PREFACE.
I had almost made up my mind to write no more Fairy Tales, to letsprites and elves alone for ever, and to refrain from any furtherresearch into the dark and mysterious doings of warlocks and witchesin the olden time. But fate is stronger than the will of man, and Iam powerless to resist the influences brought to induce--nay, tocompel--me to alter my determination. It is not only that verbal andwritten requests have come to me from many quarters which it isdifficult to resist; it is not only that I am tired of being asked whenmy new book is coming out, and of being generally disbelieved when Ianswer "never." There is a stronger influence still. Fairies and elveshave an extraordinary power which they exercise over those who haveonce sought to pry into their mysteries. If once you have dealings withsuch creatures, you can rarely, if ever, leave them. There is afatality which urges you on--an irresistible fascination in the subjectwhich brings you back to it again and again, and obliges you to recurto it in spite of yourself. When I walk out in the woods, or ramblethrough the fields alone, the objects which appear ordinary andcommonplace to people who have, unhappily for themselves, neglected tostudy Fairy Lore, bear to me quite a different appearance. I see tracesof the little beings which are not visible to the careless, still lessto the unbelieving eye. I hear voices which are inaudible to the earof the incredulous; and even without this, Fancy--free, gloriousFancy--clothes the grass, the flowers, the bushes, the trees, with abeauty of her own, and peoples every fairy haunt with a spirit company.Is it only Fancy? Ah! that is just what nobody knows. Only how could Itell so many different stories if nobody told them to me first?
That is a question I should like people to put to themselves calmly andquietly, and if they think, after full consideration, that some personor persons must have told me these curious stories, I hope they willcome to the conclusion that I am only doing what is right and fair inpassing them on to other people, so that the world may know as much asI do about the strange and wonderful beings to whom these storiesrelate.
Uncle Joe's Stories Page 2
