Once upon a time ...
You know what it means when a story starts like that, right. "Once upon a time" means it's just a story, but there's a meaning hidden inside the story. 😉
Okay, so once upon a time in the little village called Tinkertown, there lived a young girl named Tina. She lived with her dad and mom, Teo and Tillie Tumbleweed. Everybody in the town was little bitty, like maybe dandelion tall, so the town itself was only maybe as tall as a blueberry bush.
Tina was tiny, but she grew up to be really good at running and jumping. She was so fast that even the older boys couldn't keep up. They'd be being cool and typical boys, thinking they are faster than girls, but when it came to running a race, she would leave them in the dust. She'd smile every time. She was especially fast at turning corners, too, and no one could keep up with her running around trees and things.
Tinkertown was nestled on the edge of a deep, dark, forest where the trees are just huge, like bigger around than the town is. It gave them lots of shade in the afternoons and fun places to explore for the kids.
Well, in those same woods there lived this wooluf. He had big eyes and big ears and bad breath because he didn't brush his teeth much. The wooluf prowled around the woods looking for something to eat pretty much every day, so eventually he found his way to Tinkertown. As he looked from behind a big tree, he noticed all the people in the town were small, maybe just the right size for a meal, and he decided then and there he would try to catch one. The wooluf's name was Wolfred, by the way.
So Wolfred the wooluf snuck out from the woods ... up to the edge of Tinkertown … where people filled the streets and the voices of street vendors floated in the air, "Radishes for sale, and grapes and strawberries, too." Wolfred the wooluf stood up to get a better look ... and an old lady saw him and screamed oh so loud, "Eeeek! It's a wooluf, it's a wooluf, eeeeeeeeek!"
Suddenly, the town was in confusion with little people running everywhere, yelling to each other, "Run, run away fast!"
Tina saw it and at first, she was afraid and turned to run. She knew she was the fastest, and if anybody could get away, she could, but before she had run the first step, she remembered her mom and dad and everybody else. Maybe they could use some help. Despite her fear, she thought, well I'm fast enough, and if anybody could distract the wooluf away from the village, I bet I could. And with that thought, her decision was made.
She ran quickly to where the wooluf could see her and hollered, "Hey, hungry wooluf, eat me! I betcha you can't," and she laughed at him. Now she definitely had Wolfred the wooluf's attention. He stopped and stared at her, trying to understand why his lunch would laugh at him like that.
He took a step toward her, but Tina danced aside and laughed again. He took another step, and she dashed out to the edge of town and toward the woods. "I can certainly catch her in the woods," thought Wolfred, "because that's my territory." So off they went at an impressive speed. Tiny Tina ran so fast that her little feet were a blur over the ground, and the wooluf was huge and just lumbered along behind her, not nearly as fast as she could do at her best.
Tiny Tina slowed down on purpose to let Wolfred catch up until she could feel his snorty nose-breath on the back of her ears, then she made a sudden turn around a tree, WHOOSH!, and she did it so much quicker than Wolfred could. He stumbled and tumbled and landed on his tail (ouch!), and he lost sight of Tina for a moment, but then he saw her way far ahead and set out after her again. His tongue is hanging out the side of his mouth, and he's breathing hard and running really hard, trying to catch up.
Tiny Tina has a plan, and it's just ahead! The thicket! The thicket is bushes and brambles and briars that don't bother Tina at all because she's little and can run right under their little branches, but it's a problem for a big wooluf because he's so tall. Tina lets Wolfred catch up until he's just inches behind her, and then she ducks into the thicket, and all the wooluf gets is a mouthful of thorny branches. "Aaaaaouch!" Still running hard, Wolfred gets a face full of leaves and twigs with every step, and he keeps tripping over and over from all the brambles around his feet. Not willing to be left behind in the race, the wooluf presses ahead, but he can hardly see through all the branches and leaves hitting and poking him in the face. (bonk, ouch! slap, ouch! boink, splat, poke, OUCH!)
"Almost, almost ...," Tina thinks as she sees her escape path just ahead. She slows down to let Wolfred get closer ..., closer ..., now! And suddenly, she makes a spectacularly quick turn right in front of this grandpa of all big trees; it's el magnifico huge, and Wolfred, who can't turn nearly fast enough, runs face-first into the tree! BABABAAAMMMMMMM! "My nose, my nose, ouch my nose," Wolfred wails in pain, "and my head, now I've got a big bump on my head, and my tooth is loose, I think, and I have an owie on my chin." Wolfred sits on the ground, whining and complaining, but he's definitely done with running. He finally gets up and limps off into the forest, never to be heard from again.
Success! Tina smiles and skips all the way back home.
At Tinkertown, Tina is met by a crowd of family and friends, precious people she loves, and they congratulate her and thank her for saving everybody. When evening comes, they celebrate together and laugh a lot. It is such fun that they do the celebration over and over each year afterwards.
And every year at the celebration, they tell the tale of tiny Tina Tumbleweed and how she saved the village of Tinkertown from the big, bad wooluf. Every year, the story gets better, the people get tinier, and the wooluf gets bigger and badder because that's what happens when you tell tall tales over and over again.
Remember how we said there was a hidden meaning?
What do you think it was?
~ Be a good friend?
~ Do what's right?
~ Help those who need it?
Yes, every one of those are hidden in Tina's story.
She'd be happy we heard her message.
_____________________________________________________________
For Ruby Marie, my good-hearted and helpful granddaughter.
Grampa
They became the best of friends, of course, and they enjoyed each other so much. They were all really different, but they had things in common that they loved like music and dancing and the noise that leaves make when you dance in them. They talked about other stuff, but mostly about the things they shared. Friends are nice to have.
~ Be a good friend?
