r in the "Animal Tale" in the
chapter, "Classes of Tales." Or if you follow the successive
happenings to the characters, the plot, you get the whole, as may
appear in the outline of _Three Pigs_ given in the chapter which
handles "Plot." Note the beauty of detail and the quality of
atmosphere with which the setting surrounds the tale; note the
individual traits of the characters and their contrasts; observe how
what each one does causes what happens to him. Realize your story from
the three points of view to enter into the author's fullness. Get a
good general notion of the story first.

3. The next step is: _Master the complete structure of the tale_. This
is the most important step in the particular study of the tale, for it
is the unity about which any perfection in the art of telling must
center. To discern that repose of centrality which the main theme of
the tale gives, to follow it to its climax and to its conclusion,
where poetic justice leaves the listener satisfied--this is the most
fundamental work of the story-teller. The teacher must analyze the
structure of her tale into its leading episodes, as has been
illustrated in the handling of structure, under the subject, "Plot,"
in the chapter on the "Short-Story."

4. The next step is: _Secure the message of the tale_. The message is
what we wish to transmit, it is the explicit reason for telling the
tale. And one evidently must possess a message before one can give it.
As the message is the chief worth of the tale, the message should
dominate the telling and pervade its life. A complete realization of
the message of the tale will affect the minutest details giving color
and tone to the telling, and resulting so that what the child does
with the story will deepen the impression of the message he receives.

5. The next step is: _Master the tale as form_. This means that if the
tale is in classic form, not only the message and the structure must
be transmitted, but the actual words. Words are the artist's medium,
Stevenson includes them in his pattern of style, and how can we
exclude them if we wish to express what they have expressed? A tale
like Kipling's _The Elephant's Child_ would be ruined without those
clinging epithets, such as "the wait-a-bit thorn-bush," "mere-smear
nose," "slushy squshy mud-cap," "Bi-Colored-Python-Rock-Snake," and
"satiable curtiosity." No one could substitute other words in this
tale; for contrasts of feeling and humor are so tied