Page:The jade story book; stories from the Orient (IA jadestorybooksto00cous).pdf/16

x The Igorot, Tagalog, Visayan, Mindanao and Moro stories are used by kind permission of A. C. McClurg & Co., publishers of "Philippine Folk Tales," edited by Mabel Cook Cole.

Several of the Persian stories are taken from "The Arabian Nights" and others, from Persia, India, China and Japan, are adapted from various sources, not least of which is "Gesta Romanorum." One of them, "The Story of Caliph Stork," is from the collection by Wilhelm Hauff.

The author has on other occasions seized the opportunity to emphasize the fact that fairy tales and fables are really necessary to the child, who, without them, is being defrauded of that which belongs to him. They stimulate the youthful imagination and provide a good foundation for the further development of the mind.

Most fairy stories not only amuse, but their unfolding shows the child that good invariably triumphs over evil, and the moral is that one who is kind, polite, generous, unselfish and brave wins in the end. Surely this is worth while.