The Project Gutenberg eBook, English Fairy Tales, by Flora Annie Steel,Illustrated by Arthur RackhamThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.netTitle: English Fairy TalesAuthor: Flora Annie SteelRelease Date: November 9, 2005 [eBook #17034]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH FAIRY TALES***E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Janet Blenkinship, and the ProjectGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/)Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 17034-h.htm or 17034-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/7/0/3/17034/17034-h/17034-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/7/0/3/17034/17034-h.zip)ENGLISH FAIRY-TALESRetold byFLORA ANNIE STEELIllustrated by Arthur RackhamFirst published by Macmillan & Co. 1918[Illustration: Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar at home (page 190).]CONTENTS ST. GEORGE OF MERRIE ENGLAND THE STORY OF THE THREE BEARS TOM-TIT-TOT THE GOLDEN SNUFF-BOX TATTERCOATS THE THREE FEATHERS LAZY JACK JACK THE GIANT-KILLER THE THREE SILLIES THE GOLDEN BALL THE TWO SISTERS THE LAIDLY WORM TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE JACK AND THE ...
The Project Gutenberg eBook, English Fairy Tales, by Flora Annie Steel,
Illustrated by Arthur Rackham
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: English Fairy Tales
Author: Flora Annie Steel
Release Date: November 9, 2005 [eBook #17034]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENGLISH FAIRY TALES***
E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Janet Blenkinship, and the Project
Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net/)
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
file which includes the original illustrations.
See 17034-h.htm or 17034-h.zip:
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/7/0/3/17034/17034-h/17034-h.htm)
or
(http://www.gutenberg.net/dirs/1/7/0/3/17034/17034-h.zip)
ENGLISH FAIRY-TALES
Retold by
FLORA ANNIE STEEL
Illustrated by Arthur Rackham
First published by Macmillan & Co. 1918
[Illustration: Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar at home (page 190).]CONTENTS
ST. GEORGE OF MERRIE ENGLAND
THE STORY OF THE THREE BEARS
TOM-TIT-TOT
THE GOLDEN SNUFF-BOX
TATTERCOATS
THE THREE FEATHERS
LAZY JACK
JACK THE GIANT-KILLER
THE THREE SILLIES
THE GOLDEN BALL
THE TWO SISTERS
THE LAIDLY WORM
TITTY MOUSE AND TATTY MOUSE
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK
THE BLACK BULL OF NORROWAY
CATSKIN
THE THREE LITTLE PIGS
NIX NAUGHT NOTHING
MR. AND MRS. VINEGAR
THE TRUE HISTORY OF SIR THOMAS THUMB
HENNY-PENNY
THE THREE HEADS OF THE WELL
MR. FOX
DICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT
THE OLD WOMAN AND HER PIG
THE WEE BANNOCK
HOW JACK WENT OUT TO SEEK HIS FORTUNE
THE BOGEY-BEAST
LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD CHILDE ROWLAND
THE WISE MEN OF GOTHAM
CAPORUSHES
THE BABES IN THE WOOD
THE RED ETTIN
THE FISH AND THE RING
LAWKAMERCYME
MASTER OF ALL MASTERS
MOLLY WHUPPIE AND THE DOUBLE-FACED GIANT
THE ASS, THE TABLE, AND THE STICK
THE WELL OF THE WORLD'S END
THE ROSE TREE
ILLUSTRATIONS
IN COLOUR
Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar at home
"Somebody has been at my porridge, and has eaten it all up!"
Tattercoats dancing while the gooseherd pipes
The giant Cormoran was the terror of all the country-side
Taking the keys of the castle, Jack unlocked all the doors
The giant Galligantua and the wicked old magician transform the
duke's daughter into a white hind
"Tree of mine! O Tree of mine! Have you seen my naughty little
maid?"
"Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman"
She went along, and went along, and went along
And that is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Vinegar
They thanked her and said good-bye, and she went on her journey
Many's the beating he had from the broomstick or the ladle
When Puss saw the rats and mice she didn't wait to be told
"Well!" she chuckled, "I am in luck!" She sat down and plaited herself an overall of rushes and a cap
to match
The fisherman and his wife had no children, and they were just
longing for a baby
IN TEXT
Headpiece--St. George of Merrie England
When she came to St. George she started and laid her hand on
her heart
"Somebody has been lying in my bed,--and here she is!"
"What is that you are singing, my good woman?"
A small, little, black Thing with a long tail
Away That flew into the dark, and she never saw it no more
They brought the Castle of the golden pillars
Jack found it hard to hoist the donkey on his shoulders
"Odds splutter hur nails!" cried the giant, not to be outdone.
"Hur can do that hurself!"
