Icelandic Fairy Tales. Translated and edited by Mrs. A. W.
Hall. (Frederick Warne and Co.)—In her preface to this interesting and handsome addition to the now large literature of Norse legends Mrs Hall admits that she has had a good deal to do in the way of toning down the stories she gives, as many of them were "somewhat crude and rough for juvenile reading." Nor, of course, can it be said that the heroes and heroines of these stories differ very materially from the heroes and heroines of others. There are of course terrible giants, some of them good- natured, but most of them bad at heart, and there are princes and princesses always in trouble. But, as Mrs. Hall points out, "whereas in most Nouthern legends it is always the prince who delivers the princess and performs the heroic and valorous deeds, in these tales it is for the most part the young princess or peasant maiden who undergoes all the hardships and trials, and after .countless dangers rescues the prince who has fallen under the ban of some wicked witch or giantess." The boy or girl, however, who reads these Icelandic tales will not be evermuch troubled about such distinctions in minor matters of plot. He or she will find plenty of adventure and hair- breadth escapes from terrible situations. The first four, "The Legends of the King's Three Sons," "Helga," " Thorstein," and "Sigurd," illustrate the essentially adventurous side of Icelandic fairyism, while the last, "The Fair and the Dark Isolde," very ingeniously introduces, by means of two contrasted women, an element of intrigue. Criticism of such a book as this, to be thorough, would involve a good deal of quotation, and for that we have no space. It must suffice, therefore, to say that this is a very readable and enjoyable collection, and much more solid than most works of the fairy-tale order which the gift-book season produces. The illustrations, by E. A. Mason, are specially attractive.
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