Produced by Juliet Sutherland Tonya Allen and the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamA PRIMARY READEROldtime Stories Fairy Tales and Myths Retold by ChildrenByE LOUISE SMYTHEPREFACEThis book originated in a series of little reading lessons preparedfor the first grade pupils in the Santa Rosa public schools Theobject of the lessons was threefold to provide reading matter forthe little ones who had only a small vocabulary of sightwords toacquaint them early with the heroes who have come down to us in songand story and to create a desire for literatureIt has been my endeavor to follow Dr G Stanley Halls suggestions inhis monograph How to Teach Reading where he asks for truechildeditions made by testing many children with the work piecemealand cutting and adapting the material till it really and closelyfitted the minds and hearts of the childrenVarious stories were given to the pupils discussions followed Aftera time the story was produced orally by the children Notes were madeon expressions used and points of interest dwelt upon Later the storywas either written on the blackboard or mimeographed and put into thepupils hands to readIt gave great delight to the children to recognize an old friend in anew dress and as interest was aroused but little difficulty wasencountered in recognizing words that were indeed new in their sightvocabulary but old servants in their oral vocabularyThe spirit of the book may be illustrated by referring to the roastturkey in the story of The Little Match Girl The story was told asdear old Hans Christian Andersen gave it to the little German childrenof fifty years ago But American children have a different idea of thefowl which graces the table at Christmas time The story as it camefrom the lips of the children referred to the turkey and goosewas used in only one instance As the story was to appeal to ourchildren the word was changed to suit their ideasAgain in the story of Red RidingHood we preferred to use the Germanending as it leaves a far happier impression on the minds of thechildren than the accepted English version The incongruity of thewolfs swallowing whole the grandmother and child does not destroy thechilds enjoyment of the story while the happy release of bothgrandmother and little girl forms a suitable closeAlso as this old story handed down in so many languages is aninterpretation of one of the Sun myths it seems better to cling tothe original especially when it meets so entirely with the childsapprovalBefore presenting the Norse myths for reading they had been thesubject of many conversations queries and illustrations Some wereeven dramatizedin a childlike way of course Detailed descriptionsof Mt Ida Asgard and some of the principal heroes were given Butthough the little audience seemed interested in the introductoryremarks these never came back when the children were called upon toreproduce the story The narrator at once plunged into the story partIt is for this reason descriptions of heroes and places have beenomitted in these stories It is thus left for each teacher who usesthis book to employ her own method of introducing the gods of thehardy Norseman to her pupilsThe following works will be found useful and quite available to mostteachers Andersens Norse Mythology Mabies Norse Stories MaraPratts Stories from Norseland Fiskes Myths and Myth MakersTaylors Primitive Culture Vol I and Longfellows PoemsHoping these stories will interest other children as they haveinterested those who helped build them I send them forthE LOUISE SMYTHE_Santa Rosa California_CONTENTSTHE UGLY DUCKLINGTHE LITTLE PINE TREETHE LITTLE MATCH GIRLLITTLE RED RIDINGHOODTHE APPLES OF IDUNHOW THOR GOT THE HAMMERTHE HAMMER LOST AND FOUNDTHE STORY OF THE SHEEPTHE GOOD SHIP ARGOJASON AND THE HARPIESTHE BRASS BULLSJASON AND THE DRAGONIllustration THEY DRESSED THOR LIKE FREYJATHE UGLY DUCKLING          under          broke          does          keep           only           turkey          warm           ugly           waterA duck made her nest under some leavesIllustration THE DUCKS NESTShe sat on the eggs to keep them warmAt last the eggs broke one after the other Little ducks came outOnly one egg was left It was a very large oneAt last it broke and out came a big ugly ducklingWhat a big duckling said the old duck He does not look likeus Can he be a turkeyWe will see If he does not like the waterhe is not a duck                                                           mother         jumped         duckling          splash         swim           bigger          called         began          littleThe next day the mother duck took her ducklings to the pondIllustration THE DUCK TAKES HER DUCKLINGS TO SWIMSplash Splash The mother duck was in the water Then she calledthe ducklings to come in They all jumped in and began to swim Thebig ugly duckling swam tooThe mother duck said He is not a turkey He is my own little duckHe will not be so ugly when he is bigger