Page:Grimm Goblins (1876).djvu/11

 AN INTRODUCTION

TO THE PRESENT EDITION OF "GRIMM'S GOBLINS."

implicit belief, and unwavering faith, in beings endowed with supernatural gifts, and possessing unlimited powers, are ever prevailing traits in a child's credulity. This belief is long before it vanishes away under the disenchantments of prosaic realities, or melts into thin air under the stern actualities of after life.

Thank Heaven, we have a vast opulence of Fairy lore, admirably adapted to gratify this intuition, and amply sufficient to satisfy every small believer in the kingdom of Fairyland. Drawing from this abundant source many a delightful theme, children can refresh and charm their minds to the full as much as they can invigorate their bodies by copious drafts of fresh air; so pure is it of its kind. To them, with their first yearnings after food for the mind, no purer literature exists than the literature of Fairy Tales. Ever presenting in an alluring style, fictitious forms and quaint strange figures, such literature opens to them flights of fancy perfectly adapted to their infantine tastes, which they eagerly seize upon and enjoy. Here is a pure seminary of learning wherein fresh hearts, receiving their first impressions, are trained to appease the hunger of their earliest longings with wholesome food, that will satisfy them until they grow old enough to seek other and richer pabulum. Such a collective body of writings will never be other than a great power, fascinating by its weird influences the instincts of childish nature, and fostering in them an education of mind, rich in after harvests.

How welcome then are the Authors who weave these spells of grotesque fancies and weird witchcrafts. They flood upon us a