CHAPTER II. THE ESSENTIALS OF THE STORY.

It would be a truism to suggest that dramatic instinct and dramatic
power of expression are naturally the first essentials for success in
the art of story-telling, and that, without these, no story-teller
would go very far; but I maintain that, even with these gifts, no high
standard of performance will be reached without certain other
qualities, among the first of which I place _apparent_ simplicity,
which is really the _art_ of concealing_ the art.

I am speaking here of the public story-teller, or of the teacher with
a group of children, not the spontaneous (and most rare) power of
telling stories such as Beranger gives us in his poem, "Souvenirs du
Peuple":


Mes enfants, dans ce village,
Suivi de rois, il passa;
Voila; bien longtemps de cela!
Je venais d'entrer en menage,
A pied grimpant le coteau,
Ou pour voir je m'tais mise.

Il avait petit chapeau et redingote grise.
Il me dit: Bon jour, ma chere.
Il vous a parle, grand mere?
Il vous a parle?