bly represent the most comprehensive and varied collection of
oriental fairy tales ever made available for American readers. There
is no child who will not enjoy their novel color, their fantastic
beauty, their infinite variety of subject. Yet, like the "Arabian
Nights," they will amply repay the attention of the older reader as
well. Some are exquisitely poetic, such as "The Flower-Elves," "The
Lady of the Moon" or "The Herd Boy and the Weaving Maiden"; others
like "How Three Heroes Came By Their Deaths Because Of Two Peaches,"
carry us back dramatically and powerfully to the Chinese age of
Chivalry. The summits of fantasy are scaled in the quasi-religious
dramas of "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" and "Notscha," or the weird sorceries
unfolded in "The Kindly Magician." Delightful ghost stories, with
happy endings, such as "A Night on the Battlefield" and "The Ghost Who
Was Foiled," are paralleled with such idyllic love-tales as that of
"Rose of Evening," or such Lilliputian fancies as "The King of the
Ants" and "The Little Hunting Dog." It is quite safe to say that these
Chinese fairy tales will give equal pleasure to the old as well as the
young. They have been retold simply, with no changes in style or
expression beyond such details of presentation which differences
between oriental and occidental viewpoints at times compel. It is the
writer's hope that others may take as much pleasure in reading them as
he did in their translation.

FREDRICK H. MARTENS.

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE v

NURSERY FAIRY TALES

CHAPTER

I WOMEN'S WORDS PART FLESH AND BLOOD 1

II THE THREE RHYMSTERS 4

III HOW GREED FOR A TRIFLING THING LED A MAN TO LOSE A
GREAT ONE 6

IV WHO WAS THE SINNER? 9

V THE MAGIC CASK 10

VI THE FAVORITE OF FORTUNE AND THE CHILD OF ILL LUCK 11

VII THE BIRD WITH NINE HEADS 13

VIII THE CAVE OF THE BEASTS 17

IX THE PANTHER 20

X THE GREAT FLOOD