Fairy realm. A collection of the favourite old tales. Illustrated by the pencil of Gustave Dore
Tom Hood
language
(, April 12, 2012)
PREFACE.THE five favourite fairy legends which M. GUSTAVE DORE has illustrated are so well known, have been so often told, and in so many different ways, that it was a matter of no small difficulty to determine the best mode of treating them. The plan I have adopted is to give the tales in a simple metre and in the most unpretending manner, going, in short, little if anything beyond mere recital in easy verse. From performing even this plain task as I could have wished I have been prevented by ill health, and I fear that what I have written little deserves the honour ofassociation with works of genius like M. GUSTAVE DORE'S pictures. But I have the single satisfaction of knowing that Ihave done the best I could.TOM HOOD.------THE SLEEPING BEAUTY.IN that strange region, dim and grey,Which lies so very far away, Whose chronicles in prose or rhyme Are dated " Once upon a time," There was a land where silence reigned So deep,—the ear it almost pained To hear the gnat's shrill clarion blow, Though he Sleep's herald is we know.Scarce would you deem that calm profound,Unbroken by the ghost of sound,Had, like a sudden curtain, droptUpon a revel, instant stopt,—•That laugh and shout and merry routAnd hunting song had all died out,Stricken to silence at a touch—A single touch ! It was not much !I 'll tell you how it came about.What bevies of pages Of various agesPrincess Prettipet's christening banquet engages ! They all look as deeply important as sages. What hundreds of cooks ! To judge by their looks,They had written the very profoundest of books. (Of course, books like those by Hobbes, Bacon, or Hooker I Mean — not mere Kitchener's Essays on Cookery.)As to the cartes,From the soups to the tarts