Bedtime Stories

One of the best things I do with my kids (Cyrus & Eisley, at least) is tell them a bedtime story. I started doing this after watching that Adam Sandler movie, hoping that everything in the story would come true in real life. Didn't happen.

So I stopped telling Cyrus the bedtime story where a million dollars just magically appears on our doorstep and I started telling him more adventurous tales, like one where he kills a dragon. But when Eisley started sharing a room with him, we had to change the story up a bit because scary dragons totally freaked her out. So the sinister dragon became a friendly dragon. Here's the story I tell my kids every night.

•••••

Once upon a time, there was a great big castle made out of bricks that were painted pink and purple (for Eisley) and red and brown (for Cyrus). In the castle there lived a beautiful princess, and her name was Princess Eisley! There was also a strong prince named Prince Cyrus! And they had a courageous brother named Prince Ezekiel. They also had a daddy and mommy, who were the King and Queen of the castle.

One day the whole family was playing out in the courtyard, when...all of a sudden...from out of nowhere, came a BIG, SCARY DRAGON!!!! And he swooped down out of the sky and grabbed mommy and daddy in his clutches, and flew back to the top of the mountain!

"Nooooooooooooooooo!" screamed Princess Eisley. "What are we going to do?"

"We have to go rescue them," said Prince Cyrus. So they mounted their horses and rode to the top of the mountain. [Insert horse trotting sound effects from Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail.]

Finally they got to the top of the mountain. "Dragon," they said, "you let our mommy and daddy go!"

"Muhahahahaha!" laughed the dragon [in a very deep voice with a slight British accent]. "There must be some mistake. I am a friendly dragon, and I am a very close associate of your mommy and daddy. I brought them here so that they could select gifts for you children from my treasuries of gold and silver. Muhahahaha!"

Then they all shared a good laugh. And they climbed onto the back of the dragon and flew down to the castle, where they all enjoyed a wonderful dinner of mashed potatoes and roast.

The end.

•••••

That's the story my kids get every night. They've memorized it by now. They know when to finish my sentences and when to scream. Eisley knows that, even though the dragon sounds scary at first, he's really friendly every time.

Good night!