CHAPTER III

THE TELLING OF FAIRY TALES

The telling of stories refreshes the mind as a bath

refreshes the body. It gives exercise to the intellect and

its powers. It tests the judgments and feelings. The

story-teller must wholly take into himself the life of which

he speaks, must let it live and operate in himself freely.

He must reproduce it whole and undiminished, yet stand

superior to life as it actually is.--FROEBEL.

The purpose of the story.--To look out with new eyes upon

the many-featured, habitable world; to be thrilled by the

pity and the beauty of this life of ours, itself brief as a

tale that is told; to learn to know men and women better,

and to love them more.--BLISS PERRY.

Expertness in teaching consists in a scholarly command of

subject-matter, in a better organization of character, in a

larger and more versatile command of conscious modes of

transmitting facts and ideals, and in a more potent and

winsome, forceful and sympathetic manner of personal contact

with other human beings.--HENRY SUZZALLO.

Story-telling as an art. No matter how perfectly the tale, in a

subjective sense, may contain the interests of the child, or how

carefully it may avoid what repels him; though in an objective sense

it may stand the test of a true classic in offering a permanent

enrichment of the mind and the test of literature in appealing to the

emotions and the imagination, in giving a contribution of truth and an

embodiment of good form; though it may stand the test of the

short-story--furnishing interesting characters, definite plot, and

effective setting; though its sequence be orderly and its climax

pointed, its narration consistent and its description apt--the tale

yet remains to be told. The telling of the tale is a distinct art

governed by distinct principles because the life of the story must be

transmitted and rendered into voice.

Story-telling is one of the most ancient and universal of arts.

Concerning this art Thackeray has said:--

Stories exist everywhere: there is no calculating the

distance through which stories have come to us, the number

of languages through which they have been filtered, or the

centuries during which they have been told. Many of them

have been narrated almost in their present shape for

thousands of years to the little copper-colored Sanskrit

children, listening to their mothers under the palm-trees by

the banks of the yellow Jumna--their Brahmin mother, who

softly narrated them through the ring in her nose. The very

same tale has been heard by the northern Vikings as they lay

on their shields on deck; and the Arabs couched under the

stars on the Syrian plains when their flocks were gathered

in, and their mares were picketed by the tents.

In his _Roundabout Papers_, Thackeray gives a picture of a score of

white-bearded, white-robed warriors or grave seniors of the city,

seated at the gate of Jaffa or Beyrout, listening to the story-teller

reciting his marvels out of _Arabian Nights_. "A Reading from Homer,"

by Alma Tadema, is a well-known picture which portrays the Greeks

listening to the _Tales of Homer_. In the _Lysistrata_ of

Aristophanes, the chorus of old men begins with, "I will tell ye a

story!" Plutarch, in his _Theseus_ says, "All kinds of stories were

told at the festival Oschophoria, as the mothers related such things

to their children before their departure, to give them courage." In

his _Symposium_ he mentions a child's story containing the proverb,

"No man can make a gown for the moon."--

The Moon begged her Mother to weave her a little frock which

would fit her.

The Mother said, "How can I make it fit thee, when thou art

sometimes a Full Moon, and then a Half Moon, and then a New

Moon?"--

In the works of the German, Schuppius (1677), appeared this:--

Your old folks can remember how, in the olden times, it was

customary at vespers on Easter day, to tell some Easter

tidings from the pulpit. These were foolish fables and

stories such as are told to children in the spinning-room.

They were intended to make people merry.

In England, _Chaucer's Tales_ reflect the common custom of the times

for the pilgrim, the traveler, the lawyer, the doctor, the monk, and

the nun, to relate a tale. _The Wife of Bathes Tale_ is evidently a

fairy tale. In Peele's _Old Wives' Tale_ we learn how the smith's

goodwife related some nursery tales of Old England to the two

travelers her husband brought to the cottage for the night. In

Akenside's _Pleasures of Imagination_ we find:--

Hence, finally by night,

The village matres, round the blazing hearth

Suspend the infant audience with their tales,

Breathing astonishment.

The custom of Florentine mothers has been described by the poet,

Dante, when he says:--

Another, drawing tresses from her distaff.

Told o'er among her family the tales

Of Trojans, and of Fesole and Rome.

The French troubadours and the Italian counts of Boccaccio's time told

tales. It is recorded of the French Galland, the first translator of

_The Arabian Nights_, how the young men of his day would gather under

his windows at night and shout for him until he showed himself and

told them stories. The German Luther paid a high tribute to stories;

and Goethe's mother, in giving her experience in telling stories to

her children, has shown how the German mother valued the story in the

home. To-day, savage children, when the day of toil is ended with the

setting sun, gather in groups to listen to the never-dying charm of

the tale; and the most learned of men, meeting in the great centers of

civilization to work out weighty problems, find relief and pleasure

when wit and culture tell the tale.

In the home the tale is the mother's power to build in her little

children ideals of life which will tower as a fortress when there come

critical moments of decision for which no amount of reasoning will be

a sufficient guide, but for which true feeling, a kind of unconscious

higher reasoning, will be the safest guide. In the library the story

is the greatest social asset of the librarian, it is her best means of

reaching the obscure child who seeks there some food for his spirit,

it is her best opportunity to lead and direct his tastes. In the

school it is the teacher's strongest personal ally. It is her

wishing-ring, with which she may play fairy to herself in

accomplishing a great variety of aims, and incidentally be a fairy

godmother to the child.

Story-telling is an art handling an art and therefore must be pursued

in accordance with certain principles. These principles govern: (1)

the teacher's preparation; (2) the presentation of the tale; and (3)

the return from the child.

I. THE TEACHER'S PREPARATION

1. The teacher's preparation must be concerned with a variety of

subjects. The first rule to be observed is: _Select the tale for some

purpose, to meet a situation_. This purpose may be any one of the

elements of value which have been presented here under "The Worth of

Fairy Tales." The teacher must consider, not only the possibilities of

her subject-matter and what she wishes to accomplish through the

telling of the tale, but also what the child's purpose will be in

listening. She may select her tale specifically, not just because it

contains certain interests, but because through those interests she

can direct the child's activity toward higher interests. She must

consider what problems the tale can suggest to the child. She may

select her tale to develop habits in the child, to clarify his

thinking, to give a habit of memory or to develop emotion or

imagination. She may select her tale "just for fun," to give pure joy,

or to teach a definite moral lesson, to make a selfish child see the

beauty of unselfishness or to impress an idea. The _Story of Lazy

Jack_, like the realistic _Epaminondas_, will impress more deeply than

any word of exhortation, the necessity for a little child to use "the

sense he was born with."

In the selection of the tale the teacher is up against the problem of

whether she shall choose her tale psychologically or logically. As

this is the day of the psychologic point of view in education, the

teacher realizing this feels that she must select a tale for a

particular purpose, according to the child's interests, his needs, and

the possibilities it offers for his self-activity and self-expression.

Looking freely over the field she may choose any tale which satisfies

her purposes. This is psychologic. But in a year's work this choice of

a tale for a particular purpose is followed by successive choices

until she has selected a wide variety of tales giving exercise to many

forms of activity, establishing various habits of growth. This method

of choice is the psychologic built up until, in the hands of the

teacher who knows the subject, it becomes somewhat logical. It is the

method which uses the ability of the individual teacher, alone and

unaided. There is another method. The teacher may be furnished with a

course of tales arranged by expert study of the full subject outlined

in large units of a year's work, offering the literary heritage

possible to the child of a given age. This is logical. From this

logical course of tales she may select one which answers to the

momentary need, she may use it according to its nature, to develop

habits, to give opportunity for self-activity and self-expression, and

to enter into the child's daily life. This method of choice is the

logical, which through use and adaptation has become psychologized. It

uses the ability of the individual teacher in adaptation, not unaided

and alone, but assisted by the concentrated knowledge and practice of

the expert. Such a logical course, seeking uniformity only by what it

requires at the close of a year's work, would give to the individual

teacher a large freedom of choice and would bring into kindergarten

and elementary literature a basis of content demanding as much respect

as high school or college literature. It is in no way opposed to

maintaining the child as the center of interest. The teacher's problem

is to see that she uses the logical course psychologically.

2. Having selected the tale then, from a logical course, and

psychologically for a present particular purpose, the next step is:

_Know the tale_. Know the tale historically, if possible. Know it

first as folk-lore and then as literature. Read several versions of

the tale, the original if possible, selecting that version which seems

most perfectly fitted to express what there is in the tale. As

folk-lore, study its variants and note its individual motifs. Note

what glimpses it gives of the social life and customs of a primitive

people. The best way to dwell on the life of the story, to realize it,

is to compare these motifs with similar motifs in other tales. It has

been said that we do not see anything clearly until we compare it with

another; and associating individual motifs of the tales makes the

incidents stand out most clearly. Henny Penny's walk appears more

distinctly in association with that of Medio Pollito or that of

Drakesbill or of the Foolish Timid Rabbit; the fairy words in

_Sleeping Beauty_ and the good things they bestowed upon Briar Rose in

association with the fairy wand in _Cinderella_ and the good things it

brought her; the visit of the Wolf in _The Wolf and Seven Kids_ with

the visit of the Wolf in _Three Pigs_ and of the Fox in _The Little

Rid Hin_. It is interesting to note that a clog motif, similar to the

motif of shoes in _The Elves and the Shoemaker_, occurs in the Hindu

_Panch-Rhul Ranee_, told in _Old Deccan Days_.

All the common motifs which occur in the fairy tales have been

classified by Andrew Lang under these heads:--

(1) Bride or bridegroom who transgresses a mystic command.

(2) Penelope formula; one leaves the other and returns later.

(3) Attempt to avoid Fate.

(4) Slaughter of monster.

(5) Flight, by aid of animal.

(6) Flight from giant or wizard.

(7) Success of youngest.

(8) Marriage test, to perform tasks.

(9) Grateful beasts.

(10) Strong man and his comrades.

(11) Adventure with Ogre, and trick.

(12) Descent to Hades.

(13) False bride.

(14) Bride with animal children.

From a less scientific view some of the common motifs noticeable in

the fairy tales, which however would generally fall under one of the

heads given by Lang, might be listed:--

(1) Child wandering into a home; as in _Three Bears_ and

_Snow White_.

(2) Transformation; simple, as in _Puss-in-Boots_; by

love, as in _Beauty and the Beast_, by sprinkling with

water, as in _Beauty and the Beast_ or by bathing, as in

_Catskin_; by violence, as in _Frog Prince_ and _White

Cat_.

(3) Tasks as marriage tests; as in _Cinderella_.

(4) Riddle test; as in _Peter, Paul, and Espen_; questions

asked, as in _Red Riding Hood_.

(5) Magic sleep; as in _Sleeping Beauty_.

(6) Magic touch; as in _Golden Goose_.

(7) Stupid person causing royalty to laugh; as in _Lazy Jack_.

(8) Exchange; as in _Jack and the Beanstalk_.

