William James Sly

“ Such a mother fails to see that in excluding fairy and folk-tales from her child’s mind she is simply shutting the door of his imagination and hindering his power to do great things in after-life by closing for him the storehouse of creative imagination. Imagination is the most powerful factor in any life. Helen Keller, when asked what sense she considered the most important, replied, “Imagination!” By imagination the blind see the invisible. By this sense, Newton, Kepler, Davy, Faraday, Edison, and Burbank saw from afar their great discoveries and inventions and brought them near. ”

“ One spring day, a young surveyor, eighteen years of age, was eating his dinner with some companions in a forest in Virginia. Suddenly the sylvan stillness was startled by the piercing shrieks of a woman. The young surveyor sprang to his feet and leaped to the woman’s side. “My boy! My boy! Oh, my darling boy is drowning and they will not let me rescue him,” screamed the frantic mother as she tried to escape from the men who held her from springing into the rapids. “No, we will not let her go,” cried the men, “for she would be instantly killed on the sharp rocks and could not rescue her boy!” ”

“ Not the least reason for the father, as well as the mother, being the story-teller to their own children, is the comradeship of it. A well-loved writer once said that in his long experience he had never seen any family of boys go wrong where their father was their “chum,” if the father was himself the man he ought to be. The father’s comradeship with his boy or girl begins very early in the child-life, and the earlier it begins, the deeper and stronger will the roots go down into the soul. ”

“ Oh, when will Christmas come?” The wind and air and sun and birds tried to make the Fir Tree happy, but he only grew more discontented with his lot. One day, just before Christmas, the wood-cutter came again, and this time the Fir Tree was the first to be cut down and carried off. But he could not think of happiness now, for he was sad at leaving his home in the forest. He knew that he would never again see his dear old friends, the trees, the bushes, the birds, and the flowers. That morning the Fir Tree was stuck upright in a tub that stood on a rich carpet in a splendid parlor. ”

“ So the Coyote told him they must go to the Burning Mountain to bring fire to the people. “What is fire?” asked the Boy. “Fire is red like a flower, yet not a flower; swift to run in the grass and destroy, like a beast, yet not a beast; fierce and beautiful, yet a good servant to keep one warm, if kept among stones and fed with sticks.”
“We will get the fire,” said the Boy. So the Boy and the Coyote started off with one hundred swift runners for the far-away Burning Mountain. ”

“ The little girl had often seen Captain Naaman. She thought he looked so fine in his rich uniform as he rode away in a chariot with prancing horses. She knew that the king of that land had made him captain over all his soldiers because he was so brave. “But he is a leper, he has leprosy—how sad!” she kept saying to herself; “how I wish I could help him!”
One day a thought flashed into her mind that made her eyes sparkle with joy. She knew in her own land there was a great and good man named Elisha who had done many wonderful things in helping people. ”

“ One day when they came with their gifts, Abel, with a loving heart, carried a lamb, the best of his flock, but Cain brought some fruit in a careless way. God was well pleased with Abel’s gift, because of the love that came with it; but not with Cain’s, because Cain kept hatred to his brother in his heart. Cain was angry and his face became dark and scowling. God said: “Why are you angry and scowling? If you do well, will you not be happy? If you do not well, hatred in your heart will crouch, like a lion, ready to spring at you.” ”

“ Zaccheus could scarcely believe his ears. Was it possible that the good Teacher would visit him, a man so wicked, hated, and despised? How did Jesus know his name? How did he see his hiding-place in the tree? The dwarf didn’t know, but he hastened down at once and welcomed Jesus to his house. In surprise some of the people cried: “Look! Jesus is going to stay with a sinner. Does he know what a bad man this is?” Zaccheus gave Jesus the best room in his large house, and did all he could to make his visit comfortable. “Prepare the best feast for Jesus,” he said to his servants. ”

