Imagination Through Story

Story telling is a favorite for me and my kids. At dinner they will often give me a character and a place, then I make up the story from there. Recently we had a story about the three ninja’s who protected the king’s farmland from thieves. Here is that story:

Once, long ago, in a far away kingdom lived 3 ninjas who were all siblings. There was Ninja Griffin, Ninja Meadow, Ninja Sloane. They worked together to protect the farmland of the great King’s many enemies. One evening Ninja Griffin and Ninja Meadow were scouting the cows and crops when they spotted an intruder!

Ninja Griffin whispered, “Go get Ninja Sloane, I will stay here and keep an eye on the intruder.”

Ninja Meadow did not like this plan, she wanted to scare the intruder off. “Why should I be the one to leave? You go get Ninja Sloane and I will stay here.”

“Don’t be silly. I am stronger than you, I should stay here to scare off the intruder.” Ninja Griffin stood his ground, eyeing his sister angrily.

“Listen here brother. You are not stronger than me, in fact I am faster. I should be the one to defend our cows and crops while you go seek help. I’m not going anywhere!”

The two argued back and forth, getting louder and louder. The intruder looked over, seeing the two arguing and not paying him any attention. He then did what any good thief would do, he stole five cows and bundled up all the corn and vegetables. Then without anyone noticing, he left with a big smile on his face.

Ninja Sloane heard her siblings arguing all the way back at the castle. She ran up to her quarreling siblings shaking with anger. She just saw the intruder take off with five cows and armfuls of corn and vegetables. “You two! What is the matter with you?!”

Ninja Meadow and Ninja Griffin started yelling over each other, each pointing fingers and blaming the other one for not listening. Well, Ninja Sloane, the youngest of the ninjas, crossed her arms and stomped her foot to get their attention. “Listen you two! The intruder stole cows and vegetables. He got away because you two couldn’t work together as a team. Now we will have nothing to eat for weeks.”

The two arguing ninjas stopped talking, looked out over the empty crops and started to cry. Feeling horrible and foolish for their behavior they made a promise to each other to stop and listen, compromise when they need to, and work harder at being a team. From then forward no intruder was so lucky. The three ninja siblings took care to listen to each other and work together.

Imagination  is so important for children and adults. Be silly, be fun, be creative.