THE author of this work makes no pretense of originality in the telling of these stories of olden times. They have been gleaned from many sources, and are the common heritage of all who love to write them anew and hear them again. Only the words belong to the story teller; the story itself is as old as the race.

In the lapse of years and with the much telling of these stories there is no longer a line between fact and fiction. How much is true and how much is false does not matter; the stor...