is a tale which conveys its thought
clearly and makes you feel its feeling, and therefore may be said to
possess style in a broad sense. In a particular sense, because its
form is marked by the four general qualities: precision, energy,
delicacy, and personality; and its elements are controlled by the
principles of composition: sincerity, unity, mass, and coherence, it
therefore may be said to possess style.

An old tale which has a literary form unusual in its approach to the
perfect literary form, is the Norse, _The Three Billy-Goats Gruff_,
told by Dasent in _Tales from the Norse_. Indeed after looking
carefully at this tale one is tempted to say that, for perfection of
style, some of the old folk-tales are not to be equaled. Note the
simple precision shown in the very first paragraph:--

Once on a time there were three Billy-Goats, who were to go
up to the hill-side to make themselves fat, and the name of
all three was "Gruff."

Energy or force appeals to the emotions in the words of the tiny
Billy-Goat Gruff to the Troll:--

"Oh, no! pray don't take me. I'm too little, that I am,"
said the Billy-Goat; "wait a bit till the second Billy-Goat
Gruff comes, he's much bigger."

There is emotional harmony displayed in the second paragraph; the
words used fit the ideas:--

On the way up was a bridge over a burn they had to cross;
and under the bridge lived a great ugly Troll, with eyes as
big as saucers, and a nose as long as a poker.

The quality of personality is best described, perhaps, by saying that
the tale seems to have impersonality. Any charm of the story-tellers
of the ages has entered into the body of the tale, which has become an
objective presentment of a reality that concentrates on itself and
keeps personality out of sight. The character of the tellers is shown
however in the qualities of the tale. The charm of the primitive
story-tellers has given the tale inimitable morning-dew freshness.
This seems to result from a fine simplicity, a sprightly
visualization, a quaint picturesqueness, a pleasing terseness, and an
Anglo-Saxon vigor.

Sincerity is displayed in the words of the Troll and of the three
Billy-Goats. Note the sincerity of little Billy-Goat Gruff:--

"Oh! it is only I, the tiniest Billy-Goat Gruff; and I'm
going up to the hillside to make myself fat," said the
Billy-Goat, with such a small voice.

The unity in this tale is u