Fantastics and other Fancies

by Lafcadio Hearn

FANTASTICS
AND OTHER FANCIES

BY

LAFCADIO HEARN

EDITED BY

CHARLES WOODWARD HUTSON

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

COPYRIGHT, 1914, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Published December 1914

There are tropical lilies which are venomous,
but they are more beautiful than the frail
and icy-white lilies of the North.

Lafcadio Hearn.

CONTENTS

Introduction

3

IN THE “ITEM”

All in White	September 14, 1879.	29
The Little Red Kitten	September 24, 1879.	33
The Night of All Saints	November 1, 1879.	37
The Devil's Carbuncle	November 2, 1879.	40
Les Coulisses	December 6, 1879.	43
The Stranger	April 17, 1880.	51
Y Porqué?	April 17, 1880.	54
A Dream of Kites	June 18, 1880.	57
Hereditary Memories	July 22, 1880.	60

The Ghostly Kiss	July 24, 1880.	66
The Black Cupid	July 29, 1880.	71
When I was a Flower	August 13, 1880.	77
Metempsychosis	September 7, 1880.	80
The Undying One	September 18, 1880.	85
The Vision of the Dead Creole	September 25, 1880.	92
The Name on the Stone	October 9, 1880.	98
Aphrodite and the King's Prisoner	October 12, 1880.	102
The Fountain of Gold	October 15, 1880.	110
A Dead Love	October 21, 1880.	120
At the Cemetery	November 1, 1880.	123
"Äida"	January 17, 1881	127

El Vómito	March 21, 1881.	136
The Idyl of a French Snuff-Box	April 5, 1881.	143
Spring Phantoms	April 21, 1881.	147
A Kiss Fantastical	June 8, 1881.	152
The Bird and the Girl	June 14, 1881.	160
The Tale of a Fan	July 1, 1881.	166
A Legend	July 21, 1881.	170
The Gipsy's Story	August 18, 1881.	174
The One Pill-box	October 12, 1881.	183

IN THE “TIMES-DEMOCRAT”

A River Reverie	May 2, 1882.	191
"His Heart is Old"	May 7, 1882.	198
Mdcccliii	May 21, 1882.	206

Hiouen-thsang	June 25, 1882.	211
L'Amour Après La Mort	April 6, 1884.	223
The Post-Office	October 19, 1884.	227