Since it’s close to Mother’s Day, this month’s theme is centered around mothers, and mother figures. Given that it’s often moms who read to their children, I’d like to share a children’s story that I don’t recall hearing during my childhood. Here’s a mini lesson about the children’s story, or what I call ‘kitty lit’ story, that introduced me to Hans Christian Andersen’s story, “Beatrice’s Cradle.” I took a picture of this mini statue while touring The Netherlands. The town I’m focusing on is called Kinderjidk, which means, ‘children’s dike.’ It was named that for a reason!
Given that I grew up in Minnesota and we often focused on Scandinavian folk tales, I was very familiar with author Hans Christian Andersen. I knew that he was originally from Denmark, because in Danish, the name Andersen ends with the letters ‘en.’ In Sweden, the name ends with ‘on.’
But, in my humble opinion, although this man wrote a plethora of wonderful children’s stories, he was weird! Apparently, he was a ‘fan boy’ of Charles Dickens and appeared to have grated on Charles’s last nerve. At one point, Anderson stayed with Dickens in England and liked him so much that he stayed there for five weeks; something that drove the Dickens family nuts.
But I’ve digressed . . . Legend has it that in the 1400s, some of the dikes in Kinderdijk did not hold up, and a flood occurred which killed 10,000 people. The day after the flood, a baby was found floating in a cradle in the river. A cat was perched on the baby’s cradle, hopping from side to side to maintain balance so the cradle didn’t tip. A pretty darn good ‘kitty mama’ in my book. The late singer, Harry Chapin gives mention of this old tale in the chorus of one of his songs, although that folk tale wasn’t really the theme of Chapin’s song:
'And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon'
"When you comin' home, Dad?"
"I don't know when, but we'll get together then,
you know we'll have a good time, then."
Hans Christian Andersen wrote such stories as: “The Little Mermaid,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and “The Ugly Duckling,” which some considered to be about Hans, himself. These tales have stood the test of time and continue to be of interest to young children. Although this man never married or had children, and was, at times, silent and brooding, his stories remain staples for young children.
If you’re ever fortunate enough to visit Kinderdijk, this is what you will see! It’s a charming little place; one I will probably write about again.
Thanks to those of you who've purchased the first two cozy mysteries in my Serenity Hills Chorus series. Truth be told, I'm struggling to crank out book number three; mainly because for some unknown reason, I can't seem to get my mind off Alaska and am contemplating writing another contemporary romance about life in Alaska. I doubt many authors get this distracted and go back and forth on genres, but I'm kind of missing writing my sweet romances. Sigh . . .
I have two events coming up that I'm really excited about but will save those for my June newsletter! As always, I appreciate you all taking the time to read my newsletters. If you have a friend who wishes to subscribe, have them send me an email, (gaykiser@msn.com) and I'll add them. If they mention your name, I'll send both of you this short story that I wrote several years ago. It's a sweet little story that I'm very proud of. Here's the cover, and as you can see, it was written under my pen name. But I'm the author!
Have a wonderful Mother’s Day, celebrating it with either your children, or nieces and nephews, or perhaps your sweet grandmother. If any of you are grandmas, consider searching your house for some Hans Christian Andersen stories. I’m betting that children in your circle would love to hunker down and listen to the talented Hans’s stories. “The Ugly Duckling,” is my all-time favorite!
And above all, share what your favorite stories were when you were a child. I'd love to hear from you!
All My Best,
Gay Ann
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