d of "The Children
in the Wood," which was the choice of Dr. W. H. Maxwell, City
Superintendent of Schools in New York.

While the reply of that sincere nature-lover, John Burroughs,
represents a gospel of negation, yet there is a vivid suggestiveness
in the later interest of the man--one whose sympathies and perception
have remained fresh and wholly sincere. "The truth is," he writes, "I
knew no fairy stories in my youth. That kind of literature did not
come within my reach. Our school library held no novels or fairy
books. An old woman who visited our house used to tell us youngsters
the story of 'Jack and the Bean-stalk,' and 'Jack the Giant-killer,'
'Bluebeard,' etc. When I had a boy of my own, I used to read Hans
Christian Andersen to him, and get quite as much interested as he did.
I do not recall that I ever read any fairy tales before Andersen's,
and did not read these till past middle life."

It may be said again that while this book lays no claim to
comprehensiveness, we believe that its personal guidance represents a
high value which is fitly reinforced by the distinctive imagination
of Mr. Peter Newell. In the light of his quaint fancy, unexpected
humor, and sympathetic insight, these classic tales reveal a new store
of riches, and are clothed with a charm which even those of us who
love them had not foreseen.

In the majority of cases these stories reproduce the excellent
versions given in Miss Mulock's _Fairy Book_ (Harper & Brothers). But
the publishers desire to acknowledge the courtesy of Messrs. Longmans,
Green & Co., for their permission to reproduce the admirable versions
of "Aladdin," the "Forty Thieves," and the "Story of the Three Bears"
from their _Blue and Green Fairy Books_, edited by Mr. Andrew Lang.
The "Second Voyage of Sindbad the Sailor" is from the series edited by
Mr. W. T. Stead, entitled, _Books for the Bairns_.

FAVORITE FAIRY TALES

JACK THE GIANT-KILLER

In the reign of the famous King Arthur, there lived, near the Land's
End of England, in the county of Cornwall, a worthy farmer who had an
only son named Jack. Jack was a boy of a bold temper; he took pleasure
in hearing or reading stories of wizards, conjurors, giants, and
fairies, and used to listen eagerly while his father talked of the
great deeds of the brave knights of King Arthur's Round Table. When
Jack was sent to take care of the sheep and oxen in the fields, he
used to to amuse himself with planning