The Yellow Fairy Book

Layout 2

 

THE

YELLOW FAIRY BOOK

 

WORKS BY ANDREW LANG.

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London: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
New York: 15 East 16^th Street.

 

 

 

THE

Yellow Fairy Book

EDITED BY

ANDREW LANG

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. J. FORD

LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
AND NEW YORK: 15 EAST 16^th STREET
1894

All rights reserved

 

 

Dedication
TO
JOAN, TODDLES, AND TINY

Books Yellow, Red, and Green and Blue,
All true, or just as good as true,
And here’s the Yellow Book for you!

Hard is the path from A to Z,
And puzzling to a curly head,
Yet leads to Books—Green, Blue, and Red

For every child should understand
That letters from the first were planned
To guide us into Fairy Land

So labour at your Alphabet,
For by that learning shall you get
To lands where Fairies may be met.

And going where this pathway goes,
You too, at last, may find, who knows?
The Garden of the Singing Rose.

 

 

PREFACE

The Editor thinks that children will readily forgive him for publishing another Fairy Book. We have had the Blue, the Red, the Green, and here is the Yellow. If children are pleased, and they are so kind as to say that they are pleased, the Editor does not care very much for what other people may say. Now, there is one gentleman who seems to think that it is not quite right to print so many fairy tales, with pictures, and to publish them in red and blue covers. He is named Mr. G. Laurence Gomme, and he is president of a learned body called the Folk Lore Society. Once a year he makes his address to his subjects, of whom the Editor is one, and Mr. Joseph Jacobs (who has published many delightful fairy tales with pretty pictures)^[1] is another. Fancy, then, the dismay of Mr. Jacobs, and of the Editor, when they heard their president say that he did not think it very nice in them to publish fairy books, above all, red, green, and blue fairy books! They said that they did not see any harm in it, and they were ready to ‘put themselves on their country,’ and be tried by a jury of children. And, indeed, they still see no harm in what they have done; nay, like Father William in the poem, they are ready ‘to do it again and again.’

Where is the harm? The truth is that the Folk Lore Society—made up of the most clever, learned, and beautiful men and women of the country—is fond of studying the history and geography of Fairy Land. This is contained in very old tales, such as country people tell, and savages:

‘Little Sioux and little Crow,
Little frosty Eskimo.’

These people are thought to know most about fairyland and its inhabitants. But, in the Yellow Fairy Book, and the rest, are many tales by persons who are neither savages nor rustics, such as Madame D’Aulnoy and Herr Hans Christian Andersen. The Folk Lore Society, or its president, say that their tales are not so true as the rest, and should not be published with the rest. But we say that all the stories which are pleasant to read are quite true enough for us; so here they are, with pictures by Mr. Ford, and we do not think that either the pictures or the stories are likely to mislead children.

As to whether there are really any fairies or not, that is a difficult question. Professor Huxley thinks there are none. The Editor never saw any himself, but he knows several people who have seen them—in the Highlands—and heard their music. If ever you are in Nether Lochaber, go to the Fairy Hill, and you may hear the music yourself, as grown-up people have done, but you must go on a fine day. Again, if there are really no fairies, why do people believe in them, all over the world? The ancient Greeks believed, so did the old Egyptians, and the Hindoos, and the Red Indians, and is it likely, if there are no fairies, that so many different peoples would have seen and heard them? The Rev. Mr. Baring-Gould saw several fairies when he was a boy, and was travelling in the land of the Troubadours. For these reasons, the Editor thinks that there are certainly fairies, but they never do anyone any harm; and, in England, they have been frightened away by smoke and schoolmasters. As to Giants, they have died out, but real Dwarfs are common in the forests of Africa. Probably a good many stories not perfectly true have been told about fairies, but such stories have also been told about Napoleon, Claverhouse, Julius Cæsar, and Joan of Arc, all of whom certainly existed. A wise child will, therefore, remember that, if he grows up and becomes a member of the Folk Lore Society, all the tales in this book were not offered to him as absolutely truthful, but were printed merely for his entertainment. The exact facts he can learn later, or he can leave them alone.

There are Russian, German, French, Icelandic, Red Indian, and other stories here. They were translated by Miss Cheape, Miss Alma, and Miss Thyra Alleyne, Miss Sellar, Mr. Craigie (he did the Icelandic tales), Miss Blackley, Mrs. Dent, and Mrs. Lang, but the Red Indian stories are copied from English versions published by the Smithsonian Bureau of Ethnology, in America. Mr. Ford did the pictures, and it is hoped that children will find the book not less pleasing than those which have already been submitted to their consideration. The Editor cannot say ‘good-bye’ without advising them, as they pursue their studies, to read The Rose and the Ring, by the late Mr. Thackeray, with pictures by the author. This book he thinks quite indispensable in every child’s library, and parents should be urged to purchase it at the first opportunity, as without it no education is complete.

