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[Illustration: I should like the crystal ball to shew me what my husband will be like (page 33)]
LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK, LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD.
More than three hundred years ago there lived in England a poet named Edmund Spenser. He was brave and true and gentle, and he loved all that was beautiful and good.
Edmund Spenser wrote many poems, and the most beautiful of all is the one called 'The Faerie Queen.' He loved so dearly all things that are beautiful and all things that are good, that his eyes could see Fairyland more clearly than the eyes of other men ever could.
There are many, many stories in 'The Faerie Queen,' and out of them all I have told you only eight. Some day you will read the others for yourself.
In this little book Miss Rose Le Quesne has made one pretty picture for each story. But when you are old enough to read for yourself 'The Faerie Queen' that Edmund Spenser wrote, you will find that there is a picture on every page.
BRITOMART AND THE MAGIC MIRROR. 'I should like the crystal ball to show me what my husband will be like, _Frontispiece_
UNA AND THE LION. He followed her like a faithful dog, 6
ST. GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. The dragon was dead, 30
THE QUEST OF SIR GUYON. Great heaps of gold lay about him on every side, 48
PASTORELLA. In the middle of the ring of girls sat Pastorella, 64
CAMBELL AND TRIAMOND. She asked the Fates to let her sons have long, long lives, 80
MARINELL, THE SEA-NYMPH'S SON. But the knight was Britomart, the fair lady with a man's armour and a man's heart, 92
FLORIMELL AND THE WITCH. Florimell's golden hair flew behind her, 102
Once upon a time, in a country not far from Fairyland, there lived a king and queen and their daughter, whose name was Una.
Una was one of the most beautiful princesses that ever were seen, and she was as good as she was beautiful.
She and her father and mother loved each other very dearly, and they were very happy together, until a dreadful thing happened in their kingdom and took all their happiness away.