Now, some of these beginnings are, of course, for very young children,
but they all have the same advantage, that of plunging _in medias res_,
and, therefore, arrest attention at once, contrary to the stories which
open on a leisurely note of description.

In the same way we must be careful about the endings of stories. They
must impress themselves either in a very dramatic climax to which the
whole story has worked up, as in the following:

"Then he goes out the Wet Wild Woods, or up the Wet Wild Trees, or on
the Wet Wild Roofs, waving his Wild Tail, and walking by his Wild Lone."
From "Just So Stories," Rudyard Kipling.

Or by an anti-climax for effect:

"We have all this straight from the alderman's newspaper, but it is not
to be depended on." From "Jack the Dullard," Hans Christian Andersen.

Or by evading the point:

"Whoever does not believe this must buy shares in the Tanner's yard."
From "A Great Grief," Hans Christian Andersen.

Or by some striking general comment:

"He has never caught up with the three days he missed at the beginning
of the world, and he has never learnt how to behave." From "How the
Camel got his Hump": "Just So Stories," Rudyard Kipling.

I have only suggested in this chapter a few of the artifices which I