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[Illustration: STORY-TELLING TIME

George Cruikshank]






STORIES TO TELL TO
CHILDREN

FIFTY-FOUR STORIES WITH SOME
SUGGESTIONS FOR TELLING

BY

SARA CONE BRYANT
AUTHOR OF "HOW TO TELL STORIES TO CHILDREN"

[Illustration]

LONDON
GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.
2 & 3 PORTSMOUTH STREET KINGSWAY W.C.
1918

THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED, EDINBURGH
GREAT BRITAIN




PREFACE


This little book came into being at the instance of my teaching friends.
Their requests for more stories of the kind which were given in _How to
Tell Stories to Children_, and especially their urging that the stories
they liked, in my telling, should be set down in print, seemed to
justify the hope that the collection would be genuinely useful to them.
That it may be, is the earnest desire with which it is offered. I hope
it will be found to contain some stories which are new to the teachers
and friends of little children, and some which are familiar, but in an
easier form for telling than is usual. And I shall indeed be content if
its value to those who read it is proportionate to the pleasure and
mental stimulus which has come to me in the work among pupils and
teachers which accompanied its preparation.

Among the publishers and authors whose kindness enabled me to quote
material are Mr John Murray and Miss Mary Frere, to whom I am indebted
for the four stories of the Little Jackal; Messrs Little, Brown &
Company and the Alcott heirs, who allowed me the use of Louisa Alcott's
poem, _My Kingdom_; and Dr Douglas Hyde, whose letter of permission to
use his Irish material was in itself a literary treasure. To the
charming friend who gave me the outline of _Epaminondas_, as told her by
her own "Mammy," I owe a deeper debt, for _Epaminondas_ has carried joy
since then into more schools and homes than I dare to enumerate.

And to all the others,--friends in whom the child-heart lingers,--my
thanks for the laughs we have had, the discussions we have warmed to,
the helps you have given. May you never lack the right story at the
right time, or a child to love you for telling it!

SARA CONE BRYANT




CONTENTS


                                                             PAGE
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STORY-TELLER
    Additional Suggestions for Method--Two Valuable
    Types of Story--A Graded List of Stories to dramatise
    and retell                                                 11

STORY-TELLING IN TEACHING ENGLISH
    Importance of Oral Methods--Opportunity of the
    Primary Grades--Points to be observed in dramatising
    and retelling, in connection with English                  27

STORIES TO TELL TO CHILDREN

TWO LITTLE RIDDLES IN RHYME                                    43

THE LITTLE YELLOW TULIP                                        43

THE COCK-A-DOO-DLE-DOO                                         45

THE CLOUD                                                      46

THE LITTLE RED HEN                                             48

THE GINGERBREAD MAN                                            49

THE LITTLE JACKALS AND THE LION                                55

THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE CITY MOUSE                           58

LITTLE JACK ROLLAROUND                                         62

HOW BROTHER RABBIT FOOLED THE WHALE AND THE ELEPHANT           66

THE LITTLE HALF-CHICK                                          70

THE BLACKBERRY-BUSH                                            74

THE FAIRIES                                                    78

THE ADVENTURES OF THE LITTLE FIELD MOUSE                       80

ANOTHER LITTLE RED HEN                                         83

THE STORY OF THE LITTLE RID HIN                                87

THE STORY OF EPAMINONDAS AND HIS AUNTIE                        92

THE BOY WHO CRIED "WOLF!"                                      96

THE FROG KING                                                  97

THE SUN AND THE WIND                                           99

THE LITTLE JACKAL AND THE ALLIGATOR                           100

THE LARKS IN THE CORNFIELD                                    106

A TRUE STORY ABOUT A GIRL (Louisa Alcott)                     108

MY KINGDOM                                                    113

PICCOLA                                                       115

THE LITTLE FIR TREE                                           116

HOW MOSES WAS SAVED                                           122

THE TEN FAIRIES                                               126

THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER                                   130

