A Study of Fairy Tales written by Laura F. Kready

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A STUDY OF FAIRY TALES

by

LAURA F. KREADY, B.S.

With an Introduction by Henry Suzzallo, Ph.D.
President of the University of Washington, Seattle

TO THE CHILDREN WHO, BECAUSE OF IT, MAY RECEIVE ANY GOOD.

PREFACE

One of the problems of present-day education is to secure for the
entire school system, from the kindergarten to the university, a
curriculum which shall have a proved and permanent value. In this
curriculum literature has established itself as a subject of
unquestioned worth. But children's literature, as that distinct
portion of the subject literature written especially for children or
especially suited to them, is only beginning to take shape and form.
It seems necessary at this time to work upon the content of children's
literature to see what is worthy of a permanent place in the child's
English, and to dwell upon its possibilities. A consideration of this
subject has convinced me of three points:

(1) that literature in the kindergarten and elementary
school should be taught as a distinct subject, accessory
neither to reading nor to any other subject of the
curriculum, though intimately related to them;

(2) that it takes training in the subject to teach
literature to little children;

(3) that the field of children's literature is largely
untilled, inviting laborers, embracing literature which
should be selected from past ages down to the present.

A single _motif_ of this children's literature, _Fairy Tales_, is here
presented, with the aim of organizing this small portion of the
curriculum for the child of five, six, or seven years, in the
kindergarten and the first grade. The purpose has been to show this
unit of literature in its varied connection with those subjects which
bear an essential relation to it. This presentation incidentally may
serve as an example of one method of giving to teachers a course in
literature by showing what training may be given in a single _motif,
Fairy Tales_. Incidentally also it may set forth a few theories of
education, not isolated from practice, but united to the everyday
problems where the teacher will recognize them with greatest
impression. In the selection of the subject no undue prominence is
hereby advocated for fairy tales. We know fairy tales about which we
could agree with Maria Edgeworth when she said: "Even if children do
prefer fairy tales, is this a reason why their minds should be filled
with fantastic visions instead of useful knowledge?" However, there is
no danger that fairy tales will occupy more than a fair share of the
child's interest, much as he enjoys a tale; for the little child's
main interest is centered in the actual things of everyday life and
his direct contact with them. Yet there is a part of him untouched by
these practical activities of his real and immediate life; and it is
this which gives to literature its unique function, to minister to the
spirit. Fairy tales, in contributing in their small way to this high
service, while they occupy a position of no undue prominence,
nevertheless hold a place of no mean value in education.

In the study of fairy tales, as of any portion of the curriculum or as
in any presentation of subject-matter, three main elements must unite
to form one combined whole: the child, the subject, and the teaching
of the subject. In behalf of the child I want to show how fairy tales
contain his interests and how they are means for the expression of his
instincts and for his development in purpose, in initiative, in
judgment, in organization of ideas, and in the creative return
possible to him. In behalf of the subject I want to show what fairy
tales must possess as classics, as literature and composition, and as
short-stories; to trace their history, to classify the types, and to
supply the sources of material. In behalf of the teaching of fairy
tales I want to describe the telling of the tale: the preparation it
involves, the art required in its presentation, and the creative
return to be expected from the child.

In the consideration of the subject the main purpose has been to
relate fairy tales to the large subjects, literature and composition.
From the past those tales have come down to us which inherently
possessed the qualities of true classics. In modern times so few
children's tales have survived because they have been written mainly
from the point of view of the subject and of the child without regard
to the standards of literary criticism. In the school the teaching of
literature in the kindergarten and elementary grades has been
conducted largely also from the point of view of the child and of the
subject without regard to the arts of literature and composition. In
bookshops counters are filled with many books that lack literary value
or artistic merit. The object in this book has been to preserve the
point of view of the child and of the subject and yet at the same time
relate the tale to the standards of literature and of composition. The
object has been to get the teacher, every time she selects or tells a
tale, to apply practically the great underlying principles of
literature, of composition, and of the short-story, as well as those
of child-psychology and of pedagogy.

This relating of the tale to literary standards will give to the
teacher a greater respect for the material she is handling and a
consequent further understanding of its possibilities. It will reveal
what there is in the tale to teach and also how to teach it. In
teaching literature as also other art subject-matter in the
kindergarten and first grade, the problem is to hold fast to the
principles of the art and yet select, or let the child choose,
material adapted to his simplicity. As the little child uses analysis
but slightly, his best method of possessing a piece of literature is
to do something with it.

