The book is The Egyptian Tales, Second Series, XVIIIth To XIXth Dynasty Translated From The Papyri, Second Edition. Brief, and in some cases incomplete, stories of magic from ancient Egypt. It seems that any simple form of fiction is supposed to be a fairy tale: which implies that it has to do with an impossible world of imaginary beings. Now the Egyptian Tales are exactly the opposite of this, they relate the doings and the thoughts of men and women who are human--sometimes very human, as Mr. Balfour said. Whatever there is of supernatural elements is a very part of the beliefs and motives of the people whose lives are here pictured. But most of what is here might happen in some corner of our own country to-day, where ancient beliefs may have a home. So far, then, from being fairy tales there is not a single being that could be termed a fairy in the whole of them.
