The Book of Stories for the Story-Teller

Part 1

Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Delphine Lettau, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

THE

BOOK OF STORIES

FOR THE STORY-TELLER

FANNY E. COE

GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.

LONDON CALCUTTA SYDNEY

First published March 1914

by GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY

39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W. C.

* * * * *

Preface

There is no need here to enter a plea for story-telling. Its value in the home and in the school is assured. Miss Bryant, in her charming book, How to Tell Stories to Children, says, "Perhaps never, since the really old days, has story-telling so nearly reached a recognized level of dignity as a legitimate and general art of entertainment as now." And, in the guise of entertainment, the story is often the vehicle conveying to the child the wholesome moral lesson or the bit of desirable knowledge so necessary to his well-being at the time. Thus it has come to be recognized that the ability to tell a story well is an important part of the equipment of the parent or the teacher of little children.

The parent is often at a loss for fresh material. Sometimes he "makes up" a story, with but poor satisfaction to himself or his child. The teacher's difficulty is quite otherwise. She knows of many good stories, but these same stories are scattered through many books, and the practical difficulty of finding time in her already overcrowded days for frequent trips to the library is well-nigh insurmountable. The quest is indefinitely postponed, with the result that the stories are either crowded out altogether, or that the teacher repeats the few tales she has at hand month after month, and year after year, until all freshness and inspiration are gone from the story time.

The stories in the present collection are drawn from many nations and from widely differing sources. Folk tales, modern fairy tales, and myths have a generous showing; and there is added a new field as a source for stories. This is Real Life, in which children soon begin to take decided interest. Under this heading appear tales of child life, of child heroes, of adult heroes, and of animals.

Mr Herbert L. Willett, of the University of Chicago, has said: "It is not through formal instruction that a child receives his impulses toward virtue, honour and courtesy. It is rather from such appeal to the emotions as can be made most effectually through the telling of a story. The inculcation of a duty leaves him passionless and unmoved. The narrative of an experience in which that same virtue finds concrete embodiment fires him with the desire to try the same conduct for himself. Few children fail to make the immediate connection between the hero or heroine of the story and themselves."

Because of this great principle of imitation, a large number of the stories in this little volume have been chosen for their moral value. They present the virtues of persistence, faithfulness, truthfulness, honesty, generosity, loyalty to one's word, tender care of animals, and love of friends and family. Some themes are emphasized more than once. "Hans the Shepherd Boy," "The Story of Li'l' Hannibal," and "Dust under the Rug," teach wholesome facts in regard to work. "The Feast of Lanterns" and "The Pot of Gold" emphasize the truth that

East or west, Hame's best.

Filial devotion shines from the stories of "Anders' New Cap," "How the Sun, the Moon, and the Wind went out to Dinner," and "The Wolf-Mother of Saint-Ailbe."

The form of each story is such that the parent or teacher can tell or read the story, as it appears in the book, with only such slight modification as his intimate knowledge of the individual child or class would naturally prompt him to make.

The compiler wishes especially to express her appreciation for many helpful suggestions as to material received from Mrs Mary W. Cronan, teller of stories at various branches of the Boston Public Library.

* * * * *

Contents

FOLK TALES PAGE

THE FOX AND THE WOLF 11

THE FOX AND THE CAT R. Nesbit Bain 16

THE HOBYAHS Carolyn Sherwin Bailey 19

HOW THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE WIND WENT OUT TO DINNER Fanny E. Coe 23

