My son has started asking me to tell him a story each night as we go to bed.
I am looking for ideas.
What is your favorite Fairie Tale?
Note, I have rewritten "Little Red Riding Hood" as a Vampire story, so I'm not inclined to see it as a kids story any more.
And I saw a kids video of Pinnochio that got me wondering, what type of lonely old bachelor man carves anatomically correct wooden boys, and in the middle of the night screams "I wish you were a real boy."
It was a bad Japanese version and left me feeling just a bit icky by this Gippetto guy.
Also note that the full story of Sleeping Beauty was just a bit beyond his understanding.
So what are your favorite Fairie Tales?
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
How old is your son?
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
4 going on 5
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
When I told stories to my girls and when I tell them to my twins, I always made them up as I went along, and got input from the kids. I'd start off with "Once Upon a Time there was a beautiful princess named....." and the girls would inevitably fill in their own name.
"One day the princess went to...." usually it was the zoo, or the circus, or her grandmother's house, whatever the kids wanted to fill in.
Then I'd go on from there, making it up as I went and trying not to repeat an ending that we'd already had. That can get tough, once Princess Natalie went to the zoo for about 12 nights in a row.
There are some wonderful books of stories at the library, look for those with folk tales from other countries, those can be really fun.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
Of course, for Sasha, you would say "Once there was an incredibly brave hero named....."
I imagine for him you'd leave out all the princess stuff. Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Goats are cool.
Also, not a "classic" fairie tale, but one of my favorite books to be read when I was a kid: The Gingerbears. It's about cookies that come alive and save christmas.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Beren One Hand (Member # 3403) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: 4 going on 5
So I guess the one about privatized social security might be a little advanced for him.
I read a lot of Aesop's Fables as a kid. But those might be a bit dry for a youngling.
Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :
Jack and the Beanstalk.
Jack kills a giant; Jack gets girl attached to harp; Jack gets gold.
A beautiful story, filled with beans, death, chicks and cash.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
I can't do Billy Goats Gruff. His class at daycare did that as a puppet show a couple of months ago. He'd be correcting me.
I can't do the "Make it up" bit because I'm trying to put him to sleep. He asks enough questions as it is. In fact, he plays the Make It Up game all by himself when he want to talk with me. I get some of the goofiest stories from him.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
I'm sure how religious you are, Dan, but a lot of children respond well to bible stories.
Any adventure stories are good. For example, Robin Hood, Tresure Island, The Wizard of Oz..
The Little Prince might be a good one for him.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Peter Pan The Little Mermaid The Princess and the Pea Thumbelina The Ugly Duckling Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs The Three Little Pigs Hansel and Gretel Rapunzel Rumpelstiltskin
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
I once rewrote The Story of the Three Blind Mice showing the mice as hired hitmen meant to take out the farmer's wife. Instead of wearing black glasses, as I always picture them, they were night vision goggles. They were ninja mice who smoked cigars. Of course, it isn't appropriate. I should rewrite that from scratch.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Yes, but what was YOUR favorite fairy tale?
Mine was "The naughty little elf girl and the randy farm hand" but that's a different story all together.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Probably it was a tie between A Little Match Girl and A Christmas Carol.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
My favorite bedtime story thing was.....what was my favorite bedtime story? I'm going to say The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs. The one from the wolf's point of view.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
When I got older it was Peter Pan.
Posted by Astaril (Member # 7440) on :
Andrew Lang's coloured Fairy Books are fantastic collections of short fairy tales. (There's The Red Fairy Book and the green one, and blue and crimson and violet and so forth). They'd be great for one a night sort of reading. Some of them are a bit violent, but most real fairy tales are.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Little red riding hood was never, ever intended for children like most Fairy tales. I always liked the story of the sausage, the mouse and the bird. It's amusing for some reason. A walking sausage that uses itself as seasoning.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
No, no, no I've got it! The Steadfast Tin Solder
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I always loved Rumplestiltskin best of all, although I was just a fan of stories in general. I really loved Baba Yaga as a child, bloodthirsty little monster that I was.
