Children's Literature Part 165

Crommelin, Emeline G., _Famous Legends_.

Darton, F. J. H., _Wonder Book of Old Romance_.

Farrington, Margaret V., _Tales of King Arthur_.

Finnemore, John, _The Story of Robin Hood and His Merry Men_.

Guerber, H. A., _Legends of the Middle Ages_.

Guest, Lady Charlotte, _The Mabinogion_.

Herbertson, Agnes G., _Heroic Legends_.

Homer, _Iliad_. [Prose translation by Lang, Leaf, and Myers; poetic by Bryant.]

Homer, _Odyssey_. [Prose translation by George H. Palmer; poetic by Bryant.]

Hull, Eleanor, _The Boys' Cuchulain: Heroic Legends of Ireland_.

Lamb, Charles, _The Adventures of Ulysses_.

Lane, E. W., _Arabian Nights' Entertainments_.

Lang, Andrew, _A Book of Romance_.

Lanier, Sidney, _The Boy's King Arthur_. _The Boy's Mabinogion_.

MacLeod, Mary, _King Arthur and His n.o.ble Knights_.

Marshall, H. E., _The Story of William Tell_. _The Story of Roland._

Marvin, Frank S. (and others), _Adventures of Odysseus_.

Morris, William, _Sigurd, the Volsung_.

Newbolt, Henry, _Stories from Froissart_.

Pyle, Howard, _Stories of King Arthur and His Knights_. _Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood._

Plummer, Mary W., _Stories from the Chronicle of the Cid_.

Ragozin, Z. A., _Frithjof and Roland_. _Siegfried and Beowulf._

Rolleston, T. W., _High Deeds of Finn_.

Scudder, Horace E., _The Book of Legends_.

Tappan, Eva March, _Robin Hood: His Book_.

Tennyson, Alfred, _The Idylls of the King_.

Warren, Maude Radford, _King Arthur and His Knights_. _Robin Hood and His Merry Men._

Wilson, C. D., _Story of the Cid for Young People_.

SECTION X. ROMANCE CYCLES AND LEGEND

INTRODUCTORY

_The material included._ The heading adopted for this section is used somewhat loosely to include those many and varied collections of stories which have with the pa.s.sage of time been gradually brought together into so-called cycles, unified around some central figure, or by means of some kind of framework. It would thus bring into its scope the series of stories which make up the Greek _Odyssey_, the Anglo-Saxon _Beowulf_, the Finnish _Kalevala_, and other national epics. It would include the stories centering around King Arthur, Siegfried, Roland, the Cid, Alexander, Charlemagne, Robin Hood, and Reynard the Fox. Besides all these cycles and others like them, there is a great body of separate legends of persons and places, exemplified by "The Proud King," that seem almost to const.i.tute a work by themselves. The extended body of eastern stories known as _The Arabian Nights_ are also placed here, as is Cervantes' _Don Quixote_. The last inclusion may seem to violate even the wide range of the heading, as _Don Quixote_ is distinctly one of the world's great modern masterpieces, and is by a known author. But that book is after all a cycle of adventures with a central figure not unlike the romance cycles, and, since it is popularly supposed to have had its origin in the purpose of humorously satirizing the romances of chivalry, it may be allowed to stand in connection with them.

_The place for such stories._ The developing child soon pa.s.ses out of the period where the old fairy stories and their modern a.n.a.logues satisfy his needs. He comes into a period of hero-wors.h.i.+p where he demands not only courage and prowess of magnificent proportions, but also a sinking of self in as equally magnificent and disinterested service of great causes. To the child's mind there is nothing fantastical about the chivalric ideas of courtesy, and friends.h.i.+p, and all high personal ideals. It is the natural food of his mind. He will allow nothing mean or unclean. It seems, roughly speaking, that the time of greatest appeal for such stories is about the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. By the end of that period he is already well along toward an interest in the real men and women of history, toward a more realistic and practical conception of the problems of human life.

