Transcriber's note. Minor punctuation inconsistencies have been silently repaired. Variable spelling has been retained. Sidenotes are presented [within square brackets]. Mark up: _italic_ =bold= A HISTORY OF STORY-TELLING EDITED BY ARTHUR RANSOME THE WORLD'S STORY-TELLERS EACH volume contains a selection of complete stories, an Introductory Essay by ARTHUR RANSOME, and a Frontispiece Portrait by J. GAVIN. List of volumes already published:-- GAUTIER HOFFMANN POE HAWTHORNE MÉRIMÉE BALZAC CHATEAUBRIAND THE ESSAYISTS CERVANTES Others in preparation _In cloth, 1s. net; cloth gilt, gilt top, 1s. 6d. net per vol._ LONDON AND EDINBURGH T. C. AND E. C. JACK [Illustration: JEAN DE MEUNG] A HISTORY OF STORY-TELLING STUDIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NARRATIVE BY ARTHUR RANSOME Editor of 'The World's Story-Tellers' [Illustration: ALIENI TEMPORIS FLORES] WITH 27 PORTRAITS BY J. GAVIN LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK 16 HENRIETTA STREET, W.C. 1909 TO MY WIFE PREFACE THIS is a spring day, and I am writing in a flood of sunlight in front of a brown French inn. Above my head there is the dusty branch of a tree stuck out of a window, the ancient sign that gave point to the proverb, 'Good wine needs no bush.' Good books, I suppose, need no prefaces. But honest authors realise that their books are never as good as they had planned them. A preface, put on last and worn in front, to show what they would have liked their books to be, is the pleasantest of their privileges. And I am not inclined to do without it.