reason for this is obvious: the child, having limited experience, can
only be reached by this experience, until his imagination is awakened
and he is enabled to grasp through this faculty what he has not
actually passed through. Before this awakening has taken place he
enters the realm of fiction, represented in the story, by comparison
with his personal experience. Every story and every point in the
story mean more as that experience widens, and the interest varies, of
course, with temperament, quickness of perception, power of visualizing
and of concentration.

In "The Marsh King's Daughter," Hans Christian Andersen says:

"The storks have a great many stories which they tell their little
ones, all about the bogs and marshes. They suit them to their age and
capacity. The young ones are quite satisfied with _kribble,
krabble_, or some such nonsense, and find it charming; but the
elder ones want something with more meaning."

One of the most interesting experiments to be made in connection with
this subject is to tell the same story at intervals of a year or six
months to an individual child.[21] The different incidents in the
story which appeal to him (and one must watch it closely, to be sure
the interest is real and not artificially stimulated by any suggestion
on one's own part) will mark his mental development and the gradual
awakening of his imagination. This experiment is a very delicate one
and will not be infallible, because children are secretive and the
appreciation is often simulated (unconsciously) or concealed through
shyness or want of articulation. But it is, in spite of this, a
deeply interesting and helpful experiment.