Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales

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Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales

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Horatia Gatty Ewing
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Title: Old-Fashioned Fairy Tales
Author: Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing
Release Date: April 9, 2005 [eBook #15592]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY TALES***
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OLD-FASHIONED FAIRY TALES

by
JULIANA HORATIA EWING.
London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Northumberland
Avenue, W.C. New York: E. & J.B. Young & Co. [Published under the
direction of the General Literature Committee.]

DEDICATED TO MY DEAR SISTER, UNDINE MARCIA GATTY.
J.H.E.

"Know'st thou not the little path That winds about the Ferny brae, That
is the road to bonnie Elfland, Where thou and I this night maun gae."
Thomas the Rhymer.

PREFACE.
As the title of this story-book may possibly suggest that the tales are
old fairy tales told afresh, it seems well to explain that this is not so.
Except for the use of common "properties" of Fairy Drama, and a
scrupulous endeavour to conform to tradition in local colour and detail,
the stories are all new.
They have appeared at intervals during some years past in "AUNT
JUDY'S MAGAZINE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE," and were written in
conformity to certain theories respecting stories of this kind, with only
two of which shall the kindly reader of prefaces be troubled.
First, that there are ideas and types, occurring in the myths of all
countries, which are common properties, to use which does not lay the
teller of fairy tales open to the charge of plagiarism. Such as the idea of

the weak outwitting the strong; the failure of man to choose wisely
when he may have his wish; or the desire of sprites to exchange their
careless and unfettered existence for the pains and penalties of
humanity, if they may thereby share in the hopes of the human soul.
Secondly, that in these household stories (the models for which were
originally oral tradition) the thing most to be avoided is a discursive or
descriptive style of writing. Brevity and epigram must ever be soul of
their wit, and they should be written as tales that are told.
The degree in which, if at all, the following tales fulfil these conditions,
nursery critics must decide.
There are older critics before whom fairy tales, as such, need excuse,
even if they do not meet with positive disapprobation.
On this score I can only say that, for myself, I believe them to
be--beyond all need of defence--most valuable literature for the young.
I do not believe that wonder-tales confuse children's ideas of truth. If
there are young intellects so imperfect as to be incapable of
distinguishing between fancy and falsehood, it is surely most desirable
to develop in them the power to do so; but, as a rule, in childhood we
appreciate the distinction with a vivacity which, as elders, our
care-clogged memories fail to recall.
Moreover fairy tales have positive uses in education, which no
cramming of facts, and no merely domestic fiction can serve.
Like Proverbs and Parables, they deal with first principles under the
simplest forms. They convey knowledge of the world, shrewd lessons
of virtue and vice, of common sense and sense of humour, of the
seemly and the absurd, of pleasure and pain, success and failure, in
narratives where the plot moves briskly and dramatically from a
beginning to an end. They treat, not of the corner of a nursery or a
playground, but of the world at large, and life in perspective; of forces
visible and invisible; of Life, Death, and Immortality.
For causes obvious to the student of early myths, they foster sympathy

with nature, and no class of child-literature has done so much to
inculcate the love of animals.
They cultivate the Imagination, that great gift which time and
experience lead one more and more to value--handmaid of Faith, of
Hope, and, perhaps most of all, of Charity!
It is true that some of the old fairy tales do not teach the high and useful
lessons that most of them do; and that they unquestionably deal now
and again with phases of grown-up life, and with crimes and
catastrophes, that seem unsuitable for nursery entertainment.
As to the latter question, it must be remembered that the brevity of the
narrative--whether it be a love story or a robber story--deprives it of all
harm;