ry, "Quack, quack, quack, when shall I get my money back?" There
is humor, too, in the repetition of dialogue, as on his way to the
King he met the various characters and talked to them. Humor lies also
in the real lively surprises which Drakesbill so effectively gave
during his visit to the King. One can see how this tale might have
been a satire reflecting upon a spendthrift King.

IV. The Realistic Tale

The realistic fairy tale has a great sympathy with humble life and
desires to reproduce faithfully all life worth while. The spirit of it
has been expressed by Kipling--

each in his separate star,
Shall draw the Thing as he sees It, for the God of Things as They
are.

Sometimes the realistic story has a scientific spirit and interest. A
realistic tale that is good will present not only what is true but
what is possible, probable, or inevitable, making its truth
impressive. Very often it does not reach this ideal. A transcript of
actual life may be selected, but that is a photograph and not a
picture with a strong purpose to make one point, and with artistic
design. The characters, though true to life, may be lifeless and
colorless, and their doings and what happens to them uninteresting.
For this reason, many modern writers of tales for children, respecting
the worth of the realistic, neglect to comply with what the realistic
demands, and produce insipid, unconvincing tales. The realistic tale
should deal with the simple and the ordinary rather than with the
exceptional; and the test is not how much, but how little, credulity
it arouses.

Grimm's _Hans in Luck_ is a perfect realistic tale, as are Grimm's
_Clever Elsa_ and the Norse _Three Sillies_, although these tales are
suited to slightly older children. The drolls often appear among the
realistic tales, as if genuine humor were more fresh when related to
the things of actual life. The English _Lazy Jack_ is a delightful
realistic droll which contains motifs that appear frequently among the
tales. The Touchstone motif of a humble individual causing nobility to
laugh appears in Grimm's _Dummling and His Golden Goose_. It appears
also in _Zerbino the Savage_, a most elaborated Neapolitan tale retold
by Laboulaye in his _Last Fairy Tales_; a tale full of humor, wit, and
satire that would delight the cultured man of the world.

In _Lazy Jack_ the setting is in humble life. A poor mother lived on
the common with her indol