Project Gutenberg's The Red Book of Heroes, by Leonora Blanche Lang
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Title: The Red Book of Heroes
Author: Leonora Blanche Lang
Editor: Andrew Lang
Release Date: August 19, 2006 [EBook #19078]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration: "'Go back,' he said."]
THE RED BOOK OF HEROES
BY MRS. LANG
EDITED BY ANDREW LANG
[Illustration]
WITH 8 COLOURED PLATES AND NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS
BY A. WALLIS MILLS
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA
1909
All rights reserved
PREFACE
'Life is not all beer and skittles,' said a reflective sportsman, and
all books are not fairy tales. In an imperfect state of existence, 'the
peety of it is that we cannot have all things as we would like them.'
Undeniably we would like all books to be fairy tales or novels, and at
present most of them are. But there is another side to things, and we
must face it. '"Life is real, life is earnest," as Tennyson tells us,'
said an orator to whom I listened lately, and though Longfellow, not
Tennyson, wrote the famous line quoted by the earnest speaker, yet there
is a good deal of truth in it. The word 'earnest,' like many other good
words, has been overdone. It is common to sneer at 'earnest workers,'
yet where would we be without them, especially in our climate?
In a Polynesian island, where the skies for ever smile, and the blacks
for ever dance, earnestness is superfluous. The bread-fruit tree
delivers its rolls punctually every morning, strawberries or other
fruits, as nice, spring beneath the feet of the dancers; the cavern in
the forest provides a roof and shelter from the sun; the sea supplies a
swimming-bath, and man, in time of peace, has only to enjoy himself, eat
and drink, laugh and love, sing songs and tell fairy tales. His drapery
is woven of fragrant flowers, nobody is poor and anxious about food,
nobody is rich and afraid of losing his money, nobody needs to think of
helping others; he h
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