of them is an indispensable part of one's education. These
stories are of several different classes. To one class belong the
popular fairy tales which have delighted untold generations of
children, and will continue to delight them to the end of time. To
another class belong the limited number of fables that have come down
to us through many channels from hoar antiquity. To a third belong the
charming stories of olden times that are derived from the literatures
of ancient peoples, such as the Greeks and the Hebrews. A fourth class
includes the half-legendary tales of a distinctly later origin, which
have for their subjects certain romantic episodes in the lives of
well-known heroes and famous men, or in the history of a people.

It is to this last class that most of the fifty stories contained in
the present volume belong. As a matter of course, some of these
stories are better known, and therefore more _famous_, than others.
Some have a slight historical value; some are useful as giving point
to certain great moral truths; others are products solely of the
fancy, and are intended only to amuse. Some are derived from very
ancient sources, and are current in the literature of many lands; some
have come to us through the ballads and folk tales of the English
people; a few are of quite recent origin; nearly all are the subjects
of frequent allusions in poetry and prose and in the conversation of
educated people. Care has been taken to exclude everything that is not
strictly within the limits of probability; hence there is here no
trespassing upon the domain of the fairy tale, the fable, or the myth.

That children naturally take a deep interest in such stories, no
person can deny; that the reading of them will not only give pleasure,
but will help to lay the foundation for broader literary studies, can
scarcely be doubted. It is believed, therefore, that the present
collection will be found to possess an educative value which will
commend it as a supplementary reader in the middle primary grades at
school. It is also hoped that the book will prove so attractive that
it will be in demand out of school as well as in.

Acknowledgments are due to Mrs. Charles A. Lane, by whom eight or ten
of the stories were suggested.

FIFTY FAMOUS STORIES RETOLD.

KING ALFRED AND THE CAKES.

[Illustration:]

Many years ago there lived in Eng-land a wise and good king whose name
was Al-fred. No other man ever did so much for h