Show A LITERARY LETTER BY RICHARD LE GALLIENNE are frt tre neat gent In to the tile literary world or orare orare orare n are said to be by b the lie publisher New novelists vel of genius genial are always alwa with us new DeW poets peels are tar far from uncommon Bat But no one ODe teems seems to think it worth north while to bring aa us some new DeW fairy tal tales ta or t till a day or two ago 0 Of course coarse there Utere are CO volumes volume vol purporting to be fairy tales tales published from Ur e time to w time Ume The Christmas lists Bats 1 always al include a certain proportion of the rather imitation article but bat sentimental non none nonsense sense e books boob for tor children are hardly bardl the same thing Ud The best bat fairy aIry tales like Uke the best beat of everything in literature lit literature tare are more for tor grownups than Ulan for tor children or orI orI orI I should oaId perhaps perM ratter rather rat r say as much so Any MY one orie who has ban considered the tile question lon of literature for fo chil children children dren must have been discouraged to mark that t children chil ct children l dren cIren seem to appreciate good and bid bed equally equate Iy 1 and perhaps usually prefer preter the t e bad Like LUte their tb elders el they doll dont always alway know what Is Ia good for tor them Children dont care pare half baU so ao much for Hans Hana Anderson on as they Ire dire supposed to to and no so far as at possible P 1 should be made to And I 1 suppose Anderson may be fairly regarded as u the tbt sassier master of ot the fairy 1 tale le No doubt his hta defect Is a tendency to over and a preoccupation with morals mora morals moral deep def and one hoe beyond be beyond yond a child childs appreciation to the detriment or ot the simple shape of ot his hi story Perhaps one ne might dente define a fairy tale as a a flower with a meaning Like a flower dower it should at once be simple rumple and aDd rich beautiful and tind and nd net like U Utile the tile it should have hiVE a message m but should deliver it only as the delivers Its message It must mut always alwy be remembered it ta is first diet a flower If these be the first conditions of ot a true rue fairy fairytale fairytale fairytale tale they are certainly fulfilled by b Tales Tale of or a Spinner written by M K Jerome Je Doucet a young French oren b writer of distinction translated into English EnU by Mr T O 0 Guen Guest illustrated by Mr Garth Jones Jone one of the most striking of young youn English Illustrators and issued i d by Mr R it R H Russell in to a manner which make mke Euclid read like a fairy lal tale talea a book bk beautiful as the missal II of o a princess princ In form M at Duets et a stories are lre simple and a sumptuous as ni the th tulips hie king kin loved loed lof exquisite and stately made of the finest I silk of 0 flowers And they have hae their meanings meaning too to simple mple as the meaning of or a or love liea I u abl There Thre in is II not a u word nord too to many man not nt a i de dt too to elaborate not a thought too deep and then theno in is II a beauty and a i sense of the wonderful wonderful M lOUItt et ha hal has been hn singularly liu h happy pp in nix hiM m pra I tion t n fur fui tb mt s h IC halt hall h 1 novel without being bing farfetched Many who wh attempt the Ut I t tl tales il strain too mu luh touch h after ft r fin a tn t invention I and ant achieve mtr Jy the i tepu M 1 L Doucet Ducet Is hi I I Ic c wisely content with the old interests of the t fairy tale t renewing their attractiveness for us by b the th freshness tren of his hta hl treatment His Hia inventions Invention are ae always central ctrl yet quaintly surprising none the less lees the t old od truths the th new nw images That love can find In out oak ot a vay My ta is i a sufficiently old o truth but what a del un fancy M ht Doucet Duet has I happened on to bear br brIt It U out again It is wicked to compress compres whit what uth be he has Ica I tout told tol as a briefly as it ought to be b told t but bt in to no n other oer way wy can a I 1 Illustrate to the tb pleasure I 1 nave have had bad b in jn his hta b beautiful stories storie storied The Tb tory story ta is called call The Cherry CherryTree CM CherryTree Tree Tr and tells teU of ot a a cherry tree tre that t grew aw in a con convent 1 convent vent vet garden p The Tb