Lately I’ve been telling the Sister & Brother stories in bed.  Brother is nursing less and less but he still needs some cuddle and quiet time to help him settle in for the night.  Sister doesn’t need it but she will always act like she does.  She’s my little cuddle bug.  When my sister and I were younger and my mom would have to work late I would tell her stories to help her settle in for the night too.  Anyway, they are short and random and not too bad for impromptu tales.  I enjoy hearing how they end as much as the children do.  Will has told me that I should be writing them down so here goes. Myrtle the Turtle and the Magic Feather 

Once upon a time there was a little turtle named Myrtle.  Myrtle loved the rain.  She loved to splash in the puddles, catch raindrops in her mouth, and she especially loved the pitter patter sound the rain made on her shell when she was snug inside.  Because of this, she was delighted to wake one morning and find a soft spring rain gently blanketing the earth.  She hurried to eat breakfast and get dressed.  Myrtle pulled on her big red turtle galoshes and walked outside.  She followed the path from her house to the park, splashing in puddles along the way.  When she got to the park, Myrtle carefully climbed the slide, tucked her little turtle legs and her little turtle head inside her shell and slid all the way to the bottom. Slip, Plop!  She landed in a puddle of mud.  What fun!  As she started around for another go, she noticed on the ground a beautiful, bright, blue feather.  “What a lovely feather!,” she thought to herself.  Myrtle had never seen a feather quite so bright nor quite so blue.  “Maybe, it is a magic feather,” she thought.  As she contemplated this, it occurred to her that the only way to find out if it were a magic feather was to wish for something magic to happen.  “Hmm,” said Myrtle.  “It is almost lunchtime.  I think I will wish for a yummy lunch to eat.”  And so she did.  She held out the bright, blue feather and declared in a very magical voice, “Abracadabra, I wish for a yummy lunch to eat.”  Nothing happened.  Myrtle laughed at herself.  How silly to think the feather was magic.  She started back down the path toward home looking at the trees and catching raindrops in her mouth as she went.  Slip, Plop!  Myrtle had tripped over a large basket in the middle of the path.  “Where did this basket come from?  It wasn’t here before.”  “Hello?!,” Myrtle called out.  “Did anyone lose a basket?”  but there was no answer.  Myrtle looked all around but could see no one.  Perhaps there was a clue inside.  Myrtle opened the basket and what did she see but the most scrumptious, yummy lunch there ever was.  Sweet grass soda, fruit and veggies, and shoofly pie.  Mmm Mmm.  Her favorite.  Myrtle called again to see if anyone would claim the basket but again no one answered and Myrtle decided it must be a magic lunch because she wished for it with her magic blue feather.  Of course, the only way to really be sure if the feather were magic was to wish for something else magic to happen.  She sat down to eat the lunch and thought about what she should wish for this time.  “Of course!”  The only thing better than a super yummy lunch would be having friends to eat it with.  “Abracadabra, I wish for friends to eat lunch with.”  Out from a bush jumped Hurdle the Turtle, Myrtle’s neighbor and Yertle the Turtle, Myrtle’s little brother.  “Oh my,” exclaimed Myrtle, “It really is magic.”  “What?” asked Hurdle.  “This beautiful feather.”  “It’s not magic.” said Yertle, laughing.  “Yes, it is,” insisted Myrtle, “When I found it, I thought it might be magic so I made a wish for lunch and *poof* there was lunch.  Then I made a wish for friends and here you are!”  Hurdle and Yertle laughed and laughed.  “No, really,” said Hurdle, “It’s not magic.  We were coming for a picnic when we saw you find the feather and wish for lunch.  We left the basket on the path as a trick.  Then when you wished for friends we jumped out to surprise you.”  Myrtle laughed and laughed too.  “That was a funny trick.” So Myrtle’s feather wasn’t magic after all but she kept it anyway because it might be magic…. someday.  The End