How we got… tangled
Once upon a time
I think it was early autumn
A company of adults was observing a company of children.
Katherine: Look Dimitroula, a rainbow!
Dimitroula: A ribbon in the sky!
Antonis: It’s not a ribbon. We have learned that the light goes through the raindrops and creates the rainbow.
Dimitroula: But still it looks like a ribbon.
Helen: Yes, but Dimitroula is very young and she can’t understand it yet.
Dimitroula: I’m not that young and I can understand everything!
Helen: Ok, let’s say then that there is a country - I don’t remember its name - where there is …
Antonis: I know that, it’s Ireland. And they say that at the end of the rainbow there is a leprechaun with a pot full of gold coins.
Helen: Antonis, first stop barging in and second it’s not a pot but a tsoukali (marmite)!
Antonis: It’s the same! And my grandfather calls it tsikali in Crete!
Katherine: I know that in the past, I mean in ancient times, there was a goddess called Iris and she was the goddess of the rainbow. Maybe it’s her ribbon.
Dimitroula: Iris is the name of a teacher at school!
Somehow like that the idea of this fairy tale was born which is actually a “mummy-tale” that is a fairy tale by a mother.
The truth is that the creation of a story along with children can be a clever solution during rainy and cold winter days and especially those days when we make the flu or a sniffle our friends. It is then when we are often asked to act as MacGyver - for those who remember the TV series with the ingenious hero. We find together the hero’s name, what he wants to do, what magical powers he has, where he lives and off we go! We animate the story through painting, handicraft, puppetry and any other material that is available at home such as paper plates, ribbons and gauze from “mpomponieres” (wedding gauzy fabric), colorful straws or more.
Through the specific “mummy-tale” I would like to create the framework of a discussion of many and various elements as:
For all these reasons, I added a series of cross-curricular (cross-thematic) activities and the above informational content along with the fairy tale.
Finally, I would like to thank the Saita publications and the illustrator Paris Charalampidis who brought Urania to life.
I wish that this book can keep good company to both children and adults!
Marina Kavallieraki