The dwarf's spectacles, and other fairy tales by Max Simon Nordau
"In peril on the sea" by Montague T. Hainsselin is a collection of fairy tales written in the early 20th century. The work strings together gentle, didactic stories where animals, insects, toys, and a country boy illustrate lessons about kindness, humility, loyalty, and clear-sighted judgment. The opening of this collection unfolds a suite of brief fables: a rose-bush grows thorns after a cat kills a nightingale’s brood, explaining the bird’s mournful song;
an aged fly survives winter only to feel out of place among the young and drifts into the fire; a girl learns, through a fairy’s gift, that her cherished white mouse fears her “affection,” and that creatures seek their own kind; a grand doll’s pride leads to ruin while modest dolls endure; sparrows repeatedly save a child—warning her from poisoned candy, diverting a runaway horse, and guiding her home from kidnappers—earning lifelong gratitude; and six glow-worms, pressed into service as lamps by an owl, escape with a young owl’s help and restore light to a meadow’s revelers. Finally, the frame shifts to Michel, a dutiful farmhand who, twice swindled on the road, aids a stranded dwarf and receives spectacles that reveal thoughts; he immediately uses them to avoid undercutting local laborers, who in turn feed, re-clothe, and help him find work. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Nordau, Max Simon, 1849-1923 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Hart, H. A. |
| Illustrator | McGowan, R. |
| Illustrator | Safford, F. P. |
| Translator | Safford, Mary J. (Mary Joanna), 1842-1916 |
| Title | The dwarf's spectacles, and other fairy tales |
| Original Publication | New York: The Macmillan company, 1905. |
| Contents | Why the rose-bush has thorns -- Last year's fly -- Like seeks like -- The proud doll -- The grateful sparrows -- The six little glow-worms -- The dwarf's spectacles -- The golden beetle that went on his travels -- The gold braids -- The cats that wouldn't catch mice -- The elf child -- The rich dog and the poor dog -- The little girl who travelled in the big ship -- The naughty brother and the clever sister -- The master -- The heart thread -- The secret empire -- The tame lion -- The flower prison -- Life and death. |
| Credits | Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net/ for Project Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PZ: Language and Literatures: Juvenile belles lettres |
| Subject | Fairy tales |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 77279 |
| Release Date | Nov 20, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 249 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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