Tom awoke just as he was opening the door in the tree. We do not know what would have happened next. Perhaps there was a stairway behind the door. Perhaps this led to a beautiful garden in which were flowers of many colors and singing birds. We do not know whom Tom might have met in that garden. We do not know what might have happened there.
=Oral Exercise.= 1. Play that you are Tom. Tell the class your dream. But make believe that you did not wake up just as you were opening the door. Tell your classmates what happened to you after you opened it.
Perhaps you found yourself in a room that was full of elves. Perhaps the king of the elves was there. How did he show that he was glad that you had saved the life of one of his elves? What did he say? Did the elves clap their hands? Did they play games with you in the woods?
Or perhaps the room was full of playthings, like a large toystore. Perhaps the elf told you to choose and take home what you wanted most.
As you and your classmates tell the dream, it will be fun to see how different the endings are.
2. It may be that the teacher will ask you and some classmates to play the best dream story that is told. The first part of it you have already played. Play it over with the new ending. The pupil who added this may tell his classmates how to play it. Should he not be one of the players? He will know, better than any one else, exactly what should be said and done.[6]
On the morning when Tom awoke from his dream he found his mother at his bedside. The first thing he did was to tell her his strange dream. This is what he said:
Mother, I dreamed about a door. It was in the trunk of a tree. A kind elf showed it to me. I drove away a wicked owl that was trying to carry the elf away.
=Oral Exercise.= 1. Do you think that Tom told his dream very well? Did he begin at the beginning or at the end of it? Did he leave anything out?
2. Does Tom's story tell what he was doing when he first saw the elf? Does it tell how the elf looked?[8] How might Tom have begun his story?
3. Does Tom's story tell how he drove the owl away? What might Tom have said about this? Look at the second picture of the story and see what it tells.
4. Tom's story says nothing about going into the woods. It does not tell what was written on the strange door. Look again at the third picture. What does it tell you that Tom left out?