THE following Tale is principally taken from the admirable Work of Madame de Beaumont (Le Magazin des Enfans), which formed almost the whole library and the delight of the children of the last generation, and has hardly been surpassed by the many excellent productions which supply the nurseries and school-rooms of the present.
The story is there told with the simplicity and sprightliness of which the French language is so peculiarly capable, but which a literal translation would render not only insipid but vulgar.
In a poetical dress it may possibly give to the young reader a part of that amusement, which it once afforded the infancy of the author.