A Study of Fairy Tales eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 330 pages of information about A Study of Fairy Tales.

A Study of Fairy Tales eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 330 pages of information about A Study of Fairy Tales.

the fairy wise woman, and the friendly goat.  It contains the fairy housekeeping in the forest which combines tea-party, picnic, and magic food—­all of which could not fail to delight children.  The lullaby to put Two-Eyes to sleep suits little children who know all there is to know about “going to sleep.”  The magic tree, the silver leaves, the golden fruit, the knight and his fine steed, and the climax of the tale when the golden apple rolls from under the cask—­all possess unusual interest.  There is exceptional beauty in the setting of this tale; and its message of the worth of goodness places it in line with Cinderella.  It should be dramatized as two complete episodes, each of three acts:—­

The Goat Episode

     Place The home and the forest.

     Time Summer.

     Act I, Scene i.  A home scene showing how the Mother and
        Sisters despised Two-Eyes.

     Scene ii.  Two-Eyes and the Fairy.

     Scene iii.  Two-Eyes and the Goat.  Evening of the first day.

     Act II, Scene i.  One-Eye went with Two-Eyes.  Third morning. 
       Song ...  Feast ...  Return home.

     Act III, Scene i.  Three-Eyes went with Two-Eyes.  Fourth
       morning.  Song ...  Feast ...  Return home.

The Story of Two-Eyes

     Place The forest; and the magic tree before the house.

     Time Summer.

     Act I, Scene i.  Two-Eyes and the Fairy.

     Act II, Scene i.  The magic tree.  Mother and Sisters attempt to
       pluck the fruit.

     Act III, Scene i.  The Knight.  Second attempt to pluck fruit. 
       Conclusion.  The happy marriage.

Snow White

The Story of Snow White is one of the romantic fairy tales which has been re-written and staged as a play for children, and now may be procured in book form.  It was produced by Winthrop Ames at the Little Theatre in New York City.  The dramatization by Jessie Braham White followed closely the original tale.  The entire music was composed by Edmond Rickett, who wrote melodies for a number of London Christmas pantomimes.  The scenery, by Maxfield Parrish, was composed of six stage pictures, simple, harmonious, and beautiful, with tense blue skies, a dim suggestion of the forest, and the quaint architecture of the House of the Seven Dwarfs.  Pictures in old nursery books were the models for the scenes.  Because of the simplicity of the plot and the few characters, Snow White could be played very simply in four scenes, by the children of the second and third grades for the kindergarten and first grade.

Snow White

     Scene i.  A Festival on the occasion of Snow White’s sixteenth
       birthday.

     Scene ii.  In the Forest.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
A Study of Fairy Tales from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.