 41, pp. 91-112. The tales included translations
from Perrault, Madame D'Aulnoy, Madame de Beaumont, tales
from _The Thousand and One Nights_, and from _Robin Hood_;
and the single tales of _Jack the Giant-Killer, Tom Thumb_,
and _Jack and the Bean-Stalk_.
1824, 1826. _German Popular Stories_, translated by Edgar
Taylor, with illustrations by Cruikshank, published by
Charles Tilt, London. A new edition, introduction by Ruskin,
was published by Chatto & Windus, 1880.
The above are the main collections of fairy tales in England. Many
individual publications show the gradual development of fairy tale
illustration in England:[6]--
1713-1767. John Newbery's _Books for Children_. Among these
were _Beauty and the Beast_, by Charles Lamb, 1765, and
_Sinbad the Sailor_, 1798.
1778. _Fabulous Histories of the Robins_. Mrs. Sarah
Trimmer. Cuts designed by Thomas Bewick, engraved by John
Thompson, Whittingham's Chiswick Press.
1755-1886. _Life and Perambulations of a Mouse_; and
_Adventures of a Pin-Cushion_. Dorothy Kilner.
1785. Baron Munchausen's _Narratives of His Famous Travels
and Campaigns in Russia_. Rudolf Raspe.
1788. _Little Thumb and the Ogre_. Illustrated by William
Blake; published by Dutton.
1790. _The Death and Burial of Cock Robin_. Illustrated by Thomas
Bewick. Catnach.
1807. _Tales from Shakespeare_. Charles and Mary Lamb. W.J.
Godwin and Co. William Blake illustrated an edition of these
tales, probably the original edition.
1813. Reprints of forgotten books, by Andrew Tuer: _Dame
Wiggins of Lee; The Gaping Wide-Mouthed Waddling Frog: The
House that Jack Built. Dame Wiggins of Lee_ was first
printed by A.K. Newman and Co., Minerva Press. Original cuts
by Stennet or Sinnet. Reprinted by Allen, 1885, with
illustrations added by Kate Greenaway.
1841. _King of the Golden River_. John Ruskin. Illustrated
by Richard Doyle, 1884.
1844. _Home Treasury_, by "Felix Summerley" (Sir Henry
Cole). "Felix Summerley" was a reformer in children's books.
He secured the assistance of many of the first artists of
his time: Mulready, Cope, Horsley, Redgrave, Webster, all of
the Royal Academy, Linnell and his three sons, Townsend, and
others. These little books were published by Joseph Cundall
and have become celebrated through Thackeray's mention of
them. They aimed to cultivate the affections, fancy,
imagination, and taste of children, they were a distinct
contrast to the Peter Parley books.
They were new books, new combinations of old materials, and
reprints, purified but not weakened. Their literature
possessed brightness. The books were printed in the best
style of the Chiswick Press, with bindings and end papers
especially designed. They included these tales: _Puck's
Reports to Oberon; Four New Fairy Tales; The Sisters; Golden
Locks; Grumble and Cherry; Little Red Riding Hood_, with
four colored illustrations by Webster; _Beauty and the
Beast_, with four colored illustrations by Horsley; _Jack
and the Bean-Stalk_, with four colored illustrations by
Cope; _Jack the Giant-Killer_, also illustrated by Cope; and
_The Pleasant History of Reynard, the Fox_, with forty of
the fifty-seven etchings made by Everdingen, in 1752.
1824-1883. Publications by Richard Doyle. These included
_The Fairy Ring_, 1845; _Snow White and Rosy Red_, 1871;
_Jack the Giant-Killer_, 1888, etc.
1846. _Undine_, by De La Motté Fouque, illustrated by John
Tenniel, published by James Burns.
1846. _The Good-Natured Bear_, by Richard Hengist Home, the
English critic. This was illustrated by Frederick Taylor,
published probably by Cundall. The book is now out of print,
but deserves to be reprinted.
1847-1864. _Cruikshank Fairy Library_. A series of small
books in paper wrappers. Not equal to the German popular
stories in illustration. It included _Tom Thumb_, 1830;
_John Gilpin_, 1828 (realistic); and _The Brownies_, 1870.