(9) Curiosity punished; as in _Bluebeard_ and _Three Bears_.

(10) Kindness to persons rewarded; as in _Cinderella, Little

Two-Eyes_, and _The House in the Wood_.

(11) Kindness to animals repaid; as in _Thumbelina, Cinderella_,

and _White Cat_.

(12) Industry rewarded; as in _Elves and the Shoemaker_.

(13) Hospitality rewarded; as in _Tom Thumb_.

(14) Success of a venture; as in _Dick Whittington_.

After studying the tale as folk-lore, know it as literature. Master it

as a classic, test it as literature, to see wherein lies its appeal to

the emotions, its power of imagination, its basis of truth, and its

quality of form; study it as a short-story and view it as a piece of

narration. It is rather interesting to note that you can get all there

is in a tale from any one point of view. If you follow the sequence as

setting, through association you get the whole, as may be seen by

referring to _Chanticleer and Partlet_ under the heading, "Setting,"

in the chapter on the "Short-Story." Or, if you follow the successive

doings of the characters you get the whole, as may be observed in the

story of _Medio Pollito_, described later in the "Animal Tale" in the

chapter, "Classes of Tales." Or if you follow the successive

happenings to the characters, the plot, you get the whole, as may

appear in the outline of _Three Pigs_ given in the chapter which

handles "Plot." Note the beauty of detail and the quality of

atmosphere with which the setting surrounds the tale; note the

individual traits of the characters and their contrasts; observe how

what each one does causes what happens to him. Realize your story from

the three points of view to enter into the author's fullness. Get a

good general notion of the story first.

3. The next step is: _Master the complete structure of the tale_. This

is the most important step in the particular study of the tale, for it

is the unity about which any perfection in the art of telling must

center. To discern that repose of centrality which the main theme of

the tale gives, to follow it to its climax and to its conclusion,

where poetic justice leaves the listener satisfied--this is the most

fundamental work of the story-teller. The teacher must analyze the

structure of her tale into its leading episodes, as has been

illustrated in the handling of structure, under the subject, "Plot,"

in the chapter on the "Short-Story."

4. The next step is: _Secure the message of the tale_. The message is

what we wish to transmit, it is the explicit reason for telling the

tale. And one evidently must possess a message before one can give it.

As the message is the chief worth of the tale, the message should

dominate the telling and pervade its life. A complete realization of

the message of the tale will affect the minutest details giving color

and tone to the telling, and resulting so that what the child does

with the story will deepen the impression of the message he receives.

5. The next step is: _Master the tale as form_. This means that if the

tale is in classic form, not only the message and the structure must

be transmitted, but the actual words. Words are the artist's medium,

Stevenson includes them in his pattern of style, and how can we

exclude them if we wish to express what they have expressed? A tale

like Kipling's _The Elephant's Child_ would be ruined without those

clinging epithets, such as "the wait-a-bit thorn-bush," "mere-smear

nose," "slushy squshy mud-cap," "Bi-Colored-Python-Rock-Snake," and

"satiable curtiosity." No one could substitute other words in this

tale; for contrasts of feeling and humor are so tied up with the words

that other words would fail to tell the real story. If an interjection

has seemed an insignificant part of speech, note the vision of

tropical setting opened up by the exclamation, "O Bananas! Where did

you learn that trick?" This is indeed a tale where the form is the

matter, the form and the message are one complete whole that cannot be

separated. But it is a proof that where any form is of sufficient

perfection to be a classic form, you may give a modified tale by

changing it, but you do not give the real complete tale. You cannot

tell Andersen's _Tin Soldier_ in your own words; for its sentences,

its phrases, its sounds, its suggestive language, its humor, its

imagination, its emotion, and its message, are so intricately woven

together that you could not duplicate them.

When the fairy tale does not possess a settled classic form, select,

as was mentioned, that version in which the language best conveys the

life of the story, improving it yourself, if you can, in harmony with

the standards of literature, until the day in the future when the tale

may be fortunate enough to receive a settled form at the hands of a

literary artist. Sometimes a slight change may improve greatly an old

tale. In Grimm's _Briar Rose_[1] the episode of the Prince and the old

Man contains irrelevant material. The two paragraphs following, "after

the lapse of many years there came a king's son into the country,"

easily may be re-written to preserve the same unity and simplicity

which mark the rest of the tale. This individual retelling of an old

tale demands a careful distinction between what is essential and

internal and what may have been added, what is accidental and

external. The clock-case in _The Wolf and Seven Kids_ evidently is not

a part of the original story, which arose before clocks were in use,

and is a feature added in some German telling of the tale. It may be

retained but it is not essential to the tale that it should be. Exact

conversations and bits of dialogue, repetitive phrases, rhymes,

concrete words which visualize, brief expressions, and Anglo-Saxon

words--these are all bits of detail which need to be mastered in a

complete acquirement of the story's form, because these are

characteristics of the form which time has settled upon the old tales.

Any literary form bestowed upon the tales worthy of the name

literature, will have to preserve these essentials.

II. THE PRESENTATION OF THE TALE

In the oral presentation of the tale new elements of the teacher's

preparation enter, for here the voice is the medium and the teacher

must use the voice as the organist his keys. The aim of the oral

presentation is to give the spiritual effect. This requires certain

conditions of effectiveness--to speak with distinctness, to give the

sense, and to cause to understand; and certain intellectual

requirements--to articulate with perfection, to present successive

thoughts in clear outline, and to preserve relative values of

importance.

The production of the proper effect necessitates placing in the

foreground, with full expression, what needs emphasis, and throwing

back with monotony or acceleration parts that do not need emphasis. It

requires slighting subordinate, unimportant parts, so that one point

is made and one total impression given. This results in that

flexibility and lightsomeness of the voice, which is one of the most

important features in the telling of the tale. The study of technique,

when controlled by these principles of vocal expression, is not

opposed to the art of story-telling any more than the painter's

knowledge of color is opposed to his art of painting. To obtain

complete control of the voice as an instrument of the mind, there is

necessary: (1) training of the voice; (2) exercises in breathing; (3)

a knowledge of gesture; and (4) a power of personality.

(1) Training of the voice. This training aims to secure freedom of

tone, purity of tone, fullness of tone, variety of volume, and

tone-color. It will include a study of phonetics to give correct

pronunciation of sounds and a knowledge of their formation; freeing

exercises to produce a jaw which is not set, an open throat, a mobile

lip, and nimble tongue; and exercises to get rid of nasality or

throatiness. The art of articulation adds to the richness of meaning,

it is the connection between sound and sense. Open sounds are in

harmony with joy, and very distinct emotional effects are produced by

arrangements of consonants. The effect created by the use of the

vowels and consonants in _The Spider and the Flea_ has already been

referred to under "Setting." The open vowels of "Ón, little Drumikin!

Tum-pä, tum-t[=oo]!" help to convey the impression of lightsome gaiety

in _Lambikin_. The effect of power displayed by "Then I'll huff and

I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in," is made largely by the sound

of the consonants _ff_ and the _n_ in the concluding _in_, the force

of the rough _u_ of _huff_ and _puff_, and the prolonged _o_ in

_blow_. The effect of walking is produced by the _p_ of "_Trip,

trap_," and of varied walking by the change of vowel from _[ui]_ to

_[ua]_. The action of "I have come to gobble you up," is emphasized

and made realistic by the _bb_ of _gobble_ and the _p_ of _up_.

Attention to the power of phonics to contribute to the emotional force

and to the strength of meaning in the tale, will reveal to the

story-teller many new beauties.

(2) Exercises in breathing. Training in breathing includes exercises

to secure the regulation of proper breathing during speech and to

point out the relation between breathing and voice expression. The

correct use of the voice includes also ability to place tone.--Find out

your natural tone and tell the story in that tone.--Many of the

effects of the voice need to be dealt with from the inside, not

externally. The use of the pause in story-telling is one of the

subtlest and most important elements that contribute to the final

effect. The proper placing of the pause will follow unconsciously as a

consequence when the structure of the story is realized in distinct

episodes and the proper emphasis given mentally to the most important

details of action, while less emphasis in thought is given to

subordinate parts. Therefore, the study of the pause must be made, not

artificially and externally, but internally through the elements of

the story which produce the pause. Tone-color, which is to ordinary

speech what melody is to music--those varied effects of intonation,

inflection, and modulation--is to be sought, not as a result from an

isolated study of technique, but from attention to those elements in

association with the complete realization of the life of the story.

Genuine feeling is worth more than mere isolated exercises to secure

modulation, and complete realization eliminates the necessity of

"pretending to be." The study of the fairy tale as literature, as has

been indicated in the chapter on "Principles of Selection," will

therefore be fundamental to the presentation of the tale. Entering

into the motives of the story gives action, entering into the thought

gives form, and entering into the feeling gives tone-color to the

voice. The sincere desire to share the thought will be the best aid to

bring expression.

(3) A knowledge of gesture. The teacher must understand the laws of

gesture. The body is one means of the mind's expression. There is the

eloquence of gesture and of pose. The simplest laws of gesture may be

stated:--

(a) All gesture precedes speech in proportion to the

intense realization of emotion.

(b) All expression begins in the face and passes to some

other agent of the body in proportion to the quality

Of the emotion. The eye leads in pointing.

(c) Hands and arms remain close to the body in gesture

when intensity of emotion is controlled.

In regard to gesture, a Children's Library pamphlet, dealing with the

purpose of story-telling, has said, "The object of the story-teller is

to present the story, not in the way advocated usually in the schools,

but to present it with as little dramatic excitement and foreign

gesture as possible, keeping one's personality in the background and

giving all prominence to the story itself, relying for interest in the

story alone." The schools have perhaps been misinterpreted. It is

clear that only that personality is allowable which interprets truly

the story's life. The listening child must be interested in the life

of the story, not in the story-teller; and therefore gesture, tone, or

sentiment that is individual variation and addition to the story

itself, detracts from the story, is foreign to its thought, and

occupies a wrong place of prominence. It is possible to tell a story,

however, just as the author tells it, and yet give it naturally by

realizing it imaginatively and by using the voice and the body

artistically, as means of expression.

(4) A power of personality. What rules shall be given for the making

of that personality which is to bring with it force in the telling of

the tale and which must override phonetics, inflection, and gesture?

The very best help towards acquiring that personality which is the

power of story-telling, is to have a power of life gained through the

experience of having lived; to have a power of emotion acquired

through the exercise of daily affairs; a power of imagination won from

having dwelt upon the things of life with intentness, a power of

sympathy obtained from seeing the things of others as you meet them

day by day; and a first-hand knowledge of the sights and sounds and

beauties of Nature, a knowledge of bird and flower, tree and rock,

their names and some of their secrets--knowledge accumulated from

actual contact with the real physical world. This power of life will

enable the story-teller to enter, at the same time, into the life of

the story she tells, and the life of those listening, to see the gift

of the one and the need of the other.

