6. About Birds: _Who Stole the Bird's Nest?_ Volume II, 399. _Owls_, IX, 229. 7. About Other Animals: _Elephant Hunting_, Volume VI, 385. _The Buffalo_, VII, 96. _The Pond in Winter_, VII, 280. The longer stories you will abbreviate in telling, and the children will still further shorten them. Try, however, to retain the spirit of each. Do not try to tell all that is contained in the longer articles mentioned above. Select interesting portions, a single anecdote, a few facts that will hold attention. At times vary the exercise by giving a very simple theme and ask the children to make up a story to fit it. If they have difficulty, help them to think and talk. When they see what you want some will surprise you with their vivid imaginations and picturesque modes of expression. Suppose you have in mind the fable _The Wind and the Sun_ (Volume I, Page 95). You might present the idea to them in this form: "The Wind and the Sun each tried to make a man take off his coat. The Wind tried and failed, then the Sun tried and succeeded. Can you tell me a story about that?" If you meet with no satisfactory response, begin questioning somewhat in this style, and perhaps the child will answer nearly as indicated: Question. You don't know what I mean? Then let us tell it together. How do you think the Wind would try to make a man take off his coat? Answer. He would try to blow it off. Q. How would he blow? A. He would blow hard. Q. Can you think of another word besides _hard_ to show how he would blow? A. Fierce. Q. Fiercely. Yes, "_fiercely_" is a good word. How fiercely would he blow? A. Very fierce. Q. Yes, very _fiercely_. Did you notice I said "fiercely," John? Now can't you think of a comparison with something else that is fierce, so that our story will sound well and people will like it? A. A lion is fierce. We could say, "He blew as fiercely as a lion." Q. But a lion does not blow. What does he do? A. He tears his prey when he captures it. Q. That's good. Now tell me how the Wind tried to make the man take off his coat. A. The Wind blew fiercely as a lion tears his prey. Q. Good. Did the man take off his coat? A. I don't think he did. I think he would try to keep it on. Q. How hard do you think he would try? A. As hard as he could. Q. Did he lose it? A. No. No matter what the Wind did I think the man would keep on his coat. Q. Will you please tell the story as far as we have gone? A. The Wind and the Sun tried to make a man take off his coat. First the Wind blew as fiercely as a lion tears his prey, but the man clung more closely to his coat and would not let it go. Q. That is good, but it does not satisfy me yet. I want a longer, prettier story. Let us make believe the Wind and the Sun are two men. Make them talk so they will seem real to us. Can't you start us?