After taking her children to visit Shakespeare’s house, E. Nesbit – one of the greatest of children’s novelists – was faced with a conundrum:   “I can’t understand a word of it,” said Iris.    “And you said it was so beautiful,” Rosamund added, reproachfully. “What does it all mean?”   “Yes,” Iris went on, “you said it was a fairy tale, and we’ve read three pages, and there’s nothing about fairies, not even a dwarf, or a fairy god mother.”   “And what does ‘misgraffed’ mean?”   “and ‘vantage,’ and ‘austerity,’ and ‘belike,’ and ‘edict,’ and—“ “stop, stop,” I cried; I will tell you the story.
