THE LITTLE GREEN GIRL was written
with and for my granddaughter, Darienne Spradling, when she was four years old. It began as a bedtime story and the conversation
went something like this:
ME: Once upon forever, in a land not far away, was a little girl... (this is how my stories for children
always start.)
D: What was her name?
ME: How about, ‘Dari?’ (This is a shortened form of her name)
D: No, not just Dari. Dari Rose. (She was in love with the movie, Titanic)
ME: Okay. Once upon a time there was a little girl named, Dari Rose who...
D: What color was she?
ME: What color do you want her to be?
D: Green.
After I finished telling a fairly generic bedtime store about a little green girl named Dari Rose, my granddaughter went
to sleep. I sat down and wrote this story.
THE LITTLE GREEN GIRL
(The first two lines of the intro poem began all of my children’s stories. The third and fourth lines are
about each particular story.)
once upon forever,
in a land not far away,
at the edge of a beautiful forest,
is a town called Mandalay.
In this town lives a little girl, whose name is Dari Rose. She lives with her mama
and daddy in a house where the forest grows. Like most little girls who are four or five, Dari Rose likes to play, with crayons
and paints, Brittany her dog, and dark green modeling clay. She has very good manners, and waits her turn. Uses lots of ‘thank
you’ and ‘pleases.’ And she always says, “God bless you, dear,” whenever her cat, Sissy, sneezes.
There is one thing strange about her, something you have never seen. From the top of her head to the tip
of her toes, she is a lovely shade of green! She has green eyes. She has green hair. And her cheeks are green not rosy. Her
clothes are all green, her socks and her shoes. In her hair she wears a green posy.
One day, she said to her mama, “please, may I go to the forest and play? I promise to come home by
half past three. Oh, please! Oh, please, say I may.”
“I’ll sit on the porch,” her mama said, “and watch for your return. Have fun and
be careful, my Dari Rose, and see what you can learn.”
So Mama sat in the big porch swing, and waved to her green Dari Rose. But the sun was warm on her face and
head, and soon she began to doze. She woke with a start. The sunshine was gone! Dark clouds
filled the sky. There was thunder and lighting all around, for a storm was very nearby!
“I must hurry and find my Dari Rose. The rain will soon be falling!” Mama took the big red umbrella,
and ran to the forest, calling ... “Dari Rose! Dari Rose!” She cried to the wind, as she looked in the forest
of trees. She looked near the stream where the fishes swam, and under the tangled leaves. Behind the rocks where the rabbits
hid she peeked but did not find. For Dari Rose just wasn’t there, and not where the ivy twined. She could not find her
Dari Rose though she looked both far and near. Then she heard a voice, soft and sweet, saying, “here I am Mama, dear.”
There in the mist of the green bramble bush was a frightened little girl. You could not see her green face
or eyes. Not even her pretty green curl! For the green of the bush and the grass all around matched the green of the sweet
Dari Rose. She was hidden so well Mama could not see the tip of her green little nose.
Mama laughed at the joke and hugged Dari Rose, saying, “come; let’s get out of this weather!”
And they ran through the rain under the red umbrella, jumping puddles and laughing together. They ran to the house and the
rain still fell, but the big porch was safe and dry. With Dari Rose on her lap, Mama sat in the swing and sang songs of blueberry
pie.
They thought of a plan, and daddy helped. A plan on which they all could agree. When Dari Rose went to the
forest to play, she must be easy to see! So a ribbon of yellow they tied in her hair, as bright as a sunshiny day. Now when
she goes into the forest of green, Mama can see her a mile away!
end
