Tales of Wonder Every Child Should Know

Wonder Every Child Should Know, by Various

Project Gutenberg's Tales of Wonder Every Child Should Know, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Tales of Wonder Every Child Should Know
Author: Various
Editor: Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith
Release Date: October 4, 2006 [EBook #19461]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TALES OF WONDER ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

[Illustration: The three-headed monster belched forth flame]
What Every Child Should Know LIBRARY

TALES
OF WONDER
EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW

Edited by
KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN
and NORA ARCHIBALD SMITH

Published by DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & CO., INC., for
THE PARENTS' INSTITUTE, INC.
Publishers of "THE PARENTS' MAGAZINE"
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York

COPYRIGHT, 1909, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
* * * * *

PUBLISHER'S NOTE
Doubleday, Page & Company wish to make acknowledgment of their indebtedness to the following publishers:
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York and London, for permission to use "The Five Queer Brothers," "The Two Melons" and "What the Birds Said," from "Chinese Nights' Entertainment," by Adele M. Fielde; "The Lac of Rupees," from "Indian Fairy Tales," by Joseph Jacobs; "The Sea-maiden," from "Celtic Fairy Tales," by Joseph Jacobs; "The Black Horse" and "The Farmer of Liddesdale," from "More Celtic Fairy Tales," by Joseph Jacobs; and "The Buried Moon," from "More English Fairy Tales," by Joseph Jacobs.
T. Y. Crowell & Company, New York, for permission to use "The Grateful Crane" from "The Fire-fly's Lovers," by William Elliot Griffis.
Joseph McDonough, Albany, for permission to use "Little Surya Bai," "The Jackal, the Barber and the Brahmin," "Truth's Triumph," "The Raksha's Palace," and "Panch-Phul Ranee," from "Old Deccan Days," by M. Frere.
Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, for permission to use "The Deserter," "Steelpacha" and "The Watch-tower Between Earth and Heaven," from "The Russian Grandmother's Wonder Tales," by L. S. Houghton.
Macmillan & Company, London, for permission to use "The Grateful Foxes" and "The Badger's Money," from "Tales of Old Japan," by A. B. Mitford.
The Review of Reviews Company, London, for permission to use "The Feast of Lanterns" and "The Lake of Gems," from "Books for the Bairns," edited by W. T. Stead.
We also wish to express our appreciation to Mr. Seumas MacManus for the use of his stories, "The Amadan of the Dough," "Hookedy-Crookedy," "Billy Beg and the Bull," and "The Queen of the Golden Mines," from "Donegal Fairy Stories," and "In Chimney Corners," published by us.
* * * * *

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I WONDER (Scandinavian)
WHAT THE BIRDS SAID (Chinese)
THE SMITH AND THE FAIRIES (Gaelic)
THE GRATEFUL CRANE (Japanese)
LITTLE SURYA BAI (Southern Indian)
THE STORKS AND THE NIGHT OWL (Persian)
THE FIVE QUEER BROTHERS (Chinese)
THE LAC OF RUPEES (Southern Indian)
THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE. H. C. ANDERSEN
HOOKEDY-CROOKEDY. SEUMAS MACMANUS (Celtic)
ARNDT'S NIGHT UNDERGROUND. D. M. MULOCK
THE UNICORN (German)
DESTINY. E. LABOULAYE (Dalmatian)
THE QUEEN OF THE GOLDEN MINES. SEUMAS MACMANUS (Celtic)
THE DESERTER (Russian)
THE TWO MELONS (Chinese)
THE IRON CASKET (Persian)
THE KNIGHTS OF THE FISH. FERNAN CABALLERO (Spanish)
DAPPLEGRIM (Scandinavian)
THE HERMIT. VOLTAIRE (French)
THE WATCH-TOWER BETWEEN EARTH AND HEAVEN (Russian)
THE LUCKY COIN. FRANCOSO (Portuguese)
THE JACKAL, THE BARBER AND THE BRAHMIN (Southern Indian)
THE BIRD OF TRUTH. CABALLERO (Spanish)
THE TWO GENIES. VOLTAIRE (French)
STEELPACHA (Russian)
THE BURIED MOON (English)
THE FARMER OF LIDDESDALE (English)
THE BADGER'S MONEY (Japanese)
THE GRATEFUL FOXES (Japanese)
THE BLACK HORSE (Celtic)
TRUTH'S TRIUMPH (Southern Indian)
THE FEAST OF THE LANTERNS (Chinese)
THE LAKE OF GEMS (Chinese)
THE SEA-MAIDEN (Celtic)
THE ENCHANTED WATERFALL (Japanese)
THE AMADAN OF THE DOUGH. SEUMAS MACMANUS (Celtic)
THE RAKSHAS'S PALACE (Southern Indian)
BILLY BEG AND THE BULL. SEUMAS MACMANUS (Celtic)
THE PRINCES FIRE-FLASH AND FIRE-FADE (Japanese)
PANCH-PHUL RANEE (Southern Indian)
SCHIPPEITARO (Japanese)
* * * * *

I WONDER!
I wonder if in Samarcand Grave camels kneel in golden sand, Still lading bales of magic spells And charms a lover's wisdom tells, To fare across the desert main And bring the Princess home again-- I wonder!
I wonder in Japan to-day If grateful beasts find out the way To those who succoured them in pain, And bring their blessings back again; If cranes and sparrows take the shape And all the ways of mortals ape-- I wonder!
In Bagdad, may there still be found That potent powder, finely ground, Which changes all who on it feast, Monarch or slave, to bird or beast? Do Caliphs taste and unafraid, Turn storks, and weeping night-owls aid? I wonder!
I wonder if in far Cathay The nightingale still trills her lay Beside the Porcelain Palace door, And courtiers praise her as before I If emperors dream of bygone things And musing, weep the while she sings-- I wonder!
Such things have never chanced to me. I wonder if to eyes that see These magic visions still appear In daily living, now and here; If every flower is touched with glory, If e'en the grass-blades tell a story-- I wonder N. A. S.
* * *