A Collection of Eastern Stories and Legends: For Narration or Later Reading in Schools

In offering this volume to teachers, my chief aim is to provide material for narration which shall deal, not with things temporal but with the “ Eternal Verities.” These, if presented to our boys and girls in dramatic form, at the most impressionable period of their lives, will sink deeply into their minds. When presented in more direct and didactic fashion, the same truths often fail to impress. These stories of the Buddha are not for one age or one country, but for all time and for the world.

I have suggested their meaning in the index to enable teachers to -see the contents at a glance. I strongly urge that little or no explanation should be offered to the children themselves. They will be sufficiently interested in the dramatic setting to absorb (unconsciously) the meaning of the story.

The book is not intended primarily for children to read but for teachers to use in telling these tales, but' when they have received the dramatic impression through the telling, they will have an added interest in reading the book for themselves.

I have purposely avoided using illustrations to these stories. I want the children to make the mental picture suggested to them by the spoken word, and if they read the story afterwards, I do not wish to force them to abandon their own conception and adopt a general one, because this would mean eliminating one of the most potent educational factors in the telling of the story.