He
By Andrew Lang
()
About this ebook
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (1844-1912) was a Scottish editor, poet, author, literary critic, and historian. He is best known for his work regarding folklore, mythology, and religion, for which he had an extreme interest in. Lang was a skilled and respected historian, writing in great detail and exploring obscure topics. Lang often combined his studies of history and anthropology with literature, creating works rich with diverse culture. He married Leonora Blanche Alleyne in 1875. With her help, Lang published a prolific amount of work, including his popular series, Rainbow Fairy Books.
Read more from Andrew Lang
The Fairy Books of Many Colors Volume Two: The Pink Fairy Book, The Grey Fairy Book, The Orange Fairy Book, The Olive Fairy Book, and The Lilac Fairy Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClassic Children's Stories (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5ARABIAN NIGHTS: Andrew Lang's 1001 Nights & R. L. Stevenson's New Arabian Nights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Fairy Books of All Colours - Complete Series: Books 1-12 (Illustrated Edition): 400+ Tales in One Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Illustrated Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Fairy Books of Andrew Lang Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beauty and the Beast – All Four Versions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Arabian Nights or One Thousand and One Nights (Andrew Lang) + New Arabian Nights (R. L. Stevenson) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory of English Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFolklore and Mythology Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Twelve Color Fairy Books Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Arabian Nights: One Thousand and One Nights: New Revised Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of Joan of Arc Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOxford Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing Arthur: Tales from the Round Table Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Blue Poetry Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohn Knox and the Reformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTales of Troy and Greece Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Fables and Fairy Tales: Aesop's Fables, Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales, Grimm's Fairy Tales, and The Blue Fairy Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChristmas Carols & Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to He
Related ebooks
HE Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdventures Among Books Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Modern Salonnière Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great White Queen: A Tale of Treasure and Treason Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMr. Vogel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Essential Novelists - E. W. Hornung: tales of the gentleman thief Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll Roads Lead to Calvary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Pair of Blue Eyes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHard Cash (Historical Thriller) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrlando - A Biography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn a Glass Darkly - Volume II of III Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCarmilla Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Arthur Conan Doyle: His Life and Art Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBaskerville: The Mysterious Tale of Sherlock's Return Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Our Bore & Other Stories: "Accidents will occur in the best regulated families." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Beckoning Hand and Other Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll Roads Lead to Calvary Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStealing Heaven: The Love Story of Heloise and Abelard Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Merman and The Figure-Head Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBest Horror Novels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFoundations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The The House of Marvellous Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Room In the Dragon Volant Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Deception Engine: Part One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Land of Mist Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great White Queen Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStories of Romance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDead Men Tell No Tales: "There was, however, one slice of luck in store for me" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEden: An Episode Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Classics For You
The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fellowship Of The Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Master & Margarita Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little Women (Seasons Edition -- Winter) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Count of Monte-Cristo English and French Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn French! Apprends l'Anglais! THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY: In French and English Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Confederacy of Dunces Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sense and Sensibility (Centaur Classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5As I Lay Dying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Farewell to Arms Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silmarillion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Jungle: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Good Man Is Hard To Find And Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Farm: A Fairy Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ulysses: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights (with an Introduction by Mary Augusta Ward) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bell Jar: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Titus Groan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quiet American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for He
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
He - Andrew Lang
He
Andrew Lang
.
CHAPTER I.
EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.
As I sat, one evening, idly musing on memories of roers and Boers, and contemplating the horns of a weendigo I had shot in Labrador and the head of a Moo Cow[1] from Canada, I was roused by a ring at the door bell.
[1] A literary friend to whom I have shown your MS. says a weendigo is Ojibbeway for a cannibal. And why do you shoot poor Moo Cows?--PUBLISHER.
Mere slip of the pen. Meant a Cow Moose. Literary gent no sportsman.--ED.
All right.--PUBLISHER.
The hall-porter presently entered, bearing a huge parcel, which had just arrived by post. I opened it with all the excitement that an unexpected parcel can cause, and murmured, like Thackeray's sailor-man, 'Claret, perhaps, Mumm, I hope----'
It was a Mummy Case, by Jingo!
This was no common, or museum mummy case. The lid, with the gilded mask, was absent, and the under half or lower segment, painted all over with hieroglyphics of an unusual type, and green in colour--had obviously been used as a cradle for unconscious infancy. A baby had slept in the last sleeping-place of the dead! What an opportunity for the moralist! But I am not a collector of cradles.
Who had sent it, and why?
The question was settled by an envelope in a feminine hand, which, with a cylindrical packet, fell out of the Mummy Case, and contained a letter running as follows:--
'Lady Betty's, Oxford.
'My dear Sir,--You have not forgotten me and my friend Leonora O'Dolite?
'The Mummy Case which encloses this document is the Cradle of her ancient Race.
'We are, for reasons you will discover in the accompanying manuscript, about to start for Treasure Island, where, if anywhere in this earth, ready money is to be found on easy terms of personal insecurity.'
'Oh, confound it,' I cried, 'here's another fiend of a woman sending me another manuscript! They are always at it! Wants to get it into a high-class magazine, as usual.' And my guess was correct.
The letter went on:--
'You, who are so well known, will have no difficulty in getting the editor of the Nineteenth Century, or the Quarterly Review, or Bow Bells, to accept my little contribution. I shall be glad to hear what remuneration I am to expect, and cheques may be forwarded to
'Yours very truly,
'MARY MARTIN.
'P.S.--The mummy case is very valuable. Please deposit it at the Old Bank, in the High, where it will represent my balance.
'M. M.'
Now I get letters like this (not usually escorted by a mummy case) about thrice a day, and a pretty sum it costs me in stamps to send back the rubbish to the amateur authors. But how could I send back a manuscript to a lady already on her way to Treasure Island?
Here, perhaps, I should explain how Mary Martin, as she signed herself, came to choose me for her literary agent. To be sure, total strangers are always sending me their manuscripts, but Mrs. Martin had actually been introduced to me years before.
I was staying, as it happened, at one of our university towns, which I shall call Oxford, for short--not that that was really its name. Walking one day with a niece, a scholar of Lady Betty's Hall, we chanced to meet in the High two rather remarkable persons. One of them was the very prettiest girl I ever saw in my life. Her noble frame marked her as the victor over Girton at lawn-tennis; while her pince-nezindicated the student. She reminded me, in the grace of her movements, of the Artemis of the Louvre and the Psyche of Naples, while her thoughtful expression recalled