They are not just children's stories. They are much deeper than that. They are an **echo of thousands of years of human wisdom**. Magical worlds. Mythical characters. Where good and evil clash. Hidden lessons await those who discover them. They teach us about courage. Patience. And that happiness. Or misery. Is often the result of our choices. These selected sayings celebrate the eternal magic of these tales.
āthe association of children and fairy-stories is an accident of our domestic history. Fairy-stories have in the modern lettered world been relegated to the ānursery,ā as shabby or old-fashioned furniture is relegated to the play-room, primarily because the adults do not want it, and do not mind if it is misused.ā
āI have claimed that Escape is one of the main functions of fairy-stories, and since I do not disapprove of them, it is plain that I do not accept the tone of scorn or pity with which 'Escape' is now so often used. Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?ā
āI wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis.ā
