Once upon a time (a good way to start a story).....
… I had been asked to baby-sit for my son and daughter-in-law’s children, my grandchildren. The moment
that I arrived at their home I was greeted by the three young children with their arms full of fairy tale books.
Their mother had told them earlier that I was going to tell them stories when I arrived. I was soon to be made
comfortable on the settee with the children either side of me, when I had to make a major decision as to whose
story book I would read first as they could not agree to having the same one. I knew I would be upsetting one of
them so I asked if they minded if I told them my own story and, with great enthusiasm, they agreed to listen.
It went something like this ….
…. Once upon a time an elderly man and his three grandchildren were walking through the woods. It was a fine
warm day in the summer, with the sunbeams dancing though the trees above and birds singing to each other and
flying onto the pathway ahead of the children, picking up insects to feed their young. Because of the heavy rainfall
the night before, the potholes on the pathway were filled with water and the birds were enjoying an early morning
bath. The children were delighted to see their antics. Even the tiniest of them were behaving like ducks. The potholes
were very shallow so the birds could not come to any harm, although they were ducking their heads under the water.
Not only had there been heavy rain the night before, but there was a strong wind that blew a lot of leaves off the
trees to build up in heaps on the side of the pathway. The children ran and jumped into the heaps of leaves, rolling
over and over on them. They were having a wonderful time. Grandpa called out to them to be careful what they did
not disturb any wildlife that might be hiding in them. Grandpa did not want to spoil their fun but he knew that there would be some wildlife in the leaves. Just then a small mouse emerged cautiously from a heap of leaves nearby, took
a look at the children, stood on his back legs and proceeded to wash his face. The children were amazed and stood transfixed until he had finished his ablutions. It was not until one of the them moved that the mouse ran away back
into the undergrowth. This was a new adventure for the children; they had never seen creatures like that so close before.
They continued along the path tiptoeing very quietly in case they saw more wildlife amongst the leaves. Suddenly
they stopped. A heap of leaves was moving. The youngest of the children hung onto his grandfather’s hand very
tightly while the other children, moved closer to their him. He was smiling for, as he had guessed, a large blackbird
with a bright yellow beak appeared, startling the children. They wanted to know what a bird was doing under the
leaves. Birds fly, they do not go under leaves. He explained that birds are always looking for food for themselves and
their young and the heap of leaves would provide them with a variety of insects. He told them that, although that
they had passed that way before, they had never noticed the wildlife and other things moving about in the woods
because they, like all children, would have been running and shouting to each other and, without realizing it,
would frighten all but the insects away before they had even noticed them.
Although the children were very excited as they walked along the tree covered pathway, they asked Grandpa in
a whisper whether, if they were very quiet, they would see more animals like the little mouse? Grandpa said they
would and they did see many more as they continued their walk. They all agreed to be as quite as mice and walk
along very slowly. As they turned the next bend, they stopped and sat on a small bank amazed at the spectacle
before them. There were at least fifteen or even twenty rabbits, large and small, running up and down a high,
grass covered bank. The children remained absolutely still noticing that some were going in and out of holes
in the ground. Grandpa, seeing that the children looked puzzled, bent down and explained in a whisper that the
holes in the bank were where the rabbits lived. They looked at him in disbelief and he understood why when the
youngest told him that he thought rabbits lived in rabbit hutches. At that, the eldest of the grandchildren, who
thought she knew everything, began to giggle and told her younger brother that rabbits normally live in holes.
She made so much noise that they soon noticed that she had frightened all the rabbits away.
Grandpa reminded them that, if they wanted to see anything in the woods, they would have to stay perfectly quiet.
It was not long before they saw something else much larger than them and, had it not looked so beautiful, they
might have been frightened. It was a deer and one of the children whispered that she wanted to call it Bambi.
It had been looking at them for some time through a clearing in the woods and only moved away when it heard
what sounded like gunfire. Grandpa told them not to worry as it was not a gun making the noise but a tree being
felled by woodmen in the distance.
They continued their walk, passing a beautiful little cottage with smoke curling out of the chimney. The children
thought that it must be lovely to live in the woods surrounded by animals. In all the excitement they had not
noticed how tired they had become after all that running around.
What an adventure! Grandpa suggested that they might like to sit down to rest for a while on a grassy bank
in the warm sun. First walking and now climbing - what fun, but very tiring. When they got to the top of the bank
Grandpa sat down first, followed by the children. All at once they wanted to use him as a pillow. They must have
been tired because one by one they went off to sleep. Grandpa softly whispered to them, sweet dreams. The
youngest of the children went to sleep first followed soon after by the other two. Grandpa stayed awake to look
after them. He was enjoying this day as this was the first time he had them all together to walk with him in the
woods, for now they were old enough to be able to walk any distance and appreciate what the woods had to
offer them.
