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THE Oxford University Press have every
reason to be well pleased with their two books for children and young people, Irish Sagas and Folk-Tales and English Fables and Fairy Stories. Here are two books for every family bookshelf. It will he interesting to note who will most finger its pages; certainly the excellent illustrations by Joan Kiddell-Monroe will receive their fair share of attention. Both hooks display an adult approach to their subject. They are written in a style which may be appreciated by the more seasoned reader without detracting from complete enjoyment by the younger listeners. Their illustrations, too, achieve an artistic result without losing some of the essential "fairycharm." I.N Irish Sagas and Folk-Tales Eileen 01-aolain whisks us on a magic carpet to Ireland. to a lonely hearth in a little cottage. where the wind howls as though the devil were summoning his legions about him that very night. You forget where you arc. Or perhaps you don't; you arc sure you are sitting by that lonely hearth hearing a soothing Irish brogue. across the bogs wandering iii and hills, Words tumble and leap like a brook hurrying down the mountainside. You are lost to the magic of the Irish storyteller, and you, like he. are convinced that in the Battle of the Bulls "their eyes blazed like balls of fire as they looked at one another. their cheeks and nostrils swelling and panting like the bellows in a blacksmith's forge." And reading on"Then they ran at one another and began to gore each other and to butt their heads one against the other. And the clap and hang of one forehead hitting the other was like a
sudden peal thunder between high mountains."
N English Fables and Fairy Stories Awe find the more familiar stories, such as Jack and the Beanstalk and Dick Whittington (not the pantomime versions) as well as many less wellknown ones. For those-and surely there must be many-who love both folklore and fable. it is interesting to note how very distinct the Irish are from those of other cotintries. Many of the English fables and fair stories I can he identified with the versions of other European countries. Thus The Donkey, the Table and the I Stick is surely very similar to one of the Brothers Grimm stories. But this does not make them any the less en joya hie.
Here is an ideal present at any time. It will please both the young reader who receives it and the parent who will borrow it.-0. H.
"English Fables and Fairy Stories," by James Reeves (12s. 6d.).
"Irish Sagas and Folk-Tales," by Eileen O'Faolain (12s. 6d.).