not which to pursue first. But straight | foes. The ground shook under his pon ahead, in the very middle of the open, and far from any shelter, he saw a huddled group of children and nurses fleeing impotently and aimlessly. Shrill cries came from the cluster, which danced with colors, scarlet and yellow and blue and vivid pink. To the mad buffalo, these were the most conspicuous and the loudest of his foes, and therefore the most dangerous. With a bellow he flung his tail straight in the air, and charged after them. An appalling hush fell, for a few heartbeats, all over the field. Then from different quarters appeared uniformed. attendants, racing and shouting frantically to divert the bull's attention. From fleeing groups black-coated men leapt forth, armed only with their walking-sticks, and rushed desperately to defend the flock of children, who now, in the extremity of their terror, were tumbling as they ran. Some of the nurses were fleeing far in front, while others, the faithful ones, with eyes starting from their heads, grabbed up their little charges and struggled on under the burden. Already Last Bull was halfway across the space which divided him from his derous gallop. At this moment Payne reappeared on the broken porch. One glance showed him that no one was near enough to intervene. With a face stern and sorrowful he lifted the deadly .405 Winchester which he had brought out with him. The spot he covered was just behind Last Bull's mighty shoulder. The smokeless powder spoke with a small, venomous report, unlike the black powder's noisy reverberation. Last Bull stumbled. But recovering himself instantly, he rushed on. He was hurt, and he felt it was those fleeing foes who had done it. A shade of perplexity darkened Payne's face. He fired again. This time his aim was true. The heavy expanding bullet tore straight through bone and muscle and heart, and Last Bull lurched forward upon his head, ploughing up the turf for yards. As his mad eyes softened and filmed, he saw once more, perhaps,—or so the heavy-hearted keeper who had slain him would have us believe,—the shadowy plains unrolling under the wild sky, and the hosts of his vanished kindred drifting past into the dark. BIBLIOGRAPHY Baldwin, James, The Story of Roland. The Story of Siegfried. Becquer, G. A., Romantic Legends of Spain. Canton, W. V., Child's Book of Saints. Cervantes-Saavedra, Miguel de, Don Quixote. [In translation, or as retold by Havell or Parry.] Church, Alfred J., Stories from the Iliad. Stories from the Odyssey. Heroes of Chivalry and Romance. Stories of Charlemagne and the Twelve Peers of France. Colum, Padraic, The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy. Crommelin, Emeline G., Famous Legends. Darton, F. J. H., Wonder Book of Old Romance. Farrington, Margaret V., Tales of King Arthur. Finnemore, John, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merry Men. Guerber, H. A., Legends of the Middle Ages. Guest, Lady Charlotte, The Mabinogion. Herbertson, Agnes G., Heroic Legends. Homer, Iliad. [Prose translation by Lang, Leaf, and Myers; poetic by Bryant.] Lamb, Charles, The Adeventures of Ulysses. Lane, E. W., Arabian Nights' Entertainments. Lang, Andrew, A Book of Romance. Lanier, Sidney, The Boy's King Arthur. The Boy's Mabinogion. MacLeod, Mary, King Arthur and His Noble Knights. Marshall, H. E., The Story of William Tell. The Story of Roland. Marvin, Frank S. (and others), Adventures of Odysseus. Morris, William, Sigurd, the Volsung. Newbolt, Henry, Stories from Froissart. Pyle, Howard, Stories of King Arthur and His Knights. Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood. Plummer, Mary W., Stories from the Chronicle of the Cid. Ragozin, Z. A., Frithjof and Roland. Siegfried and Beowulf. Rolleston, T. W., High Deeds of Finn. Scudder, Horace E., The Book of Legends. Tappan, Eva March, Robin Hood: His Book. Tennyson, Alfred, The Idylls of the King. Warren, Maude Radford, King Arthur and His Knights. Robin Hood and His Merry Men. Wilson, C. D., Story of the Cid for Young People. SECTION X. ROMANCE CYCLES AND LEGEND INTRODUCTORY The material included. The heading adopted for this section is used somewhat loosely to include those many and varied collections of stories which have with the passage of time been gradually brought together into so-called cycles, unified around some central figure, or by means of some kind of framework. It would thus bring into its scope the series of stories which make up the Greek Odyssey, the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf, the Finnish Kalevala, and other national epics. It would include the stories centering around King Arthur, Siegfried, Roland, the Cid, Alexander, Charlemagne, Robin Hood, and Reynard the Fox. Besides all these cycles and others like them, there is a great body of separate legends of persons and places, exemplified by "The Proud King," that seem almost to constitute a work by themselves. The extended body of eastern stories known as The Arabian Nights are also placed here, as is Cervantes' Don Quixote. The last inclusion may seem to violate even the wide range of the heading, as Don Quixote is distinctly one of the world's great modern masterpieces, and is by a known author. But