convent was wa famous f throughout the theland tb theland land for tor the exquisite liquor which the good slaters Iter distilled from tm the cherries and alike alke for tOt it its blossom in spring and an its 11 fruit ft in tree tea I was WU the most mt precious plu possession of the convent Now one OD day 7 the th Due Dude de arrived aved bringing with him hi his bis g young and beautiful daughter Mr M to t tobe be b entered as a a novice Marle it appeared had W Wt set t her he heart ber on OD a certain certin young you page and being b be too to great at a lady l for such aub an alliance aJan was W thus tit be IN yong retch reach of her ber happiness Soon after she eke arrived on land outside out the convent walls walla a great taw began to rise and to the terror of the sisters began bI to belch forth lorda black blaek poisonous smoke moke which the tile wind carried d against the cherry tree For several evera dears days the tower poured its Ita black smoke on the tree with the ue insult t that the blossoms bI all fell leU off oft and the themselves them selves began to wither Alarmed the appealed to the archbishop and with bill bis assistance the Ute teND loon foundry dry was bought and incense burnt fa is the t C a chimney In Instead Instead stead Ala Ataa It was waa too loo late The tree t ImM and ADd everyone but the abbess could see Me would never grow gain agara She however howe r hoped boll against l nope and offered O to give ghe whatever he be asked to the man who would restore her cherry tree Thus one ODe day cia an iAn anold anold old bent monk came to the door of the and undertook to bring it to life fife again if t tt t abl egi would swear ear to give iv him whatsoever he asked ked He was w very v confident of his skit skill and the th abbess gave pv her ber li r prom promise promise ise lile The monk thereon the n took ladder ladd r an ad hatchet arid and climbing into the tree hewed this way and that till nothing was wa left of the beloved IX tree a poor stirred scarred trunk Then taking mallet and chisel billel the tile monk be bt began began gan Jan to hop chop away awa at the trunk Day ny followed day and he was vas still at work nen some tome sixty days daa had aad paused passed the monk announced d that his work was waa wait nearly MarJy at an end but made mad it 1 t condition that none must over overlook overlook look him from then on to its ith It When fin finally finally ally be he allowed the th sisters i to approach the tree tr they found that the tho trunk had been carved caned Into the figure of a child a b boy n y pink as the hf I heart of the cherry cheny cherrytree tree t IM with a u how bow in III his hind hand ha and it a it quiver hanging hanin from his hi waist wal It u is the th Holy Child exclaimed the sisters But the lady superior knew k better and was Will enraged with the mo monk iK He Hf however be begged foj for further patient patience o am und and do il h by day wua vu Wu t tv to j be bt ecru i C 2 c kneeling In prayer at the toot foot of the statue Suddenly one day from the head bead of Love sprang tender teader green branches forming a crown and buds began n to swell 1 and d burst bunt in ID the sun aun The monk bad kept his hta h word I The cherry tree was wu alive again alive by y the tile mirac miraculous c cI t I ulous power of Love and no one ODe win will need to tobe be told r I how bow ho when asked ked to demand his hie reward the old oW monk I suddenly straightened ned himself threw away way hta old age ap with his bla wig and stepping out of his hta h weeds w a handsome young page pap took the hand band of Such are the beautiful be things made new which you will wilt find Ind in m M hi I Douceta Tales Ta of oC a I Spinster And nd before I 1 reluctantly leave the book I must m remark again on the exceptional taste tat with which Mr Russell has ha produced it It It ta Is a fairytale book that seeps seems to have ben n made entirely by fairy workmen lieD and Mr i Garth Jones ta is to be congratulated on his hta striking designs tana particularly his hta b decorative borders ae the most t original and yet sound work of their kind that I have aft seen eren for a tons long time Nor must mat the excellence ex of Mr Ones Ouen translation trans anon be denied its It Important Im part pan ta ht the tile making of an aa entirely ent charming book Copyright ua lilt by Robert Howard Russell |