TALES FOR CHILDREN FROM MANY LANDS

EDITED BY F.C. TILNEY

The heart of Thyrsis left.

PREFACE

If deep wisdom, gentle satire, polite cynicism, and, above all,irresistible humour are qualities which make a book attractive then LaFontaine's Fables should be in the hands of all. Their charm istwo-fold; for whilst they induce pleasurable reflection in the readerthey delight him by the gaiety of their subject matter.

Notwithstanding the fact that the spell of La Fontaine's versenecessarily disappears when another tongue is employed, his Englishtranslators, both Elizur Wright and Walter Thornbury, have courageouslyattempted to do him justice in prosody. In this little book no sucheffort has been made, chiefly for the reason that, for any but theunusually gifted, to snatch at rhythm and rhyme is often to let drop theapt and ready word as Æsop's mastiff dropped his dinner. But there is afurther excuse for the present writer. Verse has little attraction forchildren unless it jingles merrily, and that is a thing as impossible asit is undesirable where the claims of a philosophic original makerestrictions. Since the spirit is more likely to survive if the letteris not exacting, it is difficult to see why custom looks askance uponprose versions of poetry. But this little book may escape such censureon the ground of its being but a selection from the complete Fables ofLa Fontaine. It presents only those of which the great fabulist washimself the originator. A selection of some sort being imperative thereseemed to be a simple and easy choice in the condition of absoluteoriginality; particularly as the older fables are given in anothervolume of this series.

This translation (in which I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of myfriend Mrs. A.H. Beddoe) is neither "free" nor literal. It sometimesamplifies a thought, much as a musician might amplify the harmonies upona master's figured bass. But even this is rarely done, and then onlywith a view to the youthful reader's pleasure and profit. With thatview, further, the social and political introductions to the fables havebeen omitted, as well as the scientific discourses and the allusions tothe unfortunate wars of Louis XIV. and other historical matters, all ofwhich would have neither meaning nor interest but for "grown-ups" of acertain class.

F.C. Tilney.

CONTENTS