1847. _Bob and Dog Quiz_. Author unknown. Revived by E.V.
Lucas in _Old-fashioned Tales_. Illustrated by F.D. Bedford;
published by Stokes, 1905.
1850. _The Child's Own Book_. Published in London. There was
an earlier edition, not before 1830. The introduction, which
in the 1850 edition was copied from the original, indicates
by its style that the book was written early in the
nineteenth century. The book was the delight of generations
of children. It was a collection containing tales from
_Arabian Nights_, Perrault's tales of _Cinderella,
Puss-in-Boots, Hop-o'-my-Thumb, Bluebeard_, etc., D'Aulnoy's
_Valentine and Orson_, chap-book stories of _Dick
Whittinqton, Fortunatus, Griselda, Robinson Crusoe, The
Children in the Wood, Little Jack_, and others. A recent
edition of this book is in the _Young Folks' library_, vol.
1, published by Hall & Locke, Boston, 1901.
1850 (about). _The Three Bears_. Illustrated by Absalon and
Harrison Weir. Addy and Co.
1824-1889. Work by Mrs. Mary Whateley. She had a Moslem
school in Cairo and exerted a fairy tale influence.
1826-1887. _The Little Lame Prince; Adventures of a_
_Brownie_; and _The Fairy Book_. Produced by Mrs. Dinah
Muloch Craik.
1854. _The Rose and the Ring_, by William M. Thackeray. A
modern edition contains the original illustrations with
additions by Monsell. Crowell.
1855. _Granny's Story Box_. A collection. Illustrated by J.
Knight; published by Piper, Stephenson, and Spence.
1856. _Granny's Wonderful Chair_, containing _Prince
Fairy-foot_. Written by Frances Browne, a blind Irish
poetess.
1863. _Water Babies_. Charles Kingsley. Sir Noel Patton. The
Macmillan Company.
1865. _Stories Told to a Child, including Fairy Tales; Mopsa
the Fairy_, 1869. By Jean Ingelow.
1865. _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_, by Lewis Carroll
(Charles Dodgson), with 42 illustrations by John Tenniel,
published by Macmillan Company, Oxford. First edition
recalled. Later editions were published by Richard Clay,
London.
1869. _At the Back of the North Wind_; _The Princess and the
Goblin_, 1871. By George MacDonald. Arthur Hughes. Strahan.
Reprinted by Blackie.
1870. _The Brownies_; 1882, _Old-fashioned Fairy Tales_. By
Juliana Ewing.
1873. _A Series of Toy-Books for Children_, by Walter Crane
(1845-1914). Published by Routledge and printed in colors by
Edmund Evans. Twenty-seven of these stories in nine volumes
are published by John Lane, Bodley Head. _Princess
Fioromonde_, 1880, _Grimm's Household Stories_, 1882, and
_The Cuckoo Clock_, 1887, all by Mrs. Molesworth, were also
illustrated by Crane.
1878-. _Picture-Books_, by Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886).
These were sixteen in number. They are published by F.
Warne.
1875-. _Stories from the Eddas; Dame Wiggins of Lee
(Allen)_; and _The Pied Piper of Hamelin_. These delightful
books by Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) were published by
Routledge and engraved by Edmund Evans. They are now
published by F. Warne.
This brings the English side of the subject down to
the present time. Present editions of fairy tales are
given in Chapter VI.
In Germany there were also many translations from the French of
Perrault and D'Aulnoy. There were editions in 1764, 1770, etc. Most of
those before the _Grimms' Tales_ were not important. One might
mention:--
1782. _Popular German Stories_, by Musäus.
1818. _Fables, Stories, and Tales for Children_, by Caroline
Stahl.
1819. _Bohemian Folk-Tales_, by Wolfgang Gerle.
1812-1814. _Kinder und Haus-Märchen_, by Jacob and William
Grimm. The second edition was published in 3 volumes in
Berlin, by Reiner, in 1822. This latter work formed an era
in popular literature and has been adopted as a model by all
true collectors since.
