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Blue Bird for Children

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <p class="top5"></p> <div class="figcenter6"> <ANTIMG src="images/covers.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="567" alt="Book Cover" title="Book Cover" /></div> <p class="top5"> <SPAN name="Frontis" id="Frontis"></SPAN></p> <div class="figcenter6"> <ANTIMG src="images/frontis.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="490" alt="The Land of Memory" title="The Land of Memory" /> <br/><span class="caption">The Land of Memory</span></div> <p class="top5"></p> <div class="bbox"> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="title"> <tr> <td colspan="3" class="center"><h1>THE · BLUE · BIRD</h1></td> </tr> <tr> <td class="center"><ANTIMG src="images/tpa.jpg" width-obs="150" height-obs="87" alt="Bluebird" title="Bluebird" /></td> <td class="center"><h2 class="bigfont">FOR CHILDREN</h2></td> <td class="center"><ANTIMG src="images/tpa.jpg" width-obs="150" height-obs="87" alt="Bluebird" title="Bluebird" /></td> </tr> </table> <h2>THE · WONDERFUL · ADVENTURES<br/> OF · TYLTYL · AND · MYTYL · IN<br/> SEARCH · OF · HAPPINESS</h2> <h3>BY</h3> <h2>GEORGETTE LEBLANC</h2> <h3>[MADAME MAURICE MAETERLINCK]</h3> <h4><br/>EDITED AND ARRANGED FOR SCHOOLS</h4> <h5>BY</h5> <h4>FREDERICK ORVILLE PERKINS</h4> <h6>TRANSLATED BY</h6> <h6>ALEXANDER TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS</h6> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/tpb.jpg" width-obs="150" height-obs="174" alt="logo" title="logo" /></div> <h2>SILVER · BURDETT & COMPANY</h2> <h5>BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · ATLANTA</h5> <h5>DALLAS · SAN FRANCISCO</h5></div> <h6 class="top10"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1913</span></h6> <h5>BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY</h5> <h6><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1913</span></h6> <h5>BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY</h5> <h6><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1914</span></h6> <h5>BY SILVER, BURDETT & COMPANY</h5> <div class="figcenter5"> <ANTIMG class="top10" src="images/dedicate.jpg" width-obs="500" height-obs="231" alt="This School Edition of The Blue Bird for Children is affectionately dedicated to the School Children of America" title="Dedication to School Children of America" /></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</SPAN></span></p> <div class="figcenter5" > <ANTIMG class="top10" src="images/atoteachers.jpg" width-obs="463" height-obs="237" alt="To The Teacher "The Blue Bird, inhabitant of the Pays Bleu, the fabulous blue country of our dreams is an ancient symbol in the folk lore of Lorraine and stands for happiness."" title="To The Teacher "The Blue Bird, inhabitant of the Pays Bleu, the fabulous blue country of our dreams is an ancient symbol in the folk lore of Lorraine and stands for happiness."" /></div> <p><span class="smcap">One</span> of the strongest pieces of imaginative writing for children that the past decade has produced and one of the most delicate and beautiful of all times, is "The Blue Bird," by Maurice Maeterlinck, written as a play, and very successfully produced on the stage.</p> <p>Georgette Leblanc (Madame Maurice Maeterlinck), has rendered this play in story form for children, under the title "The Children's Blue Bird," and in this form it has now been carefully edited and arranged for schools.</p> <p>Maurice Maeterlinck was born in Ghent, Belgium, August 29, 1862. Although trained for the practice of the law and moderately successful in it, he very early became dissatisfied with the prospect of a career at the bar. In 1887, the young man moved to Paris and turned his attention to writing. Shortly after, at the death of his father, Maeterlinck returned to Belgium where he has since resided most of the time. His career as an author practically began in 1889, when he published two plays. At this time he was quite unknown, except to a small circle, but soon, because of his remarkable originality, we find him being called "The Belgian Shakespeare," and his reputation firmly established.</p> <p>Amidst his Belgian roses he continued to work and dream, and upon his youthful dreams he built his plays. They are all shadowy, brief transcripts of emotion, and illustrate beautifully his unity of purpose, of mood and of thought. Whether in philosophy, drama or poetry, Maeterlinck is exclusively occupied in revealing or indicating the mystery which lies only just out of sight beneath the ordinary life. In order to produce this effect of the mysterious he aims at extreme simplicity of style and a very realistic symbolism. He allows <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</SPAN></span> life itself to astonish us by its strangeness, by its inexplicable elements. Many of his plays are really pathetic records of unseen emotions.</p> <p>Of all his writings, it is conceded that "The Blue Bird" makes the strongest appeal to children. Maeterlinck has always had much in common with the young. He has the child's mysticism and awe of the unknown, the same delight in mechanical inventions, the same gift of "making believe."</p> <p>In "The Blue Bird" Maeterlinck takes little account of external fact. All along he has kept the child's capacity for wonder; all along he has preserved youth's freshness of heart. He has, therefore, never lost the key which unlocks the sympathies of childhood; he still possesses the passport that makes him free of the kingdom of Fairyland.</p> <p>This story of "The Blue Bird" may remind one somewhat of "Hansel and Gretel," for here Maeterlinck, like Grimm, shows to us the adventures of two peasant children as they pass through regions of enchantment where they would be at the mercy of treacherous foes, but for the aid of a supernatural friend. But the originality, the charm and the interest of "The Blue Bird" depend on the way in which the author, while adapting his language and his legends to the intelligence of youthful readers, manages to show them the wonders and romance of Nature. He enlists among his characters a whole series of inanimate objects, such as Bread, Sugar, Milk, Light, Water, Fire and Trees, besides the Cat, the Dog and other animals, investing them all with individuality,—making for instance, with characteristic bias, the Dog the faithful friend of his boy and girl companions and the Cat their stealthy enemy.</p> <p>We may not understand his characters, we may not be informed whence they came or whither they move; there is nothing concrete or circumstantial about them; their life is intense and consistent, but it is wholly in a spiritual character. They are mysterious with the mystery of the movements of the soul.