“ The legend is the perception of an idea from a basis in fact. The myth is a creation of pure and absolute imagination. The legend is a story based on historical fact, but enlarged, abridged, or modified at pleasure. Both myths and legends express the imagination, emotion, and spirit of early man, and, for this reason, make a strong appeal to the same qualities in the soul of those who are in the early years of life to-day.” As all races have their legends, the list of them is long. ”

“ THE FATHER AS STORY-TELLER
The instinct of story-telling is, undoubtedly, more natural with the mother, the children more necessarily turning to her with their cry for soul-food, “Tell me a story!” But many a father would greatly enrich his own life and his boy’s childhood memory by less absorption in the evening paper, the monthly magazine, or the club in order to attend to this soul-hunger of his boy’s mind. Longfellow, the great lover of children, had the father as the story-teller in mind, when he pictured “The Children’s Hour” ”

“ Every day, they thought, he rode through the sky in his golden chariot, drawn by fiery horses. One day Phaethon, meaning “the Bright and Shining One,” his son, said, “Father, let me drive your chariot for one day.” “My son,” said Apollo, “I cannot grant your request! ’Tis a mischief, not a gift, you ask. The road is steep and the four fiery steeds untamed. You would grow dizzy and fall and set the world on fire.” But Phaethon pleaded and, because he had promised, at last Apollo ordered the Hours to harness the horses and fling wide open the palace-gates. ”

“ She knew at once it was Peter’s voice, but in her joy and excitement she forgot to open the door, running back into the prayer-meeting room and crying out, “Peter is out of prison! Peter is at the door.” All arose from their knees and said, “Rose, you must be crazy to talk like that.” “No, I am not,” she said; “it is Peter!”
“Isn’t it too bad?” said one, “Herod has already killed Peter, not waiting until to-morrow; and God has sent Peter’s angel to comfort us.” “No,” cried Rose; “no, it is not Peter’s angel; it is Peter himself! I know I am right! ”

“ Happy were the children who grew up to manhood or womanhood with this Great Stone Face before their eyes, for the features were all so noble and their expression like the glow of a great, warm heart, it was an education to look at it. There was a belief among the people who lived in the valley, that one day a boy would be born who would become the greatest and noblest man of his times, and whose face would exactly resemble the Great Stone Face. ”

“ While Jesus had been at the feast during those seven days he had found out what every boy and girl sooner or later must find out, what he is to do and to be in the world. But though Jesus now knew what he was to be and do, yet at once he said to the great teachers, “Good-bye,” and went back with his parents to Nazareth, a cheerful, obedient Jewish boy.
And in all that land no son was ever so thoughtful, so kind, so loving, and so helpful to his parents and to his brothers and sisters, as was this noble boy and young man, whom his neighbors knew as Jesus, the young carpenter of Nazareth. ”

“ So on Christmas morning before any of the children were awake, the spiders came creeping, creeping, creeping down the attic stairs, along the hall, under the door, and into the room where the Christmas tree was standing. Oh! it was beautiful to their little eyes as they looked upon it as much as they liked. Then father spider, mother spider, and all the spider family went creeping, creeping, creeping up the tree and all over its branches, and in great joy hurried back to their home in the attic. ”

“ It is the power of good over evil.” Then he took the girl’s rich girdle, bound it round the great dragon, and gave one end to her, telling her to lead the dragon into the city. So the girl who had obediently gone out to the dragon expecting him to devour her, obediently led the powerless creature over the fields he had laid waste and over the bleaching bones of the children he had devoured, and the meek monster followed her like a lamb toward the walls of the city where the people were gathered in terror. ”

“ East Side, where the poorest of England’s poor live. She was greatly grieved by the sight of tiny children, half-starved, with old, wizened faces, toiling from morning until night in the mills and factories, with never a day to play in the green fields, chasing the butterflies and gathering wildflowers. In America she saw things that made her sad—poverty, vice, and sorrow; little children and weak women with tasks too heavy for them, and with no time for pleasure or improvement. ”

