《綠野仙蹤：英文》是一部英文原版作品，書講述的是堪薩斯大草原善良的小姑娘多蘿茜的故事。多蘿西與小狗托托被龍卷風吹到奧茲國，途遇稻草人、鐵皮人和獅子，通過歷險分別得到了勇氣、善心和智慧。

鮑姆（Frank Baum, 1856-1919），美國知名童話作家，一生創作童話60余種，有“受歡迎的故事大王”之稱。
　　鮑姆出生在富裕的石油商人家庭，年輕時寫作了一部音樂劇《阿蘭少女》，父親死后家道中落。為求生計，鮑姆從事過許多職業，一度還曾做過推銷員，正是這種艱辛的生活造就了這位童話王子，他一邊旅行一邊搜集素材。鮑姆的代表作為《綠野仙蹤》及十幾種續集；另外有《魔法島》、《仙島》、《美麗谷的魔法師》等佳作。

INTRODUCTION

Folk lore, 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 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 “ownder tale” in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and bloodcurdling incident 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 wondertales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.

Having this thought in mind, the story of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” was written solesy to pleasure children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joyare retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out.

L. FRANK BAUM

CHICAGO, APRIL,1900.