I have been recommended to adopt a diction not
too remote from that of the Authorised Version. Well, quite apart from
memories of my old nurse, we have a certain number of tales actually
taken down from the mouths of the people, and these are by no means in
Authorised form; they even trench on the "vulgar"--_i.e._, the archaic.
Now there is just a touch of snobbery in objecting to these archaisms
and calling them "vulgar." These tales have been told, if not from time
immemorial, at least for several generations, in a special form which
includes dialect and "vulgar" words. Why desert that form for one which
the children cannot so easily follow with "thous" and "werts" and all
the artificialities of pseudo-Elizabethan? Children are not likely to
say "darter" for "daughter," or to ejaculate "Lawkamercyme" because they
come across these forms in their folk-tales. They recognise the unusual
forms while enjoying the fun of them. I have accordingly retained the
archaisms and the old-world formulae which go so well with the folk-tale.
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