Tell Me A Story

Adapted by Amy Friedman and illustrated by Jillian Gilliland

For most of us, the memory of a story told before bedtime is like a warm glass of milk — soothing, comforting, savored. Each week, Amy Friedman and Jillian Gilliland give us an original story or a children's classic accompanied by a captivating illustration that will launch the imagination.

Tell Me A Story #3 CD: Women of Wonder, wins Gold Parents Choice Award. Download press release

Samples

adapted by Amy Friedman and illustrated by Jillian Gilliland

Once upon a time a woman lived with her children, one son and one daughter, in the far north. Their father had died long ago.

But the boy had inherited from his father astonishing skills. He was a fine hunter from the time he was very young, and as he grew older, he became faster and wiser to the ways of the forest world and of the sea. He always brought home plenty to feed the family.

Whenever the boy returned home with game, the mother worked hard, cleaning and skinning the animals, preparing them for storage. Meanwhile the boy and his sister ran off to play. They loved each other and loved to play together. As the woman sat and worked, she was lonely, and as time passed, her loneliness turned to resentment of her children.

She wished life were not so difficult and that she could rest. If her son did not bring home so many animals, she would not have to work so hard, she reasoned. If only he would stop, her life would be easier. Soon her resentment turned to anger, and after a while, her anger turned to hatred, and she began to imagine ways to change her life.

At night, alone, the woman lay in her bed and muttered incantations, wishing her son ill. One night she decided it was time to act, and she walked to the storage area and reached into a container for a piece of blubber. This she rubbed in the dirt outside, and tiptoed to her son's bed.

She leaned over him and rubbed the dirty blubber into his eyes, chanting:

Let his eyes, so keen and bright,

Close forever, close so tight,

That my son shall no longer see.

From this day on, blind he will be.

When the boy woke the next morning, he opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness. From that day on, he could not hunt or play. He sat on his bed, mourning his loss, and even his sister's kind words did nothing to lift his gloom.

To feed the family the mother trapped fox and squirrels, and she gave her son only the worst parts of the meat to eat. When he was thirsty, she gave him dirty drinking water.

One day in early autumn, the boy heard steps outside the house. He was certain it was a bear, so he reached for his bow and pulled it back, letting the arrow fly out the doorway. Hearing the sound of his arrow hitting its target, he knew he had killed the bear. "I've done it!" he cried.

But his mother came running. "You hit only a tree," she lied to him.

Later, when he smelled bear meat cooking, he wondered why his mother had lied, and after a while he began to suspect she was the cause of his troubles. When the meat was cooked, the woman once again fed herself and her daughter. Again she gave her son only spoiled fox meat.

The daughter did her best to feed her brother when her mother was away, but the woman kept a sharp eye on her. Some years passed this way.

One night the boy heard the flapping wings of the geese overhead, and he heard the call of the loon in the distance. The loon seemed to be calling out his name, and so he sat up and listened more closely.

"Come to me, come to me," it cried.

And so he crawled on hands and knees outside, toward the lake and the sound of those cries.

When he reached the water's edge, the loon swam close to him and said, "Your mother rubbed dirty blubber into your eyes while you were sleeping and she chanted a curse. She caused you to become blind, but I am your friend, and I can cure you. Get on my back and hold me around my neck."

"You're too small," the boy objected, but he felt such a surge of trust toward the bird that he moved forward. Before long he was upon the loon's back, clinging to its neck.

"I am going to dive," the loon said. "Hold on tight; when you cannot breathe any longer, shake your body, and I will swim to the surface for air."

Down they dived, deeper and deeper. As they did, the boy could feel the creature beneath him growing larger and larger, its neck growing wider and wider. He held his breath and trusted, until he could no longer breathe. He shook his body, and the loon swam quickly to the surface. There the boy swallowed gulps of air.

"Open your eyes and tell me what you see," the loon said.

"I see light," said the boy.

"We shall dive again. Remember: Shake your body when you can no longer breathe."

They dived once more. This time they stayed down longer, but at last the boy began to shake. The loon rushed to the surface.

"Open your eyes and tell me what you see," the loon said again.

The boy opened his eyes. He could see everything -- the water, the shore, his house, even the shadow of the moon. He was no longer blind.

"I can see!" he cried out with joy.

"Now I shall ride you to land," the loon said.

When they reached the shore, the boy looked at the loon growing quickly smaller. "I must give you something in return. What would you like?" he asked.

"Only to know the lake will always be stocked with fish," the loon said. "Only to know you will guard all the gifts of this world."

"I will look after you, always," the boy promised. "I shall treasure this world and all I see."

He returned to his home and when his evil mother saw him with his sight restored, she ran away and left him and his sister to live in peace.

---

"Tell Me a Story 3: Women of Wonder," the third CD in the audiobook series, is now available. For more information, please visit www.mythsandtales.com.

COPYRIGHT 2010 UNIVERSAL UCLICK

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