No Preface

The book has a frame narrative in which a group of children are told stories – over the week before Christmas – about Nordic heroes by their uncles and aunts. These stories are explicitly presented as a complement to the heroic narratives of classical antiquity, with which young readers were more familiar.

Preface [vii – xviii]

My dear Children,
Some of you have heard already of the old Greeks; and all of you, as you grow up, will hear more and more of them. Those of you who are boys will, perhaps, spend a great deal of time in reading Greek books ; and the girls , though they may not learn Greek, will be sure to come across a great many stories taken from Greek history, and to see, I may say every day, things which we should not have had if it had not been for these old Greeks. You can hardly find a well-written book which has not in it Greek names, and words, and proverbs; you cannot walk through a great town without passing Greek buildings; you cannot go into a well-furnished [ viii] room without seeing Greek statues and ornaments, even Greek patterns of furniture and paper; so strangely have these old Greeks left their mark behind them upon this modern world in which we now live . And as you grow up, and read more and more, you will find that we owe to these old Greeks the beginnings of all our mathematics and geometry – that is, the science and knowledge of numbers, and of the shapes of things, and of the forces which make things move and stand at rest; and the beginnings of our geography and astronomy; and of our laws, and freedom, and politics – that is, the science of how to rule a country, and make it peaceful and strong. […] [x] Now, I love these old Hellens heartily; and I should be very ungrateful to them if I did not, considering all that they have taught me; and they seem to me like brothers, though they have all been dead and gone many a hundred years ago. So as you must learn about them, whether you choose or not, I wish to be the first to introduce you to them, […]. [xi] For nations begin at first by being children like you, though they are made up of grown men. They are children at first like you – men and women with children’s hearts; frank, and affectionate, and full of trust, and teachable, and loving to see and learn all the wonders round them; and greedy also, too often, and passionate and silly, as children are. […] [xv] Now, you must not think of them in this book as learned men, living in great cities, such as they were afterwards, when they wrought all their beautiful works, but as country people, living in farms and walled villages, in a simple, hard-working way; so that the greatest kings and heroes cooked their own meals, and thought it no shame, and made their own ships and weapons, and fed and harnessed their own [xvi] horses; and the queens worked with their maidservants, and did all the business of the house, and spun, and wove, and embroidered, and made their husbands’ clothes and their own. So that a man was honoured among them, not because he happened to be rich, but according to his skill, and his strength, und courage, and the number of things which he could do. For they were but grown-up children, though they were right noble children too ; and it was with them as it is now at school, the strongest and cleverest boy , though he be poor, leads all the rest . Now, while they were young and simple they loved fairy tales, as you do now. All nations do so when they are young: our old forefathers did, and called their stories “Sagas.” I will read you some of them some day – some of the Eddas, and the Voluspà, and Beowulf, and the noble old Romances. The old Arabs, again, had their tales, which we now call “The Arabian Nights.” The old Romans bad theirs, and they called them “Fabulae,” from which our word “fable” comes; but the old Hellens called theirs [xvii] “Muthoi,” from which our new word “ myth ” is taken. But next to those old Romances, which were written in the Christian middle age, there are no fairy tales like these old Greek ones, for beauty, and wisdom, and truth, and for making children love noble deeds , and trust in God to help them through. Now, why have I called this book “The Heroes?” Because that was the name which the Hellens gave to men who were brave and skilful , and dare do more than other men . At first, I think, that was all it meant: but after a time it came to mean something more ; it came to mean men who helped their country ; men in those old times, when the country was half wild, who killed fierce beasts and evil men, and drained swamps, and founded towns, and therefore after they were dead, were honoured , because they had left their country better than they found it . And we call such a man a hero in English to this day, and call it a “ heroic ” thing to suffer pain and grief , that we may do good to our fellow-men . We may all do that, my children, boys and girls alike; and we ought to do it, for it is easier now than ever, and safer, and [xviii] the path more clear. But you shall hear how the Hellens said their heroes worked, three thousand years ago. The stories are not all true, of course, nor half of them; you are not simple enough to fancy that: but the meaning of them is true, and true for ever, and that is – “Do right, and God will help you.”

Farley Court,

Advent, 1855.