The ideal position for the story-teller is to be seated opposite the

center of the semicircle of listeners, facing them. The extreme

nearness of the group, when the teller seeks the fingers of the

listeners to add force to the telling, seems an infringement upon the

child's personal rights. A strong personality will make the story go

home without too great nearness and will want to give the children a

little room so that their thoughts may meet hers out in the story.

Suggestions for telling. Now that the teacher is ready to speak, her

first step in the art of story-telling, which is the first step in the

art of any teaching, which lies at the very foundation of teaching,

which is the most important step, and which is the step that often is

neglected, is the _establishing of the personal relation between

herself and the listener_. This is one of those subtleties which

evades measuring, but its influence is most lasting. It is the setting

to the whole story of teaching. It must play so important a part

because, as teacher and listener are both human beings, there must be

between them a common bond of humanity. How do you wish to appear to

this group of listeners? As a friend to be trusted, a brother or

sister to give help, or as a good comrade to be played with; as

"master, expert, leader, or servant"? If you wish to be as real and

forceful as the characters in your story, you must do something which

will cause the personal relation you desire, to be established; and

moreover, having established it, you must live up to it, and prove no

friend without faith. You must do this before you presume to teach or

to tell a story. You need not do it before each individual story you

present to a group you meet often; you may do it so effectively, with

a master-stroke, at the beginning when you first meet your class, that

all you need do at successive meetings will be but to add point to

your first establishment.

A student-teacher, in telling a story to a group of kindergarten

children who were complete strangers, and telling it to them as they

sat in a semicircle in front of her comrades, adult students,

established this personal relation by beginning to tell the little

children her experience with the first telling of _Three Bears_ to a

little girl of four:--Seated before a sand-box in the yard, after

hearing the story of _Three Bears_, M---- had been asked, "Wouldn't

this be a good time for you to tell me the story?" In reply, she

paused, and while the story-teller was expecting her to begin,

suddenly said, "Do you think M----'s big enough for all that?" and

refused to tell a word. Then turning to the group before her, the

student-teacher made the direct appeal. "But you are the biggest

little people in the kindergarten, and you wouldn't treat a story like

that, would you?" The children, through the personal picture of

friendly story-telling with a little child, that paralleled their own

situation somewhat, immediately felt at home with the teller; it was

just as if they were the same intimate friends with her that the

little girl portrayed to them was. The human bond of good comradeship

and intimacy was established. In the direct appeal at the end, the

children were held up to an ideal they dare not disappoint, they must

live up to their size, be able to get the story, and be the biggest

little people in the kindergarten by showing what they could do with

it. Again there was an undefined problem thrown at them, as it

were--an element of wonder. They did not know just what was coming and

they were mentally alert, waiting, on the lookout. The way for the

story was open.--This is what you want, for no matter how perfect a

gem of folk-lore you tell, it will fall heedless if the children do

not listen to it.

The second step in the art of story-telling is one which grows

naturally out of this first step. This second step, _to put the story

in a concrete situation for the child_, to make the connection between

the child and the literature you present, is the one which displays

your unique power as an artist. It is the step which often is omitted

and is the one which exercises all your individual ability and

cleverness. It is the step which should speak comfort to the eager

teacher of to-day, who is compelled to stand by, Montessori fashion,

while many changing conceptions say to her: "Hands off! It is not what

you do that helps the child develop; it is what he himself does!" Here

at least is one of the teacher's chances to act. This step is the

opening of the gateway so that the story you are about to tell may

enter into the thoughts of your listeners. It is your means to

organize the tale in the child's life. If in the school program you

permit nature study, representing the central interest, to occupy the

place of main emphasis, and if the game, occupation, and song work is

related to the child's life, this organization of the child's tale in

his life will be accomplished naturally.

In the example cited above, both the establishment of the personal

relation and the placing of the story in a concrete situation, were

managed partly at the one stroke. Your best help to furnish a concrete

situation will be to preserve at the one end a sympathy for the life

of your story and at the other to perceive the experience of the

children in the listening group. Seeing both at once will result in a

knowledge of what the children need most to make the story go home. If

your children are good enough, and you and they sufficiently good

friends to bear the fun of pantomime and the gaiety of hilarity,

asking several boys, as they walk across the room before the children,

to imitate some animals they had seen at a circus, and getting the

children to guess the animal represented until they hit upon the

elephant, would put certain children in a spirit of fun that would be

exactly the wide-awake brightness and good humor needed to receive the

story of _The Elephant's Child_. You can get children best into the

story-telling mood by calling up ideas in line with the story. In the

case of the story cited above, under the establishment of the personal

relation, the story, _The Bremen Town Musicians_, was related to the

child's experience by a few questions concerning kinds of music he

knew, and what musician and kind of music the kindergarten had. In

telling Andersen's _Tin Soldier_ you must call up experience

concerning a soldier, not only because of the relation of the toy to

the real soldier, but because the underlying meaning of the tale is

courage, and the emotional theme is steadfastness. And to preserve the

proper unity between the tale and the telling of it, the telling must

center itself in harmony with the message of the tale, its one

dominant impression and its one dominant mood.

Every story told results in some return from the child. The teacher,

in her presentation, must _conceive the child's aim in listening_.

This does not mean that she forces her aim upon him. But it does mean

that she makes a mental list of the child's own possible problems that

the tale is best suited to originate, one of which the child himself

will suggest. For the return should originate, not in imitation of

what the teller plans, but spontaneously, as the child's own plan,

answering to some felt need of his. But that does not prevent the

story-teller from using her own imagination, and through it, from

realizing what opportunities for growth the story presents, and what

possible activities ought to be stimulated. A good guide will keep

ahead of the children, know the possibilities of the material, and by

knowledge and suggestion lead them to realize and accomplish the plans

they crudely conceive. A consideration of these plans will modify the

telling of the tale, and should be definitely thought about before the

telling of the tale. A story told definitely to stimulate in the

children dramatization, will emphasize action and dialogue; while one

told to stimulate the painting of a water-color sketch, will emphasize

the setting of the tale.

The telling of the tale. With this preparation, directions seem

futile. The tale should tell itself naturally. You must begin at the

beginning, as your tale will if you have selected a good one. You must

tell it simply, as your tale will have simplicity if it is a good one,

and your telling must be in harmony with the tale you tell. You will

tell it with joy; of course, if there is joy in it, or beauty, which

is a "joy forever," or if you are giving joy to your listeners. Tell

it, if possible, with a sense of bestowing a blessing, and a delicate

perception of the reception it meets in the group before you, and the

pleasure and interest it arouses in them, so that in the telling there

is that human setting which is a quickening of the spirit and a union

of ideas, which is something quite new and different from the story,

yet born of the story.

The re-creative method of story-telling. This preparation for telling

here described will result in a fundamental imitation of the author of

the story. By participating in the life of the story; by realizing it

as folklore; by realizing it as literature--its emotion, its

imagination, its basis of truth, its message, its form; by paying

conscious attention to the large units of the structure, the exact

sequence of the plot, the characters, and the setting, the particular

details of description, and the unique word--the story-teller

reproduces the author's mode of thinking. She does with her mind what

she wishes the child to do with his. With the very little child in the

kindergarten and early first grade, who analyzes but slightly, this

results consciously in a clear notion of the story, which shows itself

in the child's free re-telling of the story as a whole. He may want to

tell the story or he may not. Usually he enjoys re-telling it after

some lapse of time; perhaps he tells it to himself, meanwhile. With

the older child, who analyzes more definitely, this results in a

retelling which actually reproduces the teller's mode of thinking. If

persisted in, it gives to one's mode of thinking, the _story-mode_,

just as nature study gives to life the nature point of view. This mode

of thinking is the _mode of re-creation_, of realization. It

re-experiences the life, it reaches the processes of the mind, and

develops free mind movement. It is a habit of thinking, and is at the

basis of reading, which is thinking through symbols; at the basis of

the memorization of poetry, which must first see the pictures the poet

has portrayed; it is the best help toward the adult study of

literature, and the narration of history and geography. It is the

power to conceive a situation, which is most useful in science,

mathematics, and the reasoning of logic. "For," says Professor John

Dewey, "the mind which can make independent judgments, look at facts

with fresh vision, and reach conclusions with simplicity, is the

perennial power in the world."

This re-creative method of fundamental imitation was illustrated in the

telling of Andersen's _Princess and the Pea_, in a student-teacher's

class:

The story was told by the Professor. After the telling of

the story it was decided to have the story told again, but

this time in parts and by those who had listened, in such a

way that it would seem as if one person were telling the

whole story.

The Professor named the first part of the story. A student

was asked to tell the story from _the beginning_ to the end

of _the Prince's coming home again, sad at heart_. Another

student told the second part, beginning with _the storm_ and

ending with _what the old Queen thought_. A third student

told the third part, beginning with _the next morning_ and

ending with the close of the story, _Now this is a true

story_.

The Professor next asked students to think over the entire

story, to see if each student could find any weak places in

the remembering of the story. Several students reported

difficulty--one failed to remember the exact description of

the storm. A number of details were thus filled in, in the

exact words of the author. After this intimate handling of

the separate parts of the story, a final re-telling by one

student--omitted in this case because of lack of time--would

bring together what had been contributed by individual

students, and would represent the final re-creation of the

entire story.

The simplicity of this selection, the simplicity of the plot, the few

characters, the literary art of the story, the skillful use of the

unique word, the art of presenting distinct pictures by means of vivid

words, through suggestion rather than through illustration, together

with the delicate humor that hovered about the tale, and the art of

the Professor's telling--all combined in the final effect. The

re-telling of the story in parts accomplished the analysis of the

story into three big heads:

(1) From _The Prince who wanted a real Princess_ ... to _his

return home_.

(2) From _The storm, one dark evening_ ... to _what the old Queen

thought_.

(3) From _What the Queen did next morning_ ... to _the end of the

story_.

In the analysis of the story into parts, telling exactly what happened

gave the framework of the story, gave its basis of meaning. Telling it

in three steps gave a strong sense of sequence and a vivid conception

of climax.--If the division into parts for re-telling corresponds with

the natural divisions of the plot into its main episodes, this telling

in steps impresses the structure of the tale and is in harmony with

the real literary mastery of the story.--The re-telling of each part

drew attention to the visualization of that part. Each hesitation on

behalf of a student telling a part, led the class to fill in the

details for themselves, and impressed the remembrance of the exact

words of the author. This resulted in the mastery of each part through

a visualization of it. Hand in hand with the visualization came the

feeling aroused by the realization. This was more easily mastered

because changes of feeling were noticeable in passing from one part of

the story to another.

After a mastery of the structure of the story through analysis, after

a mastery of the thought, imagination, and feeling of the story, after

a mastery of the form, and the exact words of the author in the

description of details embodied in that form, the story is possessed

as the teller's own, ready to be given, not only to bestow pleasure,

as in this case, but often to transmit a message of worth and to

preserve a classic form.

