THE
BOOK OF ROMANCE
EDITED BY
ANDREW LANG
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. J. FORD
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK AND BOMBAY
1902
Copyright 1902
BY
Longmans, Green, & Co.
PREFACE
It is to be supposed that children do not read Prefaces; these areBluebeard's rooms, which they are not curious to unlock. A few wordsmay therefore be said about the Romances contained in this book. Inthe editor's opinion, romances are only fairy tales grown up. Thewhole mass of the plot and incident of romance was invented by nobodyknows who, nobody knows when, nobody knows where. Almost every peoplehas the Cinderella story, with all sorts of variations: a boy hero inplace of a girl heroine, a beast in place of a fairy godmother, and soon. The Zuñis, an agricultural tribe of New Mexico, have a version inwhich the moral turns out to be against poor Cinderella, who comes toan ill end. The Red Indians have the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice,told in a very touching shape, but without the music. On the otherhand, the negroes in the States have the Orpheus tale, adapted toplantation life, in a form which is certainly borrowed from Europeans.This version was sent to me some years ago, by Mr. Barnet Phillips,Brooklyn, New York, and I give it here for its curiosity. If theproper names, Jim Orpus and Dicey, had not been given, we might notfeel absolutely certain that the story was borrowed. It is a goodexample of adaptation from the heroic age of Greece to the servile ageof Africans.
Dicey and Orpus
Dat war eber so long ago, 'cause me granmammy tell me so. It h'aint nowhite-folks yarn—no Sah. Gall she war call Dicey, an' she war bornedon de plantation.[vi] Whar Jim Orpus kum from, granmammy she disremember.He war a boss-fiddler, he war, an' jus' that powerful, dat when demules in de cotton field listen to um, dey no budge in de furrer.Orpus he neber want no mess of fish, ketched wid a angle. He just takehim fiddle an' fool along de branch, an' play a tune, an' up deycomes, an' he cotch 'em in he hans. He war mighty sot on Dicey, an'dey war married all proper an' reg'lar. Hit war so long ago, dat derailroad war a bran-new spick an' span ting in dose days. Dicey onceshe lounge 'round de track, 'cause she tink she hear Orpus a fiddlin'in de fur-fur-away. Onyways de hengine smash her. Den Jim Orpus hetook on turrible, an' whe