Thanks for stopping by.

I have been following Write Tribe which has been following 7 Days to Rediscover your blogging groove by Darren Rowse and today is the last day.

This past week has been a week of learning; a week where I learnt the importance of several blogging points I’ve been assiduously missing.

• Writing a List
• Answering a Question
• Writing a review
• Sharing links
• Writing a tips post
• Asking a question

The last prompt for this extremely enlightening exercise is Telling a Story

I hope you enjoy the story of the crow and the sparrow – a  folk tale we’ve used for generations  to put our children to sleep or keep entertained while feeding them (yes, I can see your eyebrows going up in  disapproval but sometimes it is a clever way of getting little ones to eat!)

The Clever Little Sparrow.

Once upon a time (I love stories that begin like this) there was a crow who had a house made of straw and a sparrow whose house was made of wax. The two of them were neighbours and were friends who said hello to one another every day.

One night there was a huge rain storm with strong winds blowing and the crow’s house was washed away. It was still raining and the crow was getting wet. He didn’t know what to do so he went to his neighbour the sparrow and asked if he could come in.

“Sparrow, sprarrow please open the door?” he asked in a plaintive voice


“Wait a bit, I’ll just get the bath running for my baby.”


The crow waited a while and his teeth began to chatter so he said ” Sparrow, sparrow, please do open the door.”


“Hang on a sec, I’m just getting the baby dressed”.


By now it was raining really hard and the crow was beginning to feel hungry and miserable. “Sparrow, sparrow, can’t you please let me in?”


“Be patient Crow, I have to get my baby’s porridge.”


Hearing this, the crow began to feel his tummy rumble and he said ,”Please, please, please, I’m feeling hungry too! Can’t you please open the door?”


“Just wait, I’m getting the mess cleaned up and I’ll answer the door.”


The crow waited for another five minutes and was really beginning to shiver. His voice began to quiver when he whispered, “I c a a a a n’t re a a  a a ly w w w wait. Ple e a a se l e e t m me in.”


Finally the sparrow said what the crow wanted to hear all along “Ok. I’ll let you in,” and she opened the door. 


The crow stepped in and the sparrow greeted him with a hug. But behind her was a lit up piece of firewood and which she put to the crow’s tail. The crow felt something hot and he realised his tail was on fire. He quickly ran out to douse it!





This story can be varied with several excuses making it long enough for the child to fall asleep or finish eating so it encourages a lot of ingenuity on the part of the story teller.  I love this story which has no fixed format. Like all folk tales, it contains a moral which can also be modified to teach the child a lesson he needs to be taught for instance, being unprepared for eventualities, being too trusting , so on and so forth.

The oral tradition

Every culture has a rich tradition of story telling with folk tales that are passed on from generation to generation. The characters are people or animals children can relate to and are simple to narrate. Most times the story teller has just a framework to begin with  and the opportunity to embellish it with elements that will engage the child. What fun it is to watch a child’s reaction : amazement, surprise, happiness, sorrow, terror or even pure joy as the story unfolds.

I love telling stories. Do you?

What is your favourite folk tale?

My blogging journey is like the tale of the clever sparrow – it never ends. With each blogger I interact with, I learn something new .   

This week I learnt a lot.. Thank you Write Tribe and Darren Rowse!