_The Foolish Timid Rabbit_, a Jataka tale, might be prepared for

telling by this same re-creative method of story-telling. It

must be remembered--and because of its importance it will bear

repetition,--that the separation of the story-structure into parts for

separate telling should always be in harmony with the divisions of the

plot so that there may be no departure from the author's original mode

of thinking, and no break in the natural movement of sequence. A

separation of the tale into parts for re-telling would result in the

following analysis:--

(1) _Rabbit asleep under a palm tree_ ... to _his meeting

hundreds of Rabbits_.

(2) _Rabbits met a Deer_ ... to _when the Elephant joined them_.

(3) _Lion saw the animals running_ ... to _when he came to

the Rabbit who first had said the earth was all breaking up_.

(4) _Lion asked the Foolish Rabbit, 'Is it true the earth is

all breaking up_,' ... to _end of the story, 'And they all

stopped running_.'

After the re-telling of these parts, each part should be filled in

with the exact details so that in the final re-telling practically the

whole tale is reproduced. This is a very good tale to tell by this

method because the theme is attractive, the plot is simple, the

sequence a very evident movement, the characters distinctive, the

setting pleasing and rather prominent, and the details sufficiently

few and separate to be grasped completely. The final re-telling

therefore may be accomplished readily as a perfected result of this

method of telling a tale.

During the telling, the charm here is in preserving the typical bits

of dialogue, giving to the Lion's words that force and strength and

sagacity which rank him the King of the Beasts. One must feel clearly

the message and make this message enter into every part of the

telling: That the Lion showed his superior wisdom by making a stand

and asking for facts, by accepting only what he tested; while the

Rabbit showed his credulity by foolishly accepting what he heard

without testing it.

Adaptation of the fairy tale. Sometimes, in telling a story one cannot

tell it exactly as it is. This may be the case when the story is too

long for a purpose, or if it contains matter which had better be

omitted, or if it needs to be amplified. In any case one must follow

these general rules:--

(1) Preserve the essential story from a single point of view.

(2) Preserve a clear sequence with a distinct climax.

(3) Preserve a simplicity of plot and simple language.

In shortening a long story one may:

(1) Eliminate secondary themes.

(2) Eliminate extra personages.

(3) Eliminate passages of description.

(4) Eliminate irrelevant events.

It has been the practice to adapt such stories as Andersen's _Ugly

Duckling_ and Ruskin's _King of the Golden River_. In the _King of the

Golden River_ the description of Treasure Valley could be condensed

into a few sentences and the character of South West Wind omitted; and

in _The Ugly Duckling_, passages of description and bits of philosophy

might be left out. But there is no reason why literature in the

elementary school should be treated with mutilation. These stories are

not suited to the kindergarten or first grade and may be reserved for

the third and fourth grades where they may be used and enjoyed by the

children as they are. Andersen's _Thumbelina_ might be adapted for

kindergarten children because it is suitable for them yet it is very

long. It could easily be analyzed into its leading episodes, each

episode making a complete tale, and one or more episodes be told at

one time. This would have the added attraction for the child of having

one day's story follow naturally the preceding story. Adapted thus,

the episodes would be:--

(1) Thumbelina in her Cradle.

(2) Thumbelina and the Toad.

(3) Thumbelina and the Fishes.

(4) Thumbelina and the Cockchafer in the tree.

(5) Thumbelina and the Field-Mouse.

(6) Thumbelina and the Mole.

(7) Thumbelina and the Swallow.

(8) Thumbelina as Queen of the Flowers.

Andersen's _Snow Man_ as adapted for the kindergarten would require

the episode of the lover omitted. It is irrelevant, not essential to

the story, and is an illustration of the sentimental, which must be

omitted when we use Andersen. To omit this episode one would cut out

from "'That is wonderfully beautiful,' said a young girl," to the end

of "'Why, they belong to the Master,' retorted the Yard Dog."

III. THE RETURN FROM THE CHILD[2]

The telling of the fairy tale is one phase of the teacher's art. And

it is maintained that fairy tales are one portion of subject-matter

suited to accomplish the highest greatness of the teaching art. For

teaching is an art, an art of giving suggestions, of bearing

influences, of securing adjustments, an art of knowing the best and of

making it known. The material the artist works upon is the living

child. The medium the artist uses is subject-matter. In the process

the artist must ask, "What new connections or associations am I

establishing in the child?" "To what power of curiosity and of

problem-solving do these connections and associations lead?" The ideal

which guides the teacher is the child's best self as she can interpret

him. This ideal will be higher and larger than the child himself can

know. In the manipulation of subject-matter, through the practical

application of principles, the artist aims to have the child awake,

inquire, plan, and act, so that under her influences he grows by what

he thinks, by what he feels, by what he chooses, and by what he

achieves.

Teaching will be good art when the child's growth is a perfect fit to

the uses of his life, when subject-matter brings to him influences he

needs and can use. Teaching will be good art when it breaks up old

habits, starts new ones, strengthens good traits, and weakens bad

ones; when it gives a new attitude of cheerfulness in life or of

thoughtfulness for others or of reason in all things. It will be good

art when under it the child wants to do something and learns _how_ to

do it. Teaching will be great art when under it the child continually

attains self-activity, self-development, and self-consciousness, when

he continually grows so that he may finally contribute his utmost

portion to the highest evolution of the race. Teaching will be great

art when it touches the emotions of the child,--when history calls

forth a warm indignation against wrong, when mathematics strengthens a

noble love of truth or literature creates a strong satisfaction in

justice. This is the poetry of teaching, because mere subject-matter

becomes a criticism of life. Teaching will be great art when you, the

teacher, through the humble means of your presentation of

subject-matter, furnish the child at the same time with ideas,

perceptions, and opinions which are your personal criticism of life.

Teaching will be great art when you, the teacher, have worked up into

your own character a portion of life which is of value, so that the

child coming in touch with you knows an influence more powerful than

anything you can do or say. Teaching will then awaken in the child a

social relation of abiding confidence, of secure trust, of faith

unshakable. And this relation will then create for the teacher the

obligation to keep this trust inviolable, to practice daily, _noblesse

oblige_. Teaching will be great art when with the subject-matter the

artist gives love, a great universal kindness that thinks not of

itself but, being no respecter of persons, looks upon each child in

the light of that child's own best realization. This penetrating

sympathy, this great understanding, will call forth from the child an

answering love, which grows daily into a larger humanity of soul until

the child, in time too, comes to have a universal sympathy. This is

the true greatness of teaching. This it is which brings the child into

harmony with the Divine love which speaks in all God's handiwork and

brings him into that unity with God which is the mystery of Froebel's

teaching.

During the story-telling one must ask, "In all this what is the part

the child has to play?" In the telling the teacher has aimed to give

what there is in the tale. The child's part is to receive what there

is in the tale, the emotion, the imagination, the truth, and the form

embodied in the tale. The content of feeling, of portrayal, of truth,

and of language he receives, he will in some way transmit before the

school day is ended, even if in forms obscure and hidden. Long years

afterwards, he may exhibit this same emotion, imagination, truth and

form, in deeds that proclaim loudly the return from his fairy tales.

However, if the child is being surrounded by pragmatic influences

through his teachers he will soon become aware that his feelings are

useless unless he does something because of them; that what he sees is

worthless unless he sees to some purpose; that it is somewhat

fruitless to know the truth and not use it; and if words have in their

form expressed the life of the tale, he is more dead than words not to

express the life that teems within his own soul. The little child

grows gradually into the responsibility for action, for expression,

into a consciousness of purpose and a knowledge of his own problems.

But each opportunity he is given to announce his own initiative breaks

down the inhibition of inaction and aids him to become a free

achieving spirit. As the child listens to the tale he is a thinking

human creature; but in the return which he makes to his tale he

becomes a quickened creator. The use which he makes of the ideas he

has gained through his fairy tales, will be the work of his creative

imagination.

Fairy tales, though perfectly ordinary subject-matter, may become the

means of the greatest end in education, the development in the child

of the power of consciousness. The special appeal to the various

powers and capacities of the child mind, such as emotion, imagination,

memory, and reason, here have been viewed separately. But in life

action the mind is a unit. Thinking is therefore best developed

through subject-matter which focuses the various powers of the child.

The one element which makes the child manipulate his emotion,

imagination, memory, and reason, is the presence of a problem. The

problem is the best chance for the child to secure the adjustment of

means to ends. This adjustment of means to ends in a problem

situation, is real thinking and is the use of the highest power of

which man is capable, that of functional consciousness. The real need

of doing things is the best element essential to the problem. Through

a problem which expresses such a genuine need, to learn to know

himself, to realize his capacities and his limitations, and to secure

for himself the evolution of his own character until it adapts, not

itself to its environment, but its environment to its own uses and

masters circumstances for its own purposes--this is the high hill to

which education must look, "from which cometh its strength." The

little child, in listening to a fairy tale, in seeing in it a problem

of real need, and in working it out, may win some of this strength. We

have previously seen that fairy tales, because of their universal

elements, are subject-matter rich in possible problems.

During the story-telling what is the part the child has to play? The

part of the child in all this may be to listen to the story because he

has some problem of his own to work out through the literature,

because he has some purpose of his own in listening, because he enjoys

the story and wishes to find out what there is in it, or because he

expects it to show him what he may afterwards wish to do with it. In

any case the child's part is to see the characters and what they do,

to follow the sequence of the tale, and to realize the life of the

story through the telling. He may have something to say about the

story at the close of the telling, he may wish to compare its motifs

with similar motifs in other tales, or he may wish to talk about the

life exhibited by the story. The various studies of the curriculum

every day are following more closely the Greek ideal and giving the

child daily exercise to keep the channels of expression free and open.

And when the well-selected fairy tale which is art is told, through

imitation and invention it awakens in the child the art-impulse and

tends to carry him from appreciation to expression. If before the

telling the story-teller has asked herself, "What variety of creative

reaction will this tale arouse in the child?" and if she has told the

story in the way to bring forward the best possibility for creative

reaction the nature of the tale affords, she will help to make clear

to the child what he himself will want to do with the story. She will

help him to see a way to use the story to enter into his everyday

life. The return of creative reaction possible to the child will be

that in harmony with his natural instincts or large general interests.

These instincts, as indicated by Professor John Dewey, in _The School

and Society_, are:--

(1) the instinct of conversation or communication;

(2) the instinct of inquiry or finding out things;

(3) the instinct of construction or making things; and

(4) the instinct of artistic expression or [of imitating and

combining things].

(1) The instinct of conversation. The little child likes to talk. If

you have ever listened to a little girl of five artlessly proceeding

to tell a story, such as _Little Black Sambo_, which she had gathered

from looking at a neighbor's book, but which she had not yet mastered

sufficiently to grasp its central theme, reiterating the particular

incidents with the enthusiasm and joy and narrative tone of the

story-teller, you realized how the child likes to talk. For there

appeared the charm of the story-telling mode distinct from the story

it told.

