|
|
After our boys and girls
have read the first half of Young Folks Treasury, Classic
Tales And Old-Fashioned Stories, containing selected and
simplified stories from some of the greatest books of all time,
their authors will cease to be merely names.
Homer,
Shakespeare, Chaucer, Cervantes and Bunyan will be found here as
familiar and easy in style as "Cinderella" or "The Three
Bears." True enough, the first word in "Classic Tales"
may look somewhat alarming to the eyes of youthful seekers after
romance and adventure, but we challenge them to turn to any one
of these selections from immortal masterpieces and not become
spellbound and, moreover, impatient for more. And, believing now
that they have grown very much interested in these famous books, of
course we also believe they want to learn something about them.
Following the order of our stories we must begin with "Don
Quixote." Its author wrote it under great difficulties and
distress; but one would never think so, as it is full of laughable
doings. When you read our selections you must not think that Don
Quixote was merely a silly old man, for indeed he was a very
noble gentleman and tried with all his might to do what he believed
to be his duty, and in no act of his life was there ever a stain of
dishonour or of meanness. As for his queer fancies, you will find in
your own experience that many things are not as they seem.
Next comes one of Gulliver's voyages. Under all this account
of a tiny race of people there is fun poked at government and its
ministers. But we do not concern ourselves with such matters all we
think about is the wonderful deeds of Gulliver in the land of the
Lilliputians. Do not think such people are impossible, for did
not Stanley, the explorer, find in Africa a race of
dwarfs so little that he called them pygmies? And perhaps
when some of our young readers grow up, they, too, may discover
small folks in the world.
In regard to the "Arabian Nights," from which we give you
three choice stories, you ought to know the way they came to be
told. Once upon a time, a Sultan of Arabia thought that all
women were of not much use, so every day he married a new wife, and
before twenty-four hours were over he ordered that she have her head
cut off. One brave woman thought of a clever plan by which she could
end this cruelty. She went to the palace and offered to marry the
Sultan, and that night she began to tell him such fascinating
stories that when morning came he still wished to hear more. He
commanded that she should not be beheaded until all her stories were
told. Then for a thousand and one nights, night after night, she
gave him fresh stories, and by the end of that time the Sultan
had fallen very much in love with her. Naturally, they lived happily
forever after. Perhaps these three stories which we have selected
will compel you to seek out all the rest, and if you do, we are
quite sure you will not wonder that the brave lady won the heart of
the wicked Sultan and made him good.
From the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" of Homer, we
have given you some soul-stirring happenings. Several thousand years
ago these stories were sung by a blind minstrel named Homer.
Some day you may read Homer's sublime poetry in the
original Greek, and the selections which we give you will help
you to remember the stories when you are struggling with that
difficult language.
Parts of the old favourite "Robinson Crusoe" follow the
Grecian tales, and we trust its simple language will make the
little ones love it more than ever. You will remember that Defoe
wrote this nearly two hundred years ago. Everybody liked long
stories in those days, but we have all heard children of to-day ask
when a somewhat lengthy book would end, no matter how interesting,
and many grown-ups are guilty of reading the close of a story before
they have gone very far in it. So with that in mind we have put down
in brief form most of Robinson Crusoe's important adventures
during his twenty-eight years on the desert island.
Here we also give three splendid stories from Chaucer's
"Canterbury Tales," which were supposedly told to one another by
a party of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. According to
our gentle author, who was one of them, they stopped over night at a
house in England called the Tabard Inn, and here they
passed the hours repeating fine stories. Afterward Chaucer
wrote these down in a book in quaint old English. One might
look at these words all day long and not know in the least what what
some of them meant, though they do hold such beautiful tales.
Now about "Pilgrim's Progress." More than two hundred years
ago a tinker named John Bunyan was in jail, but one night
this poor man left his prison and wandered into the land of dreams.
There he saw wonderful sights and heard marvellous things, and as
there was no one to listen to his dream, John Bunyan wrote it
down, and had it made into a book. And this he called "The
Pilgrim's Progress." It was about the journey and adventures
of a pilgrim and his companions. In our version we have given
most of the dream, but when the boys and girls grow
older they will want to read it all in Bunyan's own language,
and we hope this account will lead them to do so.
Shakespeare is a magic name to grown-ups, but to
children it does not mean much. All they know is, that sometimes
this name is spelled on the back of one fat volume, sometimes on
three, sometimes on a dozen or more, but of the inside they know
almost nothing, and when they hear persons say that Shakespeare
is the greatest writer that ever lived, they wonder about it. If
they take down a volume containing one of his plays, they think it
very dull, but here in simple language we present the stories of two
of the most fairy-like and beautiful plays, as retold for
children by Charles and Mary Lamb.
from Young Folks Treasury, Volume 3 (of 12) |
|
