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And They Lived
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they heard of them. Initially I said,
love reading to my children.
"No, let me tell you something else;
Their shelves already are over-
I don't like that one." But that only
flowing with books, but I'm
piqued
their curiosity. So I have
always on the lookout for more.
taken the liberty of rewriting history.
I have my favorites, so do my chil-
0, no, no — my stories are not
i dren, and never the twain shall
all politically correct and
meet. I like the tender, sen-
they don't all end happily.
sitive ones that make
But no one eats children,
moms cry. My children
no one is there just to
generally prefer the silly
frighten
and no one dies a
ones, especially books
horrible
death.
I that have dumb knock-
An example is the
: knock jokes which they
Three
Little Pigs. In the
i i ask to hear again and
original version, of
again. My boy, Yitz, loves
course, the wolf drops
1 a book we have about a
into
the
chimney
and burns to
raccoon who doesn't know what to
death in the home of the last pig,
I make of "the thing in the pool,"
1
that wise, cheery fellow who built
i which turns out to be his reflection.
a
home of brick. In my version, the
What we do concur on are cel-
brick-builder opens the door and
1 fain fairy tales, where this problem
says,
"Look, Wolf, my brothers
I is most pervasive, or other stories
and I have had enough of your
that have horrible, wicked creatures
antics. Why do you keep bother-
I who delight in frightening children.
ing us?"
I A classic example is Hansel and
The wolf suddenly becomes —
Gretel, a terrifying tale I will never
pardon the pun — sheepish. "I'm
read my children. I pretty much hate
hungry and I'm lonely," he
this story from start to finish: the
exclaims. "Mightn't I loin you for a
I notion that the parents (or stepmoth-
bit to eat?"
I .er alone, in some versions) no
And so the pigs invite the wolf in
longer want their children and so
1
for
a bowl of soup and bread and
1 lead them to the woods, that there's
they all become the best of friends. -
someone who entices them into her
So maybe it's a little naive, a little
I home so she can eat them, that the
optimistic, a little hokey. Soon
way the children finally escape is to
enough, my children will have plen-
push the old woman into the oven. I
ty of opportunities to hear of vio-
don't much like Snow White either
lence and hatred — just from daily
(for reasons I'm sure you can imag-
living. For now, I can't think of a
ine), or Little Red Riding Hood. All
single
reason to invade their safe
that violence and evil and death
paradise with evil princes and
why do children need it?
I
wicked
stepmothers. ❑
' Though I have done my best to
i keep them away from the wolves
and wicked witches, Yitz and
Adina have asked me to tell them
Elizabeth Applebaum
i all these stories. I don't know where
I AppleTree Editor
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