Because of this instinct of conversation one form of creative reaction

may be _language expression_. The oral reproduction of the story

re-experiences the story anew. The teacher may help here by creating a

situation for the re-telling. A teacher might put a little foreign boy

through rapid paces in learning English by selecting a story like _The

Sparrow and the Crow_ and by managing that in the re-telling the

little foreigner would be the Crow who makes the repetitive speeches,

who must go to the Pond and say:--

Your name, sir, is Pond

And my name is Crow,

Please give me some water,

For if you do so

I can wash and be neat,

And the nice soup can eat,

Though I really don't know

What the sparrow can mean,

I'm quite sure, as crows go,

I'm remarkably clean.

As the Crow must go to the Deer, the Cow, the Grass, and the

Blacksmith, and each time varies the beginning of his speech, four

other children could represent the Crow successively, thus bringing in

a social element which would relieve any one child's timidity. By that

time any group of children would realize the fun they could get by

playing out the simple tale; and there would be petitions to be the

Deer, the Cow, etc. If the teacher sees that the characters place

themselves as they should, carry out the parts naturally, and that the

Crow begs with the correct rhyme, she is performing her legitimate

task of suggestion and criticism that works toward developing from the

first attempts of children, a good form in harmony with the story.

Here, while there is free play, the emphasis is on the speeches of

rhyme, so that the reaction is largely a language expression. The

language expression is intimately related to all varieties of

expression of which the child is capable, and may be made to dominate

and use any of them, or be subordinated to them.

A most delightful form of creative reaction possible to the child in

language expression, is the _formation of original little stories_

similar to the "Toy Stories" written by Carolyn Bailey for the

_Kindergarten Review_ during 1915. A story similar to "The Little

Woolly Dog" might be originated by the little child about any one of

his toys. This would be related to his work with fairy tales because

in such a story the child would be imitating his accumulative tales;

and the adventures given the toy would be patterned after the familiar

adventures of his tales.

A form of creative reaction, which will be a part of the language

return given by the first-grade child from the telling of the tale,

will be his _reading of the tale_. When the child re-experiences the

life of the story as has been described, his mental realization of it

will be re-creative, and his reading the tale aloud afterwards will be

just as much a form of re-creative activity as his re-telling of the

tale. The only difference is, that in one case the re-creative

activity is exercised by thinking through symbols, while in the other

case it is employed without the use of a book. This concentration on

the reality brings about the proper relation of reading to literature.

It frees literature from the slavery to reading which it has been made

to serve, yet it makes literature contribute more effectively toward

good reading than it has done in the past.

(2) The instinct of inquiry. No more predominating trait proclaims

itself in the child than the instinct of inquiry. Every grown-up

realizes his habit of asking questions, which trait Kipling has

idealized delightfully in _The Elephant's Child_. We know also that

the folk-tale in its earliest beginnings was the result of primitive

man's curiosity toward the actual physical world about him, its sun

and sky, its mountain and its sea. The folk-tale therefore is the

living embodiment of the child's instinct of inquiry permanently

recorded in the adventures and surprises of the folk-tale characters.

And because the folk-tale is so pervaded with this quest of the ages

in search of truth, and because the child by nature is so deeply

imitative, the folk-tale inherently possesses an educational value to

stir and feed original impulses of investigation and experiment. This

is a value which is above and beyond its more apparent uses.

In the creative reaction to be expected from the child's use of fairy

tales the expression of this instinct of investigation unites with the

instinct of conversation, the instinct of construction, and the

instinct of artistic expression. In fact, it is the essence of

creative reaction in any form, whether in the domain of the Industrial

Shop, the Domestic Science Kitchen, the Household Arts' Sewing-Room,

or the Fine Arts' Studio. To do things and then see what happens, is

both the expression of this instinct and the basis of any creative

return the child makes through his handling of the fairy tale. In the

formation of a little play such as is given on page 149, the instinct

of conversation is expressed in the talk of the Trees to the little

Bird. But this talk of the Trees also expresses _doing things to see

what happens_; each happening to the Bird, each reply of a Tree to the

Bird, influences each successive doing of the Bird. After the Story of

_Medio Pollito_ all the child's efforts of making Little Half-Chick

into a weathervane and of fixing the directions to his upright shaft,

will be expressions of the search for the unknown, of the instinct of

experiment. After the story of _The Little Elves_, the dance of the

Elves to the accompaniment of music will represent an expression of

the artistic instinct; but it also represents expression of the

instinct for the new and the untried. After the dance is finished the

child has seen himself do something he had not done before. This union

of the instinct of inquiry with that of artistic expression shows

itself most completely in the entire dramatization of a fairy tale.

(3) The instinct of construction. In his industrial work the very

youngest child is daily exercising his active tendency to make

things. In the kindergarten he may make the toy with which he plays,

the doll-house and its furnishings, small clay dishes, etc. In

the first grade he may make small toy animals, baskets, paper hats,

card-board doll-furniture, little houses, book-covers, toys, etc.

Self-expression, self-activity, and constructive activity would all

be utilized, and the work would have more meaning to the child, if it

_expressed some idea_, if after the story of _Three Bears_ the child

would make the Bears' kitchen, the table of wood, and the three

porridge bowls of clay, or the Bears' hall with the three chairs. In

the Grimm tale, _Sweet Rice Porridge_, after the story has been told

and before the re-telling, children would like to make a clay

porridge-pot, which could be there before them in the re-telling.

Perhaps they would make the rice porridge also, and put some in the

pot, for little children are very fond of making things to eat, and

domestic science has descended even into the kindergarten. After the

story of _Chanticleer and Partlet_, children would enjoy making a

little wagon and harnessing to it a Duck, and putting in it the Cock

and the Hen, little animals they have made. In the first grade, after

the story of _Sleeping Beauty_, children would naturally take great

pleasure in making things needed to play the story: the paper silver

and gold crowns of the maids and Princess and the Prince's sword.

After the story of _Medio Pollito_, we have noted with what special

interest children might make a weathervane, with Little Half-Chick

upon it!

(4) The instinct of artistic expression. This is the instinct of

drawing, painting, paper-cutting, and crayon-sketching, the instinct

of song, rhythm, dance, and game, of free play and dramatization.

(a) One form of artistic creative reaction will be _the cutting of

free silhouette pictures_. The child should attempt this with the

simplest of the stories which are suited for drawing, painting, or

crayon-sketching. He loves to represent the animals he sees every day;

and the art work should direct this impulse and show him how to do it

so that he may draw or cut out a dog, a cat, a sheep, or a goat; or

simple objects, as a broom, a barrel, a box, a table, and a chair.

_The Bremen Town_ _Musicians_, while offering a fine opportunity for

dramatization, also might stimulate the child to cut out the

silhouettes of the Donkey, the Dog, the Cat, and the Cock, to draw the

window of the cottage and to place the animals one on top of another,

looking in the window. The beautiful picture-books illustrating his

fairy tales, which the child may see, will give him many ideas of

drawing and sketching, and help him to arrange his silhouettes. A

recent primer, _The Pantomime Primer_, will give the child new ideas

in silhouettes. Recent articles in the _Kindergarten Review_ will give

the teacher many helpful suggestions along the line of expression. In

the May number, 1915, in _Illustrated Stories_, the story of "Ludwig

and Marleen," by Jane Hoxie, is shown as a child might illustrate it

with paper-cutting.--A class of children were seen very pleasantly

intent on cutting out of paper a basket filled with lovely tinted

flowers. But how attractive that same work would have become if the

basket had been Red Riding Hood's basket and they were being helped by

an art-teacher to show peeping out of her basket the cake and pot of

butter, with the nosegay tucked in one end. A very practical problem

in paper-cutting would arise in any room when children desire to make

a frieze to decorate the front wall. _The Old Woman and her Pig, The

Country Mouse and the City Mouse, The Little Red Hen, The Story of

Three Pigs, The Story of Three Bears_, and _Little Top-Knot_, would be

admirably adapted for simple work.

(b) _The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean_ is most likely to stir the

child's impulse to _draw_. Leslie Brooke's illustration in _The House

in the Wood_ might aid a child who wanted to put some fun into his

representation. _Birdie and Lena_ or _Fundevogel_, is a story that

naturally would seek illustration. Three _crayon-sketches_, one of a

rosebush and a rose, a second of a church and a steeple, and a third

of a pond and a duck, would be enough to suggest the tale.

(c) The Story of _The Wolf and Seven Kids_, if told with the proper

emphasis on the climax of triumph and conclusion of joy, would lead

the child to react with a _water-color sketch_ of the dance of the

Goat and her Kids about the well. For here you have all the elements

needed for a simple picture--the sky, the full moon, the hill-top, the

well, and the animals dancing in a ring. After finishing their

sketches the children would enjoy comparing them with the illustration

of _Der Wolf und die Sieben Geislein_ in _Das Deutsche Bilderbüch_,

and perhaps they might try making a second sketch. This same tale

would afford the children a chance to compose a simple tune and a

simple song, such as the well-taught kindergarten child to-day knows.

Such are songs which express a single theme and a single mood; as,

_The Muffin Man_ and _To the Great Brown House_; or _There was a Small

Boy with a Toot_ and _Dapple Gray_ in _St. Nicholas Songs_. In this

tale of _The Wolf and Seven Kids_, the conclusion impresses a single

mood of joy and the single theme of freedom because the Wolf is dead.

The child could produce a very simple song of perhaps two lines, such

as,--

Let's sing and dance! Hurrah, hurrah!

The Wolf is dead! Hurrah!

(d) It is a little difficult to get down to the simplicity of the

little girl who will play her own tune upon the piano and sing to it

just the number of the house in which she lives, repeating it again

and again. But the child can _compose little songs_ that will please

him, and he can use, too, in connection with the tales, some of the

songs that he knows. The first-grade child could work into _Snow White

and Rose Red_, "Good morrow, little rosebush," and into _Little

Two-Eyes_ a lullaby such as "Sleep, baby, sleep." Later in _Hansel and

Grethel_ he may learn some of the simple songs that have been written

for Hansel and Grethel to sing to the birds when they spend the night

in the wood. In _Snow White_ he may learn some of the songs written

for the children's play, _Snow White_. In connection with music, the

kindergarten child learns to imitate the sounds of animals, the sound

of bells, whistles, the wind, etc. All this will cause him to react,

so that when these occur in his stories he will want to make them.

(e) One of the forms of creative reaction possible to the child as a

variety of expression, which has received attention most recently, has

been handled by Miss Caroline Crawford in _Rhythm Plays of Childhood_;

and by Miss Carol Oppenheimer in "Suggestions Concerning Rhythm

Plays," in the _Kindergarten Review_, April and May, 1915. Here again

the fairy tales cannot be excelled in abundant situations for rhythm

plays. The sea, the wind, the clouds, the sun, the moon, the

stars--all nature is rich in suggestion of rhythms. The social

situations furnish the rhythm of simple housekeeping tasks. In _Snow

White and Rose Red_ there are the rhythms of fishing and of chasing

animals. In _The Elves_ we have the rhythm of shoe-making and in _The

Straw Ox_, the rhythm of spinning. The story of _Thumbelina_, after

its eight episodes have been re-told by the children, might very

attractively be re-told in eight rhythms, each rhythm expressing a

single episode. And for the oldest children, a union of the oral

re-telling by individual children with the retelling in rhythms by all

the children, would give much pleasure and social exhilaration.

