_The tale of capture_. This would eliminate _Proserpine_. No more beautiful myth exists than this one of the springtime, but its beauty and its symbolism do not make it suitable for the kindergarten. It is more suited to the elementary child of the fourth grade. In fact, very few myths of any sort find a legitimate place in the kindergarten, perhaps only a few of the simpler _pourquois_ tales. _The Legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin_, which is very beautiful, and appeals to little children because of the piping and of the children following after, should be omitted from the kindergarten because the capture at the close--the disappearance of the children in the hill--is tragic in pathos. It is better to leave the literature as it is and offer it later when the child reaches the second grade. The effect of this tragic end has been realized by Josephine Scribner Gates, who (_St. Nicholas_, November, 1914) has given to the children, "And Piped Those Children Back Again." This is a modern completion of _The Pied Piper_. It most happily makes the little lame boy who was left in Hamelin when the Piper closed the door of the mountain, the means of the restoration of the other children to their parents. _The very long tale_. This would omit _The Ugly Duckling. The Ugly Duckling_ is a most artistic tale and one that is very true to life. Its characters are the animals of the barn-yard, the hens and ducks familiar to the little child's experience. But the theme and emotional interest working out at length through varied scenes, make it much better adapted to the capacities of a third-grade child. _The White Cat_, a feminine counterpart of _Puss-in-Boots_--which gives a most charming picture of how a White Cat, a transformed princess, helped a youth, and re-transformed became his bride--because of its length, is better used in the first grade at the same time with _Puss-in-Boots_. The same holds true of _Peter, Paul, and Espen_, or its parallel, Laboulaye's _Poucinet_. This is a fine tale telling how the youngest of three sons succeeded in winning the king's favor and finally the princess and half the kingdom. First, Espen had to cut down the giant oak that shadowed the palace and dig a well in the courtyard of the castle deep enough to furnish water the entire year. But after winning in these tests, he is required to conquer a great Ogre who dwells in the forest, and later to prove himself cleverer in intellect than the princess by telling the greater falsehood. It is evident that not only the subject-matter but the working out of the long plot are much beyond kindergarten children.