Before choosing our stories for telling it will be well to remind
ourselves of our purpose in telling stories, namely, to give
familiarity with good English, to cultivate the imagination, to
develop the sympathy, and to give a clear impression of moral
truth. With this purpose in mind we shall gather our children
into groups whose ages are near, and will be reached by the same
tales. We must be methodical in this as in all our library work,
and have our campaign well planned before we begin.
Not everyone has the gift of telling stories, but if one is not
gifted with the art himself, there will doubtless be someone who
is, who can be secured for the purpose, if we only feel that the
need is great enough.
The way is open to the minds and hearts of the children. Shall we
neglect it because it is old, or because it is new, or because we
seem somewhat hampered by existing conditions? Why not follow the
successes of others, and then find our own?
The above paper by Miss Lyman is offered as introductory to a
talk which she will give at Beloit at the Wisconsin state
meeting, February 22, 1905. The story hour has been most
successfully conducted in a few of our libraries. To be sure
every librarian is not qualified to conduct a successful story
hour, but it is usually possible to find someone in the community
who will tell the stories. The story hour requires a good deal of
preparation. In Pittsburgh the librarians who were to tell
stories had special training under Miss Shedlock, a well-known
English story teller, and gave thorough study to the subject
before attempting to interest the children. This library has
published a pamphlet on Story telling to children from Norse
mythology and the Nibehulgenlied. This pamphlet contains
references to material on selected stories, an annotated reading
list for the story teller and for young people, a full outline of
a course, and many valuable suggestions. The same library
published in its bulletin, October, 1902, the following outlines:
LEGENDS OF KING ARTHUR AND THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE
Story 1. Merlin the Enchanter Story 2. How Arthur won his
kingdom and how he got his sword Excalibur. Story 3. The
marriage of Arthur and Guinevere and the founding of the Round
Table. Story 4. The adventure of Gareth Story 5. The
adventure of Geraint. Story 6. The adventure of Geraint and
the Fair Enid. Story 7. The story of the dolorous stroke.
Story 8. How Launcelot saved Guinevere; or, The adventure of
the cart. Story 9. Launcelot and the lily-maid of Astrolat.
Story 10. The coming of Galahad Story 11. The quest of
the Sangreal Story 12. The achieving of the Sangreal.
Story 13. The passing of Arthur.
LEGENDS OF CHARLEMAGNE AND HIS PALADINS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account