Just a few years ago there was a happy little
family just outside of town. This family lived a wonderful life. They had
everything they ever could need. The mother and father had only had one
child, and this child was a very quiet child. The father often being gone on
business and the mother busy with housework, the poor little boy learned how to
play nice and quietly by himself. The mother often went to check on him just to
make sure he was still there he was so quiet! This family was very calm and
collected and happy…. But that was soon to change.
One snowy
winter day, the time came for the mother to give birth to a beautiful little
girl. The parents were so in love with their new child. They were sure she
would make a wonderful addition to their quiet family.
Everything
was well. The siblings played and laughed, filling the mother and father’s
souls with joy. They lived such a peaceful life, that is, until the little girl
began to talk. She slowly picked up words taught to her by her family and loved
it. Her family was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to stop talking!
The older she got the more words she learned, and the more and more and more
she talked!
The
peaceful, quiet brother was becoming quite annoyed with this. He liked his
quiet time by himself and his rambunctious little sister kept pestering him. She would barge into his room, asking him
questions. He wondered if he would ever experience quiet again! He just wanted
one day to be alone.
One
afternoon, the brother being much older and manipulative, came up with an idea. He
would trick the little girl into thinking she would lose her voice forever if
she talked at all for the entire day tomorrow.
“You’ll
never talk again if you say even one word tomorrow,” said the brother to his
poor gullible little sister.
“What?
Nu-huh. You’re lying!” the little girl retorted.
“MOO—“
“MOO—“
“SHUSH! If
you tell mom, you’ll never EVER be allowed to talk. Tomorrow is a special day,
and you can’t talk. There once was a turtle that couldn't keep quiet and he tomorrow is the day he DIED because of it,” the brother continued, slowly
convincing the little sister.
"Anyone under 10 has to keep quiet the WHOLE day or they won't talk again," the brother added, conveniently excluding his 11-year-old self.
"Anyone under 10 has to keep quiet the WHOLE day or they won't talk again," the brother added, conveniently excluding his 11-year-old self.
The brother
hardly ever lied to her; in fact, he often looked after her like another
parent.
"Surely he isn't lying about this," she thought. "Surely he would lie about something this serious."
The little sister thought about the things her brother told her and realized that she must not talk tomorrow. After all, she couldn't imagine losing her voice forever!
"Surely he isn't lying about this," she thought. "Surely he would lie about something this serious."
The little sister thought about the things her brother told her and realized that she must not talk tomorrow. After all, she couldn't imagine losing her voice forever!
The next
morning, everything seemed to start well. The little sister was, however, unusually
quiet.
“It’s
working!” thought the brother. “I can play the WHOOOLLEEE day by myself without
any noise!”
A few hours
passed by, and the little girl became rather frustrated. She had so many new
things she wanted to talk about! The
mother, too, became suspicious of the unusual quietness.
“Honey,
what’s wrong? You seem rather down today,” the mother said to her poor,
frustrated, quiet child.
The little
girl just shook her head and looked away.
“You can
tell me,” the mother went on…
The little girl
gave no response.
“Well,
alright, I’ll be in the kitchen if you change your mind,” the mother said as
she continued to worry about her child.
A couple more hours passed by and the little
girl couldn't stand it anymore! She began to cry as she walked up to her mom,
pointing at her mouth. Thinking something terrible had happened, she asked her
son if he had seen her do anything.
“Uhhh nooo!
She’s fine. I don’t know anything!” he said nervously.
He would definitely get in trouble if his mother found out of his little trick.
He would definitely get in trouble if his mother found out of his little trick.
The little
girl cried and cried as the mother tried to figure out what was wrong. Feeling
guilty, the brother finally confessed.
“Uhhhh Mommy…” he began, “I kinda tricked sister into not talking… I told her she
would lose her voice forever if she talked today.”
Instantly, the mother ran to her crying daughter informing her of her brother’s trick.
“I have an
idea…” the mom said trying to cheer the confused little girl up. “Why don’t you go take your new book to your brother’s
room? I’m sure he would LOVE to hear ALLLL about the things you read this
morning.”
“OKAY!!!”
the little girl screamed, grateful to be able to talk again.
She instantly ran to her brother’s room chatting the evening away.
She instantly ran to her brother’s room chatting the evening away.
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| Image of my family. (Provided by Chon Henderson, my mother) |
Author’s
Note: This story was inspired by the story “The Talkative Tortoise” in the collection of Indian Fairytales by Joseph Jacobs. In that story, a tortoise needs to be transferred to another pond. Two birds offer to help him by carrying a stick he has held onto with his mouth. In order for them to successfully carry him he must not talk or else he will let go of the stick and fall to his death. The Tortoise ends up cracking in half because he cannot force himself to stop talking long enough to be taken to another pond. While I found this story a bit brutal it is such a good reminder that sometimes silence is the best form of speech. Upon reading this story, I was immediately reminded of my childhood; being nick-named “Chatterbox,” I couldn't help but laugh at the memories of being told that “Someday your words are going to get you in trouble” by my father. This story, while I may not exactly remember, is more than likely to have happened to me growing up. Being the pampered gullible baby of the family, growing up with a brother who is seven years older than me, he often managed to trick me into doing things even if I had no idea why I was doing them. The image I chose may seem a little random, being that it is a picture of my family but it is actually one of the few family photos that we have that I don’t have my mouth wide open trying to say something (being the little chatterbox that I am), so I found it quite fitting for the story.
Bibliography: Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, with illustrations by John D. Batten, (1912).
Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs
Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs
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