BOOK OF TALES BEING SCHOOL READINGS, IMAGINATIVE AND EMOTIONAL IN PROSE AND POETRY SUPPLEMENTARY TO THIRD READER EDITED BY WILLIAM SWINTON AUTHOR OF WORD-BOOK, GEOGRAPHICAL AND LANGuage series, etc. STANDARD SUPPLEMENTARY READERS. THE SUPPLEMENTARY READERS form a series of carefully graduated reading-books, designed to connect with any of the regular series of five or six Readers. These books, which are closely co-ordinated with the several Readers of the regular series, are : — I. Easy Steps for Little Feet: Supplementary to First Reader. In this book the attractive is the chief aim, and the pieces have been written and chosen with special ref erence to the feelings and fancies of early childhood. II. Golden Book of Choice Reading: Supplementary to Second Reader. — This book presents a great variety of pleasing and instructive reading, consisting of child-lore and poetry, noble examples, and attractive object-readings. III. Book of Tales; being School Readings Imaginative and Emotional: Supplementary to Third Reader. In this book the youthful taste for the imaginative and emotional is fed with pure and noble creations drawn from the literature of all nations. IV. Readings in Nature's Book: Supplementary to Fourth Reader. - This book contains a varied collection of charming readings in natural history and botany, drawn from the works of the great modern naturalists and travelers. V. Seven American Classics. VI. Seven British Classics. The "Classics are suitable for reading in advanced grammar grades, and aim to instill a taste for the higher literature, by the presentation of gems of British and American authorship. Copyright, 1880, by Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor & Company. PREFACE. 66 In the series of Supplementary Readers, the plan of which is given on the opposite page, The Book of Tales" is designed to furnish class-reading supplemental to any Third Reader of the regular series. The book is so graded that it may advantageously be begun early in the grammar-school course. At this period, in the regular class-room work, pupils are engaged in the study of arithmetic, geography, and grammar; and it is precisely here that a corrective to the one-sidedness of technical routine is demanded. A deep craving is felt in all young minds for the food of fancy and feeling if not satisfied by the healthful and pure in the realms of imagination and emotion, this craving will only too often find food in the garbage of perverted and sensational reading. : The scope of "The Book of Tales" is well indicated by its sub-title. It consists of readings "imaginative and emotional." The wide domain of the folk-lore of all nations has been explored for those beautiful creations that have instructed and delighted successive generations. A body of these creations forming, so to speak, the classics of fancy, has been gathered from the treasury of Arabian and Hindu lore, from the Teutonic storehouses of legend, from Scandinavian sagas, and from the finer modern spirits who have caught the inspiration of the elder masters. Though the old tales and legends are rarely directly didactic, a deep meaning and moral run through them, and form the sweetness and savor that have kept them so long alive. Yet to select indiscriminately from folk-lore would not be fitting for educational purposes. Hence it is that in the choice of pieces for "The Book of Tales," only such have been taken as combine the noblest sentiment with the finest fancy; while at the same time all the pieces have been subjected to such scrutiny and editorship as guarantee the requisites of purity and propriety of sentiment and technical fitness for class-room reading. The Editors are indebted to the courtesy of Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. for permission to use selections from their copy-right editions of American Authors. WEBSTERIAN MARKS USED IN THIS BOOK. - ā, è, í ō, û, ♬, long; ǎ, è, I, Ŏ, u, y, short; & as in term; I as in firm; 60 as in food; oo as in foot; fas s; e, eh, as k; ģ as j; ĝ as in get; n as in linger; § as z; 3 as cz. |