Tales of Wonder Every Child Should Know Author:Kate Douglas Wiggin, Nora Archibald Smith ??Childish wonder is the first step in human wisdom,? said the greatest of the world's showmen, but there are no wonders to the eyes that lack real vision. In the story of "What the Birds Said," for instance, the stolid jailer flatly denies that the feathered creatures have any message of import to convey; it is the poor captive who by s... more »ympathy and insight divines the meaning of their chatter and thus saves the city and his own life.
The tales in this book are of many kinds of wonder; of black magic, white magic and gray; ranging from the recital of strange and supernatural deeds and experiences to those that fore-shadow modern conquests of nature and those that utilize the marvellous to teach a moral lesson. Choose among them as you will, for as the Spaniards might say, "The book is at your feet; whatever you admire is yours!?
The old, yet ever new, tales in these four books are like the wild notes of the nightingale in the river-thicket, and many are the emperors to whom they have sung.
Whenever we tire of what is trivial and paltry in the machine-made fairy tale of to-day, let us open one of these crimson volumes and hear again the note of the little brown bird in the thicket.? -Kate Douglas Wiggin.
INTRODUCTION
I Wonder (Scandinavian)
What the Birds Said (Chinese)
The Smith and the Fairies (Gaelic)
The Grateful Crane (Japanese)
Little Surya Bai (Southern Indian)
The Storks and the Night Owl (Persian)
The Five Queer Brothers (Chinese)
The Lac of Rupees (Southern Indian)
The Emperor's Nightingale. H. C. Andersen
Hookedy-Crookedy. Seumas MacManus (Celtic)
Arndt's Night Underground. D. M. Mulock
The Unicorn (German)
Destiny. E. Laboulaye (Dalmatian)
The Queen of the Golden Mines. Seumas MacManus (Celtic)
The Deserter (Russian)
The Two Melons (Chinese)
The Iron Casket (Persian)
The Knights of the Fish. Fernan Caballero (Spanish)
Dapplegrim (Scandinavian)
The Hermit. Voltaire (French)
The Watch-tower Between Earth and Heaven (Russian)
The Lucky Coin. Francoso (Portuguese)
The Jackal, the Barber and the Brahmin (Southern Indian)