Thumbelina in her Cradle, Thumbelina and the Toad, Thumbelina and the

Swallow and Thumbelina as Queen of the Flowers--these at once suggest

a cradle rhythm, a toad rhythm, the flight of birds, and a butterfly

dance. Because the rhythm is a lyric form it must be remembered that

the part of a story suited to a rhythm play is always a part

characterized by a distinct emotional element. In the performance of

rhythm plays the point is to secure the adjustment of music, motion,

and idea.

(f) Many of the fairy tales might arouse in the child a desire _to

originate a game_, especially if he were accustomed to originate games

in the regular game work. A modification of the game of tag might grow

from _Red Riding Hood_ and a pleasant ring game easily might develop

from _Sleeping Beauty_. In fact there is a traditional English game

called "Sleeping Beauty." An informal ring game which would be

somewhat of a joke, and would have the virtue of developing attention,

might grow from _The Tin Soldier_. The Tin Soldier stands in the

center while the circle is formed of Jack-in-the-boxes, with lids

closed. The Tin Soldier turns round and round slowly, and when he

stops looks steadily at a certain Jack-in-the-box, whereupon the Jack

must bob up and retort, "Keep your eyes to yourself, Tin Soldier!" The

Jack and Soldier then change places. Any Jack failing to open when

looked at forfeits his place in the ring. Some games derived from

folk-tales were given in the _Delineator_, November, 1914. These could

not be used by the youngest without adaptation; they suggest a form of

fun that so far as I know has been undeveloped.

(g) The artistic creative return of the child may sometimes take the

form of _objectification or representation_. _The Steadfast Tin

Soldier_ is a model of the literary fairy tale which gives a stimulus

to the child to represent his fairy tale objectively. As

straightforward narrative it ranks high. Its very first clause is the

child's point of view: "There were five and twenty tin soldiers"; for

the child counts his soldiers. Certainly the theme is unique and the

images clear-cut.

It makes one total impression and it has one emotional tone to which

everything is made to contribute. Its message of courage and its

philosophy of life, which have been mentioned previously, are not so

insignificant even if the story does savor of the sentimental. Its

structure is one single line of sequence, from the time this marvelous

soldier was stood up on the table, until he, like many another toy,

was thrown into the fire. The vivid language used gives vitality to

the story, the words suit the ideas, and often the words recall a

picture or suggestion; as, "The Soldier _fell headlong,"_ "_trod_,"

"came down in _torrents_," "boat _bobbed_," "_spun_ round," "_clasped_

his gun," "boat _shot_ along," "_blinked_ his eyes," etc. The method

of suggestion by which an object is described through its effect on

some one else, produces a very pleasing result here. You see the

steadfast look of the Tin Soldier's eyes when the Jack-in-the-box

says, "Keep your eyes to yourself, Tin Soldier!" The position of the

Soldier in the street is given through the exclamation of the little

boys who see him--"Look! there lies a Tin Soldier, let us give him a

sail in the gutter!"

The setting in this story is a table in a sitting-room and the

playthings on the table. The characters are two playthings. After the

first telling of this story the child naturally would like to

represent it. The story has made his playthings come alive and so he

would like to make them appear also. This is a tale in which

representation, after the first telling, will give to the child much

pleasure and will give him a chance to do something with it

cooperatively. He can reproduce the setting of this tale upon a table

in a schoolroom. Each child could decide what is needed to represent

the story and offer what he can. One child could make the yard outside

the castle of green blotting-paper. Another child could furnish a

mirror for the lake, another two toy green trees, one two wax swans,

one a box of tin soldiers, another a jack-in-the-box, while the girls

might dress a paper doll for a tinsel maid. The teacher, instructed by

the class, might make a castle of heavy gray cardboard, fastening it

together with heavy brass paper-fasteners and cutting out the door,

windows, and tower. It is natural for children to handle playthings;

and when a story like this is furnished the teacher should not be too

work-a-day to enter into its play-spirit. After the representation

objectively, the re-telling of the tale might be enjoyed. The child

who likes to draw might tell this story also in a number of little

sketches: _The Jack-in-the-box, The Window, The Boat, The Rat, The

Fish_, and _The Fire_. Or a very simple little dramatic dance and song

might be invented, characterized by a single mood and a single form of

motion, something like this, sung to the tune of "Here we go round the

mulberry bush, etc":--

Here we come marching, soldiers tin, soldiers tin, soldiers tin,

Here we come marching, soldiers tin,

On one leg steady we stand.

(Circle march on one leg).

This could easily be concluded with a game if the child who first was

compelled to march on two legs had to pay some penalty, stand in the

center of the ring, or march at the end of the line.

(h) Creative reaction as a result of listening to the telling of fairy

tales, appears in its most varied form of artistic expression in _free

play and dramatization_. It is here that the child finds a need for

the expression of all his skill in song and dance, construction,

language, and art, for here he finds a use for these things.

In free play the child represents the characters and acts out the

story. His desire to play will lead to a keenness of attention to the

story-telling, which is the best aid to re-experiencing, and the play

will react upon his mind and give greater power to visualize. Nothing

is better for the child than the freedom and initiative used in

dramatization, and nothing gives more self-reliance and poise than to

act, to do something.--We must remember that in the history of the

child's literature it was education that freed his spirit from the

deadening weight of didacticism in the days of the _New England

Primer_. And we must now have a care that education never may become

guilty of crushing the spirit of his freedom, spontaneity, and

imagination, by a dead formalism in its teaching method.--The play

develops the voice, and it gives freedom and grace to bodily

movements. It fixes in the child mind the details of the story and

impresses effectively many a good piece of literature; it combines

intellectual, emotional, artistic, and physical action. The simplest

kindergarten plays, such as _The Farmer, The Blacksmith_, and _Little

Travelers_, naturally lead into playing a story such as _The Sheep and

the Pig_ or _The Gingerbread Man_. _The Mouse that Lost Her Tail_ and

_The Old Woman and Her Pig_ are delightful simple plays given in

_Chain Stories and Playlets_ by Mara Chadwick and E. Gray Freeman,

suited to the kindergarten to play or the first grade to read and

play. Working out a complete dramatization of a folk-tale such as

_Sleeping Beauty_, in the first grade, and having the children come

into the kindergarten and there play it for them, will be a great

incentive toward catching the spirit of imaginatively entering into a

situation which you are not. This is the essential for dramatization.

_Johnny Cake_ is a good tale to be played in the kindergarten because

it uses a great number of children. As the kindergarten room generally

is large, it enables the children who represent the man, the woman,

the little boy, etc., to station themselves at some distance.

There are some dangers in dramatization which are to be avoided:--

(1) _Dramatization often is in very poor form_. The result is not the

important thing, but the process. And sometimes teachers have

understood this to mean, "Hands off!" and left the children to their

crude impulses, unaided and unimproved. When the child shows _what_ he

is trying to do the teacher may show him _how_ he can do what he wants

to do. By suggestion and criticism she may get him to improve his

first effort, provided she permits him to be absolutely free when he

acts.--The place of this absolute freedom in the child's growth has

been emblazoned to the kindergarten by the Montessori System.--Also by

participating in the play as one of the characters, the teacher may

help to a better form. Literature will be less distorted by

dramatization when teachers are better trained to see the

possibilities of the material, when through training they appreciate

the tale as one of the higher forms of literature, and respect it

accordingly. Also it will be less distorted by dramatization when the

tales selected for use are those containing the little child's

interests, when he will have something to express which he really

knows about. Moreover, as children gain greater skill in expression in

construction, in the game, in song, in dance, and in speech, the parts

these contribute to the play will show a more perfected form. Each

expression by the child grows new impressions, gives him new sensory

experiences. Perhaps if the high school would realize the

possibilities in a fairy tale such as _Beauty and the Beast_, work it

up into really good artistic form, and play it for the little

children, much would be gained not only towards good form in

dramatics, in both the elementary school and the high school, but

towards unifying the entire course of literature from the kindergarten

to the university. Using Crane's picture-book as a help, they might

bring into the play the beauty of costume and scenery, the

court-jester, and Beauty's pages. Into the Rose-Garden they might

bring a dance of Moon Fairies, Dawn Fairies, Noon, and Night who, in

their symbolic gauzy attire, dance to persuade Beauty to remain in the

Beast's castle. There might be singing fairies who decorate the bushes

with fairy roses, and others who set the table with fairy dishes,

singing as they work:--

See the trees with roses gay.

Fairy roses, fairy roses, etc.

Elves and Goblins might surround the Beast when dying. The change of

scene from the simple home of Beauty to the rich castle of the Beast,

and the change of costume, would furnish ample opportunity for

original artistic work from older students. For the little child it is

good to see the familiar dignified with art and beauty; and for the

older student the imagination works more freely when dealing with

rather simple and familiar elements such as the folk-tale offers.

_Cinderella_, like _Beauty and the Beast_, offers abundant opportunity

to the high school student for a play or pantomime which it would be

good for the little people to see. The stately minuet and folk-dances

of different peoples may be worked into the ball-scene. And here, too,

the beautiful picture-books will suggest features of costume and

scenery.

(2) _Dramatization may develop boldness in a child_. The tendency is to

use children with good dramatic ability continually for leading parts,

even when the children choose the parts. This fault may be

counteracted by distinguishing between work for growth and one or two

rather carefully prepared plays to be given on special occasions. It

is also counteracted by looking well to the social aspect of the play,

by introducing features such as the song, dance, or game, where all

have a part, or by adding attractive touches to less important parts,

so that while a character may still be leading it will have no reason

to feel over-important. This danger is not prominent until after the

first grade.

(3) _Dramatization may spoil some selections_. Beautiful descriptions

which make a tale poetic are not to be represented, and without them a

tale is cheapened. Such is the case with _The King of the Golden

River_ and _The Ugly Duckling_. Care should be exercised to choose for

dramatization only what is essentially dramatic and what is of a grade

suited to the child. Tales suited to the little child are largely

suited for dramatization.

(4) _Dramatization has omitted to preserve a sequence in the

selections used from year to year_. A sequence in dramatization will

follow naturally as the tales offered from year to year show a

sequence in the variety of interests they present and the

opportunities for growth and activity they offer. Plays most suited to

the kindergarten are those which do not require a complete re-telling

of the story in the acting, so that the child need not say so much.

