My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales

My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales

Project Gutenberg's My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales, by Edric
Vredenburg This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost
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Title: My Book of Favorite Fairy Tales
Author: Edric Vredenburg
Release Date: February 22, 2005 [EBook #15145]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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OF FAVORITE FAIRY TALES ***

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MY BOOK
OF
FAVOURITE FAIRY TALES
ILLUSTRATED BY JENNIE HARBOUR.
[Illustration: From "THE GOOSE GIRL"]
[Illustration: Painted by Jennie Harbour THE GOOSE GIRL]

MY BOOK OF
FAVOURITE FAIRY TALES
RETOLD BY THE EDITOR

& OTHERS
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATED BY JENNIE HARBOUR
EDITED BY CAPT. EDRIC VREDENBURG
RAPHAEL TUCK &. SONS. LTP
_Publishers in Their Majesties the King & Queen_
LONDON & PARIS
DESIGNED & PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
PHILADELPHIA
DAVID MCKAY COMPANY
WASHINGTON SQUARE
[Illustration: From "THE SLEEPING BEAUTY"]

CONTENTS
THE OLD, OLD STORIES
THE GOOSE GIRL
LITTLE SNOW-WHITE
CINDERELLA
PRINCESS GOLDENHAIR
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD
THE WHITE FAWN
HANSEL AND GRETHEL
SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
PRINCE CHÉRI
THE WHITE CAT
BLUEBEARD
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
TUFTY RIQUET
THUMBLING
[Illustration: From "THE WHITE FAWN"]

LIST OF COLOUR PLATES
THE GOOSE GIRL Frontispiece THE MAGIC MIRROR
CINDERELLA
LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

THE WHITE FAWN
HANSEL AND GRETHEL
SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
ZÉLIE AND THE FAIRY CANDIDE
BLUEBEARD
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
THE BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS
[Illustration: From "PRINCESS GOLDENHAIR"]
[Illustration: From "CINDERELLA"]

THE OLD, OLD STORIES
Here they are again, the old, old stories, the very best; dear Cinderella,
wicked old Bluebeard, tiny Thumbling, beautiful Beauty and the ugly
Beast, and a host of others. But the old stories, I may tell you, are
always new, and always must be so, because there are new children to
read them every day, and to these, of course, these old tales might have
been written yesterday.
But the stories in this book are new in another way. Look how they are
clothed, look at their beautiful setting, the wonderful pictures! Have
you ever seen such charming princes and lovely princesses, such dainty
grace and delicate feeling?
What would our grandfathers and grandmothers have said of such a
book! They would have thought there was magic in the brush and
pencil.
Surely we are favoured in this generation when we see before us, the
old, old fairy tales, which are ever new, dressed in such a beautiful and
splendid fashion!
_EDRIC VREDENBURG._
[Illustration: From "HANSEL AND GRETHEL"]

[Illustration]
THE GOOSE GIRL
An old queen, whose husband had been dead some years, had a
beautiful daughter. When she grew up, she was betrothed to a prince
who lived a great way off; and as the time drew near for her to be

married, she got ready to set off on her journey to his country. Then the
queen, her mother, packed up a great many costly things--jewels, and
gold, and silver; trinkets, fine dresses, and, in short, everything that
became a royal bride; for she loved her child very dearly: and she gave
her a waiting-maid to ride with her, and give her into the bridegroom's
hands; and each had a horse for the journey. Now the princess's horse
was called Falada, and could speak.
When the time came for them to set out, the old queen went into her
bed-chamber, and took a little knife, and cut off a lock of her hair, and
gave it to her daughter, and said, "Take care of it, dear child; for it is a
charm that may be of use to you on the road." Then they took a
sorrowful leave of each other, and the princess put the lock of her
mother's hair into her bosom, got upon her horse, and set off on her
journey to her bridegroom's kingdom. One day, as they were riding
along by the side of a brook, the princess began to feel very thirsty, and
said to her maid, "Pray get down and fetch me some water, in my
golden cup, out of yonder brook, for I want to drink." "Nay," said the
maid, "if you are thirsty, get down yourself, and lie down by the water
and drink; I shall not be your waiting-maid any longer." Then the
princess was so thirsty that she got down, and knelt over the brook and
drank, for she was frightened, and dared not bring out her golden cup;
and then she wept, and said "Alas! what will become of me?" And the
lock of