Concerning the modern German fairy tale, the Germans have paid such
special attention to the selection and grading of children's
literature that their library lists are to be recommended. Wolgast,
the author of _Vom Kinderbuch_, is an authority on the child's book.
The fairy tale received a high estimate in Germany and no nation has
attained a higher achievement in the art of the fairy tale book. The
partial list simply indicates the slight knowledge of available
material and would suggest an inviting field to librarians. A great
stimulus to children's literature would be given by a knowledge of
what the Germans have already accomplished in this particular. In
Germany a child's book, before it enters the market, must first be
accepted by a committee who test the book according to a standard of
excellence. Any book not coming up to the standard is rejected. A few
of the German editions in use are given:--
_Bilderbücher_, by Löwensohn.
_Bilderbücher_, by Scholz.
_Liebe Märchen_. One form of the above, giving three tales
in one volume.
_Märchen_, by W. Hauff, published by Lowe. One edition,
illustrated by Arthur Rackham, is published by Dutton. _The
Caravan Tales_ is an edition published by Stokes.
_Märchen_, by Musaus, published by Von K.A. Müller.
1777-1843. _Undine_, by La Motte Fouqué. A recent edition,
illustrated by Rackham, is published by Doubleday.
1817-77. _Books_ by Otillie Wildermuth. (What of hers should
be translated and included?)
_Hanschen im Blaubeerenwald; Hanschens Skifart Märchen_,
both by Elsa Beskow, published by Carl.
_Windchen_; and _Wurzelkindern_, both by Sybille von Olfers,
published by Schreiber.
_Das Märchen von den Sandmannlein_, by Riemann, published by
Schreiber.
_Der Froschkönig_, by Liebermann, published by Scholz.
_Weisst du weviel Sternlein stehen_, by Lewinski, published
by Schreiber.
In Sweden there appeared translations of Perrault and D'Aulnoy. _The
Blue-Bird_ was oftenest printed as a chap-book. Folk-tales were
collected in:--
_Swedish Tales_, a collection. H. Von Schroter.
1844. _Folk-Tales_. George Stevens and Hylten Cavallius.
Sweden has given us the modern fairy tale, _The Wonderful Adventures
of Nils_ (2 volumes). This delightful tale by Selma Lagerlöf, born
1858, and a winner of the Nobel prize, has established itself as a
child's classic. It has been translated by V.S. Howard, published by
Doubleday, 1907.
In Norway we have:--
1851. _Norske Folkeeventyr_, collected by Asbjörnsen and Moe.
1862. _Norse Tales_. The above tales translated by Sir
George W. Dasent.
In Denmark we have:--
_Sagas of Bodvar Biarke_.
_Danske Folkeeventyr_, by M. Winther, Copenhagen, 1823.
1843-60. _Danmarks Folkesagn_, 3 vols., by J.M. Thiele.
1805-1875. _Fairy Tales_, by Hans Christian Andersen. These
tales are important as marking the beginning of the modern
fairy tale. They are important also as literary fairy tales
and have not been equaled in modern times.
In Slavonia we have:--
_Wochentliche Nachrichten_, by Busching, published by Schottky.
In Hungary we have:--
1822. _Marchen der Magyaren_, by George von Gaal.
In Greece and Russia no popular tales were collected before the time
of the Grimms.
In Italy the two great collections of the world of fairy tales have
been mentioned. Italy has also given the modern fairy tale which has
been accepted as a classic: _Pinocchio_, by C. Collodi (Carlo
Lorenzini). This has been illustrated by Copeland, published by Ginn;
and illustrated by Folkhard, published by Dutton.
In America the publication of fairy tales was at first a reprinting of
English editions. In colonial times, previous to the revolution,
booksellers imported largely from England. After the revolution a new
home-growth in literature gradually developed. At first this was
largely in imitation of literature in England. After the time of
Washington Irving a distinct American adult literature established
itself. The little child's toy-book followed in the wake of the
grown-up's fiction. The following list[7] shows the growth of the
American fairy tale, previous to 1870. Recent editions are given in