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 the King never offered to pay, one morning Drakesbill set out, singing as he went, “Quack, quack, quack, when shall I get my money back?” To all the objects he met and to their questions he replied, “I am going to the King to ask him to pay me what he owes me.”  When they begged, “Take me with you!” he was willing, but he said, “You must make yourself small, get into my mouth, and creep under my tongue!” He arrived at the palace with his companions concealed in his mouth:  a Fox, a Ladder, Laughing River, and Wasp-Nest.  On asking to see the King, he was not escorted with dignity but sent to the poultry-yard, to the turkeys and chickens who fought him.  Then he surprised them by calling forth the Fox who killed the fowls.  When he was thrown into a well, he called out the Ladder to help him.  When about to be thrown into the fire, he called out the River who overwhelmed the rest and left him serenely swimming.  When surrounded by the King’s men and their swords he called out the Wasp-Nest who drove away all but Drakesbill, leaving him free to look for his money.  But he found none as the King had spent all.  So he seated himself upon the throne and became King.  The element of humor here, as has been mentioned previously, is that Drakesbill, after every rebuff of fortune maintained his happy, fresh vivacity, and triumphantly repeated his one cry, “Quack, quack, quack, when shall I get my money back?” There is humor, too, in the repetition of dialogue, as on his way to the King he met the various characters and talked to them.  Humor lies also in the real lively surprises which Drakesbill so effectively gave during his visit to the King.  One can see how this tale might have been a satire reflecting upon a spendthrift King.

IV.  The Realistic Tale

The realistic fairy tale has a great sympathy with humble life and desires to reproduce faithfully all life worth while.  The spirit of it has been expressed by Kipling—­

                         each in his separate star,
     Shall draw the Thing as he sees It, for the God of Things as They
       are.

Sometimes the realistic story has a scientific spirit and interest.  A realistic tale that is good will present not only what is true but what is possible, probable, or inevitable, making its truth impressive.  Very often it does not reach this ideal.  A transcript of actual life may be selected, but that is a photograph and not a picture with a strong purpose to make one point, and with artistic design.  The characters, though true to life, may be lifeless and colorless, and their doings and what happens to them uninteresting.  For this reason, many modern writers of tales for children, respecting the worth of the realistic, neglect to comply with what the realistic demands, and produce insipid, unconvincing tales.  The realistic tale should deal with the simple and the ordinary rather than with the exceptional; and the test is not how much, but how little, credulity it arouses.