Stranica 18 [18]
OCR
INTRODUCTION and Finette,” “Carlino,” and “Graceful” were repeated in freshly learned Spanish, to many a group of brown-cheeked little people on the hillsides of Sonora. And now, long, long afterward, there stands on a shelf above my desk the very selfsame worn green volume, read and re-read a hundred times, but so tenderly and respectfully that it has kept all its pages and both its covers; and on this desk itself are the proofs of a new edition with clear, beautiful print and gay pictures by Edward McCandlish! To be asked to write an introduction to this particular book seems insufferable patronage; yet one would do it for love of Laboulaye, or for the sake of one’s own "little past," or to draw one more young reader into the charmed circle that will welcome these pages. The two children who adored Laboulaye’s "Tales" possessed many another fairy book, so why did this especial volume hold a niche apart in the gallery of their hearts? Partly, perhaps, because of the Gallic wit and vivacity with which the tales are told, for children are never too young to appreciate the charms of style. You remember, possibly, the French chef who, being imprisoned with no materials save the tools of his trade, and commanded on pain of death to produce an omelette, proudly emerged at last, bearing a savory dish made out of the sole of his shoe? Of even such stuff Laboulaye could have concocted a xX