In their dreams they carried on walking, passing a little girl dressed in a bright red shawl and carrying a basket
over her arm. She smiled at them and told them she was going to see her Grandmother who was ill and in bed,
adding that she had just seen a wolf and told him about her poor grandma's illness, He appeared to be very
concerned about her health and had asked the young girl where did her grandmother live. She said that she
told him and he then suggested, to get to her grandma's quicker, she might like to take a short cut to the
cottage by going by a different route. Giving the children a wave she continued on her way.
A little further on they came to a little red brick- built cottage with a pig looking out through a window, as
they passed, the pig called out something about a wolf huffing and puffing, but the children could not hear
exactly what he said as the windows were closed. Grandpa thought that, had it been important, the pig would
have come outside to tell them so. The next house they passed was occupied by three bears - a very large one,
a medium sized one and a baby one. They looked as if they had just returned home and were going indoors as
Grandpa and the children went by.
As they continued on their way, they saw in the distance a very large, beautiful building with many towers.
They asked Grandpa what it was but he had never seen one like it before, though he said he thought it was a castle.
The children had heard about castles and wanted to see this one much closer so Grandpa agreed to take them.
They soon arrived and, not seeing anyone around to ask if they could go in, they decided to have a quick look
around by themselves. They went from room to room on the ground floor, each one seeming larger and more
decorative than the last, but, when they climbed the long, wide staircase and entered the first bedroom they
had the surprise of their lives for, lying on the bed, was a beautiful girl fully dressed and asleep. As they did not
want to disturb her, they tiptoed back down the stairs and out of the castle into the woods.
They carried on their way until, outside a large house, they saw a pretty girl with her face and arms covered in
what looked like black soot from a stove. She was crying and told them that she wanted to go to the Ball but had
nothing to wear. The children told her not to worry for they were sure that something would turn up so that she
could go. She thanked them for stopping to hear her sad tale and bid them “good day”.
They soon came to a clearing in the woods, where a most unusual sight met their eyes. Outside of a little
cottage a young man was climbing up a large beanstalk that reached right up to the sky. They had not gone
much farther when they heard singing, “Hi Ho Hi Ho its off to work we go” and saw seven Little folk walking
and dancing down the path through the woods seeming unaware that they, the children, were there. The
children then noticed a young woman with black hair standing in the doorway of the little house from which
the Little folk had come and waving them goodbye.
As they walked away from that happy scene, they saw another castle, but this had only one big, tall tower
with a small window at the top through which a young lady was uncurling her very long hair down to the
ground. Nearby a handsome young man stood near some bushes looking up towards the castle and calling
out to the lady asking her to let her hair down. As neither Grandpa nor the children understood what was
going on, they moved away and continued their walk.
The pathway seemed to wind on forever with so many interesting things to see, but they were a little puzzled
to see stones placed at intervals along the path leading to a large heap of fallen leaves that moved as they
approached and two children emerged saying that they had slept under them to keep warn during the night.
Grandpa and the children thought that the two children looked well enough and carried on walking.
They began to realise that they had been dreaming when the next thing they saw was a cat wearing long boots
standing on the side of the road as if waiting for something. One of the children went over to the cat and asked
him what he was doing there. He replied that he was going to London to see the Queen. They bid him a safe
journey and went on their way.
Just when they were thinking about returning home, they were nearly knocked over by a girl on horseback
racing towards another castle. She looked very upset as she sped past and they overheard her saying that
she wanted to marry her friend, although he was large and beastly.
The children had gone far enough that day and turned back along the same pathway. They had had the time
of their lives and could not wait to get home to tell their friends and relations of their adventures. They had
seen castles, rabbits running in and out of holes and a cat wearing boots. Such excitement!
On their way back, they passed by the two children who had been sleeping under the heap of leaves. They
were seen tucking into a hearty meal in a cottage with friends.
And, as the children passed the castle, the one with the young lady with the long hair, they saw the
handsome young man, who had been calling out to the young lady earlier, climbing up her hair
into the castle. Grandpa and the children still did not know what was going on, so they carried on walking
until they came to the clearing where they saw the young woman with black hair washing heaps of
clothes. She was singing quietly to herself “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work they go” The children waved to her
as they went past and she returned their wave giving them a beautiful smile.
