On April 13, 1894, Maeterlinck wrote a draft Foreword for the edition of his Trois petits drames pour marionnettes: "It goes without saying that the little dramas that follow were really written for the puppet theater. They have neither the reality nor the life necessary to resist the attacks of tomorrow's actors: instead, the wax or painted wooden dolls are more indulgent to the imagination. (M. Maeterlinck, Trois petits drames pour marionnettes. Brussels: Espace Nord, 2015, p. 183). In the preface to the American edition of the second volume of his works for the theater (The Plays of Maurice Maeterlinck, 2nd Series. Chicago: Stone & Kimball, 1896), he indicates that he intended these dramas "for beings indulgent to poems" which, for want of a better term, he calls "Marionnettes" (quoted ibidem, p. 17). In his Carnets de travail, in January 1890, Maeterlinck refers to the puppets of Thomas and John Holden.