The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
THE FIR-TREE FAIRY BOOK
THE PIED PIPER ORDERS THE RATS INTO THE WATER
THE
FIR-TREE
FAIRY
BOOK
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
IN the volumes that make up this series of fairybooks are to be found the favorite wonder talesof many nations in a version especially suitedfor the home fireside. The interest, the charm andall the sweetness of the stories have been retained,but savagery, distressing details and excessive pathoshave been dropped, and the books can be read aloudor placed in the hands of children with entire confidence.
The reasons for such changes as I have madein the stories are perhaps self-evident. Surely,most parents and teachers will agree that our littlepeople are better off without some of the sentimentsof the barbaric past when the tales originated.We can well spare most of the spectacles of falsehood,gluttony, drunkenness, torture and gore thatare found in the usual tellings, and we can get alongw