CONTENTS

PAGE
Author’s Preface[iii]
Editor’s Introduction[ix]
[PART ONE]
Story-Telling and the Arts of
Expression—Establishing Standards
CHAPTER
[I.]The Purpose and Aim of Story-Telling[1]
[II.]The Story Interests of Childhood—A. Rhythmic Period[12]
Sources of Story Material for the Rhythmic Period[19]
[III.]The Story Interests of Childhood—B. Imaginative Period[20]
Bibliography of Fairy Tales[31]
[IV.]The Story Interests of Childhood—C. Heroic Period[32]
Sources of Story Material for the Heroic Period[41]
[V.]The Story Interests of Childhood—D. Romantic Period[42]
Sources of Story Material for the Romantic Period[51]
[VI.]Building the Story[52]
[VII.]Telling the Story[58]
Books on Story-Telling[68]
[VIII.]Story-Telling to Lead to an Appreciation of Literature[69]
Some Authors and Selections That Can Be Presented through the Story-Telling Method[81]
Sources of Material to Lead to an Appreciation of Literature[82]
[IX.]Story-Telling to Awaken an Appreciation of Music[83]
Illustrative Story, “A Boy of Old Vienna”[89]
Sources of Material to Awaken an Appreciation of Music[94]
Pictures to Use in Telling Musical Stories[94]
[X.]Story-Telling to Awaken an Appreciation of Art[95]
Artists and Paintings That Can Be Presented to Young Children through the Story-Telling Method[102]
Artists and Paintings for Children of the Intermediate Period[103]
Artists and Paintings That Lead to Appreciation of the Beautiful and to Respect for Labor[104]
Artists and Paintings for the Heroic and Epic Periods[105]
Bibliography of Art Story Material[105]
Sources for Moderate-Priced Reproductions of Masterpieces[106]
[XI.]Dramatization[107]
Pictures Containing Subjects for Dramatization[116]
Books and Stories for Use in Dramatic Work with Little Children[116]
Bibliography of Material for Dramatization[117]
[XII.]Bible Stories[118]
Sources of Material for Bible Stories[131]
[XIII.]Story-Telling and the Teaching of Ethics[132]
Stories to Develop or Stamp out Certain Traits and Instincts[137]
Sources of Material to Use in the Teaching of Ethics[140]
[PART TWO]
The Use of Story-Telling to Illuminate Some
Schoolroom Subjects—Stories for Telling
[XIV.]Story-Telling to Intensify Interest in History[143]
Illustrative Story, “The Search for the Seven Cities”[149]
[XV.]Story-Telling to Intensify Interest in Geography[168]
Illustrative Story, “The God of the Thundering Water”[174]
Sources of Material to Use in History and Geography[177]
[XVI.]Story-Telling to Intensify Interest in Nature Study[178]
Illustrative Story, “The Wonderful Builders”[188]
Sources of Material for Science Stories[191]
[XVII.]Story-Telling in Domestic Science and Manual Training[192]
Illustrative Story, “The Dervish of Mocha”[195]
Sources of Material to Use in Domestic Science and Manual Training[197]
[XVIII.]Does the Work of the Story-Teller Pay?[198]
[Stories for Telling]
The Story of the Man in the Moon (Alsatian Folk Tale—Christmas Story—Ethics, teaching honesty)[203]
The Discontented Pig (Thuringian Folk Tale—Ethics, teaching contentment)[204]
The Bat and His Partners (Old Bavarian Folk Tale—Helpful in Nature Study)[208]
Brier Rose (Wonder Tale)[209]
The Coat of All Colors (Thuringian Wonder Tale)[212]
The Poor Man and the Rich Man (Folk Tale—Ethics, teaching kindness)[218]
The Silver Cones (Ethics—Geography)[222]
The Forget-Me-Not (Thuringian Folk Tale—Helpful in Nature Study)[226]
The Little Stepmother (Thuringian Folk Tale—Nature Study)[227]
The Rabbit and the Easter Eggs (Bavarian Folk Tale)[228]
The Easter Eggs (Ethics)[229]
Prince Unexpected (Slavic Wonder Tale)[239]
The Greedy Cobbler (Welsh Folk Tale—Ethics, teaching contentment)[251]
The Story of a Salmon (Science)[255]
The Pigeons of Venice (History)[263]
The Coming of the Wonder Tree (Geography—Nature Study)[269]
The Gift of the Gnomes (Geography—Ethics)[274]
The Duty That Wasn’t Paid (Biography—Music—Ethics)[278]
Wilhelmina’s Wooden Shoes (Biography—Art Teaching)[283]
The Lady of Stavoren (Geography—Ethics)[289]
The Luck Boat of Lake Geneva (Geography)[295]
Why the Japanese Love the Stork (Geography)[296]
Why Grizzly Bear Goes on All Fours (Indian Folk Tale—Geography—Ethics)[299]
The Luck Boy of Toy Valley (Geography—Ethics—Manual Training)[302]
The Emperor’s Vision (Medieval Legend—Ethics)[306]
The Shepherd Who Turned Back (Ethics)[311]
The Pet Raven (Geography—Ethics)[317]
Jussieu and the Heliotrope (Science—Nature Study)[325]
The Fall of London Bridge (History)[326]
How They Came to Have Kite Day in China (Physical Education)[330]
The Story of a Stone (Science)[331]
[LIST OF STORIES BY MONTHS]
First Grade: September to June[341]
Second Grade: September to June[345]
Third Grade: September to June[348]
Fourth Grade: September to June[352]
Fifth Grade: September to June[356]
Sixth Grade: September to June[360]
Seventh Grade: September to June[363]
Eighth Grade: September to June[367]
COMPLETE BIBLIOGRAPHY[371]
INDEX[389]

EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

The story is a phase of communication—the instinctive tendency to signal and transmit feelings and ideas and to respond to such expressions—and communication is associated with the social complex of instincts and emotions as indicated by these responses. Through the power of social sympathy in this complex, curiosity and the imagination are brought under the sway of communication, especially in the story. Indeed, the psychology of the story reveals how deeply social sympathy influences the imagination and controls curiosity. The primitive side of this social sympathy is seen in the responses of social animals to the calls of their kind, in the rush of dogs and men to the cries of battle. Its power over the imagination is shown in the swaying of the spectator to the movements of the athlete, his ejaculations and his cries of distress or delight. Through sympathy in imagination the spectator enters the contest. Further, so socially minded are we, and so dependent upon social guidance, that curiosity is nowhere so keen, nor the imagination so active, as in the communication of a life situation. Any incident or accumulation of incidents that we call a plot in the experience of an individual or group of individuals, grips the mind. This explains the fascination of the story. Gossip and scandal are the less worthy forms. The novel is exalted gossip or scandal; the drama the same acted out. They all feed the tremendous hunger for insight into life. They unroll the curtain on the content of life, or some phase of life. Hence the story is the natural form for revealing life.

Communication, like life, may be either serious or frivolous; hence the story carries both functions. It pictures or expresses life in both phases. But the form of the story itself is pleasurable; and thus story-telling may degenerate into mere amusement. This possibly has led to both its abuse and its neglect.

The fact that the story is so enjoyable to children has led teachers and parents to use it merely as amusement, irrespective of content, or even of artistic form. This tendency has been met by publishers. As proof, note the books exhibited at Christmas time in any bookshop. They show the enormous amount of trash set up in book form for child consumption. This is a more serious danger than the trash read by adults, because they are food for hungry minds at the growing age. The importance is shown of selecting stories according to recognized criteria. While the child enjoys the story, he has no judgment of values in the story other than its pleasure-giving qualities. As judgment is a product of education, so judging values is an adult function; the adult must study all stories, but not tell all stories. The story-teller must analyze the story plot, criticize the values, select and adapt stories to age periods and to other child needs. This task Mrs. Cather has performed in her book.