uestion, "Who?" it will
tell to whom it happened; in answer to the question, "Where?" it will
tell the place where, and the time when, it happened; and in answer to
the question, "Why?" it will give the reason for telling the story, it
will give the message, and the truth embodied in its form. As
narration the tale must have truth, interest, and consistency. Its
typical mood must be action and its language the language of
suggestion. This language of suggestion appears when it shows an
object by indicating how it is like something else; by telling what we
feel when we see the object; and by telling what actions of the person
or object make it hateful or charming. We learn to know Andersen's
Snow Man through what the Dog says of him.

Description, in the sense of a static, detailed delineation of various
qualities of objects, has no place in the child's story, for it bores
the child, who is very persistent in wanting the main theme
uninterrupted. But description that has touches of movement and action
or that lays emphasis on a single effect and has point, distinctly
aids visualization, and produces a pleasing result, as we have seen in
Kipling's _Elephant's Child_. The young child of to-day, trained in
nature study to look upon bird, tree, and flower with vital interest,
to observe the color and the form of these, gains a love of the
beautiful that makes him exclaim over the plumage of a bird or tint of
a flower. To him beauty in the tale must make a direct appeal which
the child unfamiliar with these things might not feel. _The Wonderful
Adventures of Nils_ makes an appeal to the modern child which could
not possibly have been felt by the child living before 1850. The
modern child brought up on phonics is sensitive to sound also, and
open to an appreciation of the beauty of the individual word used in
description. This description, when it occurs, should be characterized
mainly by aptness and concreteness.

Having observed the general characteristics of the narrative contained
in the plot, let us examine the structure of a few tales to see: What
is the main theme of the plot and how it works itself out; what are
the large, leading episodes, and how they culminate in the climax; and
what is the conclusion, and how closely it follows the climax.

_The Story of Three Pigs_

I. _Introduction_. Time. Place. Characters: Mother and
Three Pigs. Mother gone.

II. _Rise_.

1. First Pig's ventu