Project Gutenberg's The Book of Stories for the Storyteller, by Fanny E. Coe

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Title: The Book of Stories for the Storyteller

Author: Fanny E. Coe

Release Date: August 3, 2008 [EBook #26177]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Illustration]

THE

BOOK OF STORIES

FOR THE STORY-TELLER

by

FANNY E. COE

GEORGE G. HARRAP & CO. LTD.

LONDON CALCUTTA SYDNEY

_First published March 1914_

_by_ GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY

_39-41 Parker Street, Kingsway, London, W. C._

* * * * *

_Preface_

There is no need here to enter a plea for story-telling. Its value in
the home and in the school is assured. Miss Bryant, in her charming
book, _How to Tell Stories to Children_, says, "Perhaps never, since
the really old days, has story-telling so nearly reached a recognized
level of dignity as a legitimate and general art of entertainment as
now." And, in the guise of entertainment, the story is often the
vehicle conveying to the child the wholesome moral lesson or the bit
of desirable knowledge so necessary to his well-being at the time.
Thus it has come to be recognized that the ability to tell a story
well is an important part of the equipment of the parent or the
teacher of little children.

The parent is often at a loss for fresh material. Sometimes he "makes
up" a story, with but poor satisfaction to himself or his child. The
teacher's difficulty is quite otherwise. She knows of many good
stories, but these same stories are scattered through many books, and
the practical difficulty of finding time in her already overcrowded
days for frequent trips to the library is well-nigh insurmountable.
The quest is indefi