of the consequences which happen to those who do ill deeds; and he
claims that they all contain a very distinct moral which is more or less
evident to all who read them.

Emerson says: "What Nature at one time provides for use, she afterwards
turns to ornament," and Herbert Spencer, following out this idea,
remarks that "the fairy lore, which in times past was matter of grave
belief and held sway over people's conduct, has since been transformed
into ornament for _The Midsummer Night's Dream_, _The Tempest_, _The
Fairy Queen_, and endless small tales and poems; and still affords
subjects for children's story books, amuses boys and girls, and becomes
matter for jocose allusion."

Thus, also, Sir Walter Scott, in a note to "The Lady of the Lake," says:
"The mythology of one period would appear to pass into the romance of
the next, and that into the nursery tales of subsequent ages," and Max
Müller, in his "Chips from a German Workshop," says: "The gods of
ancient mythology were changed into the demigods and heroes of ancient
epic poetry, and these demigods again became at a later age the
principal characters of our nursery tales."

These thoughts may help to a better understanding of some of the uses of
such stories and of their proper place in children's reading.

C.W.