《绿野仙踪：英文》是一部英文原版作品，书讲述的是堪萨斯大草原善良的小姑娘多萝茜的故事。多萝西与小狗托托被龙卷风吹到奥兹国，途遇稻草人、铁皮人和狮子，通过历险分别得到了勇气、善心和智慧。

鲍姆（Frank Baum, 1856-1919），美国知名童话作家，一生创作童话60余种，有“受欢迎的故事大王”之称。
　　鲍姆出生在富裕的石油商人家庭，年轻时写作了一部音乐剧《阿兰少女》，父亲死后家道中落。为求生计，鲍姆从事过许多职业，一度还曾做过推销员，正是这种艰辛的生活造就了这位童话王子，他一边旅行一边搜集素材。鲍姆的代表作为《绿野仙踪》及十几种续集；另外有《魔法岛》、《仙岛》、《美丽谷的魔法师》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.