THE MEETING.
In a little house in a village there once lived an old woman. One day this old woman went to her garden and picked some beans for her dinner. She had a fire on the hearth, but to make it burn brighter she threw on a handful of straw.
One of the straws slipped out of her fingers and lay on the floor. As she threw the beans into the pot to boil, a bean fell on the floor and lay quite near the straw. Suddenly a red-hot coal bounced out of the fire and fell close to the straw and the bean.
They both started away, calling out, “Friend, do not come near us until you are cooler. What brings you out here?” “Oh!” said the coal, “the heat made me so strong that I was able to bounce from the fire. And a lucky thing it was for me, too, for if I had stayed there I would surely have been burned to ashes.”
Then the bean said, “I also had a narrow escape. If the old woman had put me into the pot with the others, I would certainly have been boiled to death.” “It was a good thing for me,” said the straw, “that I slipped through the old woman’s fingers, or I would have been burned with the others.” And so the three talked as they lay on the hearthstone together.
Suggestions.
Recall fireplace in other stories. Fire.
Talk of straw, its uses, how obtained, etc.
II.
Preparation.
The straw, the coal and the bean plan to go on a journey. Their troubles. Children give reasons for going. Imagine what their troubles may be.
Explain tailor.
Narration.