A Story To Tell: The Boy Who Tried to Fool his Father

As storyteller for our homeschool co-op, I bring a new story to the children each month.  Since we meet weekly, this gives me time to develop the story creatively and for the little ones to dream into it a bit and see it come to life.  The first and second week I tell the story simply, the third week I bring the story as a puppet play and the fourth week the children act out the story with very simple costumes and props.  It is a fun and satisfying progression that also challenges me to find stories that are appropriate for both a puppet play and acting out and that will engage our range of children from three- to eight-years-old.

I tend to chose stories that are rather epic, with many characters, a journey, a transformation  Huts turning into castles.  Dwarfs into princes.  Angels and talking animals.  The whole nine yards.  I had such a story selected for February, but when it came time to tell it I felt that something lighter was needed.  We'd done five big stories already this year.  It was time for a little laughter and some ease.

I fell in love with this story from Zaire, adapted by Andrea Gambardella, which I found in this wonderful story collection from WECAN.  The humor is apparent, but the quality that actually decided me on this story is the wonderful sense of reassurance and safety that comes with the ending.

Here is my version:

Once upon a time there was a beautiful land far to the south where it was never wintertime, but always hot and green.  The trees of this land grew so tall and thick that if you were to climb one, you would be able to see a great, great distance and what you would see would be a canopy of green trees all around.  And in this land there was also a river that was so large that if you tried to swim across it you would be very, very tired when you reached the other side.  And in this land there lived many, many animals and many beautiful birds and butterflies and insects of all kinds.  This forest was full of life!

One day, a family came to live in the forest.  There was a father and a mother and many, many children.  The trees made room for them to build their simple huts and dig their garden.   Once the garden was dug, the mother and the older children were very busy in planting it and tending it and the father said to himself, "There is more that I can do to provide for my family."

He pulled some vines from the trees and stripped off their bark.  Then he braided the bark and knotted it into a fishing net.  He carried the fishing net down to the river.  He dropped the net into the water, placing a rock over one corner to prevent it from floating away.

By this time it was noon, so the father walked back to his hut for a rest.  As he entered the yard, his youngest child ran up to him.  "Father," he said. "I am going to hide and you have to find me!"

"No matter where you hide, I will find you!" said his father. "You can count on me."  Then he went inside to rest.

Now the little boy started to look around for a place to hide.  He looked in the garden, the woodpile and the bushes, but nothing seemed quite right.  Then he saw a peanut lying on the ground in the yard.  He said to himself, "I wish I could hide inside that peanut!" And it was no sooner said than done: he was inside the peanut.

Well, just then, the rooster spied the peanut and came strutting over and, in a flash, he ate the peanut up.

Then, a wild bush cat peered out of the trees, saw the rooster and ate it up in one gulp.

The dog saw the bush cat and came running over and before the cat could leap back into the trees he ate it up.

Now the dog was feeling very full and thirsty, so he walked down to the river for a drink.  As he drank from the river, a green python snake looked down from a tree above, slid down the branch and swallowed the dog.

Now the python was so full and so heavy that he fell- plop!- into the river and was caught in the father's fishing net.

Well, the father woke up from his nap, had a bite to eat and came outside again.  He began to count his children who were playing and working in the garden.  One was missing!  It was his youngest boy.  He began to look for him.  He searched and searched but he could not find the boy. Finally, he realized that the sun was beginning to go down and it was time to pull his net from the river.  As he walked the path to the river he thought suddenly, "Ah...I will find my boy at the river."

When he pulled in his net, what did he find inside it but a python snake with a very fat belly!  Inside the python, he found a dog.  Inside the dog, he found a bush cat.  Inside the bush cat he found the rooster.  Inside the rooster he found a peanut.  And inside the peanut, he found his youngest son!

"You see," he said.  "No matter where you hide, I will find you.  You can count on me."

I love watching the children's faces as I tell a story.  I know these dear children so well!  On the morning I first told this story, I saw some tender edges in our little tribe.  A new baby had been welcomed in one home that very week and in other houses, friends had weathered a painful friendship triangle.  As the story began to flow I felt the children expectant, wondering where this new story was going.  I was also wondering: would this be scary for the children?  Would they take it lightly, as it was offered, or would they worry too much about the fate of the little boy, swallowed alive?

No, all was well.  When the rooster ate the peanut there was surprise, then laughter and a sense of freedom as cat followed rooster and dog followed cat.  Is this our serious Mama Brenna, telling a story about animals eating one another?  But the sweetest moment was the ending, when the father finds the little boy.  Then, I saw a sense of deep peace on those little faces.    One might not expect a story that features a python to bring a sense of peace, but there it was.  The unexpected beauty of story!  

I wish all children that sense of absolute safety.  That deep knowing, that even if you are inside a peanut, which is eaten by a rooster, which is eaten by a cat, which is eaten by a dog, which is eaten by a python, which falls into a river, those you love will still find you.  No matter what.  Gosh, I wish that for myself.  And for you.  In times of struggle, may we remember that sometimes we have to allow ourselves to be swallowed up and dropped in the river in order to find that sense of trust, to hear that quiet inner voice that says, You can count on me.

 

Comments

[Rachel]

Brenna, Thank you for the wonderful story. I loved the ending, too! It does bring a sense of peace to have the dad find the boy. Your story figures are amazing! The little net is FABULOUS!

[Storymama]

I'm so glad you enjoyed this story, Rachel. I loved making these figures. I really got into it and made SIX children, which is a ridiculous number to be moving around on the table, but I just love them so. The net is knitted from yarn from a new vest I'm knitting baby Eden- it just happened to look very bark-like, so I used it. Making these little scenes is a really satisfying creative process for me.
Thanks for visiting!