THE
BOOK OF STORIES
FOR THE STORY-TELLER
by
FANNY E. COE
GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.
LONDON CALCUTTA SYDNEY
First published March 1914
by George G. Harrap & Company
39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W. C.
Preface
here is no need here to enter a plea for story-telling. Its value inthe home and in the school is assured. Miss Bryant, in her charmingbook, How to Tell Stories to Children, says, "Perhaps never, sincethe really old days, has story-telling so nearly reached a recognizedlevel of dignity as a legitimate and general art of entertainment asnow." And, in the guise of entertainment, the story is often thevehicle conveying to the child the wholesome moral lesson or the bitof desirable knowledge so necessary to his well-being at the time.Thus it has come to be recognized that the ability to tell a storywell is an important part of the equipment of the parent or theteacher of little children.
The parent is often at a loss for fresh material. Sometimes he "makesup" a story, with but poor satisfaction to himself or his child. Theteacher's difficulty is quite otherwise. She knows of many goodstories, but these same stories are scattered through many books, andthe practical difficulty of finding time in her already overcrowdeddays for frequent trips to the library is well-nigh insurmountable.The[6] quest is indefinitely postponed, with the result that the storiesare either crowded out altogether, or that the teacher repeats the fewtales she has at hand month after month, and year after year, untilall freshness and inspiration are gone from the story time.
The stories in the present collection are drawn from many nations andfrom widely differing sources. Folk tales, modern fairy tales, andmyths have a generous showing; and there is added a new field as asource for stories. This is Real Life, in which children soon begin totake decided interest. Under this heading appear tales of child life,of child heroes, of adult heroes, and of animals.
Mr Herbert L. Willett, of the University of Chicago, has said: "It isnot through formal instruction that a child receives his impulsestoward virtue, honour and courtesy. It is rather from such appeal tothe emotions as can be made most effectually through the telling of astory. The inculcation of a duty leaves him passionless and unmoved.The narrative of an experience in which that same virtue findsconcrete embodiment fires him with the desire to try the same conductfor himself. Few children fail to make the immediate connectionbetween the hero or heroine of the story and themselves."
Because of this great principle of imitation,[7] a large number of thestories in this little volume have been chosen for their moral value.They present the virtues of persistence, faithfulness, truthfulness,honesty, generosity, loyalty to one's word, ten