Stories to Tell to Children | Page 6

look at new facts with fresh vision, and reach conclusions with
simplicity, is the perennial power in the world. And this is the mind we
are not noticeably successful in developing, in our system of schooling.
Let us at least have its needs before our consciousness, in our attempts

to supplement the regular studies of school by such side-activities as
story-telling. Let us give the children a fair proportion of stories which
stimulate independent moral and practical decisions.
And now for a brief return to our little black friend. "Epaminondas"
belongs to a very large, very ancient type of funny story: the tale in
which the jest depends wholly on an abnormal degree of stupidity on
the part of the hero. Every race which produces stories seems to have
found this theme a natural outlet for its childlike laughter. The stupidity
of Lazy Jack, of Big Claus, of the Good Man, of Clever Alice, all have
their counterparts in the folly of the small Epaminondas.
Evidently, such stories have served a purpose in the education of the
race. While the exaggeration of familiar attributes easily awakens mirth
in a simple mind, it does more: it teaches practical lessons of wisdom
and discretion. And possibly the lesson was the original cause of the
story.
Not long ago, I happened upon an instance of the teaching power of
these nonsense tales, so amusing and convincing that I cannot forbear
to share it. A primary teacher who heard me tell "Epaminondas" one
evening, told it to her pupils the next morning, with great effect. A
young teacher who was observing in the room at the time told me what
befell. She said the children laughed very heartily over the story, and
evidently liked it much. About an hour later, one of them was sent to
the board to do a little problem. It happened that the child made an
excessively foolish mistake, and did not notice it. As he glanced at the
teacher for the familiar smile of encouragement, she simply raised her
hands, and ejaculated "`For the law's sake!'"
It was sufficient. The child took the cue instantly. He looked hastily at
his work, broke into an irrepressible giggle, rubbed the figures out,
without a word, and began again. And the whole class entered into the
joke with the gusto of fellow-fools, for once wise.
It is safe to assume that the child in question will make fewer needless
mistakes for a long time because of the wholesome reminder of his
likeness with one who "ain't got the sense he was born with." And what
occurred so visibly in his case goes on quietly in the hidden recesses of
the mind in many cases. One "Epaminondas" is worth three lectures.
I wish there were more of such funny little tales in the world's literature,
all ready, as this one is, for telling to the youngest of our listeners. But

masterpieces are few in any line, and stories for telling are no exception;
it took generations, probably, to make this one. The demand for new
sources of supply comes steadily from teachers and mothers, and is the
more insistent because so often met by the disappointing
recommendations of books which prove to be for reading only, rather
than for telling. It would be a delight to print a list of fifty, twenty-five,
even ten books which would be found full of stories to tell without
much adapting. But I am grateful to have found even fewer than the ten,
to which I am sure the teacher can turn with real profit. The following
names are, of course, additional to the list contained in "How to Tell
Stories to Children."
ALL ABOUT JOHNNIE JONES. By Carolyn Verhoeff. Milton
Bradley Co., Springfield, Mass. Valuable for kindergartners as a supply
of realistic stories with practical lessons in simplest form.
OLD DECCAN DAYS. By Mary Frere. Joseph McDonough, Albany,
New York. A splendid collection of Hindu folk tales, adaptable for all
ages.
THE SILVER CROWN. By Laura E. Richards. Little, Brown & Co.,
Boston. Poetic fables with beautiful suggestions of ethical truths.
THE CHILDREN'S HOUR. BY Eva March Tappan. Houghton, Mifflin
& Co., Boston, New York, and Chicago. A classified collection, in ten
volumes, of fairy, folk tales, fables, realistic, historical, and poetical
stories.
FOR THE CHILDREN'S HOUR. BY Carolyn Bailey and Clara Lewis.
Milton Bradley Co., Springfield. A general collection of popular stories,
well told.
THE SONS OF CORMAC. By Aldis Dunbar. Longmans, Green & Co.,
London. Rather mature but very fine Irish stories.
For the benefit of suggestion to teachers in schools where story-telling
is newly or not yet introduced in systematic form, I am glad to append
the following list of stories which have been found, on several years'
trial, to be especially tellable and likable,