The Rain Forest Dance by Sandra Fernandez-Achenbach

Author:Sandra Fernandez-Achenbach [Fernandez-Achenbach, Sandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781412237550
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Published: 2005-12-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

STORYTELLING

The next day while Papá took a long nap, Mariposa went to visit Roberto and his family. This time, she asked Papá for permission and she promised not to wander off. Her left leg still hurt, but it was getting better.

Roberto’s brothers and sisters welcomed her and invited her to enjoy jumping and swimming in the river. After the water games, everybody lay on their backs, imitating the sounds of the birds and the monkeys. In the early afternoon, Mariposa took out a few of the Spanish story books that she had brought for children.

“These books are for you,” said Mariposa.

“¡Gracias! Thank you!” cried Roberto and all his brothers and sisters.

They all sat down excitedly near the bank of the river to listen to the lively tales. None of the children could read, so Mariposa became the storyteller. The sun beamed down on the happy group.

First, Mariposa read “Little Red Riding Hood” and “Peter Pan.” Thenshe read “Pinocchio.” The children wanted to hear the stories over and over again. They loved the bright, colorful pictures. They really enjoyed the science books about the Sahara Desert and ocean animals. After a couple of hours, Mariposa got tired of reading. She stopped to rest.

“Roberto! Luis! Teodoro! Rocío! Julia! Rodolfo! Ana!” Their mother was calling from the house. “Where are you?”

The children began running to their mother, Lydia. She was holding baby Omar. Roberto walked with Mariposa back to the house.

“Mamá! Mamá!” cried the little children. “¡Cuéntanos un cuento! Tell us a story. Please. We want more stories!” The children hurried to sit in hammocks. They began to swing back and forth. Their mother was tired and busy, but she agreed to tell them one story.

“Sit down, Mariposa,” said Lydia. Mariposa sat down in an empty hammock that was hanging from the wooden beams of the house. Roberto sat on a wooden bench.

“Este cuento es para Mariposa. This story is for Mariposa. It is called “The Adventures of Chimidyue.” It is a folktale told by a different rain forest tribe-the Tucuna. They live east of here.” She smiled kindly at Mariposa and then began to tell the folktale.

One day a young woman, Chimidyue, was lost in the rain forest. Since she was hungry and confused, Chimidyue decided to join some monkeys that were eating fruit in the trees. She ate the fruit that they dropped on the forest floor. In the evening, the monkeys magically turned into humans. One monkey noticed Chimidyue and cried, “Real human beings are here in the forest! Real human beings are here in the forest!”

“What are you doing here?” asked the monkeys.

“I am lost, “ explained Chimidyue. The monkeys took her to a big house. They told her to sleep in a hammock. The next day the house was no longer there and the monkeys had changed from humans to animals again. Chimidyue kept following them and ate the fruit they threw down for her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.