down, are lost forever. Even many of those stories which were
written are lost too, but a few still remain, and from them we
can learn much of the life and the history of the people who
lived in our land ten and twelve hundred years ago, or more.

For a long time books were all written by hand. They were very
scarce and dear, and only the wealthy could afford to have them,
and few could read them. Even great knights and nobles could not
read, for they spent all their time in fighting and hunting, and
had little time in which to learn. So it came about that the
monks who lived a quiet and peaceful life became the learned men.
In the monasteries it was that books were written and copied.
There too they were kept, and the monasteries became not only the
schools, but the libraries of the country.

As a nation grows and changes, its literature grows and changes
with it. At first it asks only for stories, then it asks for
history for its own sake, and for poetry for its own sake;
history, I mean, for the knowledge it gives us of the past;
poetry for joy in the beautiful words, and not merely for the
stories they tell. Then, as a nation's needs and knowledge grow,
it demands ever more and more books on all kinds of subjects.

And we ourselves grow and change just as a nation does. When we
are very young, there are many books which seem to us dull and
stupid. But as we grow older and learn more, we begin to like
more and more kinds of books. We may still love the stories that
we loved as children, but we love others too. And at last,
perhaps, there comes a time when those books which seemed to us
most dull and stupid delight us the most.