The narrator can gather this material with comparative ease, because the science of ethnology has brought to light many of these tales from primitive literature, and not a few of them have been put into collections available to child workers.
The fairy tale that grew out of the life of the race is also rich in material for children of this period. By “fairy tale” is meant that type of story usually associated with the names of Grimm, Perrault, and Bechstein. Little people delight in it, and will listen to it again and again. Yet because of lack of understanding on the part of parents and teachers, the fairy story often proves to be the rock upon which the child craft meets disaster. Because these tales have had a mighty place in the history of the race and still have their work in the education of the child, it does not follow that they should be fed to young listeners as so much unassorted grain is fed to chickens. There are many that should not be used at all. Those that are used should be carefully graded, because a child will enjoy a narrative in which children are heroes, long before he enjoys one in which adults hold the center of the stage. The father and mother, brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins, and aunts mean much to him because they are part of his experience. But he does not know officers of the state and nation. He does not know lawmakers and magistrates and judges, and tales in which they have a part are less interesting to him than those whose characters are familiar personages. For instance, he is charmed by “Little Red Hen” or “The Three Bears” at an age when “Beauty and the Beast” or “Sleeping Beauty” mean little to him, and a good rule to guide the story-teller in the grading of fairy tales is the well-known pedagogical one, “Proceed from the known to the unknown, from the simple to the complex.” Give first those stories whose heroes are familiar personages, then introduce those with characters not so well known.
The mention of fairy tales in education often raises the question, “Is there not danger of making liars of children by feeding them on these stories?” It seems to me the best answer is given by Georg Ebers, the Egyptologist and novelist, in his fascinating autobiography, _The Story of My Life_. Out of his own experience, he handles the subject of fairy tales sincerely and convincingly, and his words are worthy of consideration by every child worker.