O018 Hansel and Gretel

Well when I was a young child, um preschool, my grandmother used to invite myself and my cousin Mason and there was only ten days difference in their age, to stay at her place. And we used to go over and in the morning, shefd get us into bed with her, and shefd tell us the most amazing stories about pirates. And she just made them up as she went along. So that was the highlight of our ah trip to my grandmother. And she was a great storyteller, and she became um a matron a childrenfs home in Ponsonby, in Auckland. And um so that was my introduction to really thrilling little stories. And one day she was, we, Mason and myself were over there, and she was sitting on the back steps, and she just started to read to us um a story about Robinson Crusoe. And she started at the shipwreck of course, and she got a, got herself seasick, and she couldnft carry on. And ha and we thought that was, that was hilarious that grandma made herself seasick just through reading the story. Which was a true story and um, and also um when we went to the beach, she would never peddle in the water. She always thought she could hear the, the dead, the people that were drowned. So she was a bit fay. And um but she loved children and ah, as I say she was a great storyteller and she started us up. And, and then of course we ah were given always given books for birthdays or Christmas. One of the first ones I had was the Micky Mouse Annual ah um which is nice haha a bit ah worn out now but um I know I tried to color, colored in some of the pictures in it. And um, of course my cousin Mason had boy stories, but I always had, I had no brothers so um I always had the girl stories. And I liked the stories about girls that had boarding school as I got a wee bit older, and ah, but people when I was a child, werenft so mean as they are now, you know, they were kind to everybody. And um, Mom, you need to talk about the actual stories. Eh? You need to talk about the actual stories. Oh, god. Youfre supposed to. Well I didnft come. Just try to remember a story you were told. Well I, I can think of Alice in Wonderland and um, itfs okay, but I canft remember all the ins and outs. Um, or Hansel and Gretel. Ah Hansel and Gretel went out one day, walking in the forest. And they became totally lost. And they didnft know what to do, so they just kept on walking and walking and walking. And they came to this old house, and they didnft think anybody was there. But there was an old lady there and she was a witch, and she was horrible. And they tried to run away from her, but she had catchened them, and she locked them up in this old house and gave them very little to eat, and they were terrified. And it happened that a, a young man was wondering in the forest and he heard their cries, so he came and rescued them. And that was a famous story, but of course it was a lot of ins and outs about what happened, and ah what else can I say god, um.