Other sources from modern books can be found in Mabie, Wilmot Buxton, Keans Tappah, Cartwright Pole, Johonnut Anderson. Some of these are suitable for children themselves, and contain excellent reading matter.
Note.—I most gratefully acknowledge these sources supplied by the courtesy of Pittsburg Carnegie Library.
Both these lists are published by the New York Library, and I have had permission to quote both, by the courtesy of the Library.
In that admirable work, “Story-Telling in School and Home,” by Evelyn Newcomb Partridge and George Everett Partridge, published by William Heinemann, besides a valuable analysis of the Art of Story-Telling, there is an excellent list of books and stories.
The following list is not of my own making. I have taken it on the recommendation of Marion E. Potter, Bertha Tannehill and Emma L. Teich, who have compiled the list from twenty-three other lists. I again have made a shorter list of the titles, and acknowledge most gratefully the kind permission of the H. W. Wilson Company (Minneapolis) to quote from their book. The original work, which contains 3,000 titles, is well known in the United States under the title of “Children's Catalogue.” It is a book which ought to be in every School and Training College Library, and I hope my fragmentary selection may make it better known in my own country. I regret that I am unable to give publishers or reference marks for this American list.
The following miscellaneous list of books and stories is my own. I do not mean that none of them have appeared in other lists, but the greater number have been sifted from larger lists which I have made during the last ten years, more or less.
For English readers I have given the press-marks in the British Museum, which will be an economy of time to busy students and teachers. I have supplied, in every case where it has been possible, the source of the story and the name of the publisher for American readers, but my experience as a reader in the libraries of the States brings me to the conclusion that all the books of educational value will either be found in the main libraries or procured on application even in the small towns.
In many cases the stories would have to be shortened and re-arranged. The difficulty of finding the sources and obtaining permission has deterred me from offering for the present these stories in full.
This being a supplementary list to more general ones, there will naturally be absent a large number of standard books which I take for granted are known. Nevertheless, I have included the titles of some well-known works which ought not to be left out of any list.
For an understanding of the inner meaning of these stories, and as a preparation for telling them, I should recommend as a useful book of reference:
The following titles are of books containing stories for narration:
As selections of this extensive work:
I much regret that I have been unable to find a good collection of stories from history for Narrative purposes. I have made a careful and lengthy search, but apart from the few I have quoted the stories are all written from thereadingpoint of view, rather than thetelling. There is a large scope for such a book, but the dramatic presentation is the first and chief essential of such a work. These stories could be used as supplementary to the readings of the greathistorians. It would be much easier to interest boys and girls in the more leisurely account of the historian when they have once been caught in the fire of enthusiasm on the dramatic side.
The following is a list of single stories chosen for the dramatic qualities which make them suitable for narration. For the Press-marks and the publishers it will be necessary to refer back to the list containing the book-titles.
I commend all those who tell these stories to read the comments made on them by E. A. Freeman himself.
(This is sometimes due to a kind action shown to some humble person or to an animal.)
The following titles are taken from the “Story-telling Magazine,” published 27 West 23rd Street, New York.
The two following stories, which are great favourites, should be told one after the other, one to illustrate the patient wife, and the other the patient husband.
I have been asked so often for this particular story: I am glad to be able to provide it in very poetical language.
(For young children.)
(For older children.)
The two best editions of Hans C. Andersen's Fairy Tales are the translation by Mrs. Lucas, published by Dent, and the only complete English edition, published by W. A. and J. K. Craigie (Humphrey Milford, 1914).
I trust that the titles of my stories in this Section may not be misleading. Under the titles of “Myths, Legends and Fairy Tales,” I have included many which contain valuable ethical teaching, deep philosophy and stimulating examples for conduct in life. I regret that I have not been able to furnish in my own list many of the stories I consider good for narration, but the difficulty of obtaining permission has deterred me from further efforts in this direction. I hope, however, that teachers and students will look up the book containing these stories.