The Lilac Fairy Book | Page 5

dresses,
as Miss Thackeray did so well in 'Five Old Friends.' If any big girl of
fourteen reads this preface, let her insist on being presented with 'Five
Old Friends.'
But the three hundred and sixty-five authors who try to write new fairy
tales are very tiresome. They always begin with a little boy or girl who
goes out and meets the fairies of polyanthuses and gardenias and apple
blossoms: 'Flowers and fruits, and other winged things.' These fairies
try to be funny, and fail; or they try to preach, and succeed. Real fairies
never preach or talk slang. At the end, the little boy or girl wakes up
and finds that he has been dreaming.
Such are the new fairy stories. May we be preserved from all the sort of
them!
Our stories are almost all old, some from Ireland, before that island was
as celebrated for her wrongs as for her verdure; some from Asia, made,
I dare say, before the Aryan invasion; some from Moydart, Knoydart,

Morar and Ardnamurchan, where the sea streams run like great clear
rivers and the saw-edged hills are blue, and men remember Prince
Charlie. Some are from Portugal, where the golden fruits grow in the
Garden of the Hesperides; and some are from wild Wales, and were
told at Arthur's Court; and others come from the firesides of the
kinsmen of the Welsh, the Bretons. There are also modern tales by a
learned Scandinavian named Topelius.
All the stories were translated or adapted by Mrs. Lang, except 'The
Jogi's Punishment' and 'Moti,' done by Major Campbell out of the
Pushtoo language; 'How Brave Walter hunted Wolves,' which, with
'Little Lasse' and 'The Raspberry Worm,' was done from Topelius by
Miss Harding; and 'The Sea King's Gift,' by Miss Christie, from the
same author.
It has been suggested to the Editor that children and parents and
guardians would like ' The Grey True Ghost-Story Book.' He knows
that the children would like it well, and he would gladly give it to them;
but about the taste of fond anxious mothers and kind aunts he is not
quite so certain. Before he was twelve the Editor knew true ghost
stories enough to fill a volume. They were a pure joy till bedtime, but
then, and later, were not wholly a source of unmixed pleasure. At that
time the Editor was not afraid of the dark, for he thought, ' If a ghost is
here, we can't see him.' But when older and better informed persons
said that ghosts brought their own light with them (which is too true),
then one's emotions were such as parents do not desire the young to
endure. For this reason 'The Grey True Ghost-Story Book' is never
likely to be illustrated by Mr. Ford.

Contents

The Shifty Lad The False Prince and the True The Jogi's Punishment
The Heart of a Monkey The Fairy Nurse A Lost Paradise How Brave
Walter Hunted Wolves The Ring of the Waterfalls A French Puck The
Three Crowns The Story of a Very Bad Boy The Brown Bear of

Norway Little Lasse 'Moti' The Enchanted Deer A Fish Story The
Wonderful Tune The Rich Brother and the Poor Brother The
One-Handed Girl The Bones of Djulung The Sea Ring's Gift The
Raspberry Worm The Stones of Plouhinec The Castle of Kerglas The
Battle of the Birds The Lady of the Fountain The Four Gifts The
Groac'h of the Isle of Lok The Escape of the Mouse The Believing.
Husbands The Hoodie-Crow The Brownie of the Lake The Winning of
Olwen

The Shifty Lad

In the land of Erin there dwelt long ago a widow who had an only son.
He was a clever boy, so she saved up enough money to send him to
school, and, as soon as he was old enough, to apprentice him to any
trade that he would choose. But when the time came, he said he would
not be bound to any trade, and that he meant to be a thief.
Now his mother was very sorrowful when she heard of this, but she
knew quite well that if she tried to stop his having his own way he
would only grow more determined to get it. So all the answer she made
was that the end of thieves was hanging at the bridge of Dublin, and
then she left him alone, hoping that when he was older he might
become more sensible.
One day she was going to church to hear a sermon from a great
preacher, and she begged the Shifty Lad, as the neighbours called him
from the tricks he played, to come with her. But he only laughed and
declared that he did not like sermons, adding:
'However, I will promise you