Today on Enchanted Conversations by Yours Truly:
Magic Listening Machines or WHY I LOVE FAIRY TALES
I did not hear my first fairy tales at the knee of my grandmother. Nor did someone read them to me as bedtime stories out of a venerable fat hardcover copy of Grimms’ Children’s and Household Tales. No—I got my introduction to the Land of Faerie through the record player. That’s right, children: Once upon a time, in a world far away from that of today, stories were told by a magic machine. Flat black discs with thin grooves engraved on them were placed upon a platter, a magic wand was laid on top, an enchanted lever was pressed, and suddenly the strains of music and the voice of a storyteller filled the room—though of the musicians and the tale teller there was no sight to be seen.
Oh, we did of course have paper books of the stories, as well. I still have on my bookshelf our first copies of Andersen, Hauff, and the Arabian Nights, all of which I enjoyed reading. But some of my favorites were, and still are, the Grimms’ tales I got from those vinyl records: “Snow White and Rose Red,” “The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats,” “Puss in Boots”…The other day, I was listening to audio versions of fairy tales again. By now, the magic machine I use is so small that it fits in my back pocket, and it can do all sorts of other magical things (such as making phone calls)…
To keep reading, go here
Takes me back to the days of listening to Prokefiev’s Peter and the Wolf, and all the characters represented by orchestral instruments. 🙂
It was lovely to meet you at the Word on the Lake festival this weekend!
Yes, it was! I’ll have to find your blog too.
And we had Peter and the Wolf, too! Now I have the “Peter” tune stuck in my head… 😁