Today I was asked to "rewrite" a story for our kid. It was a combined effort with a friend when they were in school. They only wrote a few sentences and called it a day. Sigh. So based on that, I wrote them another based on theirs. I first wrote it out on my computer and when I was happy, wrote it on a piece of paper for her — my hand hurts from that exercise (which is a sign I should write more long form using my hand). My wife prefers pen and paper 100% of the time. My kid goes to a mostly English speaking school here in Poland so it was great to come up with a story for her. Even if it's basic.

Ultimately she didn't use the story except one sentence here and there after it became clear she wanted to keep the original text without too much change. Sigh. I helped with some grammar on others that she kept, so the sentences flowed a little more and got rid of some obvious small mistakes. She did actually already make it look nice with pictures of the tree and rainbows.

Later she came to me and told me she really liked the story I wrote and that she will put it in a little book to read again on days. I told her that maybe she can take a paragraph from the story and write more about it, make a little book. She had a fantastic smile on her face. Her mind in overdrive. Made my day.

They named the story "The Fantasy Tree" and this is what I wrote (and yes, I had to include some specific details like horses, names, locations and what-not 😅):

— — —

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Robin who lived in a magical land with his dad. One day his dad said “There is a myth of a magical tree, The Fantasy Tree. Bring it to me.”

Robin, without much thought, wanting to prove to his dad how much he’d grown said “ok” and gathered his things for the journey ahead.

It took many moons, following old trails and signs, with no clear path. On the way, Robin encountered a giant blue dragon that lay destruction across its path. With all his might he fought it but he was too weak and scared, so Robin ran away.

Robin was in dismay and fell asleep with his back to a tree.

The next morning he awoke, the sun in his eyes, a nice breeze. A flower fell onto his lap that seemed magical. Glowing, vibrant in colour, and full of life. He knew he found the Fantasy Tree.

The tree felt alive, swaying and humming in the wind. Robin could not bring himself to chop down the tree. It felt wrong. He carefully picked some flowers, and took them back to his dad, looking after them as best he could.

His dad was so happy to see Robin and hearing his story. His dad was a scientist and decided to make a potion from the flowers that he brought back. “Go and spray the potion into the air” he said. So Robin did.

The sky turned colourful, vibrant and brilliant. Bridges of rainbows lay across the land. Many beautiful horses and other animals as far and wide as the eye could see came flocking in. It was a pure magical sight to see.

Robin had all the powers of the world now, bringing joy and light everywhere he went.

The end.