The story was told by the Professor.  After the telling of the story it was decided to have the story told again, but this time in parts and by those who had listened, in such a way that it would seem as if one person were telling the whole story.

The Professor named the first part of the story.  A student was asked to tell the story from the beginning to the end of the Prince’s coming home again, sad at heart.  Another student told the second part, beginning with the storm and ending with what the old Queen thought.  A third student told the third part, beginning with the next morning and ending with the close of the story, Now this is a true story.

The Professor next asked students to think over the entire story, to see if each student could find any weak places in the remembering of the story.  Several students reported difficulty—­one failed to remember the exact description of the storm.  A number of details were thus filled in, in the exact words of the author.  After this intimate handling of the separate parts of the story, a final re-telling by one student—­omitted in this case because of lack of time—­would bring together what had been contributed by individual students, and would represent the final re-creation of the entire story.

The simplicity of this selection, the simplicity of the plot, the few characters, the literary art of the story, the skillful use of the unique word, the art of presenting distinct pictures by means of vivid words, through suggestion rather than through illustration, together with the delicate humor that hovered about the tale, and the art of the Professor’s telling—­all combined in the final effect.  The re-telling of the story in parts accomplished the analysis of the story into three big heads: 

(1) From The Prince who wanted a real Princess ... to his
return home.

(2) From The storm, one dark evening ... to what the old Queen
thought.

(3) From What the Queen did next morning ... to the end of the
story.

In the analysis of the story into parts, telling exactly what happened gave the framework of the story, gave its basis of meaning.  Telling it in three steps gave a strong sense of sequence and a vivid conception of climax.—­If the division into parts for re-telling corresponds with the natural divisions of the plot into its main episodes, this telling in steps impresses the structure of the tale and is in harmony with the real literary mastery of the story.—­The re-telling of each part drew attention to the visualization of that part.  Each hesitation on behalf of a student telling a part, led the class to fill in the details for themselves, and impressed the remembrance of the exact words of the author.  This resulted in the mastery of each part through a visualization of it.  Hand in hand with the visualization came the feeling aroused by the realization.  This was more easily mastered because changes of feeling were noticeable in passing from one part of the story to another.