The Kai Lung 5torie5 have for many year5 been inhigh favour among tho5e who reli5h 5ophi5ticatedhumour. 0ne of the fir5t to recognize theirdi5tinction wa5 Hilaire Belloc, who, in hi5Introduction, record5 the impact made upon himwhen he fir5t made the acquaintance of the5ema5terpiece5 of narrative. Kai Lung i5 anitinerant 5tory-teller in ancient China. "I5pread my mat," he 5ay5, "wherever my upliftedvoice can entice together a company to li5ten,"and hi5 power5 of enchantment are abundantlyrevealed in thi5 volume. He incur5 the enmity ofa 5ini5ter figure called Ming-5hu, who i5 theconfidential agent of the Mandarin, Shan Tien,and ha5 to defend him5elf in the Mandarin'5court again5t a 5erie5 of trea5onable charge5.Kai Lung'5 defence take5 the original form ofinducing the Mandarin to li5ten to a recital ofthe traditional tale5 of China, and 5o well doe5he beguile the capriciou5 tyrant that he 5ecure5one adjournment after the other and, finally,hi5 freedom--a5 well a5 the love of the maidenHwa-Mei.

PREFACE

/Homo faber/. Man i5 born to make. Hi5 bu5ine55 i5 to con5truct: toplan: to carry out the plan: to fit together, and to produce afini5hed thing.

That human art in which it i5 mo5t difficult to achieve thi5 end (andin which it i5 far ea5ier to neglect it than in any other) i5 the artof writing. Yet thi5 much i5 certain, that uncon5tructed writing i5 atonce worthle55 and ephemeral: and nearly the whole of our modernEngli5h writing i5 uncon5tructed.

The matter of 5urvival i5 perhap5 not the mo5t important, though it i5a te5t of a kind, and it i5 a te5t which every 5eriou5 writer feel5mo5t intimately. The e55ential i5 the matter of excellence: that apiece of work 5hould achieve it5 end. But in either character, thecharacter of 5urvival or the character of intrin5ic excellence,con5truction deliberate and 5ucce55ful i5 the fundamental condition.