Books with title Legendary Tales 1858

I HAD a curious adventure one Christmas, an adventure which influenced my fate for life, and which I really think worth re-cording;. It happened a few days before Christmas-eve. The weather was very gloomy and cold, and on the evening in question I paced up and down the large old library for nearly an hour after my solitary dinner, in a rather dull and quarrelsome state of mind. It sounds ridiculous to say so, but I was out of humor about an old proverb. Not that a man always really knows what he is out' of humor about, even when he fancies he does. Sometimes it is simply owing to indigestion ; but sometimes to the awakened of an ill-satisfied conscience.

This volume was published in 1885 and contains thirty tales. Short summary from the Preface: In speaking of myself on the title-page as the "author" of "Round a Posada Fire", I wish to explain that I use the word "author" simply in default of a better one. In that book, as in this, the stories told are popular in their character, and are the creation of no nameable individual. All given in the present volume I gathered in the course of a residence of several years in the Pyrenees, and of one or two visits in the north of Spain. Those from whom I heard them (and many more of the same kind), and whom I questioned as to their origina, could assign no other source to them than oral tradition. My own share in bringing them before the public consists in having heard them, remembered them, and put them into English in as nearly as poosible the words in which they were told to me. Though I have from time to time been obliged to insert connecting or introduct- ory passages, yet the words, as well as the substance of' the tales, are mainly those of the original stories. I need not remind anyone at all familiar with the popular life of Spain, that the prose legend, as well as the ballad, has in the course of time acquired there a fixed and definite shape; and passes from mouth to mouth, and is handed down from one generation to another, with but few verbal changes. The reason for this is not far to seek; the greater part of the Spanish people have hitherto found their chief mental recreation in folk-lore. Popular legends, whether in prose or verse, have been accordingly developed in Spain to an extent no easy to be matched elsewhere. Intelligent and imaginative, and at the same time untaught and superstitious, the Spanish peasant finds in these tales one of his chief pleasures. The mere fact that they exist in vast numbers, and that many of them bear upon the same subject, renders it necessary that, if they are to be remembered at all, they must be remembered with verbal accuracy; otherwise they would in a short time become hopelessly confused one with another. One of the most popular subjects of Spanish folk-lore is the "Christ of the Vega". I have myself heard at least a dozen legends turning on this theme; and many more versions must certainly exist. It would be impossible to keep these various stories apart in the popular memory, unless they had become, so to speak, stereotyped. And this is the case with the major- ity of Spanish prose legends. They have assumed, in the course of time, a fixed and traditional shape, in their words no less than in their subjects. It is a truism that the memory of those who cannot read or write is, on the average, stronger than that of those who have had a literary education. When once education is diffused among the masses of the Spanish people, those legends which have not been committed to writing will be gradually lost. The new interests which education brings with it will also weaken among the people those tastes to which tales of the marvellous appea. But this time seems still to be distant in Spain. I have only a word to add in conclusion. Friends have remarked to me on the weird and tragic air of many of these tales. The answer is simply that such, as a fact, is the general character of the Spanish legend. Others have said that the style of them seemed to be of a diffeent character from that which might be expected of peasants and muleteers. To this the reply is that the Spanish, like the Italian peasant, must not be judged by the same standard as the English. Illiterate as the southern peasant may be, he is not wholly destitute of what may be fairly called culture. This volume attempts to give a faithful reflection of the popular imagination of Spain, when it turns from, poetry to prose as its means of expression. Maria Trinidad Howard Middlemore Chelsea, May, 1885

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1858 Excerpt: ...THE TREASURE-SEEKER. A LEGEND OF BONNEVAL. INTRODUCTION. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth." HEN jEsop's cock found the precious stone on the dunghill, he turned it over with contempt, and pursued his search for something more suited to his own particular wants and wishes; and, by doing so, he proved himself to be a treasure-seeker of the wisest and most philosophical description. Some people may be disposed to quibble at this conclusion, and to argue that it was only in consequence of the cock's ignorance, and lower standard of requirements, that he preferred the barley-corn to the diamond. He was incapable, (they would say,) from his inferiority, of appreciating the greater intrinsic worth of the gem. It would be a grand thing if people knew what they meant when they used such highsounding phrases as " intrinsic worth!" We speak of the " intrinsic worth" of a diamond, as if it was the acknowledged fact of the universe; whereas we, temporary travellers in a a world which we are merely passing through, mean nothing but its value in a particular money-market, where a certain quantity of gold would be given in exchange for it. Take it to the islands of the south seas, where, what we should be disposed to call trumpery little shells, would be offered as its equivalent; and then you can sit down and meditate to some purpose on the intrinsic worth of a gem. On your return home the shells would probably fetch only a few pence, and you, if you had agreed to the exchange, would find yourself very much in the position of Hans in Luck, when he had, by much ingenuity, converted his bar of gold into a grindstone; only you would not be, I fear, quite so contented as the hero of the German tale. No! there is, in point of fact, ...

Excerpt from Legendary TalesWe all of us, I suspect, however, find it easiest, in such cases, to lay hold upon some trumpery little grievance, and make it the scape-goat of our unpleasant condition; and, perhaps, this may have been my resource on the evening I speak of. We shall see.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Excerpt from Legendary TalesWe all of us, I suspect, however, find it easiest, in such cases, to lay hold upon some trumpery little grievance, and make it the scape-goat of our unpleasant condition; and, perhaps, this may have been my resource on the evening I speak of. We shall see.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.