Both as a writer for adults and for children the creative stature of George MacDonald has come increasingly to be recognized, but interest in his children's books has been confined, almost entirely, to the two Curdie volumes and At the Back of the North Wind. His fairy stories, all eight of which appear in the present volume (with, for the first time in one volume, every one of the original Arthur Hughes illustrations), have not been in print since the twenties. Yet they are ageless in their appeal and are among the most enchanting works for children that George MacDonald wrote.

Each of these eight tales shows the author's skill in communicating experiences of many different kinds, supernatural and mythical ones among them; and the stories also show his wonderful insight into the minds of young people—as much today as a hundred years ago when they were written. Moreover, they are all told with a beautiful lightness of touch; the title story in particular, about a princess who has been deprived since birth of the force of gravity by a spiteful relative, is a little gem of wisdom and wit.

Roger Lancelyn Green has written the introduction.

"A number one work of real genius" — Roger Lancelyn Green

"What George MacDonald does best is fantasy. . .And this, in my opinion, he does better than any man"—C.S. Lewis

From the dust jacket