6. _Original ballad-writing._ Young people are natural ballad-makers. At the end of the year, after memorizing and reciting ballads and listening to them read aloud, the pupils will be so saturated with ballad-spirit and meter, that ballad-writing will be a second nature. The teacher may then tell, very briefly but interestingly, the plot of a ballad, and let the pupils put it into original verses, giving them a week or two in which to do so. After this exercise the teacher may assign a local legend or story for practice in original ballad-writing.
The Programme that is given here is merely suggestive. All the ballads in the book are good to read aloud, and most of them may be dramatized or memorized. The course presented below shows a teacher how she may, by progressive steps, develop her pupils’ taste for ballad-literature, and prepare them to appreciate more mature forms of narrative poetry, such as metrical romances and epics.
COURSE FOR FORTY WEEKS--ONE PERIOD A WEEK
_1st Week. Reading aloud:_ The Laidley Worm O’ Spindleston-Heughs, p. 148.
_2d Week. Reading aloud:_ Little Billee, p. 159; Brian O’Linn, p. 160; Dicky of Ballyman, p. 162; The Cinder King, p. 167.
_3d Week. Dramatization:_ The Stormy Winds Do Blow, p. 2; The Noble Riddle, p. 208; “Earl March looked on his dying child,” p. 203.
_4th Week. Reading aloud:_ The Lady of Shalott, p. 124; The Singing Leaves, p. 131.
_5th Week. Dramatization:_ Kemp Owyne, p. 122; The Erl-King, p. 86.
_6th Week. Reading aloud:_ Robin Hood and Little John, p. 291; Robin Hood and Clorinda, p. 297.
_7th Week. Dramatization:_ Ballad of the Oysterman, p. 164; Earl Haldan’s Daughter, p. 58; The Greeting of Kynast, p. 74; A Tragic Story, p. 158.
_8th Week. Reading aloud (Halloween Week):_ The Spell, p. 254; Sir Roland, p. 265; The Cruel Sister, p. 196; The Skeleton in Armour, p. 270.
_9th Week. Dramatization:_ Glenara, p. 212; The Dæmon Lover, p. 7.
_10th Week. Reading aloud:_ King Alfred and the Shepherd, p. 176.
_11th Week. Story-telling from the Ballads:_ Young Beichan and Susie Pye, p. 237.
_12th Week. Reading aloud:_ The Fairy Thorn, p. 87; The Kelpie of Corrievreckan, p. 97.
_13th Week. Memorizing and reciting:_ True Valour, p. 355; The Touchstone, p. 347; Barclay of Ury, p. 341; Pilgrimage, p. 351.