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.
古代的民间传说、传奇、神话和童话故事，一直伴随着孩童们的成长。由于每个健康的孩子都对奇幻、神奇且显然不真实的故事有着天生的热爱。 —

The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.
格林和安徒生笔下的有翅膀的仙女给孩子们的心灵带来了比其他的人类创作更多的快乐。

Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as “historical” in the children’s library;
然而，古老的童话故事已经在儿童图书馆中划为”历史”；因为现在是时候推出一系列更新的”奇幻故事”了，在这些故事中，老套的灯神、小矮人和仙子都被抛弃了， —

for the time has come for a series of newer “wonder tales” in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated,
连同那些作者设计的可怕的令人毛骨悚然的情节一起，这些情节旨在通过故事来教育人们。

together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale.
现代教育包括道德教育；因此，现代的孩子只寻求奇幻故事中的娱乐，愿意放弃一切不愉快的情节。 —

Modern education includes morality;
基于这个思考，” —

therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.
绿野仙踪”故事只是为了让当代的孩子们开心而写的。

Having this thought in mind, the story of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was written solely to please children of today.
以上所述。 —

It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.
它立志成为一则现代化的童话故事，在其中保留了奇妙和喜悦的感觉，而舍弃了伤心和恶梦。

L. Frank Baum
L. 弗兰克·鲍姆

Chicago, April, 1900.
1900年4月，芝加哥。