Busy Folk
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Authors
Edson, A. W
Laing, Mary E
Issue Date
1913
Type
Book, Whole
Language
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Abstract
This book relates somehow to The Edson-Laing Readers: Book Two: Lend a Hand, first published in 1913. My copy of that book comes from 1916. Though the obverse of the title-page of this book mentions both Lend a Hand and Busy Folk as in the Edson-Laing Series, it is not stated where this book fits. It seems to me to be listed second, after Work and Play and before Lend a Hand. Perhaps the former is a primer and this is the first reader in the series. Instructions to the teacher at the book's end seem to suggest that many students will have used Work and Play before this book. The illustrators are different here from there. The Ant and the Snow (54) is listed as a Spanish Folk Tale. It is a cumulative story like The Marriage of the Mice's Daughter. An ant first addresses the snow You must be strong but is always told about a stronger. A cat can eat the rat that can gnaw a hole in the wall that keeps the sun from melting the snow that clogs the ant's feet! There is a similar tale, also called a Spanish Folk Tale, telling of a monkey's attempts to bring down a tall mature tree that threatens his young tree (76). The Man and the Camel is listed as from Aesop, but strangely starts with the camel's head in the tent rather than just his nose. The Wise Lion is the traditional tale about the sky falling (102), but here it is told rather in terms of the earth falling in. The Stone in the Road (115) is listed as adapted from Aesop. Supposedly important people go around the stone that the king has put in the road. Only an old woman bothers to move it away, fearing that someone may get hurt. She gets the prize. People work best for themselves who work for others, too (118). Fair to good condition.
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Publisher
Benj. H. Sanborn & Co.