Try The Tasha Tudor Book of Fairy Tales. I still have the copy that's been read by all of my siblings as we grew up. It's gorgeous.
Posted by Little_Doctor (Member # 6635) on :
Forget fairy tales. Before I went to bed each night, I made my dad play transformers with me.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Don't start on Transformers. We don't get to watch much TV with him, but from his friends he's already picked up the good stuff. Last Saturday we were playing "Incredible Mutant Ninja Power Ranger Spiderman Cat" The Cat was his own addition.
There was one I read as a child in a childrens fairy tale book. Am I that strange or does anyone else remember "The Key game."
Me: "It goes like this. I say I'm some kind of lock, and you repeat that you are that kind of key. I say I am a Gold Lock, you say you are a Gold Key."
Victim: OK.
Me: I am a Gold Lock. Vic: I am a Gold Key. Me: I am a Silver Lock. Vic: I am a Silver Key. Me: I am a sunset lock. Vic: I am a sunset key. Me: I am a noon lock. Vic: I am a noon key. Me: I am a dawn lock. Vic: I am a dawn key. Me: What? Vic: I am a dawn key. Me: You sure are, hee haw, hee haw.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
Hmmmm......that is....very....interesting. I'm glad I had an almost normal childhood.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
Hmmmm......that is....very....interesting. I'm glad I had an almost normal childhood.
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
Woah....double post.....accidentally....now a triple post.....I think I won't fix it...
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Ooh! Just remembered a wonderful story: The Brewery of Eggshells (you can read it atthis page, but you'll want to tell it a little differently to hold the interest) was one of my favorites, although the variant my dad told (halfway down) was an even bigger favorite.
Posted by Risuena (Member # 2924) on :
One thing that I love about my family is that they all gave me all their books of fairy tales, most of which I still have. A couple of my favorite stories (that I can remember the names of and find online) are Faithful John, which is pretty gruesome and The Princess on the Glass Hill which is kind of a male version of Cinderella.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Yeah, the Color Books are awesome. And Grimm Brothers tales.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
How about "The Story of Clarice and her Quiet Lambs"? or "Samara and the Well?"
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: Yeah, the Color Books are awesome. And Grimm Brothers tales.
That is a great story!
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
Steve, I always loved the True Story of the Three Little Pigs! But wait with Sasha until he's older for that one, and can appreciate all the humor.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
I wound up telling my children a few stories about when I went camping-- and now all my son wants to hear about are stories from my childhood.
Whoda thunk? My life is more interesting that Jack the Giant killer's.
Posted by jexx (Member # 3450) on :
Most fairy tales confused me when I was a kid--why would stepmothers be so MEAN? (My cousin J.J. had an awesome stepmom who would sooner cut her own arm off than harm him)
Puss in Boots was my favorite, I think, because the cat was so brave.
For going to sleep, rhyming stuff is very mesmerizing. I used to tell my monkeyboy this poem I memorized:
There once was a puffin, the shape of a muffin, who lived on an isle in the bright blue sea.
He ate little fishes, that was most delicious, and he ate them for lunch, and he ate them for tea.
Well, this little puffin, he couldn't play nuthin, for there was no one on his island to play with at all.
So he sat on his isle, and he cried for a while, and he felt very lonely and he felt very small.
When UP comes the fishes, who sez, "If you wishes, you can have us for playmates and not as for tea."
So they all play together in all kinds of weather, and the puffin eats pancakes like you and like me!
[edit: attributed to Florence Page Jaques, thank you KarlEd!]
(use hand motions throughout, like a sort of hula, and at the end, point at the child on 'you' and point at yourself on 'me')
I have no idea if that is copyrighted material, btw, my friend Damien taught it to me one late night. It's a bit of a hippy story, don't you think? Hehe.
