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
governing and recording classes and the dumb working classes of this
country--dumb to others but eloquent among themselves. It would be no
unpatriotic task to help to bridge over this gulf, by giving a common
fund of nursery literature to all classes of the English people, and,
in any case, it can do no harm to add to the innocent gaiety of the
nation.

A word or two as to our title seems necessary. We have called our
stories Fairy Tales though few of them speak of fairies. [Footnote:
For some recent views on fairies and tales _about_ fairies, see
Notes.] The same remark applies to the collection of the Brothers
Grimm and to all the other European collections, which contain exactly
the same classes of tales as ours. Yet our stories are what the little
ones mean when they clamour for "Fairy Tales," and this is the only
name which they give to them. One cannot imagine a child saying, "Tell