BOYS AND GIRLS BOOKSHELF

A Practical Plan of Character Building

COMPLETE IN SEVENTEEN VOLUMES

THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY INCORPORATED New York

BOYS AND GIRLS BOOKSHELF

A Practical Plan of Character Building

Little Folks’ Section

Prepared Under the Supervision of THE EDITORIAL BOARD of the UNIVERSITY SOCIETY

Volume II

FOLK-LORE, FABLES, AND FAIRY TALES

THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY INCORPORATED New York

Copyright, 1920, By THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY INC.

Copyright, 1912, 1915, By THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY INC.

Manufactured in the U. S. A.

INTRODUCTION

This volume is devoted to a choice collection of the standard and new fairy-tales, wonder stories, and fables. They speak so truly and convincingly for themselves that we wish to use this introductory page only to emphasize their value to young children. There are still those who find no room in their own reading, and would give none in the reading of the young, except for facts. They confuse facts and truth, and forget that there is a world of truth that is larger than the mere facts of life, being compact of imagination and vision and ideals. Dr. Hamilton Wright Mabie convinced us of this in his cogent words.

“America,” he said, “has at present greater facility in producing ‘smart’ men than in producing able men; the alert, quick-witted money-maker abounds, but the men who live with ideas, who care for the principles of things, and who make life rich in resource and interest, are comparatively few. America needs poetry more than it needs industrial training, though the two ought never to be separated. The time to awaken the imagination, which is the creative faculty, is early childhood, and the most accessible material for this education is the literature which the race created in its childhood.”

The value of the fairy-tale and the wonder-tale is that they tell about the magic of living. Like the old woman in Mother Goose, they “brush the cobwebs out of the sky.” They enrich, not cheapen, life. Plenty of things do cheapen life for children. Most movies do. Sunday comic supplements do. Ragtime songs do. Mere gossip does. But fairy stories enhance life.

They are called “folk-tales,” that is, tales of the common folk. They were largely the dreams of the poor. They consist of fancies that have illumined the hard facts of life. They find animals, trees, flowers, and the stars friendly. They speak of victory. In them the child is master even of dragons. He can live like a prince, in disguise, or, if he be uncomely, he may hope to win Beauty after he is free of his masquerade.

Wonder-stories help make good children as well as happy children. In these stories witches, wolves, and evil persons are defeated or exposed. Fairy godmothers are ministers of justice. The side that the child wishes to triumph always does triumph, and so goodness always is made to seem worth-while.

Almost every fairy-tale contains a test of character or shrewdness or courage. Sharp distinctions are made, that require a child of parts to discern.

And the heroes of these nursery tales are much more convincing than precepts or golden texts, for they impress upon the child not merely what he ought to do, but what nobly has been done. And the small hero-worshiper will follow where his admirations lead.

Fables do much the same, and by imagining that the animals have arrived at human speech and wisdom, they help the child to think shrewdly and in a friendly way, as if in comradeship with his pets and with our brothers and sisters, the beasts of the field and forest.

CONTENTS

[Pg 1]

[Pg 2]

The day is dull and dreary, And chilly winds and eerie Are sweeping through the tall oak trees that fringe the orchard lane. They send the dead leaves flying, And with a mournful crying They dash the western window-panes with slanting lines of rain. My little ’Trude and Teddy, Come quickly and make ready, Take down from off the highest shelf the book you think so grand. We’ll travel off together, To lands of golden weather, For well we know the winding road that leads to Fairy Land.

A long, long road, no byway, The fairy kings’ broad highway, Sometimes we’ll see a castled hill stand up against the blue, And every brook that passes, A-whispering through the grasses, Is just a magic fountain filled with youth and health for you; And we’ll meet fair princesses With shining golden tresses, Some pacing by on palfreys white, some humbly tending sheep; And merchants homeward faring, With goods beyond comparing, And in the hills are robber bands, who dwell in caverns deep.

Sometimes the road ascending, Around a mountain bending, Will lead us to the forests dark, and there among the pines Live woodmen, to whose dwelling Come wicked witches, telling Of wondrous gifts of golden wealth. There, too, are lonely mines. But busy gnomes have found them, And all night work around them, And sometimes leave a bag of gold at some poor cottage door. There waterfalls are splashing, And down the rocks are dashing, But we can hear the sprites’ clear call above the torrent’s roar.

