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.

LENOX, _July 15, 1851_.

[Illustration]

CONTENTS

[Illustration]

PAGE
THE GORGON'S HEAD.
TANGLEWOOD PORCH.--Introductory to The Gorgon's Head 1
THE GORGON'S HEAD 7
TANGLEWOOD PORCH.--After the Story 39

THE GOLDEN TOUCH.
SHADOW BROOK.--Introductory to The Golden Touch 42
THE GOLDEN TOUCH 46
SHADOW BROOK.--After the Story 69

THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN.
TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM.--Introductory to The Paradise
of Children 73
THE PARADISE OF CHILDREN 78
TANGLEWOOD PLAY-ROOM.--After the Story 100

THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES.
TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE.--Introductory to The Three
Golden Apples 102
THE THREE GOLDEN APPLES 109
TANGLEWOOD FIRESIDE.--After the Story 136

T