Stories to Tell and How to Tell Them

STORIES TO TELL AND HOW TO TELL THEM - BY ELIZABETH CLAW - 1927 - CONTENTS - 1. THE TALE OF THE TALKATIVE TOROISE IV. THE TALE OF A TURNIP . e W. JONATHAN JOHN AND HIS WIFE VII. FATHER SPARROWS TUG-OF-WAR . VIII. A TALE OF THE BAD LITTLE JACKAL . IX. THE SPINDLE, THE SHUTTLE AND THE . a NEEDLE . m m a X. THE LACE-MAKER OF BRUGES XI, THE OLD WOMAN AND THE PIXIES AND THE TULIPS m XII. ROBIN REDBREASTS THANKSGIVING XIII. THE STORY OF MOTHER TIGER . Q FOX AND THE -- THIS little book of stories is in part an attempt to furnish some fresh material for telling to chiidren of about six to ten years of age. None of the stories claims to be what is known as original. All are founded on legends and scraps of folk-lore or history. I have re-told them because I enjoyed them--one of the very best of good reasons for telling a story-in the hope that others will enjoy them also. The version of The Old Woman and the Pixies and the Tulips appears in print for the first time, as does also The Dog-Brother of the Order of St. John, though I have often told both at school-S and play-centres and as illustra- tions to lectures. The other eleven stories with their accompanying studies and comments have already appeared in the pages of Child Education. Now, as to the advice which follows each Introduction story. It has been written with considerable diffidence, because story-telling is such an indivi- dual affair that at first it seemed hardly possible to give any directions as to how each story should be told. Moreover, I had especially in mind the inexperienced and probably nervous Story- teller, to whom a story is apt to present itself as something to be memorised and afterwards dis-charged, with more or less accuracy and as much expression as anxiety will permit. To burden such with many details as to pauses, emphasis, inflections, would be only to add to their troubles. Also I am sure that expression, in story- telling of the homely, intimate kind for which these little stories are intended, comes best and most freely when it springs from the Story-tellers own enjoyment and understanding. It cannot be dictated word by word. So I have aimed at establishing a bond of friendship and intimacy between Story-teller and..............