9. Do not Preach. Tell the story so the moral, if there is any, may be seen and felt without your striving to point it out.
10. Talk the Story Over Freely with Your Children. Try to get their ideas, rather than to give your own. You can tell whether you have succeeded and what your faults in narration have been.
The Fairies of the Caldon-Low
The difference between poetry and prose may be shown in rather a startling manner with such a selection as The Fairies of the Caldon-Low (Volume II, page 395). Children like Mary Howitt’s little narrative, but what does it really say? Let us put it in plain prose and see!
“Where have you been, Mary?”
“I’ve been to the top of Caldon-Low to see the midsummer night.”
“What did you see?”
“I saw the sunshine come down and the winds blow.”
“I heard the water-drops made and the ears of corn fill.”