AUSTRALIAN FAIRY TALES BY HUME COOK WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRISTIAN YANDELL PUBLISHED BY J HOWLETT-ROSS MELBOURNE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. DEDICATED TO Keith, Madge and Kevyn, whose appreciation encouraged the telling of the tales and prompted this publication. PREFACE The Stories in this little book have been set down almost in the same words in which they were told. How the telling of them came about is a very simple matter. Having three children, each of whom loved a Fairy Tale, it somehow became the fashion, on Sunday evenings, to tell them a story. On one occasion, when the youngest member was just about to be taken to bed, his sister said; “None of the books about Fairies ever say a word about Australia! Are there any Australian Fairies, Father?” Somewhat hastily, perhaps, I answered: “Why, yes, of course! Whole tribes of them!” Instantly the order went forth: “Then you will please tell us about them the very next time you tell us a story!” THE AUTHOR. Melbourne, Australia, 1925. FOREWORD. By the RT. HON. W. M. HUGHES, P.C., M.P. Formerly Prime Minister of Australia. War and Science between them have played havoc with the old order. Ancient landmarks have been swept away; cherished superstitions exposed. The World has changed, but man remains the same. His faith in Kings may have gone, but his belief in Fairies remains. In childhood, he lives to-day as he has lived throughout the ages, in a world which knows not change, and where the cold, hard light of science can never penetrate. A wonderful world, inhabited by glorious beings with shimmering wings and glittering diadems and wands; to whom nothing is impossible; for whom neither time nor space exist, save at their will. “Where is this wonderful world?” sneers Mr. Gradgrind; “I cannot see it—it does not exist!” No, not for you, my dear Sir! You are one of those who are not privileged to pass its magic portals. But it is a very real world for all that. It may indeed turn out to be no less real than this, which is the only one you deem worth knowing, and which it is very obvious you do not know at all.