Presentation. These stories that are selected by the story teller as being particularly adapted to English teaching should be most carefully prepared and presented happily, compellingly, and in their exact, original form with almost no variation in subsequent telling so that they may present good models to the children.
Repetition. A story selected for its English value should have frequent repetitions that the children may become very familiar with it and gain the power to repeat it themselves, or at least learn certain parts of it, not as a task but naturally, inspirationally.
STORIES THAT HELP A CHILD TO VERBAL EXPRESSION
The Woodpecker Who was Selfish
There was once a little Lady Woodpecker—such a trim, tidy little Lady Woodpecker—who wore always a natty red bonnet, and a white apron and who lived in a hole in a big Pine Tree. Her house was cozy and comfortable, all lined with moss and wool, and protected by a little brown bark door so that it was cool in the summer time and warm when the winter winds blew.
But the little Lady Woodpecker was a selfish bird and she never, never asked any other birds to come and visit with her in her house in the Pine Tree.
In the next tree to the little Lady Woodpecker lived a Fluffy Sparrow. His nest was loosely built and untidy and it rested insecurely in a fork of a tree so that the wind blew it this way and that way. This was because all sparrows are poor nest builders and it was not the Fluffy Sparrow’s fault at all. One day there was an unusually heavy storm and down from the tree blew the nest. So the Sparrow had now no home.
Then the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered beside the little brown bark door above the little Lady Woodpecker and said:
“Oh, little Lady Woodpecker with the red bonnet, have pity on me and take me into your house, for the rain falls and I am very, very cold.”
But the little Lady Woodpecker tapped with her bill on the wall of her house and answered:
“I can’t let you in to-day, Fluffy Sparrow. I am cooking juniper berries for a batch of pies. Come again some other time and perhaps I will let you in.”
So the Fluffy Sparrow hopped away and the rain made him very, very cold.
The next day the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered again beside the little brown bark door of the little Lady Woodpecker and said:
“Oh, little Lady Woodpecker with the red bonnet, have pity on me and take me into your house, for the cold and cruel wind blows and it ruffles my feathers.”
But the little Lady Woodpecker tapped again with her bill on the wall of her house and answered:
“I can’t let you in to-day, Fluffy Sparrow. I am washing the pot in which I cooked a batch of juniper berries for a batch of pies. Come again some other time and perhaps I will let you in.”
So the Fluffy Sparrow hopped away and the cold and cruel wind ruffled his feathers.
The day after that the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered again beside the little brown bark door of the little Lady Woodpecker and said:
“Oh, little Lady Woodpecker, have pity on me and take me into your house, for the biting frost nips my feet.”
But the little Lady Woodpecker tapped again with her bill on the wall of her house and answered:
“I can’t let you in to-day, Fluffy Sparrow. I am making the crust for my batch of juniper berry pies. Come again some other time and perhaps I will let you in.”
So the Fluffy Sparrow hopped away and the biting frost nipped his feet.
But the fourth day the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered once again beside the little brown bark door of the little Lady Woodpecker and said:
“Oh, little Lady Woodpecker with the little red bonnet, have pity on me and take me into your house, for the snow blinds me.”
But the little Lady Woodpecker tapped very hard with her bill on the wall of her house and answered:
“I can’t let you in to-day, Fluffy Sparrow. I am cleaning my floor before I sit down, all by myself, to eat my juniper berry pies.”
So the blinding frost blinded the Fluffy Sparrow’s eyes.
Then the last day of all the Fluffy Sparrow flew and hopped and twittered beside the little brown bark door of the little Lady Woodpecker and he said:
“Oh, little Lady Woodpecker with the little red bonnet, please have pity on me and take me into your house, for I do not like the rain and the wind and the frost and the snow.”
But the little Lady Woodpecker did not answer the Fluffy Sparrow. And the Fluffy Sparrow lifted one claw and poked open the little bark door and he saw that no one was inside. The little Lady Woodpecker was away buying a key with which to lock her door while she ate her batch of juniper berry pies.
So the Fluffy Sparrow went inside the house in the tree that was so cozy and comfortable because it was lined with moss and wool. There he was sheltered from the rain and the wind and the frost and the snow. He ate up all the batch of juniper berry pies.
When the little Lady Woodpecker came home the Fluffy Sparrow was living in her house and she had to find herself a new one because she had been such a selfish bird.
