A FOREWORD

A STORY from the Land of Far Away! What mystery, what charm it holds for childhood! With quickened breath, with parted lips and shining eyes, the little voyager sets foot on the wonderful shore of Story Land.

Pulsating with interest, he greets the hero of that land, follows his adventures, and shares his struggles; learns the universal language of sympathy by sharing in the hopes and fears, the toil and the laughter of that other one, his brother now through the magic bonds of the story.

I have endeavored in this book, both through the illustrations and the "atmosphere" of the stories themselves, to bring the wee brothers from overseas as vividly as possible before the little folk of America. I hope the children who read these tales will see the beauty and charm of this life through the glamour of romance and the haze of tradition with which generations of story-loving Japanese have enwrapped it.

In Collecting these stories I am greatly indebted to Mr. Katayama of Tokyo, and in planning the art work am under obligations to Miss Bertha Philpott of the Art Institute of Chicago for many helpful suggestions. Mr. Sanchi Ogawa, who illustrated the first series of Japanese Fairy Tales, has furnished the illustrations for this volume with the exception of the frontispiece and the cover design, which are by Mr. Kyohei Inukai.

--The Author.