Other editions of book The strange story book

Now as this is the very last book of all this series that began in the long long ago, perhaps you may like to hear something of the man who thought over every one of the twenty-five, for fear lest a story should creep in which he did not wish his little boys and girls to read. He was born when nobody thought of travelling in anything but a train—a very slow one—or a steamer. It took a great deal of persuasion to induce him later to get into a motor and he had not the slightest desire to go up in an aeroplane—or to possess[viii] a telephone

Andrew Lang's Fairy Books are a series of twenty-five collections of true and fictional stories for children, published between 1889 and 1913. The best known books of the series are the twelve collections of fairy tales, known as Andrew Lang's "Coloured" Fairy Books or Andrew Lang's Fairy Books of Many Colors. In all, the volumes feature 798 stories, besides the 153 poems in The Blue Poetry Book. The Strange Story Book contains thirty-four stories on a variety of subjects, including ghost stories, Native American legends, true stories, and tales from Washington Irving. Storied Included Within This Book: The Drowned Buccaneer The Perplexity of Zadig The Return of the Dead Wife Young Amazon Snell The Good Sir James Rip van Winkle The Wonderful Basket The Escape of the Galley-slaves The Beaver and the Porcupine An Old-world Ghost The Gentleman Highwayman The Vision of the Pope Growing-up-like-one-who-has-a-grandmother The Handless Brigade The Son of the Wolf Chief Blind Jack of Knaresborough Blind Jack Again The Story of Djun What Became of Owen Parfitt? Blackskin The Pets of Aurore Dupin The Trials of M. Deschartres Aurore at Play How Aurore learned to Ride Land-Otter the Indian The Disinheriting of a Son The Siege of Rhodes The Princess of Babylon The Adventures of Fire-Drill's Son The Strange Story of Elizabeth Canning Mrs. Veal's Ghost The Chief's Daughter The Boyhood of a Painter The Adventures of a Spanish Nun

*This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors. This publication contains original illustrations by Henry Justice Ford.ContentsPreface by Mrs. Andrew Lang -- The drowned buccaneer -- The perplexity of Zadig -- The return of the dead wife -- Young Amazon Snell -- The good Sir James -- Rip van Winkle -- The wonderful basket -- The escape of the galley-slaves -- The beaver and the porcupine -- An old-world ghost -- The gentleman highwayman -- The vision of the Pope -- Growing-up-like-one-who-has-a-grandmother -- The handless brigade -- The son of the Wolf Chief -- Blind Jack of Knaresborough -- Blind Jack again -- The story of Djun -- What became of Owen Parfitt? -- Blackskin -- The pets of Aurore Dupin -- The trials of M. Deschartres -- Aurore at play -- How Aurore learned to ride -- Land-otter the Indian -- The disinheriting of a son -- The siege of Rhodes -- The princess of Babylon -- The adventures of Fire-drill's son -- The strange story of Elizabeth Canning -- Mrs. Veal's ghost -- The chief's daughter -- The boyhood of a painter -- The adventures of a Spanish nun.

The story of Wolfert Webber was said by Louis Stevenson to be one of the finest treasure-seeking stories in the world; and as Stevenson was a very good judge, I am going to tell it to you. Wolfert’s ancestor, Cobus Webber, was one of the original settlers who came over from Holland and established themselves on the coast of what is now the State of New York. Like most of his countrymen, Cobus was a great gardener, and devoted himself especially to cabbages, and it was agreed on all sides that none so large or so sweet had ever been eaten by anybody. Webber’s house was built after the Dutch pattern, and was large and comfortable. Birds built their nests under the eaves and filled the air with their singing, and a button-wood tree, which was nothing but a sapling when Cobus planted his first cabbage, had become a monster overshadowing half the garden in the days of his descendant Wolfert early in the eighteenth century. The button-wood tree was not the only thing that had grown during those years. The city known at first as 'New Amsterdam,' and later as 'New York,' had grown also, and surrounded the house of the Webbers. But if the family could no longer look from the windows at the beautiful woods and rivers of the countryside, as their forefathers had done, there was no reason to drive a cart about from one village to another to see who wanted cabbages, for now the housewives came to Wolfert to choose their own, which saved a great deal of trouble. Yet, though Wolfert sold all the cabbages he could raise, he did not become rich as fast as he wished, and at length he began to wonder if he was becoming rich at all. Food was dearer than when he was a boy, and other people besides himself had taken to cabbage-growing. His daughter was nearly a woman, and would want a portion if she married. Was there no way by which he could make the money that would be so badly needed by and bye?

Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him. Lang was born in Selkirk. He was the eldest of the eight children born to John Lang, the town clerk of Selkirk, and his wife Jane Plenderleath Sellar, who was the daughter of Patrick Sellar, factor to the first duke of Sutherland. On 17 April 1875, he married Leonora Blanche Alleyne, youngest daughter of C. T. Alleyne of Clifton and Barbados. She was (or should have been) variously credited as author, collaborator, or translator of Lang's Color/Rainbow Fairy Books which he edited. He was educated at Selkirk Grammar School, Loretto, and at the Edinburgh Academy, St Andrews University and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a first class in the final classical schools in 1868, becoming a fellow and subsequently honorary fellow of Merton College. He soon made a reputation as one of the most able and versatile writers of the day as a journalist, poet, critic, and historian. In 1906, he was elected FBA. He died of angina pectoris at the Tor-na-Coille Hotel in Banchory, Banchory, survived by his wife. He was buried in the cathedral precincts at St Andrews.

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