that book is after all a cycle of adventures with a central figure not unlike the romance cycles, and, since it is popularly supposed to have had its origin in the purpose of humorously satirizing the romances of chivalry, it may be allowed to stand in connection with them. The place for such stories. The developing child soon passes out of the period where the old fairy stories and their modern analogues satisfy his needs. He comes into a period of hero-worship where he demands not only courage and prowess of magnificent proportions, but also a sinking of self in as equally magnificent and disinterested service of great causes. To the child's mind there is nothing fantastical about the chivalric ideas of courtesy, and friendship, and all high personal ideals. It is the natural food of his mind. He will allow nothing mean or unclean. It seems, roughly speaking, that the time of greatest appeal for such stories is about the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. By the end of that period he is already well along toward an interest in the real men and women of history, toward a more realistic and practical conception of the problems of human life. The problems of choice and adaptation. The wealth of material available is so great as to be bewildering. As yet there is no common agreement as to just which stories are best for our purpose, nor is there any as to where particular stories should be used. The adapters and story-tellers differ much in their views on these questions. Young teachers, it is clear, cannot be expected to know this vast field in any detail. The saving fact is that teachers can hardly make a mistake by using any story that has awakened their own interest and enthusiasm, and which, for that reason, they will be able to present in a simple and striking form. Having in mind, then, the beginning teacher, we make the following specific suggestions: 1. Beowulf. The inexperienced teacher will find a splendid version, "The Story of Beowulf," ready-made in Wyche's Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them. To work from the complete epic, use any of the translations by Child, Tinker, Gummere, or Hall. "Perhaps it is not too much to assert . . . . that it its lofty spirit, its vigor, and its sincerity, . it reflects traits which are distinctive of English-speaking people throughout the world." 2. King Arthur. The final source must be Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, represented in the following pages by Nos. 401, 402, and 403. Some passages from Malory should be read to the class. For suggestions as to method in handling the stories, see Wyche as above, where there is a fine brief version. In King Arthur and His Knights, by Mrs. Warren (Maude Radford), may be found a good working version of the whole cycle. In delicacy of feeling, in reverence for women, in courtesy to friend and foe, the Arthurian story foreshadowed much that is gentlest and best in modern civilization." 66 3. Robin Hood. Go at once to one of the simple prose versions of the story. Satisfactory ones are those by Miss Tappan, by Mrs. Warren, or by Howard Pyle (the shorter version). As time and opportunity offer read the simple old ballads which are the source of the story of "merry" Sherwood. "If ever verse lashed abuse with a smile, it is this. The sun shines brightly overhead; it is a good world to be alive in, its wrongs are being righted, and its very misfortunes are ultimately to bring happier times." 4. A few stories about Roland, Siegfried, the Cid, Charlemagne, and others may be used by teachers who have had opportunity to get acquainted with those great figures, or who have access to some of the authorities listed in the bibliography. This material is more difficult to handle satisfactorily than that already discussed, and may well be sparingly used, if not omitted altogether. For a general collection of legends, the ideal as to choice and method of presentation is Scudder's The Book of Legends (No. 412). From The Arabian Nights use "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (No. 398), "Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp," and "The Stories of Sindbad the Sailor." Almost any of the accessible versions will be satisfactory. For Reynard the Fox, the one adaptation that presents the story in a fairly good form for children is that made by Sir Henry Cole, available as edited by Joseph Jacobs (Nos. 399 and 400). Perhaps as much of Don Quixote is given in this text (Nos. 405-411) as teachers can use. A full translation is a satisfactory source for this story, although the shortened forms by Havell or Parry are admirable. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING Most of the books on story-telling have discussions of the best ways of dealing with the romance material. Especially valuable in this connection are Wyche, Great Stories and How to Tell Them, and Lyman, Story Telling. For scholarly and yet not too difficult books giving a perspective of the entire field see W. W. Lawrence, Medieval Story and the Beginnings of the Social Ideals of Englishspeaking People, or W. P. Ker, Epic and Romance. Consult MacClintock, “Hero-Tales and Romances," Literature in the Elementary School, chap. viii. |