Once upon a time animal stories

“There was one vacant space though. The woodchuck had not yet come.”
How the Squirrel Got Wings.
BY CAROLYN SHERWIN BAILEY Author of “For the Children’s Hour,” “Stories Children Need,” “For the Story Teller,” “Tell Me Another Story,” “Firelight Stories”
1918 MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY Springfield, Massachusetts
Copyright, 1918, by MILTON BRADLEY COMPANY SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
Since the childhood of the races, certain old-world stories have appeared in different form in the folklore of different nations, all bearing the stamp of the same source; the interest of primitive people in attributing human impulses and human lines of conduct to the animal world.
Perhaps the earliest of all is The Kid Who Would Not Go, which corresponds to the old New England nursery tale of the Old Woman and Her Pig, and which, in its original form, dates back to Hebrew translations. How They Brought Hairlock Home is a typical cumulative tale of Norway. The Story of Ibbity is one of the few obtainable Madagascar folk tales, and symbolizes the search of a primitive people for the source of natural phenomena. Our own southern negroes have given us the stories of Mr. Elephant and Mr. Frog, Why the Bear Sleeps All Winter, Little Bear, and Brother Wolf and the Rock. The American Indians have given us a varied collection of animal myths including How the Rabbit Tried to Coast, How the Squirrel Got Wings, The Talking Grass, and many other camp fire tales that have a nature background.
The reason for using these animal stories for story telling and supplementary reading lies in the instinctive interest which all children have in those stories that express the interpretation of life made by primitive races. This interest, and the indirect moral teaching of many of the stories included in this volume, give them a point of departure over and above that held by the modern story.
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey.
New York, 1918.
Once upon a time, before there were white men on the earth, the Beavers were a family like men. They were thrifty and honest, and spent their time building in the lakes and ponds. They had hands like our hands. They were dressed in gray fur, warm enough for the winters, and dark enough for all the digging which they had to do.