An Indian Folk Tale.
The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings
Once upon a time there was a little White Rabbit with two beautiful long pink ears and two bright red eyes and four soft little feet—such a pretty little White Rabbit, but he wasn’t happy.
Just think, this little White Rabbit wanted to be somebody else instead of the nice little rabbit that he was.
When Mr. Bushy Tail, the gray squirrel, went by, the little White Rabbit would say to his Mammy:
“Oh, Mammy, I wish I had a long gray tail like Mr. Bushy Tail’s.”
And when Mr. Porcupine went by, the little White Rabbit would say to his Mammy:
“Oh, Mammy, I wish I had a back full of bristles like Mr. Porcupine’s.”
And when Miss Puddle-Duck went by in her two little red rubbers, the little White Rabbit would say:
“Oh, Mammy, I wish I had a pair of red rubbers like Miss Puddle-Duck’s.”
So he went on and on wishing until his Mammy was clean tired out with his wishing and Old Mr. Ground Hog heard him one day.
Old Mr. Ground Hog is very wise indeed, so he said to the little White Rabbit:
“Why don’t you-all go down to Wishing Pond, and if you look in the water at yourself and turn around three times in a circle, you-all will get your wish.”
So the little White Rabbit trotted off, all alone by himself through the woods until he came to a little pool of green water lying in a low tree stump, and that was the Wishing Pond. There was a little, little bird, all red, sitting on the edge of the Wishing Pond to get a drink, and as soon as the little White Rabbit saw him he began to wish again:
“Oh, I wish I had a pair of little red wings!” he said. Just then he looked in the Wishing Pond and he saw his little white face. Then he turned around three times and something happened. He began to have a queer feeling in his shoulders, like he felt in his mouth when he was cutting his teeth. It was his wings coming through. So he sat all day in the woods by the Wishing Pond waiting for them to grow, and, by and by, when it was almost sundown, he started home to see his Mammy and show her, because he had a beautiful pair of long, trailing red wings.
But by the time he reached home it was getting dark, and when he went in the hole at the foot of a big tree where he lived, his Mammy didn’t know him. No, she really and truly did not know him, because, you see, she had never seen a rabbit with red wings in all her life. And so the little White Rabbit had to go out again, because his Mammy wouldn’t let him get into his own bed. He had to go out and look for some place to sleep all night.
He went and went until he came to Mr. Bushy Tail’s house, and he rapped on the door and said:
“Please, kind Mr. Bushy Tail, may I sleep in your house all night?”
But Mr. Bushy Tail opened his door a crack and then he slammed it tight shut again. You see he had never seen a rabbit with red wings in all his life.
So the little White Rabbit went and went until he came to Miss Puddle-Duck’s nest down by the marsh and he said:
“Please, kind Miss Puddle-Duck, may I sleep in your nest all night?”
But Miss Puddle-Duck poked her head up out of her nest just a little way and then she shut her eyes and stretched her wings out so far that she covered her whole nest.
You see she had never seen a rabbit with red wings in all her life.
So the little White Rabbit went and went until he came to Old Mr. Ground Hog’s hole and Old Mr. Ground Hog let him sleep with him all night, but the hole had beech nuts spread all over it. Old Mr. Ground Hog liked to sleep on them, but they hurt the little White Rabbit’s feet and made him very uncomfortable before morning.
When it came morning, the little White Rabbit decided to try his wings and fly a little, so he climbed up on a hill and spread his wings and sailed off, but he landed in a low bush all full of prickles, and his four feet got mixed up with the twigs so he couldn’t get down.
“Mammy, Mammy, Mammy, come and help me!” he called.
His Mammy didn’t hear him, but Old Mr. Ground Hog did, and he came and helped the little White Rabbit out of the prickly bush.
“Don’t you-all want your red wings?” Mr. Ground Hog asked.
“No, no!” said the little White Rabbit.
“Well,” said the Old Ground Hog, “why don’t you-all go down to the Wishing Pond and wish them off again?”
So the little White Rabbit went down to the Wishing Pond and he saw his face in it. Then he turned around three times, and, sure enough, his red wings were gone. Then he went home to his Mammy, who knew him right away and was so glad to see him and he never, never wished to be something different from what he really was again.
Southern Folk Tale.
STORIES SELECTED BECAUSE OF THEIR STIMULUS TO VERBAL EXPRESSION IN CHILDREN