To begin with, let me say that this is the first book of Chinese
stories ever printed in English that will bring the Western people to
the knowledge of some of our fables, which have never been heretofore
known to the world. In this introduction, however, I shall only mention
a few facts as to why the Chinese fables, before this book was
produced, were never found in any of the European languages.
First of all, our fables were written here and there in the advanced
literature, in the historical books, and in the poems, which are not
all read by every literary man except the widely and deeply educated
literati.
Secondly, all the Chinese books, except those which were provided by
missionaries for religious purposes, are in our book language, which is
by no means alike to our spoken language. For this reason, I shall be
excused to say that it is impossible for any foreigner in China to find
the Chinese fables. In fact, there has never been a foreigner in our
country who was able to write or to read our advanced books with a
thorough understanding. A few of our foreign friends can read some of
our easy literature, such as newspapers, but even that sort of
literature they are unable to write without the assistance of their
native teachers. These are facts which have not, as yet, become known
to the Western people who know not the peculiarity of our language—its
difficulty.
This book of fables is not of course intended to give a full idea of
the Chinese literature, but it shows the thinking reader a bird’s-eye
view of the Chinese thought in this form of literature. Furthermore, so
far as I know, this book being the first of its kind, will tell the
world of the new discovery of the Chinese fables.
YIN-CHWANG WANG TSEN-ZAN. 章韞善增王
高加士拦序
The University of Chicago, 校學大
Chicago, Ill., U. S. A.