not only to bestow pleasure,
as in this case, but often to transmit a message of worth and to
preserve a classic form.

_The Foolish Timid Rabbit_, a Jataka tale, might be prepared for
telling by this same re-creative method of story-telling. It
must be remembered--and because of its importance it will bear
repetition,--that the separation of the story-structure into parts for
separate telling should always be in harmony with the divisions of the
plot so that there may be no departure from the author's original mode
of thinking, and no break in the natural movement of sequence. A
separation of the tale into parts for re-telling would result in the
following analysis:--

(1) _Rabbit asleep under a palm tree_ ... to _his meeting
hundreds of Rabbits_.

(2) _Rabbits met a Deer_ ... to _when the Elephant joined them_.

(3) _Lion saw the animals running_ ... to _when he came to
the Rabbit who first had said the earth was all breaking up_.

(4) _Lion asked the Foolish Rabbit, 'Is it true the earth is
all breaking up_,' ... to _end of the story, 'And they all
stopped running_.'

After the re-telling of these parts, each part should be filled in
with the exact details so that in the final re-telling practically the
whole tale is reproduced. This is a very good tale to tell by this
method because the theme is attractive, the plot is simple, the
sequence a very evident movement, the characters distinctive, the
setting pleasing and rather prominent, and the details sufficiently
few and separate to be grasped completely. The final re-telling
therefore may be accomplished readily as a perfected result of this
method of telling a tale.

During the telling, the charm here is in preserving the typical bits
of dialogue, giving to the Lion's words that force and strength and
sagacity which rank him the King of the Beasts. One must feel clearly
the message and make this message enter into every part of the
telling: That the Lion showed his superior wisdom by making a stand
and asking for facts, by accepting only what he tested; while the
Rabbit showed his credulity by foolishly accepting what he heard
without testing it.

Adaptation of the fairy tale. Sometimes, in telling a story one cannot
tell it exactly as it is. This may be the case when the story is too
long for a purpose, or if it contains matter which had better be
omitted, or if it needs to be amplified. In any ca