Because of the important aesthetic and ethical bearings of this form of literary experience, the fairy stories must be rightly chosen and artfully told.  In no other way can their full worth in education be realized.  They are tools which require discrimination and skill.  Out of the wisdom of one who knows both tales and children, and who holds a thoughtful grasp on educational purpose, we offer this volume of unusually helpful counsel.—­HENRY SUZZALLO.

CHAPTER I

THE WORTH OF FAIRY TALES

     In olde dayes of the kyng Arthour,
     Of which that Britouns speken gret honour,
     Al was this lond fulfilled of fayrie;
     The elf-queen, with hir joly compaignye,
     Daunced ful oft in many a grene mede.—­CHAUCER.

I. TWO PUBLIC TRIBUTES

Only a few years ago, in the gardens of the Tuileries, in Paris, a statue was erected in memory of Charles Perrault, to be placed there among the sculptures of the never-to-be-forgotten fairy tales he had created,—­Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Puss-in-Boots, Hop-o’-my-Thumb, Bluebeard, and the rest,—­so that the children who roamed the gardens, and in their play gathered about the statues of their beloved fairy friends, might have with them also a reminder of the giver of all this joy, their friend Perrault.  Two hundred years before, Perrault truly had been their friend, not only in making for them fairy tales, but in successfully pleading in their behalf when he said, “I am persuaded that the gardens of the King were made so great and spacious that all the children may walk in them.”

Only in December, 1913, in Berlin, was completed the Maerchen Brunnen, or “Fairy-Tale Fountain,” at the entrance to Friedrichshain Park, in which the idea of the architect, Stadt-Baurat Ludwig Hoffmann, wholly in harmony with the social spirit of the times, was to erect an artistic monument to give joy to multitudes of children.  This fairy entrance to the park is a decorative lay-out, a central ground surrounded by a high, thick lodge of beeches.  Toward this central ground—­which has been transformed into a joyous fairy world—­many hedge walks lead; while in the sidewalks, to warn naughty children, are concealed fantastic figures.  There is the huge Menschen-fresser, who grasps a tender infant in each Titan hand and bears on his head a huge basket of children too young to have known much wrong.  A humorous touch, giving distinct charm to the whole creation, pervades all.  From lions’ heads and vases, distributed at regular intervals in the semicircular arcade in the background, water gushes forth; while in the central basin, nine small water animals—­seven frogs and two larger animals—­appear spouting great jets of water.  Clustered about the central fountain are the nine fairy characters of Professor Ignatius Taschner, among whom are Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Grethel each riding a duck, Puss-in-Boots, Cinderella, and Lucky Hans; and looking down upon them from the surrounding balustrade are the animal figures by Joseph Rauch.  In these simple natural classic groups, fancy with what pleasure the children may look to find the friendly beasts and the favorite tales they love!