Our stories are almost all old, some from Ireland, before that island
was as celebrated for her wrongs as for her verdure; some from Asia,
made, I dare say, before the Aryan invasion; some from Moydart,
Knoydart, Morar and Ardnamurchan, where the sea streams run like great
clear rivers and the saw-edged hills are blue, and men remember Prince
Charlie. Some are from Portugal, where the golden fruits grow in the
Garden of the Hesperides; and some are from wild Wales, and were told at
Arthur’s Court; and others come from the firesides of the kinsmen of
the Welsh, the Bretons. There are also modern tales by a learned
Scandinavian named Topelius.
All the stories were translated or adapted by Mrs. Lang, except ‘The
Jogi’s Punishment’ and ‘Moti,’ done by Major Campbell out of the Pushtoo
language; ‘How Brave Walter hunted Wolves,’ which, with ‘Little Lasse’
and ‘The Raspberry Worm,’ was done from Topelius by Miss Harding; and
‘The Sea King’s Gift,’ by Miss Christie, from the same author.
It has been suggested to the Editor that children and parents and
guardians would like ‘The Grey True Ghost-Story Book.’ He knows that the
children would like it well, and he would gladly give it to them; but
about the taste of fond anxious mothers and kind aunts he is not quite
so certain. Before he was twelve the Editor knew true ghost stories
enough to fill a volume. They were a pure joy till bedtime, but then,
and later, were not wholly a source of unmixed pleasure. At that time
the Editor was not afraid of the dark, for he thought, ‘If a ghost is
here, we can’t see him.’ But when older and better informed persons said
that ghosts brought their own light with them (which is too true), then
one’s emotions were such as parents do not desire the young to endure.
For this reason ‘The Grey True Ghost-Story Book’ is never likely to be
illustrated by Mr. Ford.
Contents
The Shifty Lad
The False Prince and the True
The Jogi’s Punishment
The Heart of a Monkey
The Fairy Nurse
A Lost Paradise
How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves
The Ring of the Waterfalls
A French Puck
The Three Crowns
The Story of a Very Bad Boy
The Brown Bear of Norway
Little Lasse
‘Moti’
The Enchanted Deer
A Fish Story
The Wonderful Tune
The Rich Brother and the Poor Brother
The One-Handed Girl
The Bones of Djulung
The Sea Ring’s Gift
The Raspberry Worm
The Stones of Plouhinec
The Castle of Kerglas
The Battle of the Birds
The Lady of the Fountain
The Four Gifts
The Groac’h of the Isle of Lok
The Escape of the Mouse
The Believing. Husbands
The Hoodie-Crow
The Brownie of the Lake
The Winning of Olwen
The Shifty Lad
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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