Telling Stories

I've written before about how Lindsey has discovered the story of Cinderella. It started with my telling her the story from my own memory, no book in front of me.

Lindsey's now seen the Disney version of this story several tens of times, and has the Disney version down pat. The other night, getting ready for bed, she asked me to read her the Cinderella story. I said, "But honey, we don't have the book of Cinderella, just the movie." She said, "Yes we do!" and she proceeded to pull out an entirely different book, one about ladybugs, and said, "See? It's the Cinderella story!"

Oohh! Of course it is. How silly of me to have forgotten where this saga started -- with the spoken word, from imagination, no books or movies to dictate the telling.

So I "read" her the Cinderella story and read it for her every night right now, from the same "10 Little Ladybugs" book (she does insist that I turn the pages, as if really reading the story).

Of course, she'll let you know when you forget parts. Her favorite two parts are when the mean sisters rip Cinderella's original dress that that birds and mice made for her, and also when the mean sisters are trying on the glass slipper. Lindsey does a fabulous mimicry of the sisters' faces and grunts as they try on the slipper. One of the sisters (she could tell you if it's Anatasia or Drisella) does eventually manage to stick her whole foot in the shoe, but it's so large the slipper flies off her foot and the servant has to catch it. The sound effect that Lindsey has determined goes with this is "PING!!"

While I love telling her the story, I think she tells it best.