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World Folk Tales Vol I - The Meeting

And so we gathered around the tree, as the stars and the moon shone kindly above. Each one came with their own special gift. A gift which had, for most, been passed down through the generations, through the ages. Some gifts, it seemed, had come from the very dawn of time.

The gift was their story, no nation too poor to bestow their finest riches on us, their deepest memories.

One by one the storytellers addressed the crowd. Some came with young tales, less than a hundred years old. Others with stories made all the better by countless retellings. And still more with even older tales, worked into fine tapestries down the ages.

We heard stories of knights and devils, of elves and fairies. Of Father Time being captured and of a Childe visiting a warlock's cave. We heard of an epic journey and of a small people. We dreamt and we wished and we drank in the magic of those fine old tales as a time passed gently under the tree.

And as we were about to leave one teller asked to be allowed another telling, to which we all agreed. And as the sun began to rise over a silent landscape we heard tell of the story of a tale to be told no more. And we wept as we thought of all of those stories and of all of those peoples lost through the ages.

Enjoy the treasures in this book, read them to your friends and family, savour them for their deep wisdom and their ready wit. Prepare to be charmed, prepare to be enthralled, and perhaps prepare to be even a little saddened. For not all tales end with a wink and a happy-ever-after; remember that some tales may never be told again.

Colin Bradshaw-Jones MMV