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                            [Illustration]


                                 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._

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_Preface_


There is no need here to enter a plea for story-telling. Its value in
the home and in the school is assured. Miss Bryant, in her charming
book, _How to Tell Stories to Children_, says, "Perhaps never, since
the really old days, has story-telling so nearly reached a recognized
level of dignity as a legitimate and general art of entertainment as
now." And, in the guise of entertainment, the story is often the
vehicle conveying to the child the wholesome moral lesson or the bit
of desirable knowledge so necessary to his well-being at the time.
Thus it has come to be recognized that the ability to tell a story
well is an important part of the equipment of the parent or the
teacher of little children.

The parent is often at a loss for fresh material. Sometimes he "makes
up" a story, with but poor satisfaction to himself or his child. The
teacher's difficulty is quite otherwise. She knows of many good
stories, but these same stories are scattered through many books, and
the practical difficulty of finding time in her already overcrowded
days for frequent trips to the library is well-nigh insurmountable.
The quest is indefinitely postponed, with the result that the stories
are either crowded out altogether, or that the teacher repeats the few
tales she has at hand month after month, and year after year, until
all freshness and inspiration are gone from the story time.

The stories in the present collection are drawn from many nations and
from widely differing sources. Folk tales, modern fairy tales, and
myths have a generous showing; and there is added a new field as a
source for stories. This is Real Life, in which children soon begin to
take 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 is
not through formal instruction that a child receives his impulses
toward virtue, honour and courtesy. It is rather from such appeal to
the emotions as can be made most effectually through the telling of a
story. The inculcation of a duty leaves him passionless and unmoved.
The narrative of an experience in which that same virtue finds
concrete embodiment fires him with the desire to try the same conduct
for himself. Few children fail to make the immediate connection
between the hero or heroine of the story and themselves."

Because of this great principle of imitation, a large number of the
stories 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, tender care of animals,
and love of friends and family. Some themes are emphasized more than
once. "Hans the Shepherd Boy," "The Story of Li'l' Hannibal," and
"Dust under the Rug," teach wholesome facts in regard to work. "The
Feast of Lanterns" and "The Pot of Gold" emphasize the truth that

    East or west,
    Hame's best.

Filial devotion shines from the stories of "Anders' New Cap," "How the
Sun, the Moon, and the Wind went out to Dinner," and "The Wolf-Mother
of Saint-Ailbe."

The form of each story is such that the parent or teacher can tell or
read the story, as it appears in the book, with only such slight
modification as his intimate knowledge of the individual child or
class would naturally prompt him to make.

The compiler wishes especially to express her appreciation for many
helpful suggestions as to material received from Mrs Mary W. Cronan,
teller of stories at various branches of the Boston Public Library.

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_Contents_


FOLK TALES
                                                                      PAGE

THE FOX AND THE WOLF                                                    11

THE FOX AND THE CAT                     _R. Nesbit Bain_               16

THE HOBYAHS                             _Carolyn Sherwin Bailey_       19

HOW THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE WIND
    WENT OUT TO DINNER                  _Fanny E. Coe_                 23

A LEGEND OF THE NORTH WIND              _Mary Catherine Judd_          26

HOW THE ROBIN'S BREAST BECAME RED       _Flora J. Cooke_               30

HOW THE ROBIN CAME                                                     32

THE STORY OF THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER                                 35

THE LITTLE RABBITS                      _Joel Chandler Harris_         38

"HEYO, HOUSE"                           _Joel Chandler Harris_         44

TEENCHY DUCK

    _From the French of Frederic Ortoli_

    _Translated by Joel Chandler Harris_                               49

ST CHRISTOPHER                                                         63

WONDERING JACK                          _James Baldwin_                68

THE FEAST OF LANTERNS

    _From W. T. Stead's "Books for the Bairns"_                        81


MODERN FAIRY TALES


PRINCE HARWEDA AND THE MAGIC PRISON     _Elizabeth Harrison_           93

THE HOP-ABOUT MAN                       _Agnes Grozier Herbertson_    107

THE STREET MUSICIANS                    _Lida McMurry_                118

THE STRAW OX                            _R. Nesbit Bain_              124

THE NECKLACE OF TRUTH                   _Jean Mace_                   131

ANDERS' NEW CAP                         _Anna Wohlenberg_             136

DUST UNDER THE RUG                      _Maud Lindsay_                142

A NIGHT WITH SANTA CLAUS                _Annie R. Annan_              149

THE STORY OF LI'L' HANNIBAL             _Carolyn Sherwin Bailey_      157

HOW WRY-FACE PLAYED A TRICK ON
    ONE-EYE, THE POTATO-WIFE            _Agnes Grozier Herbertson_    164

THE POT OF GOLD                         _Horace E. Scudder_           176

THE FROG-TSAREVNA                       _R. Nesbit Bain_              188

OEYVIND AND MARIT                       _Bjoerne Bjoerneson_            197

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES                                             207


MYTHS


RHOECUS                                 _Fanny E. Coe_                214

KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS               _Flora J. Cooke_              217

THE STORY OF PEGASUS                    _Fanny E. Coe_                219

THE WOLF-MOTHER OF SAINT AILBE          _Abbie Farwell Brown_         223

WHO WAS THE MIGHTIER?                   _Fanny E. Coe_                231


STORIES FROM REAL LIFE


HANS THE SHEPHERD BOY                   _Ella Lyman Cabot_            234

NATHAN AND THE BEAR                     _M. A. L. Lane_               236

THE MAN ON THE CHIMNEY                  _Fanny E. Coe_                241

POCAHONTAS                              _E. A. and M. F. Blaisdell_   244

THE DAY KIT AND KAT WENT FISHING        _Lucy Fitch Perkins_          247

THE HONEST FARMER                       _Ella Lyman Cabot_            257

DAMON AND PYTHIAS                       _Ella Lyman Cabot_            259

LINCOLN'S UNVARYING KINDNESS            _Fanny E. Coe_                261

HOW MOLLY SPENT HER SIXPENCE            _Eliza Orne White_            265

HANS AND HIS DOG                        _Maud Lindsay_      275

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_The Fox and the Wolf_

_A Russian Fable_


Once upon a time there was a fox so shrewd that, although he was
neither so fleet of foot, nor so strong of limb, as many of his
kindred