what they have done; nay, like Father William in the poem, they are
ready 'to do it again and again.'

(1) You may buy them from Mr. Nutt, in the Strand.

Where is the harm? The truth is that the Folk Lore Society--made up of
the most clever, learned, and beautiful men and women of the country--is
fond of studying the history and geography of Fairy Land. This is
contained in very old tales, such as country people tell, and savages:

'Little Sioux and little Crow,
Little frosty Eskimo.'

These people are thought to know most about fairyland and its
inhabitants. But, in the Yellow Fairy Book, and the rest, are many tales
by persons who are neither savages nor rustics, such as Madame D'Aulnoy
and Herr Hans Christian Andersen. The Folk Lore Society, or its
president, say that THEIR tales are not so true as the rest, and should
not be published with the rest. But WE say that all the stories which
are pleasant to read are quite true enough for us; so here they are,
with pictures by Mr. Ford, and we do not think that either the pictures
or the stories are likely to mislead children.

As to whether there are really any fairies or not, that is a difficult
question. Professor Huxley thinks there are none. The Editor never saw
any himself, but he knows several people who have seen them--in the
Highlands--and heard their music. If ever you are in Nether Lochaber,
go to the Fairy Hill, and you may hear the music yourself, as grown-up
people have done, but you must goon a fine day. Again, if there are
really no fairies, why do people believe in them, all over the world? The
ancient Greeks believed, so did the old Egyptians, and the Hindoos, and
the Red Indians, and is it likely, if there are no fairies, that so
many different peoples would have seen and heard them? The Rev. Mr.
Baring-Gould saw several fairies when he was a boy, and was travelling
in the land of the Troubadours. For these reasons, the Editor thinks
that there are certainly fairies, but they never do anyone any
harm; and, in England, they have been frightened away by smoke and
schoolmasters. As to Giants, they have died out, but real Dwarfs are
common in the forests of Africa. Probably a good many stories not
perfectly true have been told about fairies, but such stories have also
been told about Napoleon, Claverhouse, Julius Caesar, and Joan of Arc,
all of whom certainly existed. A wise child will, therefore, remember
that, if he grows up and bec