CHAPTER SIX

STUDYING AND WRITING FABLES

FABLES, the earliest form of literature originating in the childhood of the race, never fail to interest the children of all races and of every succeeding generation. Some of their most obvious characteristics which make them universally interesting are these they are concrete; they are brief; they are easily and fully comprehensible; they are pointed; they deal with those elementary, universal notions and feelings of right and wrong, of justice, of simple wisdom and shrewdness, on which our civilized life has been built up; they teach an easily understood lesson with almost the force and conviction of a personal experience. On account of these characteristics and on account of the interest which they invariably arouse, fables form the best avenue of approach to the practical understanding of the production of real literature; they afford the best early lessons for the child as they have already done for the race in producing real literature.

As children grasp the simple secrets of the construction of fables they become eager to try their hands at the writing of fables. And when they

really succeed, as almost all children can, in writing very creditable fables, oftentimes fables that will bear favorable comparison with the classic ones of the books, it is an invaluable experience for them, a wonderful achievement in the process of learning really to use ideas and language in the creation of literature. They begin to see what real use they can make of language. They are invariably enthusiastic in the use of their new-born power- they want to write fables and still more fables, to make whole books of fables.

This is the teacher's opportunity not merely to train the pupil in the effective expression of his own ideas, but equally in the use of correct forms. How? Very easily. First of all, enter heartily into the enthusiasm of your pupils. They want to write fables; you must want them to write fables. They want to make books of fables-class books, group books, individual books; you want them to make such books. They want to write fables as good as, or better than, the printed fables in their books; you want them to write such superior fables. And all that you have to do is to help them and guide them sympathetically, appreciatively, in their efforts. It will not now be necessary to beat into them with endless repetitions a few correct language forms and a few words for the enrichment of their vocabularies; they are in a mood to appreciate the value of correct forms and of appropriate words; they want to know what

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such forms and words are because they want to use them; they want them for what they really are· they want them as means to an end in which they are interested. A single use of a language form or of a new word under such conditions is more effective than scores of formal, uninteresting repetitions. Similarly, information that the pupil needs to use — and no little information is necessary to the writing of good fables is grasped and assimilated through use most effectively.

Pupils will readily grasp at least these three simple characteristics of fables, that they are short stories, that they are about animals, and that each teaches some lesson about conduct. It may be of interest to them to know the probable reason why fables are usually about animals.

In the long ago when fables originated, men lived in much closer relations to the various beasts of forest and field than they do to-day; they knew the beasts then knew them as friends, enemies, rivals - much more intimately than we do to-day. They were impressed with the peculiarities of the different beasts, the busyness of the bee, the slyness of the fox, the boldness of the lion, the timidity and fleetness of the deer; they spoke of these peculiarities, exaggerated them, and told stories illustrating them. These stories were the early fables. Later fables, based on the older ones, continued to use animals as their chief characters.

The lessons of some fables are not easy to state. Hence the first ones chosen for study with the children should teach lessons not too difficult to formulate in words. The keenest insight and the most skillful work of the teacher is required at this point. She must help her pupils to see, to understand and to feel the lesson, and she must help them to express it effectively in good language. Such help does not consist in telling them what the lesson is; if they cannot be led to grasp it without telling, they can hardly understand the telling of it. No more does such help consist in formulating the lesson for them in language. The skillful help demanded consists hereas almost everywhere else—in getting the pupil to do all he possibly can for himself and in doing the least that will suffice for him. He must think for himself—and think earnestly what the lesson of a fable is; he must summon the best language at his command in his effort to express that lesson. When he has done this, he is in the best possible condition to appreciate the bit of help that the teacher may give, to receive and make his own the word or turn of phrase that the teacher may suggest.

You will note that the grasp of the lesson of a fable consists in seeing a general truth in a concrete embodiment a mental process of some difficulty, but a process which is fundamental to growth in mental power, in capacity to think. Hence, in the

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study of fables as here suggested, the child is not merely learning words and the correct use of them in writing, he is not merely "making up" stories, an exercise that narrow, short-sighted, falsely self-styled "practical" people are inclined to disapprove; he is developing mental fiber and alertness, he is using and so strengthening his power to think, an exercise that too many pupils in all grades of schools for reasons that cannot be here discussed - altogether miss.

I (51). Studying a Fable

Study with the children the fable, The Donkey and the Race Horse. See that they learn its form and content and grasp its lesson or moral. Let them understand the folly of boasting and of offering silly excuses for failure; let them learn from this fable to accept fair defeat like a man, not like a donkey.

This fable should serve the children as a type, or model, that they can imitate in their first attempts to tell and write fables of their own invention.

Following with them the outline given in their book, have the children note and explain the use of every capital and of all the marks of punctuation. Call their attention to the spelling and see that they understand the meaning of all unusual words, such as consented, defeated, outrun, and boasted.

Do not direct the children's attention to the so-called "broken quotation" which occurs in the second paragraph. Here, and everywhere, teach