understanding of six years. _Rumpelstiltskin_, its parallel,
must also be excluded. _The House in the Wood_, and its
Norse parallel, _The Two Step-Sisters_, are both very
beautiful, but are more suited to the second grade. In the
kindergarten it is much better to present the tale which
emphasizes goodness, rather than the two just mentioned,
which present the good and the bad and show what happens to
both. Besides there is a certain elation resulting from the
superior reward won by the good child which crowds out any
pity for the erring child. Such elation is a form of
selfishness and ought not to be emphasized. _Snow White and
Rose Red_ contains the strange dwarf, but it is a tale so
full of love and goodness and home life that in spite of its
length it could be used in the first grade.

_Unhappy tales_. The very little child pities, and its
tender heart must be protected from depressing sadness as
unrelieved as we find it in _The Little Match Girl_. The
image of suffering impressed on a child, who cannot forget
the sight of a cripple for days, is too intense to be
healthful. The sorrow of the poor is one of the elements of
life that even the very little child meets, and it is
legitimate that his literature should include tales that
call for compassion. But in a year or two, when he develops
less impressionability and more poise, he is better prepared
to meet such situations, as he must meet them in life.

_The tale of capture_. This would eliminate _Proserpine_. No
more beautiful myth exists than this one of the springtime,
but its beauty and its symbolism do not make it suitable for