The fairy tale is also related to life standards, for it presents to
the child a criticism of life. By bringing forward in high light the
character of the fairy, the fairy tale furnishes a unique contribution
to life. Through its repeated impression of the idea of fairyhood it
may implant in the child a desire which may fructify into that pure,
generous, disinterested kindness and love of the grown-up, which aims
to play fairy to another, with sincere altruism to make appear before
his eyes his heart's desire, or in a twinkling to cause what hitherto
seemed impossible. Fairy tales thus are harbingers of that helpfulness
which would make a new earth, and as such afford a contribution to the
religion of life.

In stressing the history of fairy tales the purpose has been to
present fairy tales as an evolution. The kindergarten and first-grade
teacher must therefore look to find her material anywhere in the whole
field and intimately related with the whole. Special attention has
been placed upon the English fairy tale as the tale of our language.
As we claim an American literature since the days of Washington
Irving, the gradual growth of the American fairy tale has been
included, for which we gratefully acknowledge the courtesy of the
Librarian of the United States Bureau of Education and the
Bibliographer of the Library of Congress. A particular treatment of
some North American Indian folk-tales would also be desirable. But a
study of these tales reveals but one unimportant _pourquois_ tale, of
sufficient simplicity. This study of the natural history of the fairy
tale as an art form is not necessary for the child. But for the
teacher it reveals the nature of fairy tales and their meaning. It is
an aid to that scholarly command of subject-matter which is the first
essential for expertness in teaching. Only when we view the American
fairy tale of to-day in the light of its past history can we obtain a
correct standard by which to judge of its excellence or of its worth.

In the classification of fairy tales the purpose has been to organize
the entire field so that any tale may be studied through the type
which emphasizes its distinguishing features. The source material
endeavors to furnish a comprehensive treatment of fairy tales for the
kindergarten and elementary school.

In the preparation of this book the author takes pleasure in
expressing an appreciation of the criticism and helpful suggestions
given by the Editor, Dr. Henry Suzzallo, under whose counsel,
cooperation, and incentive the work grew. The author wishes also to
make a general acknowledgment for the use of many books which of
necessity would be consulted in organizing and standardizing any unit
of literature. Special acknowledgment should be made for the use of
_Grimm's Household Tales_, edited by Margaret Hunt, containing
valuable notes and an introduction by Andrew Lang of _English Fairy
Tales_, _More English Fairy Tales_, _Indian Fairy Tales_, and _Reynard
the Fox_, and their scholarly introductions and notes, by Joseph
Jacobs; of _Norse Tales_ and its full introduction, by Sir George W.
Dasent; of _Tales of the Punjab_ and its Appendix, by Mrs. F.A. Steel;
of the _Uncle Remus Books_, by J.C. Harris; of _Fairy Tales_, by Hans
C. Andersen; of _Fairy Mythology_ and _Tales and Popular Fictions_, by
Thomas Keightley; of _Principles of Literary Criticism_, by Professor
C.T. Winchester, for its standards of literature; of _English
Composition_, by Professor Barrett Wendell, for its standards of
composition; of Professor John Dewey's classification of the child's
instincts; and of the _Kindergarten Review_, containing many articles
of current practice illustrating standards emphasized here.

Recognition is gratefully given for the use of various collections of
fairy tales and for the use of any particular fairy tale that has been
presented in outline, descriptive narrative, criticism, or
dramatization. Among collections special mention should be made of
_The Fairy Library_, by Kate D. Wiggin and Nora A. Smith; the _Fairy
Books_, by Clifton Johnson; and the _Fairy Books_, by Andrew Lang.
Among tales, particular mention should be made for the use, in
adaptation, made of _Oeyvind and Marit_, given in Whittier's _Child
Life in Prose_; of _The Foolish Timid Rabbit_, given in _The Jataka
Tales_, by Ellen C. Babbit; of _The Sheep and the Pig_, in Miss
Bailey's _For the Children's Hour_; of _Drakesbill_, in _The Fairy
Ring_, by Wiggin and Smith; of _The Magpie's Nest_, in _English Fairy
Tales_, by Joseph Jacobs; of _How the Evergreen Trees Lose their
Leaves_, in _The Book of Nature Myths_, by Miss Holbrook; of _The
Good-Natured Bear_, described by Thackeray in "On Some Illustrated
Christmas Books"; and of _The Hop-About-Man_, by Agnes Herbertson,
given in _The Story-Teller's Book_, by Alice O'Grady (Moulton) and
Frances Throop.

