Other editions of book A Wonder-Book and Tanglewood Tales

The author has long been of opinion that many of the classical myths were capable of being rendered into very capital reading for children. In the little volume here offered to the public, he has worked up half a dozen of them, with this end in view. A great freedom of treatment was necessary to his plan; but it will be observed by every one who attempts to render these legends malleable in his intellectual furnace, that they are marvellously independent of all temporary modes and circumstances. They remain essentially the same, after changes that would affect the identity of almost anything else.He does not, therefore, plead guilty to a sacrilege, in having sometimes shaped anew, as his fancy dictated, the forms that have been hallowed by an antiquity of two or three thousand years. No epoch of time can claim a copyright in these immortal fables. They seem never to have been made; and certainly, so long as man exists, they can never perish; but, by their indestructibility itself, they are legitimate subjects for every age to clothe with its own garniture of manners and sentiment, and to imbue with its own morality. In the present version they may have lost much of their classical aspect (or, at all events, the author has not been careful to preserve it), and have, perhaps, assumed a Gothic or romantic guise.In performing this pleasant task,—for it has been really a task fit for hot weather, and one of the most agreeable, of a literary kind, which he ever undertook,—the author has not always thought it necessary to write downward, in order to meet the comprehension of children. He has generally suffered the theme to soar, whenever such was its tendency, and when he himself was buoyant enough to follow without an effort. Children possess an unestimated sensibility to whatever is deep or high, in imagination or feeling, so long as it is simple, likewise. It is only the artificial and the complex that bewilder them.

A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys (1851) is a children's mythology collection by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne in which he retells several Greek myths. It was followed by a sequel, Tanglewood Tales. It is a re-writing of well-known Greek myths in a volume for children. These books include the myths of: Theseus and the Minotaur (Chapter : "The Minotaur") Antaeus and the Pygmies (Chapter: "The Pygmies") Dragon's Teeth (Chapter: "The Dragon's Teeth") Circe's Palace (Chapter: "Circe's Palace"). Hawthorne expressed his idea to rewrite Greek myths as early as 1846 when he outlined a book to Evert Augustus Duyckinck of stories "taken out of the cold moonshine of classical mythology, and modernized, or perhaps gothicized, so that they may be felt by children of these days."[1] In 1851, just after the birth of his daughter Rose he proposed the idea again in the form of a collection of six tales. His aim would be, he wrote, "substituting a tone in some degree Gothic or romantic, or any such tone as may please myself, instead of the classic coldness, which is as repellent as the touch of marble... and, of course, I shall purge out all the old heathen wickedness, and put in a moral wherever practicable." Publisher James Thomas Fields pushed for Hawthorne to complete the project quickly. Fields had begun reissuing the author's earlier series for children titled Grandfather's Child, originally published by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody and now renamed True Stories from History and Biography, and was also planning a new edition of Twice-Told Tales. The entirety of the collection was written between June and mid-July 1851. He sent the final manuscript to Fields on July 15 and wrote: "I am going to begin to enjoy the summer now and to read foolish novels, if I can get any, and smoke cigars and think of nothing at all — which is equivalent to thinking of all manner of things

A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales is a book by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, in which he retells several Greek myths. A Wonder-Book covers the myths of The Gorgon's Head - recounts the story of Perseus killing Medusa at the request of the king of the island, Polydectes. The Golden Touch - recounts the story of King Midas and his "Golden Touch". The Paradise of Children - recounts the story of Pandora opening the box filled with all of mankind's Troubles. The Three Golden Apples - recounts the story of Heracles procuring the Three Golden Apples from the Hesperides' orchard, with the help of Atlas. The Miraculous Pitcher - recounts the story of Baucis and Philemon providing food and shelter to two strangers who were Zeus and "Quicksilver" (Hermes) in disguise. Baucis and Philemon were rewarded by the gods for their kindness; they were promised never to live apart from one another. The Chimæra - recounts the story of Bellerophon taming Pegasus and killing the Chimæra. Tanglewood Tales: Theseus and the Minotaur (Chapter : "The Minotaur") Antaeus and the Pygmies (Chapter: "The Pygmies") Dragon's Teeth (Chapter: "The Dragon's Teeth") Circe's Palace (Chapter: "Circe's Palace") Proserpina, Ceres, Pluto, and the Pomegranate Seed (Chapter: "The Pomegranate Seed") Jason and the Golden Fleece (Chapter: "The Golden Fleece")

Hawthorne wrote these stories for children based on Greek myth and legend. They are incomparable retellings of themes which the Greek dramatists used in creating their immortal plays and literature. Contents: The Gorgon's Head; The Golden Touch; The Paradise of Children; The Three Golden Apples; The Miraculous Pitcher; The Chimaera; The Wayside; The Minotaur; The Pygmies; The Dragon's Teeth; Circe's Palace; The Pomegranate Seeds; and The Golden Fleece.

A two-book compilation by noted American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, this compilation is a re-writing of well-known Greek myths in a volume for children. The book includes the myths of: Theseus and the Minotaur, Antaeus and the Pygmies, Dragon's Teeth, Circe's Palace, Proserpina, Ceres, Pluto and the Pomegranate Seed, and Jason and the Golden Fleece.

Excerpt and would have liked nothing better than to see some enormous mischief happen to Danae and her son. The only good man in this unfortunate island of Seriphus appears to have been the fisherman. As Perseus walked along, therefore, the people pointed after him, and made mouths, and winked to one another, and ridiculed him as loudly as they dared. "Ho, ho!" cried they; "Medusa's snakes will sting him soundly!" Now, there were three Gorgons alive at that period; and they were the most strange and terrible monsters that had ever been since the world was made, or that have been seen in after days, or that are likely to be seen in all time to come. I hardly know what sort of creature or hobgoblin to call them. They were three sisters, and seem to have borne some distant resemblance to women, but were really a very frightful and mischievous species of dragon. It is, indeed, difficult to imagine what hideous beings these three sisters were. Why, instead of locks of hair, if you can believe me, they had ea

Hawthorne wrote these stories for children based on Greek myth and legend. They are incomparable retellings of themes which the Greek dramatists used in creating their immortal plays and literature. Contents: The Gorgon's Head; The Golden Touch; The Paradise of Children; The Three Golden Apples; The Miraculous Pitcher; The Chimaera; The Wayside; The Minotaur; The Pygmies; The Dragon's Teeth; Circe's Palace; The Pomegranate Seeds; and The Golden Fleece.

FIRST EDITION (not stated; no other editions noted) - Copyright 1910 - Published by Duffield & Company. Ten Illustrations by Maxfield Parrish. Book is square, boards have corner bumps and edge wear, back board has fading on one edge. Pages are tanned with some foxing. Book has been stored for years and has the old book aroma. Spine and binding are tight. Not ex-library. Very collectible copy.