Story Tree

This is a story about Story Tree. It is actually in my head a talking blues story about Story Tree, but you are going to just have to hallucinate the guitar playing in the background, and Woody Guthrie saying all this. Actually make it Ramblin' Jack Elliot because this is going to be a rambling talking blues story about Story Tree, and if you don't know what he sounds like think of Steve Martian saying it cause he wrote a song called "Rambling Man," and you probably do know what he sounds like.

Looks like were off to a good start.

It was back in the year 2008, which is in fact this year, cause even ramlin' talking blues songs have conventions though rhyme and meter is not among them, and bunch a big brown boxes arrived at the Kindergarten.
They were full of books.
Slim books
with "Story Tree" written in big black letters on their covers.
Yay.
New curriculum.

As the title said they were all little stories
And our principal said not to worry,
Just tell each story, a page at a time
a page for a week and you will be fine.
We said "What?"
And then he said it again
in English.
Because he was talking to his assistant in Korean the first time.
But though he said it again we were still confused
Beth and I didn't know what to do
The instructions were written in the Korean script,
we were feeling ill equipped,
but that was okay that was fine,
We're Americans we can get by
We
can improvise.

So I got took the books, the tapes, the puppet cut outs, and a guitar and went down stairs to teach.
Now each story you should know
is a retelling of a fable from long ago
For my class it was the Ant and Grasshopper who share some food
then the Big turnip, which tasted good,
then the Ugly Duckling whose friends are rude
and next the Tortise and the Hare, renamed the Turtle and the Rabbit
Then last Goldilocks and The Three Bears who have a eating habit.

Each story was four sections long
each section had a song
based on children's songs from around the world.
Each section had about four lines
like "Hello how are you?"
and "Your are ugly, go away."
and "I am not slow"
and "I can fly!"
Dull.
To say the least.
And sometimes grammatically incorrect.
especially when you have to stretch it for thirty minutes for five days.
But of course there are other things, like getting them to pay attention and to sing the songs which I play my own arrangements of on guitar and the "puppets" which I let them hold to tell the stories with which they enjoy mightily, especially when we did "the big turnip" and all had to pull the turnip together.
They liked the falling over part.
Who wouldn't?
and don't forget the video.

But the thing that really bothers me
about these story trees,
is the stories as told don't make much sense
which is hard to take when you grew up with them.

The Ant the Grasshopper become friends
which completely ruins the moral at the end.
The big turnip is just that big
instead of getting more the pull the should have learned to dig.
The Ugly duckling turns to a swan and finds he can fly
which he could have done as a ugly duck by the bye.
The Rabbit admits the turtle is really fast,
when really he lost cause he was a lazy ass.
As for Goldilocks I haven't looked
I am too afraid to open the book
before I need too.

But now my friends I have to go
I just thought that you should know
if you ever find yourself seeing story tree
it is time to run it is time to flee.
Cause if you don't you will rue
the day you got the Story Tree Ramlin' talkin' blues.