The quality of personality is best described, perhaps, by saying that
the tale seems to have impersonality. Any charm of the story-tellers
of the ages has entered into the body of the tale, which has become an
objective presentment of a reality that concentrates on itself and
keeps personality out of sight. The character of the tellers is shown
however in the qualities of the tale. The charm of the primitive
story-tellers has given the tale inimitable morning-dew freshness.
This seems to result from a fine simplicity, a sprightly
visualization, a quaint picturesqueness, a pleasing terseness, and an
Anglo-Saxon vigor.
Sincerity is displayed in the words of the Troll and of the three
Billy-Goats. Note the sincerity of little Billy-Goat Gruff:--
"Oh! it is only I, the tiniest Billy-Goat Gruff; and I'm
going up to the hillside to make myself fat," said the
Billy-Goat, with such a small voice.
The unity in this tale is unusually good. The central idea which
groups all the happenings in the tale is: Three Billy-Goats are
crossing a bridge to go up to the hillside to make themselves fat.
There are four characters, three Goats and the Troll. All that happens
in the tale contributes to the one effect of a bridge going trip,
trap! as a Goat crossed it on his way up the hillside; of a Troll
roaring: "Who's that tripping over my bridge?" of the explanation of
the Billy-Goat; of the answer of the Troll, "Now I'm coming to gobble
you up"; and of the Billy-Goat's final petition. Unity is emphasized
by the repetition in the tale, as the three Billy-Goats successively
cross the bridge and reply to the Troll. The climax is the big
Billy-Goat Gruff's tramp across the bridge.
This tale is characterized by perfect mass, the paragraphs always end
with words that deserve distinction, and the sentences have their
strongest words at the points where the eye would most readily see
them; as, "But just then up came the big Billy-Goat Gruff." The
coherence is fine, and is secured largely by the cumulative plan in a
threefold sense. The relation of the parts is unmistakable. The
similarity and contrast evident in the episodes of the three
Billy-Goats makes this relation very clearly defined. To make doubly
sure the end has been reached the tale concludes:--
Snip, snap, snout,
This tale's told out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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