Where quiet rivers glisten We’ll sometimes stop and listen To tales a gray old hermit tells, or wandering minstrel’s song. We’ll loiter by the ferries, And pluck the wayside berries, And watch the gallant knights spur by in haste to right a wrong. Oh, little ’Trude and Teddy, For wonders, then, make ready, You’ll see a shining gateway, and, within, a palace grand, Of elfin realm the center; But pause before you enter To pity all good folk who’ve missed the road to Fairy Land. Cecil Cavendish

[Pg 3]

THE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS GOLDENLOCKS

There was once a lovely Princess who had such beautiful golden hair that everyone called her Goldenlocks. She possessed everything that she wanted: she was lovely to look at, she had beautiful clothes, and great wealth, and besides all these, she was the Princess in a large kingdom.

In the country next to that of Goldenlocks there ruled a rich and handsome young King. When he heard about the charming Princess he decided that he wanted her for his Queen. The question was, of course, how to make her feel that she wanted him for her husband!

This young King did not go about his wooing after the manner of people that you and I know. He called one of the chief men of his court, and said: “You have heard of the lovely Princess Goldenlocks. I have determined that she shall be my bride. I want you to go and see her; tell her about me, and beg her to become my Queen.”

Then the King ordered a great number of horses brought for the ambassador, and he directed his men to send more than a hundred servants also. You see, in that way he hoped to be able to impress the Princess with his wealth and importance.

The King was conceited, and did not think for a moment that any Princess, no matter how beautiful, would refuse to become his wife. So he ordered his servants to make great preparations for her coming, and to refurnish the palace. He told his ambassador to be sure to bring the Princess back with him.

The King waited with great impatience for the return of the ambassador, who had quite a long journey to make before he could get to the court of the Princess Goldenlocks. Then one day he appeared in the King’s court.

“Where is my lovely bride?” the King asked eagerly, expecting the ambassador to say that she was in the next room, and would come in at once.

“Your Majesty,” replied the ambassador, very sadly, “I could not bring the Princess to you. She sent you her thanks for your offer, but she could not accept the gifts which you sent her, and she will not marry you.”

“What!” the King exclaimed indignantly, as he fingered the pearls and diamonds which he had sent Goldenlocks, and which she had sent back. “I and my jewels are not good enough for the Princess Goldenlocks!” And the King cried and cried, just as if he had not been grown up.

All the people in the court were greatly disturbed because the ambassador had failed in his mission. They felt themselves injured to think that Goldenlocks would not marry their King. There was one courtier, named Charming, who felt especially bad, for he was very fond of the King. He even said one day that he was certain that if the King had only let him go to Goldenlocks, she would have consented to a royal marriage.

Now, there were in that court some very jealous men, who thought that Charming was altogether too great a favorite with the King. When they heard him say that he could have won Goldenlocks for his master, they got together and agreed to tell the King that Charming was making silly boasts.

“Your majesty,” one of them said, “Charming told us that if you had let him go to Goldenlocks she would never have refused to marry you. He thinks that he is so attractive that the Princess would have fallen in love with him immediately, and would have consented to go anywhere he wished with him.”

“Villain!” the King exclaimed. “And I thought he was my friend.”

Of course, you and I know that if the King himself had been any sort of a friend he would never have doubted the good faith of Charming just because someone else spoke evil of him. But what did the King do but order Charming put into a dungeon and given no food or water, so that the poor fellow should die of hunger!

Poor Charming was bewildered when the King’s guards came to carry him off to prison. He could not imagine why the King had turned against him in this unfair way. It made him miserable enough to be in a cold, damp cell, with no food to eat, and no water to drink except that from a little stream which flowed through the cell. He had no bed—just a dirty pile of straw. But all these discomforts were as nothing to the worry he had as to why the King, whom he had always liked, had treated him so unjustly. He used to talk to himself about it. One day he said, as he had thought dozens of times before:

“What have I done that my kindest friend, to whom I have always been faithful, should have turned against me and left me to die in this prison cell?”

