E-text prepared by Al Haines THE PRIMROSE RING by RUTH SAWYER Illustrated Harper & Brothers Publishers New York & London 1915 To The Little Mother this book in memory of the Primrose Ring she wove for me once on a time FOREWORD DEAR PEOPLE,--Whoever you are and wherever you may be when you take up this book--I beg of you not to feel disturbed because I have let Fancy and a faery or two slip in between the covers. You will find them quite harmless and friendly--and very eager to become acquainted. Furthermore, please do not search about for Saint Margaret's; it does not exist. I shamelessly confess to the building of it myself, using my right of authorship to bring a stone from this place, and a cornice from that, to cap the foundation I discovered long ago--when I was a child. In a like manner have I furnished its board of trustees. Do not misjudge them; remember that when one is so careless as to let Fancy and faeries into a book she is forced to let the stepmothers be unkind and the giants cruel. I should like to remind those who may be forgetting that Tir-na-n'Og is the land of eternal youth and joyousness--the Celtic "Land of Heart's Desire." It is a country which belongs to us all by right of natural heritage; but we turned our backs to it and started journeying from it almost the instant we stepped out of our cradles. As for the primrose ring--reach across it to Bridget and let her give you back again the heart of a child which you may have lost somewhere along the road of Growing-Old-and-Wise. R. S. THE PRIMROSE RING I CONCERNING FANCY AND SAINT MARGARET'S Would it ever have happened at all if Trustee Day had not fallen on the 30th of April--which is May Eve, as everybody knows? This is something you must ask of those wiser than I, for I am only the story-teller, sitting in the shadow of the market-place, passing on the tale that comes to my ears. But I can remind you that May Eve is one of the most bewitched and bewitching times of the whole year--reason enough to account for any number of strange happenings; and I can point out to your notice that Margaret MacLean, in charge of Ward C at Saint Margaret's, found the flower-seller at the corner of the street that morning with his basket full of primroses. Now primroses are "gentle flowers," as everybody ought to know--which means that the faeries have been using them for thousands of years to work magic; and Margaret MacLean bought the full of her hands that morning. And this brings us back to Trustee Day at Saint Margaret's--which fell on the 30th of April--and to the beginning of the story.