A. LANG.

 

1. You may buy them from Mr. Nutt, in the Strand.

 

CONTENTS

PAGE
The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership	1
The Six Swans	4
The Dragon of the North	9
Story of the Emperor’s New Clothes	21
The Golden Crab	26
The Iron Stove	32
The Dragon and his Grandmother	38
The Donkey Cabbage	42
The Little Green Frog	50
The Seven-headed Serpent	60
The Grateful Beasts	64
The Giants and the Herd-boy	75
The Invisible Prince	78
The Crow	92
How Six Men travelled through the Wide World	95
The Wizard King	100
The Nixy	108
The Glass Mountain	114
Alphege, or the Green Monkey	119
Fairer-than-a-Fairy	126
The Three Brothers	134
The Boy and the Wolves, or the Broken Promise	138
The Glass Axe	141
The Dead Wife	149
In the Land of Souls	152
The White Duck	155
The Witch and her Servants	161
The Magic Ring	178
The Flower Queen’s Daughter	192
The Flying Ship	198
The Snow-daughter and the Fire-son	206
The Story of King Frost	209
The Death of the Sun-hero	213
The Witch	216
The Hazel-nut Child	222
The Story of Big Klaus and Little Klaus	225
Prince Ring	237
The Swineherd	249
How to tell a True Princess	254
The Blue Mountains	256
The Tinder-box	265
The Witch in the Stone Boat	274
Thumbelina	279
The Nightingale	291
Hermod and Hadvor	301
The Steadfast Tin-soldier	308
Blockhead Hans	313
A Story about a Darning-needle	319

 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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PLATES

The Swineherd takes the Ten Kisses	Frontispiece
The Six Brothers changed into Swans by their Stepmother	To face page	8
The Witch-maiden sees the Young Man under a Tree	To face page„	12
‘Here you shall remain chained up until you die’	To face page„	20
The Prince throws the Apple to the Princess	To face page„	30
The Iron Stove	To face page„	32
‘Standing in the doorway a charming maiden at whose sight his mind seemed to give way’	To face page„	58
The Seven-headed Serpent	To face page„	62
The Mirror of the Present	To face page„	84
Prince Gnome learns the Name of his Rival at the Golden Fountain	To face page„	88
The Black Girl stops the Witch with a Bit of the Rock	To face page„	144
Militza and her Maidens in the Garden	To face page„	168
Iwanich casts the Fish into the Water	To face page„	172
‘In winter, when everything is dead, she must come and live with me in my palace underground’	To face page„	196
Simpleton’s Army appears before the King	To face page„	204
The Snow Maiden	To face page„	206
‘Gee up, my five horses’	To face page„	226
The Swineherd takes the Ten Kisses	To face page„	250
The Irishman arrives at the Blue Mountains	To face page„	262
The Witch comes on Board	To face page„	274
Sigurd hews the Chain asunder	To face page„	276
The King finds the Queen of Hetland	To face page„	302

 

 