Oh, and when you say "UP came the fishes", it's very important to bring your cupped hands from your belly area swiftly over your head. It's funny somehow. *grin*
[ May 26, 2005, 07:28 AM: Message edited by: jexx ]
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
That. Is. Brilliant.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
My aunt used to read that puffin poem to me as a child. I think she read it from the "Poems and Rhymes" volume of Childcraft Encyclopoedia. I don't know if it is copyrighted or not, either. I grew up thinking most of the material in those volumes was traditional folk-lore type stuff.
[ May 26, 2005, 07:05 AM: Message edited by: KarlEd ]
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
There are two differentweb pages I found on a Google search that quote the puffin poem and both attribute it to Florence Page Jaques. However I'm almost certain the word "island" in the seventh line is mis-quoted and should read "isle". (At any rate, "isle" keeps the rhyme and "island" unnecessarily destroys it.)
I also found a picture book on Amazon.com that illustrated the poem.
Posted by jexx (Member # 3450) on :
Cool, KarlEd, thx for the links! How I recite the poem depends on how sleepy I am *grin*, and I must also tell you that I was slightly drunk on herbal tea and candlelight (and the beautiful boy teaching it to me) when I learned it.
Should I remove parts of the poem to make it copyright hooha? I should at least attribute it there at the bottom.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
My favorite fairy tales are some of the lesser-known (but not totally obscure) ones. I like Jack the Giant-Killer, for instance. I also like that one that Baron Munchausen was partly based on (can't remember the name of the tale itself).
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote: Andrew Lang's coloured Fairy Books are fantastic collections of short fairy tales.
I totally agree. I wish I had new copies of these- my family's copies are falling apart.
EDIT: I like the story of Dick Whittington .
Posted by Chris Kidd (Member # 2646) on :
I liked "Riki Tiki Taffy" when i was a kid. it was a great story about a brave mongoose. I still think the mongoose is a cool animal. Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Rikki Tikki Tavi! That's from The Jungle Book!
Oooh, good story.
Though my favorite fairy tale, in all its versions, is Beauty and the Beast.
Posted by margarita (Member # 6856) on :
My dad summarized appropriate monster movies as bedtime stories. Like "Mothra." He even drew a little comic book to go along with it.
The other one I really liked was "Gorgo." Very reassuring that when the baby sea monster is captured and put on display in London, his mommy comes to save him.
"Mighty Joe Young" (the black and white version)was also good.
Of course, I got to see the movies, too. They made really good bedtime stories, though.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
It's not so much the story as the delivery - facial animation, rising and falling tones and so forth.
As a kid, I read almost everything I could get my hands on - can't help you there.
-Trevor
Posted by Mike (Member # 55) on :
One book that popped into mind is Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. I remember it mostly for the illustrations, which were pretty nifty, but I think the story is good too.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I had that on record! Awesome. Then there was "The Elephant's Child".
Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carrol
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
My favorite fairy tale is the American Medical Association's Home Medical Guide/
Posted by Astaril (Member # 7440) on :
I also just remembered Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes. Not quite the usual fairy tales, but kids find them hilarious. Great rhymes. I used to kill myself laughing at them when I was little. I think there's a couple other books of retold fairy tales by Dahl too, though I don't know the names.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
I second Kipling's mongeese (?) and other animal stories, and Farmer Giles of Ham is quite fun. That one can be enjoyed by both children and adults, i think
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
I really liked stories that gave you something to look at: my mom had a great collection of children's picture books (and still does...). The best way to get these is just to go to a used bookstore with your child, or maybe a library sale, and pick out togeather which ones look interesting.
I also liked the ones that had mom either rhyming (like "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom") or acting out the story (does anyone here know the story Little Bunny Foo Foo?).
I think stories that show a different world are the most interesting, espcially for little kids. That's why we all love movies like Toy Story. I remember the story "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" fondly--it was the story of a town where, instead of regular weather, they had food rain down on them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
He might be a bit young still, but once he gets older, consider reading chapter books to him--like the Chronicles of Narnia, or even Hardy Boy mysteries. Then it can be EXCITING to go to bed, because you get to learn what happens next.
Finally, consider talking to your local librarian--it's their job to know what the good books are. Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
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That is a great story!
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