Child Stories from the Masters

Stories from the Masters, by Maud Menefee

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Title: Child Stories from the Masters Being a Few Modest Interpretations of Some Phases of the Master Works Done in a Child Way
Author: Maud Menefee
Release Date: June 8, 2007 [EBook #21764]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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CHILD STORIES FROM THE MASTERS
BY
MAUD MENEFEE
BEING A FEW MODEST INTERPRETATIONS OF SOME PHASES OF THE MASTER WORKS DONE IN A CHILD WAY
ILLUSTRATED

[Illustration]

RAND, McNALLY & COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK LONDON

[Illustration: By Jean Fran?ois Millet
THE SPINNER]

COPYRIGHT, 1899, 1901 By MAUD MENEFEE

TO ANDREA HOFER

FOREWORD.
In writing these stories, no attempt has been made to follow the plot or problem of the poems, which in almost every case lies beyond the child's reach. The simple purpose as found in the whole, or the suggestion of only a stanza or scene, has been used as opportunity for picturing and reflecting something of the poetry and intention of the originals.
As story-teller to the same circle of children for several years, it became necessary to draw upon the great literary fount for suggestion, and it was found that "Pippa," the art child of industry, could add a poetic impulse toward the handwork of spinning, thread-winding, weaving, the making of spinning wheels, winders, and looms, without too great violence to the original poem itself.
"Mignon," as the creature of an art that exists for art's sake, was set to contrast with Pippa, who through service finds a song to heal and to inspire.
"Siegfried" and "Parsifal," as knight stories, were given with their musical motifs.
The writer hopes for "Child Stories" that it may serve to suggest to teachers how they may utilize the great store of poetry and art at hand. To do this they are themselves under the joyful necessity of keeping close to the great sources. On this last point Mr. Wm. T. Harris says: "A view of the world is a perpetual stimulant to thought, always prompting one to reflect on the immediate fact or event before him, and to discover its relation to the ultimate principle of the universe. It is the only antidote for the constant tendency of the teacher to sink into a dead formalism, the effect of too much iteration and of the practice of adjusting knowledge to the needs of the feeble-minded by perpetual explanation of what is already simple ad nauseam for the mature intelligence of the teacher. It produces a sort of pedagogical cramp in the soul, for which there is no remedy like a philosophical view of the world, unless, perhaps, it be the study of the greatest poets, Shakespere, Dante, and Homer."
MAUD MENEFEE.
Chicago, August, 1901.

THE TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
PIPPA Robert Browning 9 From "Pippa Passes."
MIGNON Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 17 From "Wilhelm Meister."
SIEGFRIED Richard Wagner 27 From "Niebelungen Ring."
A FISH AND A BUTTERFLY Robert Browning 39 From "Amphibian."
HOW MARGARET LED FAUST THROUGH THE PERFECT WORLD Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 45 From "Faust."
BEATRICE Dante Alighieri 55 From "The Inferno."
PARSIFAL Richard Wagner 61 From "Parsifal."
THE ANGELUS 67 About the painting by Jean Fran?ois Millet.
FRIEDRICH AND HIS CHILD-GARDEN 73
THE HOLY NIGHT 79 About the painting by Antonio Allegri da Correggio.
SAUL AND DAVID Robert Browning 95 From "Saul."
A GUIDE TO PRONUNCIATION 103
A WORD LIST 103

A LIST OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
THE SPINNER Jean Fran?ois Millet Frontispiece
INNOCENCE Jean Baptiste Greuze 10
MIGNON Paul Kiessling 18
SIEGFRIED F. Leeke 28
"AT THE FARTHEST END OF THE MEADOW" Yeend King 40
LISEUSE Jules Le Febvre 46
THE BEATA BEATRICE Dante Gabriel Rossetti 56
ASPIRATION George Frederick Watts 62
THE ANGELUS Jean Fran?ois Millet 68
THE HOLY NIGHT Antonio Allegri da Correggio 80
THE DIVINE SHEPHERD Bartolom�� Est��ban Murillo 96

[Illustration: By Jean Baptiste Greuze
INNOCENCE]
A SONG.
The year's at the spring The day's at the morn; Morning's at seven; The hill-side's dew-pearled; The lark's on the wing; The snail's on the thorn: God's in his heaven-- All's right with the world!
--From Browning's "Pippa Passes."
PIPPA.
All the year in the little village of Asola the great wheels of the mills went round and round. It seemed to the very little children that they never, never stopped, but went on turning and singing, turning and singing. No matter where you went in the village, the hum of the wheels could always be heard; and though no one could really say what the wheels sang, everyone turned gladly to his work or went swiftly on his errand when he heard the busy song.
Everyone was proud of the mills in Asola, and the children most