During story time, usually before bedtime, Ashu and I have quite an interesting thing going. So I give her some choice and she chooses the story she wants. Like "I want two animals in the story, Amma. You choose any animal. And I want a happy story. Not a scary one". So I spin a story on the characters given to me often involving her to move the story forward. Whenever Im stuck, all I have to do is ask her, "What do you think happened, Ashu?" and voila! you can move on with the story! :) Poor thing does nt know that the tale just formed in my head and is so thrilled that she "guessed" correctly! muahaha!
One day, I was completely blank. Story tellers block, I guess. So I decided to tell her some well known tales. "The Midas Touch" came to mind and I told her that story. Once Midas got the "golden touch", I described to her how whatever he touched turned into gold and told her that that might be a problem for certain things and asked her to guess what the problems might be. While I was imagining myself with uneatable golden Idlis and a golden river of Sambar and worrying, pat came the reply from her. "Midas can never draw a rainbow, Amma. Whatever color he touches will turn into gold. So he can only paint a golden rainbow. Never a colorful rainbow"! Now, is that cute or is that cute?
Another day, another story. This time the story of The Cap Seller. ("I want a story with an animal and a person, Amma. You can choose if its a boy or a girl. And I want a silly story!" *giggles*) So I tell her how the monkeys were wearing the caps and the cap seller was trying to get the caps back and how the monkeys were copying whatever the man did. Interaction time, I thought and asked Ashu to guess what the man did next to get the caps back. Pat came the reply, "Did he climb the tree and then swing upside down? Then the monkeys would do the same and all their caps would fall down from their heads." Well, theres an idea! Thats exactly how the story would have ended if the cap seller was nt wearing his hat now, would nt it?
Talking about copying monkeys, I call Antu Copy Cat all the time because she has to do everything her big sister does. Once Ashu asked me why I call Antu a copy cat and I told her the reason. "But why a copy CAT, amma? Do cats copy?" errr... Then thankfully the story of the cat and the tiger came to me. Its a popular phrase in Tamil, "puliya paathu soodu pottunda poonai" meaning "the cat who burnt himself wanting to be a tiger". So I told her the story about how a cat wanted to be like a tiger and decided to get some stripes. So he used the firewood to mark his body and ended up getting burnt. "But why did nt he just use some paints, Amma?", came the question. "Oh thats the moral of the story, Ashu. Use paint!", I replied and escaped! Phew. Kids today! I so get my grandma now!
