Beyond the fields we know, in the Lands of Dream, lies the Valley ofthe Yann where the mighty river of that name, rising in the Hills ofHap, idleing its way by massive dream-evoking amethyst cliffs,orchid-laden forests, and ancient mysterious cities, comes to the Gatesof Yann and passes to the sea.
Some years since a poet visiting that land voyaged down the Yann on atrading bark named the _Bird of the River_ and returning safe toIreland, set down in a tale that is called _Idle Days on the Yann_,the wonders of that voyage. Now the tale being one of marvellousbeauty, found its way into a volume we call _A Dreamer's Tales_ whereit may be found to this day with other wondrous tales of that samepoet.
As the days went by the lure of the river and pleasant memories of hisshipmates bore in with a constant urge on the soul of the poet that hemight once more journey Beyond the Fields We Know and come to thefloor of Yann; and one day it fell out that turning into Go-by Streetthat leads up from the Embankment toward the Strand and which you andI always do go by and perhaps never see in passing, he found the doorwhich one enters on the way to the Land of Dream.
Twice of late has Lord Dunsany entered that door in Go-by Street andreturned to the Valley of the Yann and each time come back with atale; one, of his search for the _Bird of the River,_ the other of themighty hunter who avenged the destruction of Perdondaris, where on hisearlier voyage the captain tied up his ship and traded within thecity. That all may be clear to those who read these new tales and towhom no report has previously come Beyond the Fields We Know thepublishers reprint in this volume _Idle Days on the Yann_.