A Study of Fairy Tales Part 40

5. Tests to be applied to fairy tales 84

6. Tales examined and tested by the complete test of interests, cla.s.sic, literature, short-story, narration, and description 84

a. _How the Sun, Moon, and West Wind Went to Dinner_ (Indian) 84

b. The Straw Ox (Cossack) 86

IV. References 87

III. THE TELLING OF FAIRY TALES

Story-telling as an Art. Introductory 90

1. Story-telling as an ancient art 90

2. The place of the story in the home, library, and the school 93

3. Principles of story-telling 94

I. The teacher's preparation. Rules 94

1. Select the tale for some purpose 94

a. The teacher's problem of selecting the tale psychologically or logically 95

2. Know the tale historically as folk-lore, as literature, and as a short-story 96

a. The various motives contained in the fairy tales listed 97

3. Master the structure of the tale 99

4. Dwell upon the life of the story 99

5. Secure the message 100

6. Master the form 100

II. The presentation of the tale 102

1. Training of the voice 103

a. Study of phonetics 103

2. Exercises in breathing 104

3. A knowledge of gesture 105

a. Gesture precedes speech 106

b. Gesture begins in the face 106

c. Hands and arms lie close to the body in controlled emotion 106

4. A power of personality 106

5. Suggestions for telling 107

a. The establishment of the personal relation between the teacher and the listener 108

b. The placing of the story in a concrete situation for the child 110

c. The consideration of the child's aim in listening, by the teacher in her preparation 112

6. The telling of the tale 112

a. The re-creative method of story-telling.

Ill.u.s.trated by a criticism of the telling of _The Princess and the Pea_ 114

b. The re-creative method ill.u.s.trated by _The Foolish, Timid Rabbit_ 116

7. Adaptation of the fairy tale. Ill.u.s.trated by _Thumbelina_ and by _The Snow Man_ 118

III. The return from the child 119

Story-telling as one phase of the art of teaching.

Introductory 119

1. Teaching as good art and as great art; and fairy tales as subject-matter suited to accomplish high purposes in teaching 120

2. The part the child has to play in story-telling 121

3. The child's return, the expression of his natural instincts or general interests 125

1. The instinct of conversation 125

a. Language expression, oral re-telling 125

b. The formation of original little stories 126

c. Reading of the tale a form of creative reaction 127

2. The instinct of inquiry 127

a. Appeal of the folk-tale to this instinct 128

b. The instinct of inquiry united to the instinct of conversation, of construction, and of artistic expression, ill.u.s.trated 128