All people in the world tell nursery tales to their children. The Japanese tell them, the Chinese, the American Indians and the Eskimos to pass the long wintry nights. Native South Africans tell them, Greeks, as did the old Egyptians, when Moses had not long been rescued out of the bulrushes. The Germans, French, Spanish, Italians, Danes and Highlanders tell them, and the stories are apt to be like each other everywhere. A child who has read the Blue and Red and Yellow Fairy Books will, if he or she examines and compares, find some old friends with new faces in the Pink Fairy Book. But the Japanese tales will probably be new to many; the Tanuki is a creature whose acquaintance few have made before. There are also tales from Sicily, Catalonia, Sweden, Denmark and Africa. Tales of monsters and mermaids, princes and giants, and beautiful princesses, who are, if possible, always prettier than ever. Here, then, are fancies brought from all quarters: we see that the peoples of the...