word, "plaything," was almost the only word they could understand.

Then the Father, rejoiced that his offspring were freed from peril,
procured for them one of the most beautiful chariots ever seen.
The chariot had a canopy like a pagoda; it had tiny rails and
balustrades and rows of jingling bells. Milk-white oxen drew
the chariot. The children were astonished when they were placed
inside.[27]


Perhaps, as a compromise, one might give the gentler superstitions
to very small children, and leave such a blood-curdling story as
"Bluebeard" to a more robust age.


There is one modern method which has always seemed to me much to be
condemned, and that is the habit of changing the end of a story, for
fear of alarming the child. This is quite indefensible. In doing
this we are tampering with folklore and confusing stages of development.

Now, I know that there are individual children that, at a tender age,
might be alarmed at such a story, for instance, as "Little Red Riding-
Hood"; in which case, it is better to sacrifice the "wonder stage" and
present the story later on.

I live in dread of finding one day a bowdlerized form of "Bluebeard,"
prepared for a junior standard, in which, to produce a satisfactory
finale, all the wives come to life again, and "live happily ever
after" with Bluebeard and each other!