The writings of Shakespeare have been justly termed "the richest, the purest, the fairest, that genius uninspired ever penned." 

These things considered, what wonder is it that the works of Shakespeare, next to the Bible, are the most highly esteemed of all the classics of English literature.  "So extensively have the characters of Shakespeare been drawn upon by artists, poets, and writers of fiction," says an American author, —"So interwoven are these characters in the great body of English literature, that to be ignorant of the plot of these dramas is often a cause of embarrassment."

But Shakespeare wrote for grown-up people, for men and women, and in words that little folks cannot understand.

Hence, this collection.  To reproduce the entertaining stories contained in the plays of Shakespeare, in a form so simple that children can understand and enjoy them, was the object had in view by the author of these beautiful stories from Shakespeare. 

Adapted from the preface of Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare