Transcribed from the 1867 Milner and Sowerby edition by DavidPrice. Many thanks to the Bodleian Library for making theircopy available.
TALES
OF THE
WILD AND THE WONDERFUL.
“Messer, dovete havete pigliate tantecoglionerie?” quoth the Reader.
CardinalIppolito d’Este to Ariosto.
LONDON:
MILNER AND SOWERBY,
44, PATERNOSTER ROW,
AND HALIFAX, YORKSHIRE.
1867.
p.vPREFACE.
Pause one moment, gentleReader—only one little moment will I detain you, while Ireply to the question which I have supposed you to ask in thetitle-page. Blame not me, I beseech you, if you arecompelled to make the usual accusation against authors, thatthere is nothing new in the pages which I diffidently present toyou: I am sorry for it, but I cannot help it. Solomonasserted that all things under the sun were aged in his time; andif the wisest of old gentlemen could find nothing new in thatearly stage of his empire, what can be expected from a poorscribbler like me, near three thousand years after him? Consider too, dear Reader, that this is the first time I haveappeared before you in the character of a story-teller; and thatI am a timid, nervous subject, and very easily discouraged. Accept me then upon the score of wishing to amuse you, and permitme to say something for my Tales, after having said so much formyself.
Of the stories, “Der Freischütz,” as everybody knows, is from the German. “The Fortunes of Dela Pole” is original; so is “The Prediction,”and “The Yellow Dwarf,” if I may be allowed thatclaim for such a “thing of shreds and patches;” it isan olla podrida of odds and ends, a snip of the garment ofevery fairy tale written since the days of King Arthur. Thestory of “The Lord of the Maelstrom” is alsooriginal, though, as in that of “The Yellow Dwarf,” Ihave raised my structure upon an old nursery foundation; but itappeared to me an excellent vehicle for the beautiful mythologyof the North, and the introduction of Odin and hisexploits,—whose history, by the way, I believe, has beenextracted from the Talmud, or from the rabbinical traditions ofthe events previous to the creation, and the deeds of Moses andothers. I, moreover, designed to have given p. vithee a littlepoetry for thy money, gentle Reader, but the booksellers shooktheir heads when I mentioned my design, and told me it was out offashion; so I returned my treasures in that way to my desk, thereto remain, among many other excellent things, I assure thee,until it should again be the taste in England; and, with twoother short stories, in the meantime offer these Tales ofdiablerie for your amusement. Entreat me kindly,gentle Reader, I beseech you, for two reasons;—first,because it will entirely depend upon your reception of this,whether I shall ever write a second volume—and secondly,because there has been a sad sweep lately among those who used tocater for your diversion: many who were most deserving have beensnatched from your admiration and regard. “Shelley isnot—Lord Byron is n