_TO MY DEAR LITTLE MAY_ 

Preface 

Who says that English folk have no fairy-tales of their own? The
present volume contains only a selection out of some 140, of which I
have found traces in this country.  It is probable that many more
exist. 

A quarter of the tales in this volume, have been collected during the
last ten years or so, and some of them have not been hitherto
published.  Up to 1870 it was equally said of France and of Italy, that
they possessed no folk-tales.  Yet, within fifteen years from that
date, over 1000 tales had been collected in each country.  I am hoping
that the present volume may lead to equal activity in this country,
and would earnestly beg any reader of this book who knows of similar
tales, to communicate them, written down as they are told, to me, care
of Mr.  Nutt.  The only reason, I imagine, why such tales have not
hitherto been brought to light, is the lamentable gap between the