The stories in this volume have been published in the past under the title Stories for Children, which is the one thing the majority of them decidedly are not. It is well-documented that prior to their publication many of the stories were told by Oscar Wilde at dinner parties, where he always commanded the stage, and that alone should indicate his intended audience was adults. The stories were originally published in two volumes, and when asked directly if such intricate stories in the second volume as "The Fisherman and His Soul" were intended for children, Wilde replied, "I had about as much intention of pleasing the British child as I did of pleasing the British public." That disclaimer aside, there is much for adults to like in these deceptively simple tales, which only recently have begun to receive their due as serious literature.
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