Such are stories like _The Old Woman and Her Pig, Henny Penny, The

Foolish Timid Rabbit, Little Tuppen, Three Billy-Goats_, _Johnny

Cake_, and _Billy Bobtail_. When the course of literature in the

elementary school gets its content organized, the sequence of

dramatization will take care of itself.

Dramatization has one rather unusual virtue:--

(1) _Dramatization may be used to establish a good habit_. An indolent

child may be given the part of the industrious child in the play. At

first the incongruity will amuse him, then it will support his

self-respect or please his vanity, then it will prove to him the

pleasure of being industrious, and finally stimulate the desire to be

that which before he was not. It may build a habit and, if repeated,

fortify one. This is the true "Direct Moral Method." The so-called

"Direct Moral Method," advocated by Dr. Gould, an English educator,

which in telling a story separates the moral from the tale to

emphasize it and talk about it, leaves the child a passive listener

with only a chance to say "Yes" or "No" or a single word in answer to

the moral questions. It is unnatural because it directs the child's

attention away from the situation, action, and people which interest

him. It does not parallel life in which morals are tied up with

conduct. One must ask, "According to this method what will the child

recall if his mind reverts to the story--courage, or the variety of

images from the number of short-stories told to impress the abstract

moral idea of courage?" Dramatization like life represents character

in the making and therefore helps to make character.

Illustrations of creative return. Let us look now at a few tales

illustrating the creative return possible to the child. _The Country

Mouse and the City Mouse_ is an animal tale that offers to the

kindergarten child a chance to prove how intensely he enters into the

situation by the number of details he will improvise and put into his

dramatization in representing life in the country and life in the

city. The good feast atmosphere in this tale pleases little children

and suits it to their powers. It is a fine tale to _unite the language

expression and dramatization_. It is especially suited to call forth

reaction from the child also in the form of _drawing or crayon

sketching_. Here it is best for the child to attempt typical bits.

Complete representation tires him and it is not the method of art,

which is selective. The field of corn and two mice may be shown in the

country scene; and a table with cheese, some plates filled with

dainties, and two mice in the city scene. Here again this return

relates itself to the presentation of the tale as literature. For if

the story has been presented so as to make the characters, the plot,

and the setting stand out, the child naturally will select these to

portray in a sketch. In his expression the child will represent what

he chooses, but the teacher by selecting from among the results the

one which is of most value, leads him to a better result in a

following attempt. It is the _teacher's selection among the results of

activity_ that brings about development. Freedom with guidance is no

less free, but it is freedom under that stimulation which helps the

child to make more of himself than he knew was possible.--The

kindergarten would proclaim to the Montessori System the place of

_guidance of freedom_ in the child's growth.

_The Elves and the Shoemaker_ offers to a first grade a pleasing

opportunity for the _fairy tale to unite with the dramatic game_. One

child may act as narrator, standing to tell the story from the

beginning to the end of the evening's conversation, "I should like to

sit up tonight and see who it is that makes the shoes." At this point,

noiselessly a dozen or more Elves may troop in, and seating themselves

sing and act the first part of the _Dramatic Game of Little Elves_,

one form of which is given by Miss Crawford. After they have stitched,

rapped, and tapped quickly, and the shoes are made, they depart

hurriedly. The narrator now continues the story, telling how the

Shoemaker and his wife made little clothes for the Elves, ending with

what happened on Christmas Eve, when they put the gay jackets and caps

on the table and hid in the corner to watch. At this point the Elves

come in a second time, donning their new clothes; and sing and dance

the second part of the dramatic game. As they dance out of sight the

narrator concludes the story. If the primary children made these

clothes or if the kindergarten children bought them at Christmas time

to give to the poor, the play[3] would take on a real human value.

_Sleeping Beauty_, another tale suited to the first grade, is

admirably adapted for dramatization.--In all this work the children do

the planning but the teacher directs their impulses, criticizes their

plans, and shows them what they have done. She leads them to see the

tale in the correct acts and scenes, to put together what belongs

together. _Sleeping Beauty_ naturally outlines itself into the ten

main incidents we have noted before. If the story has been presented

according to the standards given here, the children will see the story

in those main incidents. In the dramatization they might work together

narration of the story and the dramatic game, _Dornröschen_. A wide

circle of children might be the chorus while the players take their

places in the center of the circle. The narrator, one of the circle,

stands apart from it as he narrates. The version here used is the

McLoughlin one, illustrated by Johann and Leinweber.

_Sleeping Beauty_

_Place: Castle_. King, Queen, and courtiers take their places

within the circle. The circle moves to waltz step, singing

stanza I, of the dramatic game:--

The Princess was so beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, etc.

At the conclusion of stanza I, the circle stops, the

narrator steps forth and tells the story to the end of the

words, "one had to stay at home."

_Scene i. The Feast_. Twelve fairies enter, each presenting

her gift and making a speech. The wicked thirteenth comes in

and pronounces her curse, and the twelfth fairy softens it

to sleep. The King proclaims his decree, that all spindles

in the land be destroyed.

_Scene ii. The Attic_. Princess goes to the attic. Old lady

sits spinning. Princess pricks herself and falls asleep.

Narration begins with "The King and Queen who had just come

in fell asleep," and ends with "not a leaf rustled on the

trees around the castle." At the close of the narration, the

circle moves, singing stanza _5_ of the dramatic game:--

A great hedge grew up giant high, giant high, giant high,

etc.

_Scene ii. The Castle Grounds_. The Prince talks to an old

Man outside the castle. The Prince comes to the hedge, which

parts, and he enters. The Prince wakens the Princess and the

rest of the castle. The narrator then closes with "By and by

the wedding of the Prince ... to the end of their lives they

lived happy and contented." The courtiers then form into

couples, and the circle, in couples, follow the courtiers.

The Prince and Princess lead in a slow waltz while all sing

stanza 10 of the dramatic game:

And all the people made merry then, merry then, merry then,

etc.

Here we do not have complete dramatization, narration, or dramatic

game. Only three short parts are narrated, only three leading scenes

are represented, and only three high points of narrative are depicted

in the dramatic game. The music, which the specialist in physical

education can furnish, might be:--

Galloping...................... Wild Horseman.

Fairy Run...................... Chalef Book, p. 18.

Climbing to Tower.............. Chaly, p. 10.

Guy Walk Music.

Phyllis........................ Seymour Smith.

Bleking........................ Folk-Dance Book.

In connection with the _dramatic game_, there is only one tale in

Grimm which contains a folk-game. This tale is somewhat incomplete as

it stands in Grimm. It could become a tale suited for dramatization in

the first grade, beginning the play with the folk-game. An original,

amplified version of this tale, _The Little Lamb and the Little Fish_

is given in the _Appendix_.

An original little play similar to one which the kindergarten children

could work out is given below. This play is based on the _pourquois_

tale, _Why the Evergreen Trees Never Lose Their Leaves_.[4] It affords

much play of originality because familiar trees may be used; and the

talk of the Trees to the Bird may have some relation to the

characteristics of the Trees. It could be used by children of six,

seven, or eight years of age. It could serve as a Christmas play

because of its spirit of kindness. North Wind might wear a wig and the

Frost King wear a crown and carry a wand. Little Bird could have

wings, one of which is broken, or simply carry one arm sleeveless.

The play might open with a rhythmic flight of the birds to the music

of "The Swallow's Plight," in _Kindergarten Review_, May, 1915. The

rhythm play of the birds would be especially pleasing because

different birds would be represented by different children. The play

would furnish a fine opportunity also for a rhythmic dance of the

wind, which could form a distinct interlude later on in the play. In

connection with the wind the beautiful picture-book, _Windschen_, by

Elsa Beskow, might be referred to. Here the wind is personified as the

playmate of Hans Georg. Its refined art, lovely color, and imaginative

illustration, would stimulate the child's artistic representation of

the wind.

_The Bird and the Trees: A Play_

_Time_ . . . . Daytime, in late autumn.

_Place_ . . . The Forest.

_Characters_: Poplar, Oak, Maple, Willow, Spruce, Pine,

Juniper, the Bird, North Wind, and the Frost King.

_Trees of the forest_. "See that great crowd of birds flying

away! They must be going South where the air is warm, and

where they can find berries to eat. There is one left

behind. Why, he is coming this way. What can he want?"

_The Bird_. "Oh, I can fly no farther! My wing hurts and I

cannot hold it up. I am tired and cold and hungry. I must

rest in this forest. Maybe some good kind tree will help me.

Dear friend Poplar, my wing is broken and my friends have

all gone South. Will you let me live in your branches until

they come back again?"

_Poplar_. "I am sorry but do you not see how my leaves are

all a-tremble at the thought of taking in a strange bird?

Ask some other tree!"

_The Bird_. "It might not be very warm there at any rate.

And the wind might blow me off the branches. I will try the

Oak, he is so big and mighty. Dear old Oak-tree, you are so

big and strong, will you let me rest in your branches

to-night among your thick warm leaves? I am a poor little

Bird with a broken wing and I cannot fly!"

_Oak_. "Oh, you must not ask me, little Bird, for all day

long my little friends, the squirrels, have been jumping

across my branches, gathering nuts and seeking holes to

store their acorns in. I have no room for a stranger."

_The Bird_. "Ah! I did not think the Oak could be so cruel.

Perhaps Maple will help me, she always seemed kind like a

Mother. Dear, beautiful Maple, I am tired. May I rest among

your lovely red leaves until my broken wing is mended and my

friends come back to me?"

_Maple_. "Oh, no, I could not think of it! I have just

dressed my leaves all in red and you might spoil their

lovely clothes. Do go away. There are other trees in the

forest not so gay as I."

_The Bird_. "What should I do? No one wants to help me. Can

I not find one kind tree? Dear kind Willow, your branches

bend almost to the ground. Could I live in them until the

spring-time?"

_Willow_. "Really, little Bird with the broken wing, you are

a stranger. You should have gone with the other birds. Maybe

some other tree can help you but we willows are particular."

_The Bird_. "I do not know where to go and I'm so cold! I

wonder if the other birds have reached the beautiful warm

South."

_Spruce_. "Little Bird, little Bird, where are you going?"

_The Bird_. "I do not know. I am very cold."

_Spruce_. "Come, make a big hop and rest in this snug corner

of my branches. You can stay with me all winter if you

like."

_The Bird_. "You are so good, dear Spruce-tree. Will you

really let me?"

_Spruce_. "If your friends the birds have left you, your

other friends, the trees, will surely help you. Ho,

Pine-tree, you would help a little Bird with a broken wing,

wouldn't you?"

_Pine_. "Oh, yes, dear Bird! My branches are not wide but I

am tall and thick, and I will keep the cold North Wind from

you."

_Juniper_. "And maybe I can help. Are you hungry, little

Bird? You can eat my nice little berries whenever you like."

_The Bird_. "Thank you, kind friends! I will go to sleep now

on this nice branch of the Spruce-tree, Good-night, dear

Trees."

_Spruce, Pine, and Juniper_. "Good-night, little Bird."

