Allen. Stories for children

Today's free book is Stories for children by Mrs. M. R. Allen (1912). For the table of contents, check at the bottom of this post below the image.

The book is available at Hathi Trust (I have not checked for other online sources). You can find the stories listed and linked in Diigo.

Here is her introduction to the stories:
As all peoples have their folk tales, so we of the South have ours also, and the fascination over the child mind of Negro tales is one of our tenderest memories. In the nursery the gloom of rainy days was lightened, our sorrows were banished, and our lives made brighter through their magic influence. They have been balm for many imaginary as well as actual ills. In order to preserve a few, at least, of the tales most enjoyed by the generations of the past I have collected those here presented, faithfully reported as told by the Negroes themselves, with all the crudities that that implies—and which indeed constitute one of their chief virtues. While some of the charm may be lost through the telling at second hand, yet I trust that the children of to-day and of the future will find some pleasure in them.
Mrs. Allen's attitude towards her African-American sources is condescending in the extreme, but it provides valuable information about stories that were in circulation in the early 20th century.


Table of Contents

The Tar Baby
The Two Birds
The Rabbit and the Peas
Simon the Fisher
The Little Hunter
The Goober Crop
The Bee Tree
Rover, My Cur Dog
Jack the Giant Killer
The May Queen
The Babes in the Woods
The Farmers
The Witch
The Stepmother
The Stolen Chicken
Mr. Fox and Mr. Rabbit
Why Bears Have No Tails
The Three Fools