The author wishes also to express thanks to the many teachers and
children whose work has in any way contributed to _A Study of Fairy
Tales_.

LAURA F. KREADY
LANCASTER, PENNSYLVANIA
August, 1916

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

INTRODUCTION BY HENRY SUZZALLO xv

I. THE WORTH OF FAIRY TALES 1

II. PRINCIPLES OF SELECTION FOR FAIRY TALES 13

III. THE TELLING OF FAIRY TALES 90

IV. THE HISTORY OF FAIRY TALES 158

V. CLASSES OF FAIRY TALES 204

VI. SOURCES OF MATERIAL FOR FAIRY TALES 245

APPENDIX 265

OUTLINE 291

INDEX 305

INTRODUCTION

The fairy tale has a place in the training of children which common
sense and a sympathetic attitude toward childhood will not deny. Some
rigid philosophers, who see no more of life than is to be found in
logical science, condemn the imaginative tale. They regard the
teaching of myths and stories as the telling of pleasant lies, which,
if harmless, are wasteful. What the child acquires through them, he
must sooner or later forget or unlearn.

Such arguments carry conviction until one perceives that their authors
are measuring the worth of all teaching in terms of strictly
intellectual products. Life is more than precise information; it is
impulse and action. The fairy tale is a literary rather than a
scientific achievement. Its realities are matters of feeling, in which
thought is a mere skeleton to support the adventure. It matters little
that the facts alleged in the story never were and never can be. The
values and ideals which enlist the child's sympathy are morally
worthy, affording a practice to those fundamental prejudices toward
right and wrong which are the earliest acquisitions of a young soul.
The other characteristics of the tale--the rhythmic, the grotesque,
the weird, and the droll--are mere recreation, the abundant
playfulness which children require to rest them from the dangers and
terrors which fascinate them.

The fairy tale, like every other literary production, must be judged
by the fitness of its emotional effects. Fairyland is the stage-world
of childhood, a realm of vicarious living, more elemental and more
fancy-free than the perfected dramas of sophisticated adults whose
ingrained acceptance of binding realities demands sterner stuff. The
tales are classics of a particular kind; they are children's classics,
artful adaptations of life and form which grip the imaginations of
little folks.

The diet of babes cannot be determined by the needs of grown-ups. A
spiritual malnutrition which starves would soon set in if adult wisdom
were imposed on children for their sustenance. The truth is amply
illustrated by those pathetic objects of our acquaintance, the men and
women who have never been boys and girls.

To cast out the fairy tale is to rob human beings of their childhood,
that transition period in which breadth and richness are given to
human life so that it may be full and plastic enough to permit the
creation of those exacting efficiencies which increasing knowledge and
responsibility compel. We cannot omit the adventures of fairyland from
our educational program. They are too well adapted to the restless,
active, and unrestrained life of childhood. They take the objects
which little boys and girls know vividly and personify them so that
instinctive hopes and fears may play and be disciplined.

While the fairy tales have no immediate purpose other than to amuse,
they leave a substantial by-product which has a moral significance. In
every reaction which the child has for distress or humor in the tale,
he deposits another layer of vicarious experience which sets his
character more firmly in the mould of right or wrong attitude. Every
sympathy, every aversion helps to set the impulsive currents of his
life, and to give direction to his personality.

Because of the important aesthetic and ethical bearings of this form
of literary experience, the fairy stories must be rightly chosen and
artfully told. In no other way can their full worth in education be
realized. They are tools which require discrimination and skill. Out
of the wisdom of one who knows both tales and children, and who holds
a thoughtful grasp on educational purpose, we offer this volume of
unusually helpful counsel.--HENRY SUZZALLO.

CHAPTER I

THE WORTH OF FAIRY TALES

In olde dayes of the kyng Arthour,
Of which that Britouns speken gret honour,
Al was this lond fulfilled of fayrie;
The elf-queen, with hir joly compaignye,
Daunced ful oft in many a grene mede.--CHAUCER.

