The great thing about kids is that they are fantastic story tellers. Reality is no obstacle to a good story. Why stick with reality when you can entertain an audience with a no limits blockbuster of a tale.
A few years back my mother broke her arm by falling into the garden pond. She was chasing a dog out of the garden at the time (a long story which I may go into another time).
Now, bear in mind that my parents live on a farm in the west of Ireland and the only wildlife they worry about are the foxes which have developed a taste for my mothers chickens. This is the conversation I overhead between my DD2 who was 5 years old at the time describing her Gran’s accident to her schoolfriend ’A’.
DD2: “My granny broke her arm and its all wrapped up in a big white plaster.”
A: “Cool! How did she break it?”
DD2: “Well, she was chasing a dog out of her garden and she fell in to the pond.”
A: “Did the dog push her in?”
DD2: “Ammmm. Yeah. He stood up on his back legs. Put his front paws on her shoulders and pushed her in! And she broke her arm.” (Visons of Scooby Doo come into my head at this point for some reason)
A: “Oh my God! She fell into the water in the pond?”
DD2: “Yep. Right in. And broke her arm………and there are fish in the pond.”
A (almost passing out with excitement): ”Piwanas?! Were they Piwanas in the pond?”
DD2: “Ammm….yeah Piranahs……. And they jumped all over her. And got caught in her clothes.”
A: “Did they eat her arm?”
DD2 ”No, they didn’t eat her….. I don’t think they were hungry. So she just got a broken arm.” (obviously realising the story was going just a bit too far and someone might see her Gran later with 2 fully functioning arms)
Isn’t it great though to be 5 years old when anything is possible?
Of course the moral of the story for us adults is, if it sounds too fantastic to be true then you are probably getting a Piwana story.
That’s hilarious. We used to have fish pond and when my nephew was two, he slipped and fell in the pond. Afterward, he told everyone that one of the fish grabbed his big toe and pulled him in. In this case, he didn’t have a friend introducing that idea to him, he was just thoroughly convinced, for whatever reason, that that was what had happened.
Aren’t you glad you overheard that conversation? Too funny. And insightful.
Oh yes I love overhearing those conversations. Always makes me smile. I’d love to have heard your nephew’s story too…that must have been some fish!
This is adorable. I love kid’s stories, they always entertain!
Especially when the story gets exaggerated!!
“getting a piwana story” That’s a great line. Thanks for the visit. Frank’s Place is always open.
Thanks Frank. Glad you liked the piwana story.