FAIRY TALES

'Why?' said the very very very very very very little old man."" It takes a poet's courage to use six verys in a sentence, but they build up and diminish in a perfectly balanced, gently smiling story about the how come of ""why?"" The four fairy tales collected here were made up by e.e. cummings for his daughter when she was very small. They are light and sweet (in the best sense of that word). The second is about affection, the third about belonging and the last is a perfect example of how stories get made by a special audience of one. It moves between the adult statement and the child question pinpointing the pauses for special audience participation. The illustrations are done in an interrupted line and those in color are particularly pleasant.