"Ah! Cousin Jack! Kind cousin Jack! This is heavy news indeed"
Seated on a huge block of timber near the entrance to a dark
cave
On his way ... to be revenged
The country folk flying before him like chaff before the wind
Headpiece--The Three Sillies
Headpiece--The Golden Ball
He heard the bogles striving under the bed
Headpiece--The Laidly Worm
Tatty sat down and wept
As he spoke he drew out of his pocket five beans
Jack seized the axe and gave a great chop at the beanstalk
So he huffed and he puffed and he blew the house in
Well! he huffed and he puffed ... but he could _not_
blow the house down
At last he flew into a violent rage and flung his stick at the
bird A spider one day attacked him
"I will go first and you come after, Henny-penny, Cocky-locky,
Ducky-daddles, Goosey-poosey, and Turkey-lurkey"
So she escaped
The thorns closed in around her so that she was all scratched
and torn
Dick finds that the streets of London are not paved with gold
Dick Whittington hears Bow Bells
The old woman and her pig
Headpiece--How Jack went out to seek his Fortune
They both met together upon Nottingham bridge
"A vengeance on her!" said they. "We did not make our hedge
high enough"
He took out the cheeses and rolled them down the hill
And they left the eel to drown
The hare ran on along the country way
A courtier came riding by, and he did ask what they were
seeking
Headpiece--Lawkamercyme
A funny-looking old gentleman engaged her and took her home
White-faced simminy has got a spark of hot cockalorum on its
tail
[Illustration: Headpiece--St. George of Merrie England]
ST. GEORGE OF MERRIE ENGLAND
In the darksome depths of a thick forest lived Kalyb the fell
enchantress. Terrible were her deeds, and few there were who had the
hardihood to sound the brazen trumpet which hung over the iron gate that
barred the way to the Abode of Witchcraft. Terrible were the deeds of
Kalyb; but above all things she delighted in carrying off innocent
new-born babes, and putting them to death.
And this, doubtless, she meant to be the fate of the infant son of the
Earl of Coventry, who long long years ago was Lord High Steward of
England. Certain it is that the babe's father being absent, and his
mother dying at his birth, the wicked Kalyb, with spells and charms,
managed to steal the child from his careless nurses.
But the babe was marked from the first for doughty deeds; for on hisbreast was pictured the living image of a dragon, on his right hand was
a blood-red cross, and on his left leg showed the golden garter.
And these signs so affected Kalyb, the fell enchantress, that she stayed
her hand; and the child growing daily in beauty and stature, he became
to her as the apple of her eye. Now, when twice seven years had passed
the boy began to thirst for honourable adventures, though the wicked
enchantress wished to keep him as her own.
But he, seeking glory, utterly disdained so wicked a creature; thus she
sought to bribe him. And one day, taking him by the hand, she led him to
a brazen castle and showed him six brave knights, prisoners therein.
Then said she:
"Lo! These be the six champions of Christendom. Thou shalt be the
seventh and thy name shall be St. George of Merrie England if thou wilt
stay with me."
But he would not.
Then she led him into a magnificent stable where stood seven of the most
beautiful steeds ever seen. "Six of these," said she, "belong to the six
Champions. The seventh and the best, the swiftest and the most powerful
in the world, whose name is Bayard, will I bestow on thee, if thou wilt
stay with me."
But he would not.
Then she took him to the armoury, and with her own hand buckled on a
corselet of purest steel, and laced on a helmet inlaid with gold. Then,
taking a mighty falchion, she gave it into his hand, and said: "This
armour which none can pierce, this sword called Ascalon, which will hew
in sunder all it touches, are thine; surely now thou wilt stop with me?"
But he would not.
Then she bribed him with her own magic wand, thus giving him power over
all things in that enchanted land, saying:
"Surely now wilt thou remain here?"
But he, taking the wand, struck with it a mighty rock that stood by; and
lo! it opened, and laid in view a wide cave garnished by the bodies of a
vast number of innocent new-born infants whom the wicked enchantress had
murdered.
Thus, using her power, he bade the sorceress lead the way into the place
of horror, and when she had entered, he raised the magic wand yet again,
and smote the rock; and lo! it closed for ever, and the sorceress was
left to bellow forth her lamentable complaints to senseless stones.
Thus was St. George freed from the enchanted land, and taking with him
the six other champions of Christendom on their steeds, he mounted
Bayard and rode to the city of Coventry.
Here for nine months they abode, exercising themselves in all feats of
arms. So when spring returned they set forth, as knights errant, to seek
for foreign adventure.
And for thirty days and thirty nights they rode on, until, at the
beginning of a new month, they came to a great wide plain. Now in the
centre of this plain, where seven several ways met, there stood a great
brazen pillar, and here, with high heart and courage, they bade each
other farewell, and each took a separate road.Hence, St. George, on his charger Bayard, rode till he reached the
seashore where lay a good ship bound for the land of Egypt. Taking
passage in her, after long journeying he arrived in that land when the
silent wings of night were outspread, and darkness brooded on all
things. Here, coming to a poor hermitage, he begged a night's lodging,
on which the hermit replied:
"Sir Knight of Merrie England--for I see her arms graven on thy
breastplate--thou hast come hither in an ill time, when those alive are
scarcely able to bury the dead by reason of the cruel destruction waged
by a terrible dragon, who ranges up and down the country b