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 AEneas, fabled founder of the race and hero of
Virgil's world-famous Latin epic? Any understanding of German
civilisation 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.