PREFATORY NOTE


"THE STORY OF PRINCE FAIRYFOOT" was originally intended to be the first
of a series, under the general title of "Stories from the Lost
Fairy-Book, Re-told by the Child Who Read Them," concerning which Mrs.
Burnett relates:

"When I was a child of six or seven, I had given to me a book of
fairy-stories, of which I was very fond. Before it had been in my
possession many months, it disappeared, and, though since then I have
tried repeatedly, both in England and America, to find a copy of it, I
have never been able to do so. I asked a friend in the Congressional
Library at Washington--a man whose knowledge of books is almost
unlimited--to try to learn something about it for me. But even he could
find no trace of it; and so we concluded it must have been out of print
some time. I always remembered the impression the stories had made on me,
and, though most of them had become very faint recollections, I
frequently told them to children, with additions of my own. The story of
Fairyfoot I had promised to tell a little girl; and, in accordance with
the promise, I developed the outline I remembered, introduced new
characters and conversation, wrote it upon note paper, inclosed it in a
decorated satin cover, and sent it to her. In the first place, it was
re-written merely for her, with no intention of publication; but she was
so delighted with it, and read and reread it so untiringly, that it
occurred to me other children might like to hear it also. So I made the