Page:A Study of Fairy Tales.djvu/245

Rh of coöperation which is similar but not nearly so pleasing. A Danish tale of cooperation, Pleiades, is found in Lansing's Fairy Tales. How Six Traveled Through the World is a Grimm tale which, though suited to older children, contains the same general theme.

Very many of the tales suited to kindergarten children which have been mentioned in various chapters, contain a large element of humor. The nonsense drolls are a type distinct from the humorous tale proper, yet distinctly humorous. Such are the realistic Lazy Jack, Henny Penny, and Billy Bobtail. Then since repetition is an element of humor, many accumulative tales rank as humorous: such as Lambikin, The Old Woman and Her Pig, Medio Pollito, The Straw Ox, Johnny Cake, and Three Billy-Goats. Among the humorous tales proper are Andersen's Snow Man; The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership; The Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings; The Elephant's Child; and very many of the Uncle Remus Tales, such as Why the Hawk Catches Chickens, Brother Rabbit and Brother Tiger, and Heyo, House! all in Uncle Remus and the Little Boy. The Story of Little Black Mingo in Tales of Laughter, is a very attractive humorous tale, but it is more suited to the child of the second grade.

Drakesbill is a French humorous accumulative tale with a plot constructed similarly to that of the Cossack Straw Ox. Drakesbill, who was so tiny they called him Bill Drake, was a great worker and soon saved a hundred dollars in gold which he lent to the King. But as