I have made bold, too, to omit Perrault's conclusion of _La Belle au Bois Dormant_. To my amazement the editor of the _Cabinet des Fées_ selects this lame sequel--it is no better than a sequel--of a lovely tale, and assigns to it the credit of having established 'la véritable fortune de ce genre.' Frankly, I cannot believe him. Further, I have condensed Madame de Villeneuve's narrative and obliterated its feeble ending. In taking each of these liberties I have the warrant of tradition, which in the treatment of fairy-tales speaks with a voice more authoritative than the original author's, for it speaks with the united voices of many thousands of children, his audience and best critics. As the children have decreed that in Southey's tale of _The Three Bears_ the heroine shall be a little girl, and not, as Southey invented her, a good-for-nothing old woman, so they have decreed the story of _The Sleeping Beauty_ to end with the Prince's kiss, and that of _Beauty and the Beast_ with the Beast's transformation. And as _Beauty and the Beast_ is really but a variant of the immortal fable of _Cupid and Psyche_, I might--had I room to spare--attempt to prove to you that the children's taste is here, as usually, right and classical. ARTHUR QUILLER-COUCH ILLUSTRATIONS THE SLEEPING BEAUTY _And there, on a bed the curtains of which were drawn wide, he beheld the loveliest vision he had ever seen_ (20) _Her head nodded with spite and old age together, as she bent over the cradle_ (5) _They grew until nothing but the tops of the castle towers could be seen_ (15) BLUE BEARD _They overran the house without loss of time_ (34) _The unhappy_ Fatima _cried up to her_, 'Anne, sister Anne, do you see any one coming? (42) _Then_ Blue Beard _roared out so terribly that he made the whole house tremble_ (44) CINDERELLA _She used to creep away to the chimney-corner and seat herself among the cinders_ (49) _Whereupon she instantly desired her partner to lead her to the_ King _and_ Queen (61) _The Prime Minister was kept very busy during the next few weeks_ (70) BEAUTY AND THE BEAST _He had been fasting for more than twenty four hours, and lost no time in falling-to_ (80) _Soon they caught sight of the castle in the distance_ (91) _'Ah! what a fright you have given me!' she murmured_ (126) THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Once upon a time there lived a King and a Queen, who lacked but one thing on earth to make them entirely happy. The _King_ was young, handsome, and wealthy; the _Queen_ had a nature as good and gentle as her face was beautiful; and they adored one another, having married for love--which among kings and queens is not always the rule. Moreover, they reigned over a kingdom at peace, and their people were devoted to them. What more, then, could they possibly want?