Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.

　Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated,

together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.

　Having this thought in mind, the story of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.

L. Frank Baum

Chicago, April, 1900.

　“绿野仙踪”是美国著名作家弗兰克·鲍姆的代表作。1970年曾经被列为二十世纪世界十五大畅销书之一，它已经被翻译为多种语言。“绿野仙踪”又翻译为“绿野寻仙记”它讲述的是小女孩多露茜的历险故事，多露茜聪明、善良、勇敢，她被龙卷风吹到了另一个地方，在那里，她结识了狮子、稻草人和铁皮人等小伙伴，他们都有自己的优点和缺点，在历险的过程中&多露茜帮助他们改掉了自己的缺点。多露茜的优点在于她的善良和勇敢，她不畏惧强暴，热心地帮助别人，这个故事跌宕起伏，曲折动人，难怪这本书成为各国儿童最喜欢的现代童话故事之一，足以与安徒生童话和格林童话媲美。

　弗兰克·鲍姆曾经在美国南达科它州阿伯丁市和伊利诺州芝加哥市担任报社的编辑，他因为这本书而一举成名。他的第一部儿童读物是“鹅老爹”，在“绿野仙踪”出版后，他又创作了十三部续集，其中“奥芝仙境”是这些续集中的佳作。本书收录了他的“绿野仙踪”“奥芝仙境”两部作品。他的主要作品还有“圣诞老人历险记”“天岛”等。

一九九九年三月