As luck would have it, the King himself was passing by the dungeon where Charming was confined when he spoke these words, and the King heard them. Perhaps the King’s better self had [Pg 4] been telling him that he ought at least to have given Charming a chance to tell his side of the story before condemning him to die. I do not know. At any rate when he heard this voice coming out of the dungeon he insisted on going in at once to see Charming.

“Your Gracious Majesty,” said Charming, “I could not believe that it was really your wish that I be confined in this cell. All my life I have had no wish but to serve you faithfully.”

“Charming!” the King exclaimed, “can this be true! They told me that you have made fun of me because the Princess Goldenlocks had refused to marry me.”

“I, Your Majesty, mocked you?” Charming was astonished. “That is not true. It is true, however, that I said that if you would send me to Goldenlocks I believed I could persuade her to become your wife, because I know so many good things about you which I would tell her. I could paint such a lovely picture of you that she could not possibly help falling in love with your Majesty.”

Then the King knew that he had been deceived by his courtiers, and he felt that he had been very silly to believe them. He took Charming with him to the palace right away, and, after having the best supper which the cooks could prepare served for Charming, the King asked him to go and see whether it was not yet possible to persuade Goldenlocks to marry him.

Charming did not set off with any such retinue of servants as had the other ambassador. The King gave him letters to the Princess, and Charming picked out one present for her—a lovely scarf embroidered with pearls.

The next morning Charming started out. He had armed himself with a notebook and pencil. As he rode along he thought much about what he might say to the Princess that would make her want to marry his King.

One day as he rode along he saw a deer stretching out its neck to reach the leaves of the tree above it. “What a graceful creature!” thought Charming. “I will tell Goldenlocks that the King is as graceful as a deer.” Then on the road ahead he saw a great shadow, cast by an eagle in its flight. “How swift and strong that eagle is,” he mused. “I will tell the Princess that the King is like the eagle in strength and swiftness and majesty.”

Charming got off his horse and sat down by a brook to jot down his thoughts in his notebook. As he opened his book to write he saw, struggling in the grass by his side, a golden carp. The fish had jumped too high when it tried to catch a fly, and had landed on the ground. The poor creature was helpless to get back into the water, and was gasping for breath; fish, you know, cannot live long out of water. Charming felt so sorry for the carp that he could not write until he had put it carefully back into the brook.

“Thank you, Charming,” said a voice from the water. Charming had never heard a fish speak before, and you can imagine that he was mightily surprised. “Some day I will repay this kindness.”

For several days after this adventure Charming journeyed on. Then, one morning, he heard a great crying in the air, above him. A huge vulture was pursuing a raven. The vulture was drawing closer and closer to its prey—was almost upon it. Charming could not stand idly by and watch the helpless little raven fight against its enormous enemy. He drew his bow, and shot an arrow straight into the vulture’s heart. The raven flew down, and as it passed Charming it said gratefully: “I have you to thank that I am not now in that great vulture’s beak. I will remember your great kindness.”

Not long afterward, Charming came upon a great net which men had stretched in the woods in order to catch birds. A poor owl was caught in it. “Men are cruel creatures,” thought Charming. “I don’t think it is very kind or praiseworthy to set a trap for these creatures who do no one any harm.” And Charming proceeded to cut the net and set the owl free.

The owl flapped its wings noisily as it flew out of the net. “Thank you, Charming,” it said. “You know I can’t see well in the daylight, and I did not notice this trap. I shall never forget that I have you to thank for my being alive.”

Charming found Goldenlocks surrounded by a splendor greater than any he had ever seen before. Pearls and diamonds were so plentiful that he began to think they must grow on trees in this kingdom! It worried him a little, for he thought he would have to be very clever to persuade Goldenlocks to leave so much luxury.

With fear and trembling Charming presented himself at the door of Princess Goldenlocks’ palace on the morning after his arrival. He had dressed himself with the greatest care in a handsome suit of crimson velvet. On his head was a hat of the same brocaded material, trimmed with waving ostrich plumes, which were fastened to his hat with a clasp set with flashing diamonds. A messenger was sent at once to the Princess to announce his arrival.

