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 you, take possession of it. To take possession of the story,

(1) Seek its spirit and intention.

(2) Grasp its elements; its setting, its action, its characters.

(3) Master its workmanship, or its composition and style.

Its spirit and intention. Students of folklore hesitate to impose on the folk tales ethical or æsthetical motive; but they would not object to our seeing in them, in addition to certain primitive ideas, this or that playful fancy or more serious reflection of life; in "The Elves and the Shoemaker," for example, hearty testimony to the worth of honest effort, the record raised to some degree of æsthetic merit by the charm of elfin appreciation; in "Star Dollars," crude sketch of childlike goodness and faith, the picture touched into beauty by the benediction of heaven; lovely symbol of gentle living, like "Diamonds and Toads"; sweet blossom of immortal beauty and goodness blighted by the withering poison of envy, yet triumphantly blooming, like "Snow White;" simple appreciation of kindness of heart, like the "Hut in the Wood;" idyl of the beauty and integrity of goodness, like "Beauty and the Beast;" in "The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean," naïve history of a