from the beginning. It influences
character to follow such conduct as that of the Little Red
Hen, who took a grain of wheat,--her little mite,--who
planted it, reaped it, made it into bread, and then ate it;
who, in spite of the Goose and the Duck, secured to herself
the reward of her labors.

_Action_. Akin to his love of running, skipping, and
jumping, to his enjoyment in making things go and in seeing
others make things go, is the child's desire for action in
his fairy tales; and this is just another way of saying he
wants his fairy tales to parallel life. Action is the
special charm of the Gingerbread Boy, who opened the oven
door and so marvelously ran along, outrunning an old Man, an
old Woman, a little Boy, two Well-Diggers, two
Ditch-Diggers, a Bear, and a Wolf, until he met the Fox
waiting by the corner of the fence. _Dame Wiggins of Lee and
Her Seven Wonderful Cats_--a humorous tale written by Mrs.
Sharp, a lady of ninety, edited by John Ruskin, who added
the third, fourth, eighth, and ninth stanzas, and
illustrated by Kate Greenaway--has this pleasing trait of
action to a unique degree. So also has _The Cock, the Mouse,
and the Little Red Hen_, a modern tale by Felicite Lefevre.
This very popular tale among children is a retelling of two
old tales combined, _The Little Red Hen_ and the Irish
_Little Rid Hin_.

_Humor_. The child loves a joke, and the tale that is
humorous is his special delight. Humor is the source of
pleasure in _Billy Bobtail_, where the number of animals and
the noises they make fill the tale with hilarious fun. There
is most pleasing humor in _Lambikin_. Here the reckless hero
frolicked about on his little tottery legs. On his way to
Granny's house, as he met the Jackal, the Vulture, the
Tiger, and the Wolf, giving a little frisk, he said,--

To Granny's house I go,
Where I shall fatter grow,
Then you can eat me so!

Later, on returning, when the animals asked, "Have you seen
Lambikin?" cozily settled within his Drumikin, laughing and
singing to himself, he called out slyly--

Lost in the forest, and so are you,
On, little Drumikin! Tum-pa, turn-too!

Humor is the charm, too, of Andersen's _Snow Man_. Here the
child can identify himself with the D