WHO KILLED THE OTTER'S BABIES?                                133

EARLY                                                         136

THE BRAHMIN, THE TIGER, AND THE JACKAL                        137

THE LITTLE JACKAL AND THE CAMEL                               144

THE GULLS OF SALT LAKE                                        147

THE NIGHTINGALE                                               150

MARGERY'S GARDEN                                              159

THE LITTLE COTYLEDONS                                         171

THE TALKATIVE TORTOISE                                        176

ROBERT OF SICILY                                              178

THE JEALOUS COURTIERS                                         185

PRINCE CHERRY                                                 189

THE GOLD IN THE ORCHARD                                       199

MARGARET OF NEW ORLEANS                                       200

THE DAGDA'S HARP                                              204

THE TAILOR AND THE THREE BEASTS                               208

HOW THE SEA BECAME SALT                                       215

THE CASTLE OF FORTUNE                                         220

DAVID AND GOLIATH                                             227

THE SHEPHERD'S SONG                                           233

THE HIDDEN SERVANTS                                           236

LITTLE GOTTLIEB                                               243

HOW THE FIR TREE BECAME THE CHRISTMAS TREE                    246

THE DIAMOND AND THE DEWDROP                                   248




SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR THE STORY-TELLER


Concerning the fundamental points of method in telling a story, I have
little to add to the principles which I have already stated[1] as
necessary, in my opinion, in the book of which this is, in a way, the
continuation. But in the two years which have passed since that book was
written, I have had the happiness of working on stories and the telling
of them, among teachers and students in many parts, and in that
experience certain secondary points of method have come to seem more
important, or at least more in need of emphasis, than they did before.
As so often happens, I had assumed that "those things are taken for
granted"; whereas, to the beginner or the teacher not naturally a
story-teller, the secondary or implied technique is often of greater
difficulty than the mastery of underlying principles. The few
suggestions which follow are of this practical, obvious kind.

Take your story seriously. No matter how riotously absurd it is, or how
full of inane repetition, remember, if it is good enough to tell, it is
a real story, and must be treated with respect. If you cannot feel so
toward it, do not tell it. Have faith in the story, and in the attitude
of the children toward it and you. If you fail in this, the immediate
result will be a touch of shamefacedness, affecting your manner
unfavourably, and, probably, influencing your accuracy and imaginative
vividness.

Perhaps I can make the point clearer by telling you about one of the
girls in a class which was studying stories last winter; I feel sure if
she or any of her fellow-students recognises the incident, she will not
resent being made to serve the good cause, even in the unattractive
guise of a warning example.

A few members of the class had prepared the story of _The Fisherman and
his Wife_. The first girl called on was evidently inclined to feel that
it was rather a foolish story. She tried to tell it well, but there were
parts of it which produced in her the touch of shamefacedness to which I
have referred.

When she came to the rhyme,--

     "O man of the sea, come, listen to me,
      For Alice, my wife, the plague of my life,
      Has sent me to beg a boon of thee,"

she said it rather rapidly. At the first repetition she said it still
more rapidly; the next time she came to the jingle she said it so fast
and so low that it was unintelligible; and the next recurrence was too
much for her. With a blush and a hesitating smile she said, "And he said
that same thing, you know!" Of course everybody laughed, and of course
the thread of interest and illusion was hopelessly broken for everybody.

Now, anyone who chanced to hear Miss Shedlock?[A] tell that same story
will remember that the absurd rhyme gave great opportunity for
expression, in its very repetition; each time that the fisherman came to
the water's edge his chagrin and unwillingness were greater, and his
summons to the magic fish mirrored his feeling. The jingle _is_ foolish;
that is a part of the charm. But if the person who tells it _feels_
foolish, there is no charm at all! It is the same principle which
applies to any assemblage: if the speaker has the air of finding what he
has to say absurd or unworthy of effort, the audience naturally tends to
follow his lead, and find it not worth listening to.

Let me urge, then, take your story seriously.

Next, "take your time." This suggestion needs explaining, perhaps. It
does not mean license[A] to dawdle. Nothing is much more annoying in a
speaker than too great deliberateness[A] or than hesitation of speech.
But it means a quiet[A] realisation of the fact that the floor is yours,
everybody wants to hear you, there is time[A] enough for every point and
shade of meaning, and no one will think the story too long. This mental
attitude must underlie proper control of speed