</p> <p>All through the story we are led to feel that Maeterlinck's spirit is one of grave and disinterested attachment to the highest moral beauty, and his seriousness, his serenity and his extreme originality impress even those who are bewildered by his graces and his mysticism.</p> <p>"The Blue Bird" will forever live among Maeterlinck's greatest works and will linger long in the memory of all children, continuing throughout their lives to symbolize that ideal of ideals, true happiness,—the happiness that comes from right seeking.</p> <h2><br/><br/><br/><i>Contents</i></h2> <div class="center"> <table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents with Hyperlinks"> <tr class="weefont"><td class="td1" >CHAPTER</td> <td class="td3" colspan="2">PAGE</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>I</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">The Woodcutter's Cottage</span></td> <td class="td3">3</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>II</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">At the Fairy's</span></td> <td class="td3">31</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>III</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">The Land of Memory</span></td> <td class="td3">49</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>IV</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">The Palace of Night</span></td> <td class="td3">65</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>V</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">The Kingdom of the Future</span></td> <td class="td3">89</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>VI</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">In the Temple of Light</span></td> <td class="td3">117</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>VII</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">The Graveyard</span></td> <td class="td3">125</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>VIII</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">The Forest</span></td> <td class="td3">137</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>IX</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">The Leave-Taking</span></td> <td class="td3">157</td></tr> <tr><td class="td1"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>X</b></SPAN></td> <td class="td2"><span class="smcap2">The Awakening</span></td> <td class="td3">169</td></tr> </table></div> <h2 class="top3"><i>Illustrations</i></h2> <div class="center"> <table border="0" width="70%" summary="List of Illustrations with Hyperlinks"> <tr><td class="td2">The Land of Memory</td> <td class="td3"><i><SPAN href="#Frontis">Frontispiece</SPAN></i></td></tr> <tr class="weefont"><td class="td3" colspan="2">FACING PAGE</td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">She herself helped Mytyl</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page10pic">10</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">They all looked at her with a bewildered air. They understood that it was a solemn moment</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page38pic">38</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td align="left">Delighted with the importance of his duty, undid the top of his robe, drew his scimitar and cut two slices out of his stomach</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page42pic">42</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">Sugar also wanted to impress the company and, breaking off two of his fingers, handed them to the astonished Children</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page44pic">44</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">Everything vanished and, instead, there appeared a pretty little peasant's cottage</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page50pic">50</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">The grandparents and grandchildren sat down to supper</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page56pic">56</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">The road to the Palace of Night was rather long and rather dangerous</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page66pic">66</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">Night sat up, all quivering. Her immense wings beat around her; and she questioned Tylette in a trembling voice</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page68pic">68</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">Wagging her head and stopping every minute to cough, sneeze and blow her nose</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page74pic">74</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">A wonderful garden lay before him, a dream-garden filled with flowers that shone like stars</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page80pic">80</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">Light's servants were very odd</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page90pic">90</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">Other Blue Children opened great big books</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page98pic">98</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">Other Blue Children unfolded maps and plans, or brought enormous flowers</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page102pic">102</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">And, in a moment, the Blue Children were crowding round the tall old man</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page110pic">110</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">The Cat at once draped her cloak round her, opened the door and ran and bounded out into the forest</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page119pic">119</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">A regular waterfall of tears came gushing from her eyes, flooding all around her</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page154pic">154</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">Closely pursued by the Dog, who overwhelmed her with bites, blows and kicks</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page162pic">162</SPAN></td></tr> <tr><td class="td2">"It's the Blue Bird we were looking for! We have been miles and miles and miles and he was here all the time!"</td> <td class="td3"><SPAN href="#page174pic">174</SPAN></td></tr> </table></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</SPAN></span></p> <hr /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />

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