Page 1. The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. Source: “Contes de Ma Mère
l’Oye,” by Charles Perrault (1628–1703). Parallel: Grimm’s “Little
Briar Rose.” The Perrault conclusion, describing at length the later
adventures of the characters, we follow Grimm’s example in omitting.
Page 16. The Emperor’s New Clothes. Source: “Wonder Stories Told for
Children,” by Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875).
Page 27. The Golden Goose. Source: “Kinder- und Hausmärchen,” by Jacob
Grimm (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859). Three folklore motifs
are united,—that of simple kindness rewarded, of the magic touch, which
here creates an amusing situation, and of the unconscious success of a
simpleton in making a royal personage laugh.
Page 34. The Elves and the Shoemaker. Source: Grimm. Parallels: Beside
a wealth of tales in which elves or pixies help mortals, this very
incident of their being kindly provided with clothes and refusing
thereafter to work appears in several Scottish and English
versions,—notably in “The Cauld Lad of Hilton.” Elves always disappear
when clothed.
Page 38. The King of the Cats. Source: The Folk-Lore Journal, II, 22.
The best of five English variants of this tale.
Page 41. The Fir Tree. Source: Andersen.
Page 62. Pleiades. Source: “Fairy Tales from Afar, Translated from the
Danish Popular Tales of Svend Grundtvig,” by Jane Mulley. A good
presentation of coöperation.
Page 67. Bluebeard. Source: Perrault. Parallels: Several, three in
Grimm. Mr. Lang says, “Perrault’s tale has a great advantage over its
popular rivals. It is at once more sober and more terrible, and
possesses an epical unity of idea and action. The leading idea, of
curiosity punished, of the box or door which may not be opened, and of
the prohibition infringed with evil results, is of world-wide
distribution.”
Page 79. Thumbelina. Source: Andersen. In the tales of Hans Andersen we
see the difference between the unconscious art of traditional folklore
and the introspective, studied productions of a writer for children.
Page 105. Clever Alice. Source: Grimm. The first part is a typical
satire on cleverness; the second recalls the old woman of the nursery
rhyme who depended for identity on her little dog at home. One of a
succession of Hans and Alice stories.
Page 114. Riquet with the Tuft. Source: Perrault. “The touch of the
traditional and popular manner in the story is the love of a woman
redeeming the ugliness of a man.”
Page 130. Snowdrop. Source: Grimm. Parallels: A characteristic German
tale with many variants. The symbolism of color, the wicked stepmother,
the dwarfs in their little house, the child in the forest, and most of
all the atmosphere and style make this a typical German story.
Page 152. The White Cat. Source: Madame D’Aulnoy. French text in
“Cabinet des Fées,” Vol. 3; English translation in “Novels and Tales of
the Fairies, London, 1749.” Parallel: Grimm’s “The Three Feathers.” Our
version is much abridged. The delicacy and charm of Madame D’Aulnoy’s
style can be best appreciated in the descriptions of life in the
enchanted palace and of the graceful little White Cat. The rude details
of other stories, in which the older princes bring home farmer lasses
who try to jump through a ring and break their arms and legs in the
attempt, are here omitted. With characteristic refinement the
story-teller allows no one to be discomfited; all live happily ever
after, as the heroes and heroines of real fairy tales should.