In compiling the present collection I have drawn on the store of 140
tales with which I originally started; some of the best of these I
reserved for this when making up the former one. That had necessarily to
contain the old favourites _Jack the Giant Killer, Dick Whittington_,
and the rest, which are often not so interesting or so well told as the
less familiar ones buried in periodicals or folk-lore collections. But
since the publication of _English Fairy Tales_, I have been specially
fortunate in obtaining access to tales entirely new and exceptionally
well told, which have been either published during the past three years
or have been kindly placed at my disposal by folk-lore friends. Among
these, the tales reported by Mrs. Balfour, with a thorough knowledge of
the peasants' mind and mode of speech, are a veritable acquisition. I
only regret that I have had to tone down so much of dialect in her
versions. She has added to my indebtedness to her by sending me several
tales which are entirely new and inedited. Mrs. Gomme comes only second
in rank among my creditors for thanks which I can scarcely pay without
becoming bankrupt in gratitude. Other friends have been equally kind,
especially Mr. Alfred Nutt, who has helped by adapting some of the book
versions, and by reading the proofs, while to the Councils of the
American and English Folk-Lore Societies I have again to repeat my
thanks for permission to use materials which first appeared in their
publications. Finally, I have had Mr. Batten with me once again--what
should I or other English children do without him?

JOSEPH JACOBS.


[Footnote 1: See "The Science of Folk Tales and the Problem of
Diffusion" in _Transactions of the International Folk-Lore Congress_,