scientist. The naughty little Elephant who asked "a new,
fine question he had never asked before," and who went to
answer his own question of "what the crocodile has for
dinner," met with many surprises which were spankings; and
as a result, he returned home with a trunk and experience.
He is a very good example of how delightful to the child
this surprise can be. The essence of the fairy tale is
natural life in a spiritual world, the usual child in the
unusual environment, or the unusual child in the natural
environment. This combination of the usual and unusual is
the chief charm of _Alice in Wonderland_, where a natural
child wanders through a changing environment that is
unusual. For an idle moment enjoy the task of seeing how
many ideas it contains which are the familiar ideas of
children, and how they all have been "made different." All
children love a tea-party, but what child would not be
caught by having a tea-party with a Mad Hatter, a March
Hare, and a sleepy Dormouse, with nothing to eat and no tea!
Red Riding Hood was a dear little girl who set out to take a
basket to her grandmother. But in the wood, after she had
been gathering a nosegay and chasing butterflies, "just as I
might do," any child might say, she met a wolf! And what
child's ears would not rise with curiosity? "Now something's
going to happen!" The Three Bears kept house. That was usual
enough; but everything was different, and the charm is in
giving the child a real surprise at every step. The house
was not like an ordinary house; it was in the wood, and more
like a play-house than a real one. There was a room, but not
much in it; a table, but there was not on it what is on your
table--only three bowls. What they contained was usual, but