Can We Talk 2

Children Weaving Tales

         My brother and I have established a storytelling routine with the children in our extended family. They can be repetitive or stumbling, but sometimes they are quite inventive. They catch each other using some story line from a movie or tv show with different characters pr actions, but don't all authors do that? They give a lot of details, including colors. We have some budding fantasy writers in our family. This one is based on a six-year-old boy's tale.

         Six-year-old Hank begins his tale, "once upon a time, a cowboy named Roy had to go after some rustlers. He rode a pale unicorn with a silver horn. He rode out to the desert and over the mountains. The unicorn could fly when it had to."

         "They stopped at a stream for water. Other cowboys were coming up the mountain below. They also rode unicorns."

         His aunt interrupted. "Did Roy wear shiny black cowboy boots and a cowboy hat?"

         "No, they were brown like mine with some with some white decorations. He looked over the hill and saw a dragon come out of the cave in the mountains. He roared, but he did not breathe fire. There was going to be a war."

         "Roy got on the unicorn and signaled to the men on below. He whistled to them. The dragon looked up and snarled, but he did not breathe fire. More dragons came from behind him. They were big with long tails."

         Hank looked off in the distance.

         "So what happened next?" asked his aunt.

         "They had a battle. The dragons won. They were stronger and meaner."

         "What happened to the cowboys?"

         "They died."

         "All of them? Even Roy?"

         Hank nodded.

         "What about the unicorns?"

         "They were all killed, too. Their magic was just small." He pinched his fingers in the air and shrugged his shoulders.

         "Oh, my. That's a shame about the unicorns. Is there more to this story?"

         "Nope."

         "The end?"

         "The end," he said with a nod.