FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26  
27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   >>  
is father's seat" 30 "The Marquis of Carabas is drowning!" 48 "I am exact in keeping my word" 63 "If you open it, there's nothing you may not expect from my anger" 67 "With all my heart, Goody" 75 "He fell upon the good woman" 81 INTRODUCTION What virtues do these stories possess that have kept them alive for so long a time? They have to some degree stimulated and nourished qualities of supreme worth in individual and social life. With the young the struggle against greed and falsehood and pride and cowardice is a very real one, and situations in which these homely, fundamental traits are involved are full of interest and seriousness. Again, to mature people the reward of well-doing and the punishment of evil conduct portrayed in these stories are apt to seem too realistic, too much also on the cut-and-dried pattern; but it is far different with children. They have a very concrete sense of right and wrong, and they demand a clear, explicit, tangible outcome for every sort of action. They must have concrete, living examples, with the appropriate outcome of each, set before them. A modest, faithful child will be strengthened in his good qualities; while one lacking these will have them aroused, to some extent at any rate, by following Cinderella in her career. Arrogance and selfishness come to unhappy straits in this fancy world, and they are likely to fare the same in the real world; so it would be better to part company with them, and take up with gentleness and kindliness and faithfulness instead. And every one may be of some help to others if he be only of the right mind. The brother who thought himself faring badly with only a cat for a legacy learns betimes that even so small and apparently helpless a creature may be of much service when he is rightly disposed. A person might think little Thumb could accomplish nothing of value to any one, but he again teaches the child that all depends on the willingness to be of assistance, the good-heartedness, the fellow-feeling which one has for others. In making this version anew the translator has endeavored to retain the characteristics of the style of the early chap-book versions, while evading the pompous, stilted language and Johnsonian phraseology so fashionable when they were first translated. M.V. O'SHEA. UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. The Tales of Mother Goose. CINDERELLA, OR TH
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26  
27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   >>  



Top keywords:

qualities

 

stories

 

concrete

 
outcome
 

faring

 

brother

 

thought

 
learns
 

service

 

creature


rightly

 

disposed

 
person
 

helpless

 

apparently

 
betimes
 

legacy

 

Carabas

 

drowning

 

straits


Arrogance
 

career

 
selfishness
 

unhappy

 

faithfulness

 

Marquis

 

kindliness

 

gentleness

 
company
 

fashionable


phraseology
 

translated

 

Johnsonian

 

language

 
versions
 

evading

 

pompous

 

stilted

 
Mother
 

CINDERELLA


WISCONSIN

 

UNIVERSITY

 

depends

 

teaches

 
willingness
 

assistance

 

heartedness

 

accomplish

 
fellow
 

feeling