would take the trip with my stout
neighbor; experience wonderful adventures, and it would not have
astonished me very much if he had actually been stuck into a bear-skin
and forced to go on all fours."

"And yet," said the old man, "there is a very delightful form of
narrative, in which neither fairies nor magicians figure, no palace of
crystal and no genii who bring the most delicious food, no magic horse,
but a kind that differs materially from those usually designated as
tales."

"Another kind?" exclaimed the young men. "Please explain to us more
clearly what you mean."

"I am of the opinion that a certain distinction should be made between
fairy tales and narratives which are commonly called stories. When I
tell you that I will relate a fairy tale, you would at the outset count
upon its treating of events outside of the usual course of life and of
its being located in a kingdom entirely different from any thing on
earth. Or, to make my meaning plain, in a fairy tale you would look for
other people as well as mortals to appear; strange powers, such as
fairies and magicians, genii and ruling spirits, are concerned in the
fate of the person of whom the tale treats; the whole fabric of the
story takes on an extraordinary and wonderful shape, and has somewhat
the appearance of the texture of our carpets, or many pictures of our
best masters which the Franks call arabesques. It is forbidden the true
Mussulman to represent human beings, the creatures of Allah, in colors
and paintings, as a sin; therefore one sees in this texture wonderful
tortuous trees, and twigs with human heads; human beings drawn out into
a bush or fish; in short, forms that remind one of the life around him,
and are yet unlike that life. Do you follow me?"

"I believe I perceive your meaning," said the young writer; "but
continue."

"After this fashion then is a fairy tale; fabulous, unusual,
astonishing; and because it is untrue to the usual course of life, it
is often located in foreign lands or referred to a period long since
passed away. Every land, every tribe, has such tales; the Turks as well
as the Persians, the Chinese as well as the Mongolians; and even in the
country of the Franks there are many, at least so I was told by a
learned Giaour; still they are not as fine as ours, for instead of
beautiful fairies who live in splendid palaces, they have decrepit old
women, whom they name witches--an ugly, artful folk, who dwell in
miserable