[Transcriber's Notes]

The spelling of "didn't" as "did n't", "center" as "centre" andother such usages, has been maintained.

Here are the definitions of some unfamiliar (to me) words.

cataplasm (poultice)  
Soft moist adhesive mass of meal or clay, usually heated, spread oncloth, and applied to warm, moisten, or stimulate an achingor   inflamed part of the body.

doggerel  
Irregularly fashioned verse of a humorous nature.

halberdiers  
Guard armed with a halberd, a weapon having an ax-like blade and asteel spike mounted on the end of a long shaft.

importuning  
Beg for something persistently.

sedges  
Grasslike plants of the family Cyperaceae, having solid stems and threevertical rows of leaves.

seneschal  
Official in a medieval noble household in charge of domesticarrangements and the administration of servants.

[End Transcriber's Notes]



The FIRELIGHT FAIRY BOOK

By HENRY BESTON


ILLUSTRATIONS BY MAURICE E. DAY

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY BOSTON

COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS, Inc.

All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreignlanguages, including the Scandinavian.

THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY PRESS PUBLICATIONS ARE PUBLISHED BY LITTLE, BROWN,AND COMPANY IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

 FOREWORD

THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY WASHINGTON, September 7. 1922

DEAR HENRY:--

"Grown-ups" arrogate entirely too much to themselves. I know this isso. I discovered it for a fact when I was not more than "knee-high to agrasshopper" myself. I knew, for example, that a certain amount of dirton my face and hands in no way interfered with my enjoyment of mysupper. The fact that my finger nails were not all they should havebeen had no bearing whatsoever upon the efficiency of those samefingers. Washing not only took time from other important pursuits, butalso was mildly unpleasant. Nevertheless, my mother was not even opento reasonable argument on the matter. Arbitrarily, with the despotismof an early Roman Emperor, she rendered a dictum to the effect that Imust wash, and soapy and submissive I had to be before I could come tothe table. Again, any reasonable child can tell you that pleasure isthe main object of eating; therefore, in all logic, one should eat ifone feels like it at ten o'clock in the morning, or at three o'clock inthe afternoon, a jar of Guava jelly, a pound of chocolates, a paper ofginger cookies, or whatever may appeal to one's aesthetic taste. Thismethod of procedure, naturally, might necessitate recourse to thebrown-wood family medicine closet. Certain discomfort might ensue. Butwas not the pleasure worth it? Again my mother arbitrarily took thematter into her own hands, disagreeing with me on fundamentals. Shemaintained that eating was not for pleasure simply, but fornourishment. Sundry unfortunate remarks were made containing referencesto gluttony. The pantry was locked, and regular meals at regularperiods were prescribed. Indeed, poems with dreadful morals for thosewho ate between meals were recited to me, endeavor being made therebyto substitute terror for inclination.

Any reasonable child will find many such parallel instances of theassumed omnipotence of "grownups." With this awful indictment beforeme, you ask me, a "grown-up," to write an introduction for the"Firelight Fairy Book," and thereby to assume the responsibility forpassing judgment upon it. There is but one circumstance that

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