_The problems of choice and adaptation._ The wealth of material available is so great as to be bewildering. As yet there is no common agreement as to just which stories are best for our purpose, nor is there any as to where particular stories should be used. The adapters and story-tellers differ much in their views on these questions. Young teachers, it is clear, cannot be expected to know this vast field in any detail. The saving fact is that teachers can hardly make a mistake by using any story that has awakened their own interest and enthusiasm, and which, for that reason, they will be able to present in a simple and striking form. Having in mind, then, the beginning teacher, we make the following specific suggestions:

1. _Beowulf._ The inexperienced teacher will find a splendid version, "The Story of Beowulf," ready-made in Wyche's _Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them_. To work from the complete epic, use any of the translations by Child, Tinker, Gummere, or Hall. "Perhaps it is not too much to a.s.sert . . . that in its lofty spirit, its vigor, and its sincerity, . . . it reflects traits which are distinctive of English-speaking people throughout the world."

2. _King Arthur._ The final source must be Sir Thomas Malory's _Le Morte D'Arthur_, represented in the following pages by Nos. 401, 402, and 403. Some pa.s.sages from Malory should be read to the cla.s.s. For suggestions as to method in handling the stories, see Wyche as above, where there is a fine brief version. In _King Arthur and His Knights_, by Mrs. Warren (Maude Radford), may be found a good working version of the whole cycle. ". . . In delicacy of feeling, in reverence for women, in courtesy to friend and foe, the Arthurian story foreshadowed much that is gentlest and best in modern civilization."

3. _Robin Hood._ Go at once to one of the simple prose versions of the story.

Satisfactory ones are those by Miss Tappan, by Mrs. Warren, or by Howard Pyle (the shorter version). As time and opportunity offer read the simple old ballads which are the source of the story of "merry" Sherwood. "If ever verse lashed abuse with a smile, it is this. The sun s.h.i.+nes brightly overhead; it is a good world to be alive in, its wrongs are being righted, and its very misfortunes are ultimately to bring happier times."

4. A few stories about Roland, Siegfried, the Cid, Charlemagne, and others may be used by teachers who have had opportunity to get acquainted with those great figures, or who have access to some of the authorities listed in the bibliography. This material is more difficult to handle satisfactorily than that already discussed, and may well be sparingly used, if not omitted altogether. For a general collection of legends, the ideal as to choice and method of presentation is Scudder's _The Book of Legends_ (No. 412). From _The Arabian Nights_ use "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves"

(No. 398), "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp,"

and "The Stories of Sindbad the Sailor." Almost any of the accessible versions will be satisfactory. For _Reynard the Fox_, the one adaptation that presents the story in a fairly good form for children is that made by Sir Henry Cole, available as edited by Joseph Jacobs (Nos. 399 and 400). Perhaps as much of _Don Quixote_ is given in this text (Nos.

405-411) as teachers can use. A full translation is a satisfactory source for this story, although the shortened forms by Havell or Parry are admirable.

SUGGESTIONS FOR READING

Most of the books on story-telling have discussions of the best ways of dealing with the romance material. Especially valuable in this connection are Wyche, _Great Stories and How to Tell Them_, and Lyman, _Story Telling_.

For scholarly and yet not too difficult books giving a perspective of the entire field see W.

W. Lawrence, _Medieval Story and the Beginnings of the Social Ideals of English-speaking People_, or W. P. Ker, _Epic and Romance_.

Consult MacClintock, "Hero-Tales and Romances,"

_Literature in the Elementary School_, chap.

viii.

398

_The Arabian Nights' Entertainment_ or _Thousand and One Nights_ is a collection of about four hundred old oriental stories, chiefly from Persia, India, and Arabia. They were brought together probably in the thirteenth century and told orally as stories told to entertain King Shahriyar; but scholars think the collection was not written until some time between the years 1350 and 1550. Some of the stories probably were told as early as the ninth century. The stories are of various kinds--fables, anecdotes, legends, hero stories, wonder stories, and romances. "The Story of Alnaschar" (No. 235 in this book) is one of the fables. The collection became known to European readers in 1704, when it was translated from the Arabic by a French scholar named Galland. Since that time the fables have been translated extensively. The translation into English by Lane is the most valuable one for a teacher who wishes to have all of the book that is fit for public use. Like many of the world's great compilations of this sort, it is made up of a mixture of good and bad. The oriental play of imagination in these stories and the background of old Eastern scenery and customs have made them a source of entertainment and instruction for all civilized nations. The story that follows has always been one of the favorites among oriental wonder stories, and is given in a familiar traditional version.