I. TWO PUBLIC TRIBUTES

Only a few years ago, in the gardens of the Tuileries, in Paris, a
statue was erected in memory of Charles Perrault, to be placed there
among the sculptures of the never-to-be-forgotten fairy tales he had
created,--_Red Riding Hood_, _Sleeping Beauty_, _Puss-in-Boots_,
_Hop-o'-my-Thumb_, _Bluebeard_, and the rest,--so that the children
who roamed the gardens, and in their play gathered about the statues
of their beloved fairy friends, might have with them also a reminder
of the giver of all this joy, their friend Perrault. Two hundred years
before, Perrault truly had been their friend, not only in making for
them fairy tales, but in successfully pleading in their behalf when he
said, "I am persuaded that the gardens of the King were made so great
and spacious that all the children may walk in them."

Only in December, 1913, in Berlin, was completed the _Maerchen
Brunnen_, or "Fairy-Tale Fountain," at the entrance to Friedrichshain
Park, in which the idea of the architect, Stadt-Baurat Ludwig
Hoffmann, wholly in harmony with the social spirit of the times, was
to erect an artistic monument to give joy to multitudes of children.
This fairy entrance to the park is a decorative lay-out, a central
ground surrounded by a high, thick lodge of beeches. Toward this
central ground--which has been transformed into a joyous fairy
world--many hedge walks lead; while in the sidewalks, to warn naughty
children, are concealed fantastic figures. There is the huge
_Menschen-fresser_, who grasps a tender infant in each Titan hand and
bears on his head a huge basket of children too young to have known
much wrong. A humorous touch, giving distinct charm to the whole
creation, pervades all. From lions' heads and vases, distributed at
regular intervals in the semicircular arcade in the background, water
gushes forth; while in the central basin, nine small water
animals--seven frogs and two larger animals--appear spouting great
jets of water. Clustered about the central fountain are the nine fairy
characters of Professor Ignatius Taschner, among whom are Red Riding
Hood, Hansel and Grethel each riding a duck, Puss-in-Boots,
Cinderella, and Lucky Hans; and looking down upon them from the
surrounding balustrade are the animal figures by Joseph Rauch. In
these simple natural classic groups, fancy with what pleasure the
children may look to find the friendly beasts and the favorite tales
they love!

Such is the tribute to fairy tales rendered by two great nations who
have recognized fairy tales as the joyous right of children. Any
education which claims to relate itself to present child life can
hardly afford to omit what is acknowledged as part of the child's
everyday life; nor can it afford to omit to hand on to the child those
fairy tales which are a portion of his literary heritage.

II. THE VALUE OF FAIRY TALES IN EDUCATION

In considering fairy tales for the little child, the first question
which presents itself is, "Why are fairy stories suited to the little
child, and what is their value for him?"

Fairy tales bring joy into child life. The mission of joy has not been
fully preached, but we know that joy works toward physical health,
mental brightness, and moral virtue. In the education of the future,
happiness together with freedom will be recognized as the largest
beneficent powers that will permit the individual of four, from his
pristine, inexperienced self-activity, to become that final, matured,
self-expressed, self-sufficient, social development--the educated man.
Joy is the mission of art and fairy tales are art products. As such
Pater would say, "For Art comes to you, proposing to give nothing but
the highest quality to your moments as they pass, and simply for those
moments' sake. Not the fruit of experience, but experience, is the
end." Such quality came from the art of the fairy tale into the walk
of a little girl, for whom even the much-tabooed topic of the weather
took on a new, fresh charm. In answer to a remark concerning the day
she replied, "Yes, it's not too hot, and not too cold, but just
right." All art, being a product of the creative imagination, has the
power to stimulate the creative faculties. "For Art, like Genius,"
says Professor Woodberry, "is common to all men, it is the stamp of
the soul in them." All are creatures of imitation and combination; and
the little child, in handling an art product, puts his thought through
the artist's mould and gains a touch of the artist's joy.

