Friends And Foes From Fairy Land

To ALL LOVERS OF FAIRY LORE, IN COMPLIANCE With MANY REQUESTS FROM OLD-YOUNG FRIENDS, THESE THREE TALES, WRITTEN IN STRAY MOMENTS, ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. THE three tales which form the present volume tell of fairies, good and bad, of evil witches, and of fanciful elves-some friends, some foes to mankind. There are wise people who call such tales frivolous, and think the time wasted which is employed on them.But, in the first place, so far as I am concerned, the tales are written only in the most leisure of leisure moments, as a relaxation from heavier work; and, in the second place, I cannot think any time wasted which contributes to the amusement of the young. To my mind there is enough of dry, prosy matter stuffed into their poor brains in these dull times, and a little lighter food is as useful as it is welcome to them.So the wise people may talk just as much wisdom as they please, and my fairies and I will only laugh at them, as long as boys and girls love us as well as we love them, and recognize in us pleasant friends with whom sometimes to pass an idle hour.

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To those persons who consider that a wholesome food for the youthful mind is to be found in the brutal narratives of witch persecution related from the point of view of the persecutors, Lord Brabourne's book may be warmly commended. They will find in the longest story in the volume, "The Witches of Headcorn," a description of the pursuit and death by drowning of a wretched old woman, which for graphic horror is worthy of the most superstitious and bigoted old chronicler, and it is narrated without a word of reprobation, or any sign that the author does not consider that the old hag was appropriately punished. In the two other stories in the volume the supernatural element is also chiefly supplied by the malign influence of witchcraft: there is one shadowy fairy and an elf or so, but they are comparatively unimportant. However, whether these witch stories are edifying reading or not, there is not much chance that the youthful reader will relish them, especially when related in Lord Brabourne's ponderous style and adorned by his labored facetiousness. The childish imagination craves for the altogether mysterious and fanciful, and is far more impressed by fairies or giants than mere evil-minded old women. With the remembrance of several pleasing story-books by Lord Brabourne some dozen or more years since, in the balmier days, we are able to bestow a another word of commendation on this performance, being the book is loaded with pretty illustrations supplied by Mr. Linley Sambourne.

Vols. for 1871-76, 1913-14 include an extra number, The Christmas bookseller, separately paged and not included in the consecutive numbering of the regular series.