And the secondary thread of narrative interest, that of the
prices for which the stove was sold, and the retribution visited on the
cheating dealers, is also "another story," and must be ignored. Each of
these destroys the clear sequence and the simplicity of plot which must be
kept for telling.
We are reduced, then, for the whole, to this: a brief preliminary
statement of the place Hirschvogel held in the household affections, and
the ambition aroused in August; the catastrophe of the sale; August's
decision; his experiences on the train, on the shoulders of men, and just
before the discovery; his discovery, and the _denouement_.
This not only reduces the story to tellable form, but it also leaves a
suggestive interest which heightens later enjoyment of the original. I
suggest the adaptation of Kate Douglas Wiggin, in _The Story Hour_, since
in view of the existence of a satisfactory adaptation it seems
unappreciative to offer a second. The one I made for my own use some years
ago is not dissimilar to this, and I have no reason to suppose it more
desirable.
Ruskin's _King of the Golden River_ is somewhat difficult to adapt. Not
only is it long, but its style is mature, highly descriptive, and closely
allegorical. Yet the tale is too beautiful and too suggestive to be lost
to the story-teller.
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