_The complicated or the insincere tale_. This would
eliminate a tale of complicated structure, such as Grimm's
_Golden Bird_; and many of the modern fairy tales, which
will be dealt with later on.
The fairy tales mentioned above are all important tales which the
child should receive at a later time when he is ready for them. They
are mentioned because they all have been suggested for kindergarten
use. The whole field of children's literature is largely unclassified
and ungraded as yet, and such arrangements as we possess show slight
respect for standards. There is abundant material for the youngest,
and much will be gained by omitting to give the very young what they
will enjoy a little later, much better and with freshness. It is true
that a few classics are well-suited to the child at any age, such as
_Alice in Wonderland_, _The Jungle Books_, and _Uncle Remus Tales_. In
regard to this grading of the classics, Lamb in _Mackery End_,
speaking of his sister's education, said, "She was tumbled early, by
accident or design, into a spacious closet of good old English
reading, without much selection or prohibition, and browsed at will
upon that fair and wholesome pasturage. Had I twenty girls they should
be brought up exactly in this fashion." Lamb would have argued: Set
the child free in the library and let him choose for himself, and feed
on great literature, those stories which give general types of
situation and character, which give the simplest pictures of a people
at different epochs. But with all due respect to Lamb it must be said
that Lamb is not living in this scientific day of discovery of the
child's personality and of accurate attention to the child's needs.
Because the _Odyssey_ is a great book and will give much to any child
does not prove at all that the same child would not be better off by
reading it when his interests reach its life. This outlook on the
problem would eliminate the necessity of having the classics rewritten
from a new moral viewpoint, which is becoming a custom now-a-days, and
which is to be frowned upon, for it deprives the literature of much of
its vigor and force.
II. THE FAIRY TALE AS LITERATURE
From the point of view of the child, we have seen that in a subjective
sense, fairy tales must contain the interests of children. In an
objective sense, rather from the point of view of literature, let us
now consider what fairy tales must contain, what are the main
standards which determine the value of fairy tales as literature, and
as such, subject-matter of real worth to the child.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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