Читать книгу Top-of-the-World Stories for Boys and Girls - Anonymous - Страница 7

Table of Contents

Not for my dear usual public of little children have I gathered these stories from Scandinavian authors, but for boys and girls who have reached a stage which warrants a rather free range in Story Land. For here are to be encountered creatures and events, deeds and ideas, unsuited to youngest readers, but which have legitimate attraction for boys and girls from nine to fourteen years old—the age varying according to the child's maturity and previous reading.

Five of these stories were written by the noted Finnish author, Zachris Topelius, who wrote them, and much else, for the children of Finland and Sweden more than fifty years ago. His loving sympathy for children, and his earnest desire to write only what was wholesome and good for them, shine through all his literary work for the young. His "Läsning för Barn" (Reading for Children) in several volumes, contains stories, true and imaginative, poems, songs, hymns, and many charming plays for children to act. Although a Finn, Topelius wrote in the Swedish language.

By the kind permission of Miss Margaret Böcher I have made use of her excellent rendering of Sampo Lappelil.

Of the other stories presented here, two (The Forest Witch and The Testing of the Two Knights) were translated from the Danish, and one (Anton's Errand, or The Boy Who Made Friends by the Way) from the Norwegian.

The translations are not strictly literal, neither are they, I am sure, unjustifiably free. The liberty exercised consists chiefly of omission. For example, in Knut Spelevink, extra incidents were omitted which dragged the story to a tedious length or marred it by the inartistic, outworn device of explaining Knut's adventures as a dream; in The Princess Lindagull, some details of the wild-beast fight were left out; in A Legend of Mercy, a hampering husk was stripped off from the good seed of the quaint little story. Most of the minor changes were made for the sake of smoothness and clarity.

In general, wherever I, as translator or editor, have varied from the original, I have done so to make the stories as directly appealing, as delightful, and as profitable as possible, for our boys and girls.

Emilie Poulsson.

Boston, Ma

LIST OF STORIESTable of Contents
	Page
Knut Spelevink	11
The Princess Lindagull	39
Chapter I. The Palace of Shah Nadir	39
Chapter II. The Arena	48
Chapter III. The Captivity	58
Chapter IV. The Release	72
Sikku and the Trolls	86
Sampo Lappelil	105
A Legend of Mercy	130
Anton's Errand, or The Boy Who Made Friends by the Way	138
The Forest Witch	175
The Testing of the Two Knights	185
ILLUSTRATIONSTable of Contents
It was a life-and-death race (Page 126)	Frontispiece
	Facing Page
"Good-day, Knut Spelevink," said the Snow King	24
The pine-tree raised itself high in air	32
Since Shah Nadir could refuse her nothing, he granted her request	46
In the Lapp tent	60
Lindagull stepped forth in the clear day	70
Out of the mist arose a slender figure	80
"Oh, ho!" exclaimed Sikku, recognizing her as the troll woman	90
Sampo was left lying in a snow-drift	114
On the back of the reindeer with golden horns	126
There stood the wolf and the bear	136
The lizard lay perfectly still, listening	146
"Turn back, turn back," said the dove	158
The Mayor was overwhelmed with wonder	172
Nina stood with arms around her little brother	178
Klaus brought forth his only treasure	196