Part 2

A LEGEND OF THE NORTH WIND Mary Catherine Judd 26

HOW THE ROBIN'S BREAST BECAME RED Flora J. Cooke 30

HOW THE ROBIN CAME 32

THE STORY OF THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER 35

THE LITTLE RABBITS Joel Chandler Harris 38

"HEYO, HOUSE" Joel Chandler Harris 44

TEENCHY DUCK

From the French of Frédéric Ortoli

Translated by Joel Chandler Harris 49

ST CHRISTOPHER 63

WONDERING JACK James Baldwin 68

THE FEAST OF LANTERNS

From W. T. Stead's "Books for the Bairns" 81

MODERN FAIRY TALES

PRINCE HARWEDA AND THE MAGIC PRISON Elizabeth Harrison 93

THE HOP-ABOUT MAN Agnes Grozier Herbertson 107

THE STREET MUSICIANS Lida McMurry 118

THE STRAW OX R. Nesbit Bain 124

THE NECKLACE OF TRUTH Jean Macé 131

ANDERS' NEW CAP Anna Wohlenberg 136

DUST UNDER THE RUG Maud Lindsay 142

A NIGHT WITH SANTA CLAUS Annie R. Annan 149

THE STORY OF LI'L' HANNIBAL Carolyn Sherwin Bailey 157

HOW WRY-FACE PLAYED A TRICK ON ONE-EYE, THE POTATO-WIFE Agnes Grozier Herbertson 164

THE POT OF GOLD Horace E. Scudder 176

THE FROG-TSAREVNA R. Nesbit Bain 188

OEYVIND AND MARIT Björne Björneson 197

THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES 207

Part 3

MYTHS

RHOECUS Fanny E. Coe 214

KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS Flora J. Cooke 217

THE STORY OF PEGASUS Fanny E. Coe 219

THE WOLF-MOTHER OF SAINT AILBE Abbie Farwell Brown 223

WHO WAS THE MIGHTIER? Fanny E. Coe 231

STORIES FROM REAL LIFE

HANS THE SHEPHERD BOY Ella Lyman Cabot 234

NATHAN AND THE BEAR M. A. L. Lane 236

THE MAN ON THE CHIMNEY Fanny E. Coe 241

POCAHONTAS E. A. and M. F. Blaisdell 244

THE DAY KIT AND KAT WENT FISHING Lucy Fitch Perkins 247

THE HONEST FARMER Ella Lyman Cabot 257

DAMON AND PYTHIAS Ella Lyman Cabot 259

LINCOLN'S UNVARYING KINDNESS Fanny E. Coe 261

HOW MOLLY SPENT HER SIXPENCE Eliza Orne White 265

HANS AND HIS DOG Maud Lindsay 275

* * * * *

The Fox and the Wolf

A Russian Fable

Once upon a time there was a fox so shrewd that, although he was neither so fleet of foot, nor so strong of limb, as many of his kindred, he nevertheless managed to feed as comfortably as any of them.

One winter's day, feeling rather hungry, he trotted out of his lair to take a look round. The neighbouring farmers guarded their hen-roosts so carefully from his depredations that a nice fat hen was out of the question, and the weather was too cold to tempt the rabbits out of their snug warren. Therefore Mr Fox set his wits to work and kept his eyes open for what might come along.

After a while, as he slunk along the bottom of a dry ditch, he descried in the distance an old man driving a cart. This was Truvor, the fisherman, who, since two or three days of December sunshine had melted the ice, had had a good catch of fish in the lake by the mountain-side.

"Aha!" said the fox to himself, "I should relish a dinner of fine, fresh trout. Truvor is far too selfish to share them with me, so I will have them all."

To achieve the purpose in view, he laid himself flat in the road over which the fisherman must pass and pretended to be dead. The fisherman beheld him with surprise when he drew near, and jumping from his seat poked his sleek sides with his whip. The fox did not move a muscle, and Truvor decided that he had been frozen to death by the cold of the preceding night.

"I will take him home to my wife," he remarked, as he flung the limp body into his cart. "His coat will make a very nice rug for our parlour, and she can use his brush to dust with."

The fox had much ado to refrain from laughing when he heard this and found himself amongst the fish. They smelt delicious, but he did not think it wise to eat them then, so he silently dropped them one by one into the road, and when the cart was empty, sprang out himself. Knowing nothing of what had been going on, the old man drove on until he reached his cottage.

"Come and see what I have brought you!" he called to his wife. You can imagine the good woman's disgust when she found the cart quite empty. Not only was she without the rug, but they would have no dinner.

Part 4

Meanwhile, the fox was thoroughly enjoying himself. The fish that he could not eat he hid away under a heap of grasses that he might make use of them some other time. While engaged in this occupation a wolf came up.

"Won't you give me a taste, little brother?" he asked. "I have had no food for the last two days, and know not where to seek it."

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