Storytelling for Week 4: The Pond

One day, a brother and a sister were playing out in the yard.  The summer had been such a hot summer and the little children exhausted themselves quickly.  They sat underneath the shade of a tree while they watched their neighbors from across the street splash into a pool of cold water.  Oh how they wanted a pool!  The brother said to his sister, “If we had a pool we could play outside longer with out getting tired.”  The sister replied, “What can we do to get a pool?  Surely mom can help us!”  The two siblings ran inside to find their mom in hopes she would know how to get a pool. 

“Mom! Mom! Mom!” cried the children. “ What is it my dears?” asked the mother.  The two little children went into great detail about their desires to have a cold pool to splash in all summer.  “Hmmm” the mom thought out loud.  “Go to the store and bring me back a box of nails and one hammer.”  The mom walked out of the room without explanation and the children were left with no other choice to do as they were told.  They hopped on their bikes and headed to town to purchase nails and a hammer. 

On their way home a bird swooped down from a nearby tree and grabbed the nails out of their basket with its beak.  The children cried, “Oh no please don’t take our nails bird! We must bring them back to mother so we can have a cold pool to swim in!”  The bird replied, “If you bring me worms I will give you back the nails.”  The children rode their bikes to their friends house and asked their friend, “Please give us a box of worms to give to the bird, who will give us back our nails, so we may take it back to mom and she will give us a pool.”  The friend said, “Bring me a bag of smooth flat rocks and I will give you a box of worms.”

The children took off to a close trail that was covered in rocks.  They quickly filled a bag of rocks and was able to take them back to their friends house without anything stopping them.  In return, the children’s friend gave them a box of worms.  The brother and sister found the bird that gave them back their bag of nails.  They were finally able to head back home where they found their mother in the backyard.  “Mom, we have the nails and the hammer! How will get a pool now?” asked the children.  “Follow me” replied the mom.  The mom took off towards the woods in the back of their house and started on a trail.  The children had never been this far into the woods and did not know where their mom was taking them.  A couple minutes into the walk a path cleared and there in front of the mom and two kids was a magnificent clear blue pond.  The pond was surrounded by trees, flowers, and huge ditch that prevented them from being able to jump in. 

The mom showed the kids a pile of lumbar that they could use to build a bridge to cross over to the pond.  With great excitement the mom and her two kids began nailing and hammering the wood together.  Soon the bridge was built and the kids were able to walk over to the pond and jump in the cool and refreshing water.  The kids’ friend who asked for rocks soon wondered over to their pond.  He shared the rocks with the brother and sister as they practiced skipping them across the water.  The mom watched as the kids swam and skipped rocks.  She noticed a bird in a nearby tree feeding worms to her babies. What a beautiful pond to spend time with her children in the summer this would be. 

Authors Note:  In The Liver, a turkish fairy tale, a mom sends her daughter to retrieve a liver.  The daughter encounters many trials in order to get the liver but eventually is able to take it back to her mom.  I used the concept of the mom wanting the liver and changed it to children who wanted a pool for the summer.  I also gave the kids a few task they had to complete in order to get the pool.  However, I wanted to incorporate each character back in to the story so I brought the friend and bird back in to the scene at the end.

(Pond:Wikimedia)

Bibliography:
Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).