Monday, May 25, 2009

The Sad Stories

A few weeks ago, Lucia wanted me to tell her a sad story. I spun out a story of a couple who wanted a child, couldn't have a child, and then had the spirit of the child who was supposed to be theirs appear before them in the woods as the couple was cooking over a camp-fire. The child said, "Oh, how I wish I could have been your child," and disappeared. I filled it out with a lot of "and they cried, and they cried, 'Oh how we wish we had a child.'" (Dear Spinnerets, I don't know what had gotten into me except that as far as the four humors go, I have a melancholy nature. I wish I were sanguine, but I'm not.) Lucia was enjoying the story. However, I couldn't bear the couple's sorrow, and I had them find a child in a basket outside their door the next morning with a note that said, "I am your child."

Lucia was put out that I gave the story a happy ending.

A few days ago, when Bede was driving Lucia home from school, he told her a story of a woodcutter who found a stump in the forest and decided in fun that he would dress the stump, feed the stump lunch and pretend the stump was a child. Of course, one day the stump turned into a child.

Lucia demanded, "What are the sad parts of the story?"

10 comments:

Lone Star Ma said...

Maybe she has a career as a country western singer in front of her. Or there's always Wall Street(: Just kidding!!!

The Library Lady said...

Sounds like the teens who read all those Lurlene McDaniel tearjerkers. I had one young lady years ago who told me her mother was ticked because she was spending so much time crying over her books!

Myth said...

The two saddest stories I know are:

The Happy Princeand

The Little Match Girl.

Kathleen said...

ooh, The Happy Prince and The Selfish Giant are treasures.

Myth said...

oh! I forgot the saddest one of all (Wilde was great at these!)

The Nightingale and the RoseYou may want to tailor these to the particular audience but they are great tragic tales!

or maybe you could just abridge some Shakespeare for her?

Saints and Spinners said...

I suspect that what she wants and what she needs may be two different things... at least at times. I'm reminded of the kids who want me to tell them scary stories, and then I DO, and then they're sorry! (I've learned my lesson with that, and any scary stories I tell have humorous endings). I thank you for all of the recommendations, though. For now, I'm fine with Lucia telling the sad stories because she's in control of the situation then.

Saints and Spinners said...

P.S. LoneStarMa, one of the reasons why I love Mr. Putter and Tabby Toot the horn is because Mr. Putter loves the sad songs of opera and Mrs. Teaberry loves the sad songs of country/western.

Jules at 7-Imp said...

"Sanguine" has always been one of those words I have to stop and think about. To me, it sounds sad, like it should have "melancholic's" meaning -- or at least "phlegmatic's."

I love how well you do stories-on-demand, but then I'm not surprised.

tanita✿davis said...

Every Lucia story just amuses me. She's ...so... unusual. I like that in a kid.

Vivian Mahoney said...

Oh! Lucia is absolutely precious.