Fairy tales satisfy the play spirit of childhood. Folk-tales are the
product of a people in a primitive stage when all the world is a
wonder-sphere. Most of our popular tales date from days when the
primitive Aryan took his evening meal of yava and fermented mead, and
the dusky Sudra roamed the Punjab. "All these fancies are pervaded
with that purity by which children seem to us so wonderful," said
William Grimm. "They have the same blue-white, immaculate bright
eyes." Little children are in this same wonder-stage. They believe
that the world about throbs with life and is peopled with all manner
of beautiful, powerful folk. All children are poets, and fairy tales
are the poetic recording of the facts of life. In this day of
commercial enterprise, if we would fit children for life we must see
to it that we do not blight the poets in them. In this day of emphasis
on vocational training we must remember there is a part of life unfed,
unnurtured, and unexercised by industrial education. Moreover,
whatever will be accomplished in life will be the achievement of a
free and vigorous life of the imagination. Before it was realized,
everything new had existed in some trained imagination, fertile with
ideas. The tale feeds the imagination, for the soul of it is a bit of
play. It suits the child because in it he is not bound by the law of
cause and effect, nor by the necessary relations of actual life. He is
entirely in sympathy with a world where events follow as one may
choose. He likes the mastership of the universe. And fairyland--where
there is no time; where troubles fade; where youth abides; where
things come out all right--is a pleasant place.

Furthermore, fairy tales are play forms. "Play," Bichter says, "is the
first creative utterance of man." "It is the highest form in which the
native activity of childhood expresses itself," says Miss Blow. Fairy
tales offer to the little child an opportunity for the exercise of
that self-active inner impulse which seeks expression in two kinds of
play, the symbolic activity of free play and the concrete presentation
of types. The play, _The Light Bird_, and the tale, _The Bremen_ _Town
Musicians_, both offer an opportunity for the child to express that
pursuit of a light afar off, a theme which appeals to childhood. The
fairy tale, because it presents an organized form of human experience,
helps to organize the mind and gives to play the values of human life.
By contributing so largely to the play spirit, fairy tales contribute
to that joy of activity, of achievement, of cooeperation, and of
judgment, which is the joy of all work. This habit of kindergarten
play, with its joy and freedom and initiative, is the highest goal to
be attained in the method of university work.

Fairy tales give the child a power of accurate observation. The habit
of re-experiencing, of visualization, which they exercise, increases
the ability to see, and is the contribution literature offers to
nature study. In childhood acquaintance with the natural objects of
everyday life is the central interest; and in its turn it furnishes
those elements of experience upon which imagination builds. For this
reason it is rather remarkable that the story, which is omitted from
the Montessori system of education, is perhaps the most valuable means
of effecting that sense-training, freedom, self-initiated play,
repose, poise, and power of reflection, which are foundation stones of
its structure.

Fairy tales strengthen the power of emotion, develop the power of
imagination, train the memory, and exercise the reason. As emotion and
imagination are considered in Chapter 11, in the section, "The Fairy
Tale as Literature," and the training of the memory and the exercise
of the reason in connection with the treatment of various other topics
later on, these subjects will be passed by for the present. Every day
the formation of habits of mind during the process of education is
being looked upon with a higher estimate. The formation of habits of
mind through the use of fairy tales will become evident during
following chapters.

Fairy tales extend and intensify the child's social relations. They
appeal to the child by presenting aspects of family life. Through them
he realizes his relations to his own parents: their care, their
guardianship, and their love. Through this he realizes different
situations and social relations, and gains clear, simple notions of
right and wrong. His sympathies are active for kindness and fairness,
especially for the defenseless, and he feels deeply the calamity of
the poor or the suffering and hardship of the ill-treated. He is in
sympathy with that poetic justice which desires immediate punishment
of wrong, unfairness, injustice, cruelty, or deceit. Through fairy
tales he gains a many-sided view of life. Through his dramas, with a
power of sympathy which has seemed universal, Shakespeare has given
the adult world many types of character and conduct that are noble.
But fairy tales place in the hands of childhood all that the thousands
and thousands of the universe for ages have found excellent in
character and conduct. They hold up for imitation all those cardinal
virtues of love and self-sacrifice,--which is the ultimate criterion
of character,--of courage, loyalty, kindness, gentleness, fairness,
pity, endurance, bravery, industry, perseverance, and thrift. Thus
fairy tales build up concepts of family life and of ethical standards,
broaden a child's social sense of duty, and teach him to reflect.
Besides developing his feelings and judgments, they also enlarge his
world of experience.

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