WOODCUTS IN TEXT

PAGE
The Partnership	1
At Home in the Church	2
Protestation	3
The Way of the World	3
‘And then her dress’	7
The Youth secures the Dragon	17
The Emperor comes to see his New Clothes	24
‘Let down, let down thy petticoat that lets thy feet be seen’	27
The Fisherman brings the Crab on the Golden Cushion	28
‘Then she reached the three cutting swords, and got on her plough-wheel and rolled over them’	35
The Dragon carries off the Three Soldiers	39
The Fiend defeated	41
The Maiden obtains the Bird-heart	44
The Hunter is transformed into a Donkey	46
The Young Man gives the Donkeys to the Miller	48
The Prince looks into the Magic Mirror.	51
Prince Saphir Steals the Horse and Harness	55
Ferko healed by Magic Waters	67
Ferko before the King	68
Ferko leads the Wolves on	73
The Herd-boy binds up the Giant’s Foot	75
Rosalie	82
In the Labyrinth of Despair	85
The Evil Spirits drag the Girl to the Cauldron	93
My Enemy is given into my Hands	97
The Princess and the Eagle in the Flowery Meadow	102
The Wizard King pays a Visit to the Princess	105
The Miller sees the Nixy of the Mill-pond	109
A Wave swept the Spinning-wheel from the Bank	112
The Boy attacked by the Eagle on the Glass Mountain	116
The King makes Friends with the Green Monkey	121
The Green Monkey in the Bath	123
Lagree gives the Two Bottles to Fairer-than-a-Fairy	127
Fairer-than-a-Fairy summons the Rainbow	130
‘Then the youth swung his mighty sword in the air, and with one blow cut off the serpent’s head’	136
‘My brother, my brother, I am becoming a wolf!’	139
‘But the waters seized her chariot and sunk it in the lowest depths’	147
The Indian finds his Wife sitting by the Fire	150
The Witch persuades the Queen to bathe	156
The King catches the White Duck	159
Iwanich holds fast the Swan	163
Militza leaves Iwanich in the Tree	164
The Prickly Man with his Attendants	168
Iwanich seizes the Magician by his Beard and dashes him to the Ground	176
Martin extinguishes the Flames	181
The Princess summons the twelve Young Men	186
Schurka upsets the Baker	187
The Mouse steals the Ring from the Princess	189
The Dragons dancing	195
The Simpleton awakes and sees the Flying Ship	199
The Comrades in the Flying Ship meet the Drinker	201
‘Maiden, are you warm?’	211
The Sun-hero guards the Apples of the Sun	214
‘Who’s there?’	217
The Comb grows into a Forest	220
The Black King’s Gift	224
The Farmer thinks he sees the Devil in the Chest	229
The Shoemakers and Tanners drive Big Klaus out of the Town	231
‘Open the sack,’ said Little Klaus	234
The Woman pushes Prince Ring into the Cask	238
Snati and Prince Ring fight with the Oxen	242
Prince Ring and Snati overthrow the Troll’s Ghost	246
A True Princess	255
The Princess revives the Irishman	258
The Soldier fills his Knapsack with Money	267
The Dog brings in the Princess	269
‘He was skipping along so merrily’	271
‘“Croak, croak, croak !” was all he could say’	280
Thumbelina rides on the Waterlily Leaf	281
Thumbelina brings Thistledown for the Swallow	285
Thumbelina has to spin	287
‘We will call you May-blossom’	289
The Kitchenmaid listens to the Nightingale	293
The Present from the Emperor of Japan	295
The True Nightingale sings to the Emperor	299
Hadvor burns the Lion’s Skin	306
‘Don’t look at things that aren’t intended for the likes of you’	309
Down the Drain	310
And that was the End	312
‘Then they oiled the corners of their mouths’	314
Hans fills his Pocket with the Mud	315
‘The reporters giggled,’ &c	317

 

 

THE OUTDOOR WORLD SERIES

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With 12 Coloured Plates and a large number of Illustrations in the Text. Crown 8vo. price 10s. 6d. net.

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS
(BRITISH).
By W. FURNEAUX, F.R.G.S.

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Crown 8vo. price 7s. 6d.
With 546 Illustrations, including 16 Coloured Plates.

THE OUTDOOR WORLD
OR
THE YOUNG COLLECTOR’S HANDBOOK.
By W. FURNEAUX, F.R.G.S.

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CONTENTS.

Part I.—ANIMAL LIFE.
CHAP.		CHAP.
I.	Ponds and Streams.	V.	Spiders, Centipedes, and Millepedes.
II.	Insects and Insect Hunting.	VI.	Reptiles and Reptile Hunting.
III.	The Sea-shore.	VII.	British Birds.
IV.	Snails and Slugs.	VIII.	British Mammals.
Part II.—THE VEGETABLE WORLD.
IX.	Sea-weeds.	XIII.	Wild Flowers.
X.	Fungi.	XIV.	Grasses.
XI.	Mosses.
XII.	Ferns.	XV.	Our Forest Trees.
Part III.—THE MINERAL WORLD.
CHAP. XVI. Minerals and Fossils.

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London: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.

New York: 15 East 16^th Street.

 

 

LONGMANS’
SERIES OF BOOKS FOR GIRLS.
Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. each.

THE ATELIER DU LYS; or, An Art Student in the Reign of Terror.

By the same Author.

MADEMOISELLE MORI: a Tale of Modern Rome.
THAT CHILD. With Illustrations by Gordon Browne.
UNDER A CLOUD.
THE FIDDLER OF LUGAU. With Illustrations by W. Ralston.
A CHILD OF THE REVOLUTION. With Illustrations by C. J. Staniland.
HESTER’S VENTURE.
IN THE OLDEN TIME: a Tale of the Peasant War in Germany.
THE YOUNGER SISTER.

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ATHERSTONE PRIORY. By L. N. Comyn.
THE THIRD MISS ST. QUENTIN. By Mrs. Molesworth.
THE STORY OF A SPRING MORNING, &c. By Mrs. Molesworth. Illustrated.
NEIGHBOURS. By Mrs. Molesworth. Illustrated.
VERY YOUNG; and QUITE ANOTHER STORY. Two Stories. By Jean Ingelow.
KEITH DERAMORE. By the Author of ‘Miss Molly.’
SIDNEY. By Margaret Deland.
LAST WORDS TO GIRLS ON LIFE AT SCHOOL AND AFTER SCHOOL. By Mrs. W. Grey.

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