This essay was originally intended to be one of the Andrew Lang lectures at St. Andrews, and it
was, in abbreviated form, delivered there in 1938. To be invited to lecture in St. Andrews is a
high compliment to any man; to be allowed to speak about fairy-stories is (for an Englishman in
Scotland) a perilous honor. I felt like a conjuror who finds himself, by mistake, called upon to
give a display of magic before the court of an elf-king. After producing his rabbit, such a clumsy
performer may consider himself lucky, if he is allowed to go home in proper shape, or indeed to
go home at all. There are dungeons in fairyland for the overbold.