Page:A Study of Fairy Tales.djvu/102

78 road in the Three Pigs, the wood in Red Riding Hood, the castle in the Sleeping Beauty—these add charm. Often the transformation in setting aids greatly in producing effect. In Cinderella the scene shifts from the hearth to the palace ballroom; in the Princess and the Pea, from the comfortable castle of the Queen to the raging storm, and then back again to the castle, to the breakfast-room on the following morning. In Snow White and Rose Red the scene changes from the cheery, beautiful interior of the cottage, to the snowstorm from which the Bear emerged. In accumulative tales, such as The Old Woman and her Pig, Medio Pollito, and The Robin's Christmas Song, the sequence of the story itself is preserved mainly by the change of setting. This appears in the following outline of The Robin's Christmas Song, an English tale which is the same as the Scotch Robin's Yule-Song, which has been attributed to Robert Burns. This tale illustrates one main line of sequence:—

The Robin's Christmas Song

1. Introduction. A sunny morning. Waterside. A Gray Pussy. A Robin came along.

2. Rise.

Pussy said,. . . . . . . . . . . "See my white fur."

Robin replied,. . . . . . . . "You ate the wee mousie."

Change in setting. Stone wall on border of the wood. A greedy Hawk, sitting.

Hawk said,. . . . . . . . . . "See the speckled feather in my wing."

Robin replied,. . . . . . . . "You pecked the sparrow," etc.