PREFACE
"The Jade Story Book" contains tales gathered from the folklore of Far Eastern countries—India, China, Japan, the Philippine Islands and Persia. Most of those from India are adapted from "The Hitopadesa," which is also known as "The Book of Good Counsels," and "The Criterion of Wisdom." It may also be called "The Father of All Fables."
These Fables were originally compiled in Sanscrit, and later, many centuries later, (about the year 600 a. d.), they were rendered into Persic. About two hundred and fifty years afterwards they were translated into the Arabic, Hebrew and Greek languages. They are perhaps best known in India today under the title of "Anvari Suhaili." The translation from which these particular stories are adapted is that from the original Sanscrit made by Sir Edwin Arnold.
The Igorot, Tagalog, Visayan, Mindanao and Moro stories are used by kind permission of A. C. McClurg & Co., publishers of "Philippine Folk Tales," edited by Mabel Cook Cole.
Several of the Persian stories are taken from "The Arabian Nights" and others, from Persia, India, China and Japan, are adapted from various sources, not least of which is "Gesta Romanorum." One of them, "The Story of Caliph Stork," is from the collection by Wilhelm Hauff.
The author has on other occasions seized the opportunity to emphasize the fact that fairy tales and fables are really necessary to the child, who, without them, is being defrauded of that which belongs to him. They stimulate the youthful imagination and provide a good foundation for the further development of the mind.
Most fairy stories not only amuse, but their unfolding shows the child that good invariably triumphs over evil, and the moral is that one who is kind, polite, generous, unselfish and brave wins in the end. Surely this is worth while.