FAIRY STORIES
Wonder Tales of Old Tyrol. By B. L. H. Henderson and C. Calvert. (Philip Allen. 6s.)
Once on a Time was first published in 1917, but it attracted too little notice during the War, and we welcome it almost as a new book. It belongs to that class of fairy story which is read with equal enjoyment by men, women and children if they possess the art of " Let's pretend." It is hardly necessary to say again how delightful is the style of Mr. A. A. Milne. His mingling of humour, pathos, mischief and kindliness is so - fascinating that one only regrets that he does not tell us more of the land of Euralia and its lovely Queen Belvane. The Bright Islands, Mr. Padraic Colum's collection of tales and legends of Hawaii, suggests warmth and colour. The title is not deceptive. The Princess Pali-Uli, the heroine of his longest and most attractive story, lives in a house " thatched with the yellow feathers of the 0-0 bird " ; the beauty of Lepe, the Bird-Maiden, is so great that a rainbow-coloured radiance surrounds her. But the interest of the historical chronicles included in this volume is lessened by the difficulty one has in pronouncing and remembering the names of the various characters and consequently of following their complicated careers. These stories of the Pacific Isles are, however, charmingly told, and make the reader long for the sun.
Mr. Henderson and Mr. Calvert have already published the Wonder Tales of Japan, Wales and of Spain, and we are now given The Wonder Tales of Alsace-Lorraine and The Wonder Tales of Old Tyrol. The local settings of these stories are admirably but simply described. The superstitious inhabitants of Tyrol are visited by the Devil and his minions. They are outwitted by a blacksmith with a sense of humour. In the story called "The Witches of Solstein " real fear is inspired. The Wonder Tales of Alsace-Lorraine is the more attractive of these two volumes, possibly because of the greater charm of the people who live in that proviiice,
because they are spun of a more delicate fibre.
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