To
Peggy, and Madge, and Pearl, and Maggie,
and Marguerite, and Peggotty, and Meg,
and Marjory, and Daisy, and Pegg, and
MARGARET HAYS
(How many granddaughters does that make?)
My Dear Little Peggy:—
Many, many, many years ago I wrote a book for your Mummey—when she was my little May—telling the fairy tales which the little boys and girls of England used to hear from their mummeys, who had heard them from their mummeys years and years and years before. My friend Mr. Batten made such pretty pictures for it—but of course you know the book—it has "Tom, Tit, Tot" and "The little old woman that went to market," and all those tales you like. Now I have been making a fairy-tale book for your own self, and here it is. This time I have told again the fairy tales that all the mummeys of Europe have been telling their little Peggys. Oh for ever so many years! They must have liked them because they have spread from Germany to Russia, from Italy to France, from Holland to Scotland, and from England to Norway, and from every country in Europe that you will read about in your geography to every other one. Mr. Batten, who made the pictures for your mummey's book, has made some more for
