PREFACE
By the Translator.
It is a thoroughly mistaken idea, to believe that Fancy Tales are drolleries invented only to lull children asleep, and not fit to entertain the more enlightened public. The mind, as well as the stomach, requires variety and change, to prevent satiety and disgust. The plodding merchant, the calculating politician, the subtle lawyer, the serious judge, the problem-crammed mathematician, and even the dogmatic divine, need an occasional relaxation of the mind, which they find in light literature. There is certainly no want of novels—historical, sentimental, romantical, nautical, philosophical, political, or any other sort; the difficulty is only in the choice.
A 2
