gained much amusement from sayings such as these: "If you know the man
thab would refuse to take care of himself, I'd like mighty well if
you'd point him out."--"Well, well," said Uncle Remus soothingly, "in
deze low groun's er sorrer, you des got to lean back en make
allowances fer all sorts er folks. You got ter low fer dem dat knows
too much same ez dem what knows too little. A heap er sayin's en a
heap er doin's in dis roun' worl' got ter be tuck on trus'."--The
child does not get the full force of the philosophy but he gets what
he can and that much sinks in.

It is through the contemplative imagination that the child realizes
the meaning of particular tales. He learns: that _Cinderella_ means
that goodness brings its own reward; that _Three Pigs_ means that the
wise build with care and caution, with foresight; that _Star Dollars_
means compassion for others and kindness to them; and that _Red Riding
Hood_ means obedience.

The power of the contemplative imagination is based on the
indistinctness of the image. It suggests, too, the relation between
cause and effect, which reason afterwards proves; and therefore it is
a direct aid to science. In the tales there are expressed facts of
truth symbolically clothed which science since then has discovered.
And now that folk-lore is being studied seriously to unfold all it
gives of an earlier life, perhaps this new study may reveal some new
truths of science hidden in its depths. The marvels of modern shoe
manufacture were prophesied in _The Little Elves_, and the power of
electricity to hold fast was foretold in _Dummling and his Golden
Goose_. The wonders of modern machinery appeared in the magic axe of
Espen that hit at every stroke; and the miracle of modern canals sees
a counterpart in the spring which Espen brought to the giant's