“ THE FROG KING
Once there was a king who had a little daughter so beautiful that the sun had never seen any one so beautiful. Close by the palace there was a dark wood, and underneath a large tree was a well. One day the little Princess sat by this well, tossing her golden ball into the air until at last it fell into the water. She began to cry bitterly. A Frog peeped out of the water and said, “What will you give me, King’s Little Daughter, if I get your ball for you?” “I will give you anything,” she said, “my pearls, my jewels, my golden crown.” ”

“ Story-telling during the golden years of childhood in the home, or as the father walks abroad into the country with his boy, will weld bonds of friendship between father and son that no after years can sunder.
Many homes cannot afford a large library of many books, but no home is so poor that parents in joyous partnership may not gather the children together on a winter’s evening or summer’s day, and tell them some of the great stories of the world. ”

“ Billy Rough was a crippled newsboy who owned a news-stand on a busy street corner in Gary, Ind. But, though a cripple, Billy was such a cheerful soul that he did far more than sell newspapers. He gave away sunshine. He knew his customers and was interested in all their affairs. As he handed them their papers he asked, with neighborly cheerfulness, about their welfare. If the crippled boy had troubles himself, no one ever knew of them. He was far more anxious to help others bear their burdens than to add to them by any tales of his own woes. ”

“ The transition from childhood to boyhood and girlhood comes very imperceptibly. But the average child enters it when he begins to read easily and naturally; and this ability may well mark the change. When a boy or girl has this new power to understand and enjoy books, life acquires a new range. The whole wide world of literature lies open. Life begins to be full of meaning. These plastic years are the habit-forming period. As the twig is bent the tree will be inclined. A pebble may turn the stream of life. It is the great memory period. ”

“ For three long years Jesus went about doing good, living for others—feeding the hungry, healing the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, unstopping the ears of the deaf, causing the lame to walk, raising the dead, comforting the weary-hearted, and teaching messages of love to all. At last untrue men, who did not love goodness and truth, jealous because the multitudes followed Jesus, said, “Away with him—crucify him!” ”

“ But Mary’s mother with energy, prudence, and cheerfulness, managed the little farm so as to keep her children together. Her flowers were the sweetest anywhere. She always found time to do many kind deeds for her neighbors. Struggling against poverty, Mary taught school for almost nothing; spun and wove her own clothes; and studied hard. Her friends thought her foolish to try and learn so much, saying she could never use it. But deep down in her heart she felt she was to lift the world toward the higher education of woman. ”

“ No fairy tale can be more marvelous than the story of Helen Keller, the wonderful heroine who overcame insurmountable obstacles before she could find her way to mingle with her fellow men and attain her place in the world’s work. ”

“ Children should be given an opportunity to tell and retell the stories heard. Children like to create, and whether it be with sand, wood, or words, the underlying processes are the same. For a child to retell a story means that he enters into the spirit of it, that he sees clearly the mental picture, that he feels the atmosphere and life of the story. In this way imagination, memory, language, and reason are enriched and, at the same time, the ethical principle of the story is more clearly impressed on the child’s mind, to be assimilated at pleasure. ”

“ All the world loves a good story. But give the story a place in the heart and mind of childhood early enough, and you have laid the foundation-stone for an enduring character. And beyond all this, as Dr. G. Stanley Hall says, “To hear stories from the great story-books of the world is one of the inalienable rights of childhood.” ”

“ When Jesus was a boy he lived in a little country town, called Nazareth. It was a beautiful place, with little white stone houses, and little narrow streets; high green hills rising above it; many gardens full of bright flowers—roses, tulips, lilies, orchids, and wild geraniums; orchards of fig trees, olive trees, and orange trees; cooing doves and other birds flitting here and there on the housetops and among the trees; and in the center of the town there was a fountain from which water was carried by the people to their homes in large stone jars borne on the shoulder. ”