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 CHAPTER VI

Jingles, Fables, and Folk-Lore

The first stories told to a child are almost invariably the Mother Goose rhymes and jingles, beginning perhaps with:

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man! So I will, master, as fast as I can: Pat it, and prick it, and mark it with T, And toss in the oven for Tommy and me.

Or this, from the Chinese Mother Goose (Fleming H. Revell Company):

Pat, pat, A swallow's nest we'll make, And if we pat some money out We'll buy ourselves a cake.

These are usually accompanied by appropriate finger plays.

Can we give a tangible reason for this choice? Why do all mothers turn to them with unwavering fidelity? Why do all children love them?

There can be but one answer. Before a child is able to follow the thread of the sim