Page:Stories and story-telling (1915).djvu/40

 and place, some of the principal characters, and the motive of the action. Next follows the action, easily separable into rise, course, resolution. In many of the stories, for example, in "The Frog Prince," there is after the action an explanation of enchantment; and an assurance that all went well ever after or quaint formula like that parodied in "They stepped on a tin, and the tin bended, so my story's ended," whose purpose, similar to that of Shakespeare's rhyming couplet in his earlier dramas, is to give conclusive ending to the tale. Like "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch," who stayed on at the theater after the curtain had gone down on the last scene, the children, though sensitive to artistic reserve, are not always satisfied with highly reserved ending.

The story-teller should cultivate sensibility to story-building; it is the creative principle of story-telling. It is really surprising how lacking the beginner is in consciousness of structure. He should study structure until he can feel the tale making: the scene putting in, the people coming in, the motive revealing itself, the action starting, and going forward until it arrives at climax and solution, the whole winding up with happy prophecy of the far future.

Grasp especially the composition of the action.