“Your Majesty,” the messenger said. “There is the most handsome gentleman sent from a King [Pg 5] awaiting you below. He is dressed like a Prince, and he is the most charming person I have ever seen. In fact, his very name is Charming.”

“His name sounds as if I would like him,” said the Princess, musingly. “I will see him presently. Honora, bring me my best blue satin gown—the one embroidered with pearls.”

Then the Princess had a fresh wreath of pink roses made to wind in her lovely golden hair; Honora pushed tiny blue satin slippers on the feet of her mistress, and handed her an exquisite silver lace fan. Then Goldenlocks was all ready. She assumed her most princess-like manner, and entered the great throne room. You may be sure, however, that she stopped on the way, in the hall of mirrors, to see that she really deserved all the compliments which her handmaids gave her.

When Goldenlocks was seated on the throne of gold and ivory, and her handmaids were posed gracefully about her, playing idly on guitars, Charming was brought in. He was as though struck dumb by the beauty which greeted his eyes. He forgot for the moment all that he had intended to say—all the long harangue prepared so carefully on the way. Then he took a deep breath, and began, just as he had intended, with:

“Most lovely Princess Goldenlocks, I have come to ask your hand in marriage for the most noble King in the world.”

I think his speech must have been very interesting, for Goldenlocks did not take her eyes from Charming’s face during the hour in which Charming described the glories of his King.

“What, O most gracious Princess, may I take to the King as an answer to his plea?” Charming finally inquired.

“Tell him,” said Goldenlocks kindly, “I believe that no King who was not worthy and charming himself could have an ambassador like you.”

“But,” she added after a pause, “tell him also that Goldenlocks may not marry. I have taken a solemn vow that I will not marry until a ring which I lost in the brook a month ago is found. I valued that ring more than my whole kingdom, but it cannot be found.”

Charming went away disheartened, because he did not have the slightest idea how to go about finding the Princess’s ring. Luckily for him, he had brought with him a cunning little dog named Frisk. Frisk was a light-hearted creature. He always was hopeful. So he said to Charming:

“Why, master, let us not give up hope without even trying. Let’s go down to the brook to-morrow morning and see if we can’t find the Princess’s bothersome ring.”

So, bright and early the next day, Charming and Frisk walked slowly along the edge of the brook which flowed near the palace, hunting for the ring. They walked for about half an hour, when a voice spoke to them out of nowhere:

“Well, Charming, I have kept my promise. You once saved my life, you know. Now I have brought you the Princess Goldenlocks’ ring.”

Charming looked up and down and all around in great amazement. Then, at his very feet, he saw the golden carp which he had rescued a few days before; and, best of all, in the carp’s mouth was the Princess’s gold ring.

With joy in his heart Charming rushed to the palace, with Frisk dancing along at his heels. Goldenlocks was disappointed to hear that he had come back so soon. “He must have given up already,” she told her handmaids, as she made ready to receive Charming.

When Charming entered the Princess’s throne room he did not say a word; he simply handed her the ring.

“My ring!” the Princess called out in amazement. “You have found it!” And she seemed delighted that Charming had succeeded.

“Now,” said Charming, with something of assurance, “you will make ready to return to my King with me, will you not?”

“Oh, no!” the Princess cried, as if she had never thought of such a thing. “I can never marry until an awful enemy of mine is killed. There is a fierce giant who lives near here. He once asked me to marry him, and I, of course, refused. It made him very angry. He swore vengeance upon me, and I am afraid to leave my kingdom while he is alive. I think the creature—his name is Galifron—can really have no human heart at all, for he can kill two or three or four persons a day without feeling anything but joy in his crimes.”

Charming shuddered at this appalling picture of his enemy-to-be.

“If it be in my power so to do, Princess Goldenlocks, I will slay your enemy.” With these words Charming turned on his heels and left the palace.

Frisk realized that Charming was worried about the difficult new task which Goldenlocks had given him. “Never you worry, Master,” he said cheerfully. “If you will but attack the monster I will bark and bite at his heels until he won’t know what he is doing. He will be so confused that I know you will be able to conquer him.”