This appears to be the philosophy of prefaces in general, and perhaps authors might be more daring and candid1 than they are with advantage, and write regular criticisms of their own books in their prefaces, for nobody can be so good a critic of himself as the author — if he has a sense of humour. If he has not, the less he says in his preface the better.
These Fairy Books, however, are not written by the Editor, as he has often explained, ‘out of his own head.’ The stories are taken from those told by grannies to grandchildren in many countries and in many languages — French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, Gaelic, Icelandic, Cherokee, African, Indian, Australian, Slavonic, Eskimo, and what not. The stories are not literal, or word by word translations, but have been altered in many ways to make them suitable for children. Much has been left out in places, and the narrative2 has been broken up into conversations, the characters telling each other how matters stand, and speaking for themselves, as children, and some older people, prefer them to do. In many tales, fairly cruel and savage3 deeds are done, and these have been softened4 down as much as possible; though it is impossible, even if it were desirable, to conceal5 the circumstance that popular stories were never intended to be tracts6 and nothing else. Though they usually take the side of courage and kindness, and the virtues7 in general, the old story-tellers admire successful cunning as much as Homer does in the Odyssey8. At least, if the cunning hero, human or animal, is the weaker, like Odysseus, Brer Rabbit, and many others, the story-teller sees little in intellect but superior cunning, by which tiny Jack9 gets the better of the giants. In the fairy tales of no country are ‘improper’ incidents common, which is to the credit of human nature, as they were obviously composed mainly for children. It is not difficult to get rid of this element when it does occur in popular tales.
The old puzzle remains10 a puzzle — why do the stories of the remotest people so closely resemble each other? Of course, in the immeasurable past, they have been carried about by conquering races, and learned by conquering races from vanquished11 peoples. Slaves carried far from home brought their stories with them into captivity12. Wanderers, travellers, shipwrecked men, merchants, and wives stolen from alien tribes have diffused13 the stories; gipsies and Jews have passed them about; Roman soldiers of many different races, moved here and there about the Empire, have trafficked in them. From the remotest days men have been wanderers, and wherever they went their stories accompanied them. The slave trade might take a Greek to Persia, a Persian to Greece; an Egyptian woman to Phoenicia; a Babylonian to Egypt; a Scandinavian child might be carried with the amber14 from the Baltic to the Adriatic; or a Sidonian to Ophir, wherever Ophir may have been; while the Portuguese15 may have borne their tales to South Africa, or to Asia, and thence brought back other tales to Egypt. The stories wandered wherever the Buddhist16 missionaries17 went, and the earliest French voyageurs told them to the Red Indians. These facts help to account for the sameness of the stories everywhere; and the uniformity of human fancy in early societies must be the cause of many other resemblances.
In this volume there are stories from the natives of Rhodesia, collected by Mr. Fairbridge, who speaks the native language, and one is brought by Mr. Cripps from another part of Africa, Uganda. Three tales from the Punjaub were collected and translated by Major Campbell. Various savage tales, which needed a good deal of editing, are derived18 from the learned pages of the ‘Journal of the Anthropological19 Institute.’ With these exceptions, and ‘The Magic Book,’ translated by Mrs. Pedersen, from ‘Eventyr fra Jylland,’ by Mr. Ewald Tang Kristensen (Stories from Jutland), all the tales have been done, from various sources, by Mrs. Lang, who has modified, where it seemed desirable, all the narratives20.
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1 candid | |
adj.公正的,正直的;坦率的 | |
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2 narrative | |
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的 | |
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3 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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4 softened | |
(使)变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 ); 缓解打击; 缓和; 安慰 | |
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5 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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6 tracts | |
大片土地( tract的名词复数 ); 地带; (体内的)道; (尤指宣扬宗教、伦理或政治的)短文 | |
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7 virtues | |
美德( virtue的名词复数 ); 德行; 优点; 长处 | |
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8 odyssey | |
n.长途冒险旅行;一连串的冒险 | |
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9 jack | |
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克 | |
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10 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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11 vanquished | |
v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 );战胜;克服;抑制 | |
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12 captivity | |
n.囚禁;被俘;束缚 | |
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13 diffused | |
散布的,普及的,扩散的 | |
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14 amber | |
n.琥珀;琥珀色;adj.琥珀制的 | |
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15 Portuguese | |
n.葡萄牙人;葡萄牙语 | |
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16 Buddhist | |
adj./n.佛教的,佛教徒 | |
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17 missionaries | |
n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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18 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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19 anthropological | |
adj.人类学的 | |
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20 narratives | |
记叙文( narrative的名词复数 ); 故事; 叙述; 叙述部分 | |
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