Humor is the charm, too, of Andersen's _Snow Man_.Here the
child can identify himself with the Dog and thereby join in
the sport which the Dog makes at the Snow Man's expense,
just as if he himself were enlightening the Snow Man about
the Sun, the Moon, and the Stove. There is most delightful
humor in _The Cat and the Mouse in Partnership_, where the
Cat has the face to play upon the credulity of the poor
housekeeper Mouse, who always "stayed at home and did not go
out into the daytime." Returning home from his ventures
abroad he named the first kitten Top-Off, the second one
Half-Out, and the third one All-Out; while instead of having
attended the christening of each, as he pretended, he
secretly had been visiting the jar of fat he had placed for
safe-keeping in the church.

_Poetic justice_. Emotional satisfaction and moral
satisfaction based on emotional instinct appeal to the
child. He pities the plight of the animals in the _Bremen
Town Musicians_, and he wants them to find a refuge, a safe
home. He is glad that the robbers are chased out, his sense
of right and wrong is satisfied. Poetic justice suits him.
This is one reason why fairy tales make a more definite
impression often than life--because in the tale the
retribution follows the act so swiftly that the child may
see it, while in life "the mills of the gods grind slowly,"
and even the adult who looks cannot see them grind. The
child wants Cinderella to gain the reward for her goodness;
and he wishes the worthy Shoemaker and his Wife, in the
_Elves and the Shoemaker_, to get the riches their industry
deserves.