.

_Some tales of transformation_. The little child is not
pleased but shocked by the transformation of men into
animals. A little girl, on looking at an illustration of
_Little Brother and Sister_, remarked, "If my Sister would
turn into a fawn I would cry." When the animals are
terrifying, the transformation contains horror for the
child. This, together with the length and complexity of the
story, would move _Beauty and the Beast_ up into the second
grade where the same transformation becomes an element of
pleasure. A simple tale of transformation, such as _The
Little Lamb and the Little Fish_, in which Gretchen becomes
a lamb and Peterkin a little fish, is interesting but not
horrible, and could be used. So also could a tale such as
Grimm's _Fundevogel_, in which the brother and sister escape
the pursuit of the witch by becoming, one a rosebush and the
other a rose; later, one a church and the other a steeple;
and a third time, one a pond and the other a duck. In both
these tales we have the witch and transformation, but the
effect contains no horror.

_The tale of strange animal relations and strange creatures.
Tom Tit Tot_, which Jacobs considers the most delightful of
all fairy tales, is brimful of humor for the older child,
but here the tailed man is not suited to the faith and
understanding of six years. _Rumpelstiltskin_, its parallel,
must also be excluded. _The House in the Wood_, and its
Norse parallel, _The Two Step-Sisters_, are both very
beautiful, but are more suited to the second grade. In the
kindergarten it is much better to present the tale which
emphasizes goodness, rather than the two just mentioned,
which present the good and the bad and show what happens to
both. Besides there is a certain elation resulting from the
superior reward won by the good child which crowds out any
pity for the erring child. Such elation is a form of
selfishness and ought not to be emphasized. _Snow White and
Rose Red_ contains the strange dwarf, but it is a tale so
full of love and goodness and home life that in spite of its
length it could be used in the first grade.

_Unhappy tales_. The very little child pities, and its
tender heart must be protected from depressing sadness as
unrelieved as we find it in _The Littl