_North Wind. "Oo_,--_Oo_!--Now I must run in and out among

all the trees of the forest.--But who comes here?"

_Frost King_. "Stop, North Wind! I have just gone before

you, as King Winter said, and touched the trees of the

forest. But the trees that have been kind to the Bird with

the broken wing, those I did not touch. They shall keep

their leaves. Do not you harm them!"

_North Wind_. "Very well, King Frost. Good-bye!

_Oo_!--Oo!--" (The Wind frolics among the Trees, bending

branches, careering wildly, shaking leaves.) "Little

Spruce-tree, you have been kind to the Bird, I will not blow

on you! Dear Pine-tree, you are tall and keep the Bird warm,

I will not blow on you! Little Juniper, you gave the Bird

your berries, I will not blow on you!"

_(The following morning_.)

_The Bird_. "Good-morning, dear Spruce-tree, your branch was

warm and safe.--Why, what has happened to the other Trees?

Look at the big Oak and the lovely Maple and all the rest!

See how bare their branches are; and on the ground their

shining leaves lie in red and yellow and brown heaps! O, how

glad I am that your leaves have not fallen; they are bright

and green! And so are Pine-tree's and Juniper's. I will call

you my Evergreen Trees, and I will stay with you until the

Spring!"

The English fairy tale, _The Magpie's Nest_, told by Joseph Jacobs,

might be dramatized by first-grade children. This tale might offer the

problem of observing how different birds make their nests and how they

vary their calls. It also might offer the language problem of making

suitable rhymes. An original dramatization of the _pourquois_ tale is

given in the _Appendix_.

Andersen's _Fir Tree_ would offer a fine opportunity for a first grade

at Christmas time. The fir tree has become vitally interesting through

nature study at this time of the year. The children love to make

things to decorate a tree. They have a short list of stories they can

tell by this time. All this can be utilized in a Christmas tree

play.--For the play use the original story, not a weakened version.--A

pleasant Christmas play could end most happily with the story-telling

under the tree. For the play an actual small fir tree may be in the

room placed so that it may be moved easily. A child standing closely

behind it may represent it and speak for it through its branches. The

air and the sun, ordinarily not to be represented, in this case may

be, as they come up to the Tree and talk to it. Much freedom of

originality may be displayed through the children's entering into the

character of the Fir Tree and improvising speeches.

_The Fir Tree_

_Time_.......Spring.

_Place_.......Forest.

_Characters_: Sun, Air, Hare, Woodmen, Swallow, Stork, Sparrows,

Children, Servants, and Fir Tree.

_Act I, Scene i_.

A Fir Tree in the forest.

Sun and Air talk to it.

Children sit under its branches.

A Hare comes and jumps over it.

Woodcutters come.

A Swallow comes and talks to it.

A Stork comes and talks to it.

Sparrows talk to it.

(Have the Tree removed. Apparently from a cart

outside the door, a larger Christmas Tree may be

brought in and planted in a sand-box by two

servants, students from grammar grades. The same

child now grown older, represents the Tree.)

_Act II, Scene i_. The Fir Tree brought into the room.

The decorating of the Tree by the Children and Teacher.

Talk of the Children about the Tree when decorating it.

Singing of Christmas carols; dancing of

folk-dances; or recitation of Christmas

poems, after the decoration of the Tree.

The distribution of gifts by the Children. An

audience to whom the Children wanted to give

presents, could be invited.

The Story-telling under the Tree.

The presence of visiting children would create an audience for the

story-telling. The selection of the story-teller and the story or

stories might be the result of a previous story contest. The contest

and the story-telling under the Tree would be ideal drill situations.

The entire play would serve as a fine unification of the child's work

in nature, in construction, in physical education, in music, in

composition, and in literature. Everything he does in the play will be

full of vital interest to him; and his daily tasks will seem of more

worth to him when he sees how he can use them with so much pleasure to

himself and to others. This play is an example of the organizing of

ideas which a good tale may exercise in the mind of the child and the

part the tale as an organized experience may play in his development.

The creative return desired by the teacher, as well as the choice of

tales for particular purposes, will depend largely on the controlling

ideas in the program. It must be remembered that the child of to-day

is not bookish nor especially literary; and he has increasing life

interests. In the ordinary school year, work naturally divides itself

into the main season festivals. While story work is here presented in

its separate elements, any teacher realizes the possibility of making

the story work lead up to and culminate in the Thanksgiving,

Christmas, Easter, or May Festival. Because the good story bears a

close relation to nature and to human life, any good course of stories

will offer to the teacher ample freedom of choice for any natural

school purpose. The good tale always gains by being placed in a

situation where it assists in carrying out a larger idea. When the

tale is one unit of a festival program it appeals to the child as a

unit in his everyday life, it becomes socially organized for him.

REFERENCES:

English:

Baker, F.T.; Carpenter, G.; and Scott, F.N.: _The Teaching of

English_. Longmans.

Chubb, Percival: _The Teaching of English_. Macmillan.

Story-Telling:

Bailey, Carolyn: _For the Story Teller_. Bradley.

Bryant, Sara C.: _How to Tell Stories to Children_. Houghton.

_Ibid.: Stories to Tell_. Houghton.

Buckland, Anna: _Use of Stories in the Kindergarten_. Steiger.

Coe, F.E.: _First Book of Stories for the Story-teller_.

Houghton.

Hotchkiss, Mary T.: "Story-telling in the Kindergarten." _N.E.A.

Report_, 1893.

Keyes, Angela: _Stories and Story-Telling_. Appleton.

Lyman, Edna: _Story-Telling_. McClurg.

McMurry, Charles: _Special Method in Primary Reading_. Macmillan.

O'Grady, Alice (Moulton), and Throop, Frances: _The

Story-Teller's Book_. Rand.

Olcott, F.J.: "Story-Telling as a Means of Teaching Literature."

_N.Y. Libraries_; vol. 4, pp. 38-43. Feb., 1914.

Olcott, Frances, and Pendleton, Amena: _The Jolly Book for Boys

and Girls_. Houghton.

Partridge, E.N., and Partridge, G.E.: _Story-Telling in School

and Home_. Sturgis.

St. John, Edward: _Stories and Story-Telling_. Westminster Press,

Phila.

Shedlock, Marie: _Art of the Story Teller_. Appleton.

Speare, Georgina: "Story-Telling as an Art." _Kindergarten

Review_, Dec., 1913, to May, 1914.

The Storyteller's Company: _The Storyteller's Magazine_. New

York.

The Voice:

Corson, Hiram: _Voice and Spiritual Education_. Macmillan.

Curry, Samuel S.: _Foundations of Expression_. Expression Co.

_Ibid._: _Province of Expression_: Expression Co.

Rush, James: _The Philosophy of the Human Voice_. Lippincott.

Quintilian, Marcus F.: _Institutes of Oratory_. Macmillan.

Gesture and Phonetics:

Chamberlain, W.B., and Clark, S.H.: _Principles of Vocal

Expression_. Scott.

Jespersen, Otto: _Growth and Structure of the English Language_.

Stechert.

Jones, Daniel: _Pronunciation of English; Phonetics and Phonetic

Transcriptions_. Putnam.

_Ibid._: _Chart of English Speech Sounds_. Oxford.

Rippman, Walter: _Elements of Phonetics, English, French, and

German_. Dent.

_Ibid._: _The Sounds of Spoken English_. Dent.

Sweet, Henry: _Primer of Phonetics_. Oxford.

The Kindergarten:

Blow, Susan; Hill, Patty; and Harrison, Elizabeth: _The

Kindergarten_. Houghton.

Blow, Susan: "The Kindergarten and the Primary Grade."

_Kindergarten Review_, June, 1915.

Crawford, Caroline: "The Teaching of Dramatic Arts in the

Kindergarten and the Elementary School." _Teachers College

Record_, Sept., 1915.

McMurry, Frank M.: "Principles Underlying the Making of School

Curricula." _Teachers College Record_, Sept., 1915.

Palmer, Luella: "Montessori Suggestions for Kindergartners."

_Kindergarten Review_, Feb. 1915.

_Ibid_.: "Problems vs. Subject Matter as a Basis for

Kindergarten Curriculum." _Kindergarten Review_, Nov., 1914.

Teachers College Record: "Experimental Studies in Kindergarten

Education." _Teachers College Record_, Jan., 1914.

Thorndike, Edward L.: "Foundations of Educational Achievement."

_N.E.A. Report_, 1914.

The Return:

Archer, William: _Play-Making_. Small.

Bailey, Carolyn: "Toy Stories." "The Story of the Woolly Dog."

_Kindergarten Review_, Feb., 1915.

Baker, Franklin T., and Thorndike, Ashley H.: _Everyday English.

Book One_. Macmillan.

Barnes, Earl: _Studies in Education_. Drawing. Barnes.

Buffum, Katherine: _Silhouettes to Cut in School_. Bradley.

Crawford, Caroline: _Dramatic Games and Dances_. Barnes.

_Folk Dances and Games_. Barnes.

_The Rhythms of Childhood_. Barnes.

Curry, S.S.: _Imagination and the Dramatic Instinct_. Expression

Co.

Dewey, John: _The Child and the Curriculum_. University of

Chicago.

_Ibid_.: "Imagination and Expression." _Kindergarten

Magazine_, Sept., 1896.

Dow, Arthur: "Color in the Kindergarten." _Kindergarten Review_,

June, 1914.

_Ibid.: Composition_. Doubleday.

Harvey, Nellie: "Japanese Art in the Kindergarten." _Kindergarten

Review_, Dec., 1914.

Hervey, Walter: _Picture Work_. Revell.

Laurie, S.S.: _Lectures on Language and Linguistic Method in the

School_. Macmillan.

Macintosh, C.: "Toys Made by Little Children." _Kindergarten

Review_, Jan., and Feb., 1914.

Maxwell, W.H.; Johnston, E.L.; and Barnum, M.: _Speaking and

Writing_. American Book Co.

Oppenheimer, Carol: Drawing. _Kindergarten Review_, March, 1914.

_Ibid_.: "Scissors and Paper." _Kindergarten Review_, Jan.,

1914.

_Ibid_.: "Suggestions Concerning Rhythm Plays." _Kindergarten

Review_, April and May, 1915.

_Ibid_.: "The Use of the Song Exercise." _Kindergarten Review_,

May, 1914.

Parker School: _Francis W. Parker Year-Book_, vol. III, June,

1914. ("Expression as a Means of Developing Motives.") Francis

Parker School, Chicago.

Psychological Review: Monograph--"Development of Imagination in

School Children." _Suppl. Psych. Review_, vol. XI, no. 1, 1909.

Wagner, Carrie: "Furniture for the Doll House." _Kindergarten

Review_, Dec., 1914.

Worst, E.F.; Barber, H.; and Seymour, M.: _Constructive Work_.

Mumford.

Zook, Mabel; and Maloy, Regina: "Illustrated Stories."

_Kindergarten Review_, May, 1915.