The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Brown Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang

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Title: The Brown Fairy Book

Author: Andrew Lang

Posting Date: January 17, 2009 [EBook #3282]
Release Date: June, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BROWN FAIRY BOOK ***

Produced by J.C. Byers and L.M. Shaffer

THE BROWN FAIRY BOOK

Edited by
Andrew Lang

Dedicated
to
Diana Scott Lang

Preface

The stories in this Fairy Book come from all quarters of the world. For
example, the adventures of 'Ball-Carrier and the Bad One' are told by
Red Indian grandmothers to Red Indian children who never go to school,
nor see pen and ink. 'The Bunyip' is known to even more uneducated
little ones, running about with no clothes at all in the bush, in
Australia. You may see photographs of these merry little black fellows
before their troubles begin, in 'Northern Races of Central Australia,'
by Messrs. Spencer and Gillen. They have no lessons except in tracking
and catching birds, beasts, fishes, lizards, and snakes, all of which
they eat. But when they grow up to be big boys and girls, they are
cruelly cut about with stone knives and frightened with sham bogies all
for their good' their parents say and I think they would rather go to
school, if they had their choice, and take their chance of being birched
and bullied. However, many boys might think it better fun to begin to
learn hunting as soon as they can walk. Other stories, like 'The Sacred
Milk of Koumongoe,' come from the Kaffirs in Africa, whose dear papas
are not so poor as those in Australia, but have plenty of cattle
and milk, and good mealies to eat, and live in houses like very big
bee-hives, and wear clothes of a sort, though not very like our own.
'Pivi and Kabo' is a tale from the brown people in the island of New
Caledonia, where a boy is never allowed to speak to or even look at his
own sisters; nobody knows why, so curious are the manners of this remote
island. The story shows the advantages of