The myths and legends here gathered together have appealed and will
continue to appeal to every age. Nowhere in the realm of fiction are
there stories to compare with those which took form centuries ago when
the race was in its childhood--stories so intimately connected with
the life and history and religion of the great peoples of antiquity
that they have become an integral part of our own civilization, a
heritage of wealth to every child that is born into the world.
The historic basis of the tales is slight; yet who can think of the
Greeks without remembering the story of Troy, or of Rome without a
backward glance at Æneas, fabled founder of the race and hero of
Virgil's world-famous Latin epic? Any understanding of German
civilization would be incomplete without knowledge of the mythical
prince Siegfried, hero of the earliest literature of the Teutonic
people, finally immortalized in the nineteenth century through the
musical dramas of Wagner. Any understanding of English civilization
would be similarly incomplete without the semi-historic figure of King
Arthur, glorified through the accumulated legends of the Middle Ages
and made to live again in the melodic idylls of the great Victorian
laureate. And so one might go on. In many ways the mythology and
folklore of a country are a truer index to the life of its people than
any of the pages of actual history; for through these channels the
imagination and the heart speak. All the chronicles of rulers and
governing bodies are as dust in comparison.
The imagination of the ancients had few if any bounds, and even
Athens in the height of her intellectual glory accepted the fabulous
tales of gods and half-gods. Today we read and wonder. But the child,
who in his brief lifetime must live over in part at least the history
of the whole race, delights in the myths and legends which made his
ancestors admire or tremble. They are naturally not so real to him as
they were to his forefathers; yet they open up a rich and gorgeous
wonderland, without excursions into which every child must grow up the
poorer in mind and spirit.
To the children of America, wherever they may be, this book is
dedicated. It is sure to bring enjoyment, because its stories have
stood the test of time.