PART ONE

1. TELL ME A STORY

NARRATION

Since the days when you were delighted with The Three Bears and Jack the Giant Killer, you have enjoyed a good story. You may know someone whose stories are always delightful. Probably you have often wished that you could tell a story well yourself. You can learn to tell a story just as you can learn to skate or to play a musical instrument.

If you will examine the tale of The Wise Dervish you will find the three parts that every good story must have.

I

THE WISE DERVISH

A dervish was journeying alone in the desert when two merchants suddenly met him.

"You have lost a camel," said he to the merchants.

"Indeed we have," they replied.

"Was he not blind in one eye and lame in his left leg?"

"He was," replied the merchants.

"Had he not lost a front tooth?"

"He had."

And was he not loaded with honey on the one side and with wheat on the other?"

"Most certainly he was," they replied; "and since you have seen him so lately and marked him so particularly, you can, in all probability, conduct us to him."

"My friends," said the dervish, "I have not seen your camel, nor ever heard of him but from you."

"A pretty story, truly," said the merchants; "but where are the jewels which formed a part of his cargo?"

"I have seen neither your camel nor your jewels," repeated the dervish.

On this they seized him and forthwith hurried him before the cadi, where, on the strictest search, nothing could be found upon him, nor could any evidence whatever be adduced to convict him either of falsehood or of theft.

They were about to proceed against him as a sorcerer, when the dervish; with great calmness, thus addressed the court: I have been much amused with your surprise, and own that there has been some ground for your suspicions. I have lived long alone; I can find ample scope for observation even in the desert. I knew that I had crossed the track of a camel that had strayed from its owner, because I saw no mark of human footprint on the same route. I knew that the animal was blind in one eye, for it had cropped the herbage on only one side of the path; and I perceived that it was lame in one leg from the faint impression that particular foot produced on the sand. I concluded that the animal had lost a tooth, because wherever it had grazed a small tuft of herbage was left uninjured in the center of its bite. As to what formed the burden of the beast, the busy ants informed me that it was grain on the one side, and the clustering flies that it was honey on the other."

The setting. The first sentence of The Wise Dervish gives you what is known as the setting of the story. It tells you whom the story is about, and as much as you need to know about its time and place.

The development of the plot. From the beginning of the conversation to the last paragraph the plot of the story is developed. As you read the story, you become more and more anxious to know how the

dervish knew so much. Indeed, until he explains how he knew that the animal had strayed from his. owner, you become more and more curious. In other words, you are in suspense. The second part of a story develops the suspense or anxiety of the hearer or reader to know how the story is coming out.

The ending. The ending of the story tells you how the story comes out.

In this case it explains how the dervish knew each of the facts about the camel that had so surprised the merchants.

For

Even a little story in the humorous column of a newspaper or magazine has these three parts. example:

II

THREE "OUTS"

A certain merchant was so deeply in debt that he dreaded to appear upon the streets for fear he should meet his creditors. He even instructed his servant to say that he was "out" if any of his creditors called.

One day a man to whom the merchant owed a large sum went to try to collect it. He rang the door bell; the maid appeared, and the following conversation was overheard by the merchant who was hidden within:

"Is your master in?" inquired the creditor. "No," replied the maid curtly, "he's out."

"Well, then, is your mistress in? I can state my business to her."

"No, she's out," said the maid sharply.

"I'll wait until they come home then," persisted the unwelcome visitor. "Let me come in and sit by the fire." "N-n-n-no-" stuttered the maid in a panic. "That's out, too."

In this story you can readily see the division into the three parts:

1. Introduction-or setting.

2. Happenings which developed suspense in the reader-the plot.

3. The ending-conclusion-or "how it came out." Do you think the title a good one? Perhaps you can suggest others. Did you notice the number of different words used in place of the word said? A seventh-grade boy when reading an entertaining, wellwritten book, copied each synonym that he found for the word said. How many words do you think his list contained? Fifty! Do you think you could do as well? Here are a few words which may help you: replied, answered, exclaimed, urged, argued, insisted, admitted, conceded, granted, teased, whispered.

Write a conversation using some of the synonyms of said.

Read the story, Omar and the Persian, page 22.

Did the writer in his introduction give you "the three w's"-who, when, and where?

Did he keep you in suspense until the end of the story? Did he bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion?

Be prepared to tell the class a story that you have read. Pay attention to the following essentials:

1. Standing position.

2. Pronunciation.

3. Choice of words.

4. Story construction (setting, plot, conclusion).