Roszlinda, and other Fairy - Tales. By Anna Cross and Blanche Atkinson.
(George Allen.)—The authors of these delightful
stories have accomplished what is virtually, if not nominally, a new departure in the production of fairy-tales. They have made the stories a vehicle for the teaching, not of the conventional school- boy or schoolgirl morality, but of a sound Christian philosophy which is calculated to stand the strain of adult life ; yet at the same time the spirit of adventure which ought always to characterise a fairy-tale is carefully preserved. Thus, a child can enjoy Rosalinda's experiences in the first story when among the vultures, without thinking at all of the moral significance of the methods employed to make a complete man of Prince Woodenleg ; and it is quite possible to admire the girl who is worth her weight in gold, without following too closely such reasoning as that, "as Darling has no possessions of any sort, of course she has no cares ; there is nothing at all to weigh upon her mind ; as she is innocent and harmless as a dove, she has never done anything to weigh upon her conscience; and, as like all good girls, she is as light- hearted as a skylark, how could she possibly be heavy ?" One is reminded occasionally in these stories of Dr. George MacDonald's teaching ; but the style in which they are written is vastly lighter than his. The illustrations and the type of this book are alike admirable.
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