A Study of Fairy Tales by Laura F. Kready
page 52 of 391 (13%)
page 52 of 391 (13%)
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Literature parallels life and what is presented calls up individual
experience. Any child will feel a thrill of kinship with the experiences given in _The Tin Soldier_--a little boy's birthday, the opening of the box, the counting of the soldiers, and the setting of them upon the table. And because here Andersen has transformed this usual experience with a vivacity and charm, the tale ranks high as a tale of imagination. _Little Ida's Flowers_ and _Thumbelina_ are tales of pure fancy. Grimm's _The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean_ and _The Spindle, the Shuttle, and the Needle_ rank in the same class, as also do the Norse _The Doll i' the Grass_ and the English _Tom Thumb_. (b) _The penetrative imagination_. This power of imagination shows the real character of a thing and describes it by its spiritual effects. It sees the heart and inner nature of things. Through fancy the child cannot reach this central viewpoint since fancy deals only with externals. Through the exercise of this power the child develops insight, intuition, and a perception of spiritual values, and gains a love of the ideal truth and a perpetual thirst for it. He develops genuineness, one of the chief virtues of originality. He will tend not to have respect for sayings or opinions but will seek the truth, be governed by its laws, and hold a passion for perfection. This power of imagination makes of him a continual seeker, "a pilgrim upon earth." Through the penetrative imagination the child forgets himself and enters into the things about him, into the doings of Three Pigs or the adventures of Henny Penny. (c) _The contemplative imagination_. This is that special phase of the imagination that gives to abstract being consistency and reality. Through the contemplative imagination the child gains the significance of meaning and discerns the true message of the tale. When merely |
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