been a satire reflecting upon a spendthrift King. IV. The Realistic Tale The realistic fairy tale has a great sympathy with humble life and desires to reproduce faithfully all life worth while. The spirit of it has been expressed by Kipling-- each in his separate star, Shall draw the Thing as he sees It, for the God of Things as They are. Sometimes the realistic story has a scientific spirit and interest. A realistic tale that is good will present not only what is true but what is possible, probable, or inevitable, making its truth impressive. Very often it does not reach this ideal. A transcript of actual life may be selected, but that is a photograph and not a picture with a strong purpose to make one point, and with artistic design. The characters, though true to life, may be lifeless and colorless, and their doings and what happens to them uninteresting. For this reason, many modern writers of tales for children, respecting the worth of the realistic, neglect to comply with what the realistic demands, and produce insipid, unconvincing tales. The realistic tale should deal with the simple and the ordinary rather than with the exceptional; and the test is not how much, but how little, credulity it arouses. Grimm's _Hans in Luck_ is a perfect realistic tale, as are Grimm's _Clever Elsa_ and the Norse _Three Sillies_, although these tales are suited to slightly older children. The drolls often appear among the realistic tales, as if genuine humor were more fresh when related to the things of actual life. The English _Lazy Jack_ is a delightful realistic droll which contains motifs that appear frequently among the tales. The Touchstone motif of a humble individual causing nobility to laugh appears in Grimm's _Dummling and His Golden Goose_. It appears also in _Zerbino the Savage_, a most elaborated Neapolitan tale retold by Laboulaye in his _Last Fairy Tales_; a tale full of humor, wit, and satire that would delight the cultured man of the world.