um.”—­Uncle Remus treated the little boy as if he was “pestered with sense, like grown-ups,” and surely the little boy gained much amusement from sayings such as these:  “If you know the man thab would refuse to take care of himself, I’d like mighty well if you’d point him out.”—­“Well, well,” said Uncle Remus soothingly, “in deze low groun’s er sorrer, you des got to lean back en make allowances fer all sorts er folks.  You got ter low fer dem dat knows too much same ez dem what knows too little.  A heap er sayin’s en a heap er doin’s in dis roun’ worl’ got ter be tuck on trus’.”—­The child does not get the full force of the philosophy but he gets what he can and that much sinks in.

It is through the contemplative imagination that the child realizes the meaning of particular tales.  He learns:  that Cinderella means that goodness brings its own reward; that Three Pigs means that the wise build with care and caution, with foresight; that Star Dollars means compassion for others and kindness to them; and that Red Riding Hood means obedience.

The power of the contemplative imagination is based on the indistinctness of the image.  It suggests, too, the relation between cause and effect, which reason afterwards proves; and therefore it is a direct aid to science.  In the tales there are expressed facts of truth symbolically clothed which science since then has discovered.  And now that folk-lore is being studied seriously to unfold all it gives of an earlier life, perhaps this new study may reveal some new truths of science hidden in its depths.  The marvels of modern shoe manufacture were prophesied in The Little Elves, and the power of electricity to hold fast was foretold in Dummling and his Golden Goose.  The wonders of modern machinery appeared in the magic axe of Espen that hit at every stroke; and the miracle of modern canals sees a counterpart in the spring which Espen brought to the giant’s boiling-pot in the wood.  The magic sleep from which there was an awakening, even after a hundred years, may have typified hypnotism and its strange power upon man.  These are realizations of some of the wonders of fairyland.  But there may be found lurking in its depths many truths as yet undiscovered by science.  Perhaps the dreams of primitive man may suggest to the present-day scientist new possibilities.—­What primitive man has done in fancy present-day man can do in reality.

(3) A basis of truth.  All fine emotional effects arise from truth.  The tale must hold the mirror and show an image of life.  It must select and combine facts which will suggest emotion but the facts must be a true expression of human nature.  The tale, whether it is realistic in emphasizing the familiar, the commonplace, and the present, or romantic in emphasizing the strange, the heroic, and the remote, must be idealistic to interpret truly the facts of life by high ideals.  If the tale has this basis of truth the child will