In the fifth and sixth year he is ready for fables, and other animal tales such as those of the Jungle Books, for stories of primitive life, for Hiawatha told in Longfellow’s original version.
In the sixth and seventh year his horizon is widening beyond his own immediate home and times. He is ready for little stories about children or grown-ups of other countries and times, for historical incidents, great adventures. Children can now begin to follow the continued story, and this is excellent training in concentration; or they can be told the beginnings of a story, and the situation left as a problem for their own imagination to work upon.
The stories that the child himself tells are always a clue both to his interest and his mental development. The story he can tell will represent a simpler stage in development than the story he can appreciate and absorb.
Where to Find Stories. Mother Goose is the true classic of the nursery. It must be wisely selected, however, for children. There is much that is crude, and rude, as in all folk tales, and this should be culled out.
Fairy tales and fables also need to be carefully selected. Andersen’s are ideal, allegorical, true. Grimm’s and Abbott’s are collections of German and English folklore. They, too, need careful selection. Many of them reflect the undemocratic conditions of an older form of government—the cruelty of the autocrat, the superficial superiority of wealth and station, the resentment of the oppressed. Felix Adler points out that Æsop’s Fables reflect this resentment of the oppressed against the oppressor, and the trickery of the former to match the power of the latter.
The great world myths, both of the Greeks and the Anglo-Saxons, should become the early heritage of every child. Simple incidents from the Iliad and Odyssey, from Greek and Norse mythology, from the Siegfried stories, Beowulf, the legends of King Arthur, can be told during the fifth and sixth year, thus giving a first speaking acquaintance with these epics.
The following list is suggestive of types adapted to each age; it does not attempt to be exhaustive. There is so much of the classic and permanently good, far more than any one child could possibly absorb, that it is a double loss to the child if he is given the trashy and mediocre. The ambitious parent needs to take care that the child has time to think over, feel vividly, see clearly, the tales he is told, and that too much is not given in one year.
A Guide to Stories and Poetry
Six Months to Two Years. Rhythm, repetition, simple word-pictures of familiar objects or experiences; nonsense syllables.
Six Months to One Year. Chanting or singing nursery rhymes. Reading of great rhythmic poetry for sake of rhythm and feeling.