THE ABSENT-MINDED GRANDMOTHER | Stories Sotto Le Stelle Podcast | Short Stories For Children And The Young At Heart

THE ABSENT-MINDED GRANDMOTHER

An elderly, somewhat absent-minded grandmother lived in the countryside. On sunny days as well as cloudy ones, she would wander through woods and meadows. In spring, she gathered strawberries, and in autumn, she filled a small basket with mushrooms to take home.

One beautiful day in May, she walked along, humming, accompanied by chirping birds that knew her well and followed her on her wanderings.

Chirp... Chirp... Chirp...

“Good morning, grandmother, where are you off to today?”

“Good morning to you, my friends who live in the forest, I am going for a walk.”

She continued on her way along the paths, stopping in some green clearings, and, truth be told, losing her bearings. She was captivated by clouds that changed direction and shape as they flew, transforming into animals of strange forms, fantastic faces, and mysterious objects in a fairy-tale world.

During her roaming, she suddenly found herself in front of a strange, dilapidated structure. Imagine if the grandmother didn’t venture to discover what it might hide.

A talkative sparrow that had followed her chirped.

Chirp... Chirp... Chirp...

“Be careful, grandmother, it could be dangerous to enter this abandoned and unknown place.”

The grandmother nodded her head and continued determinedly towards the building.

In front, there was a little entrance garden with a dangling gate and at the end, a half-open, rickety door with a faded sign above it: Ceramic Factory. “This is getting interesting,” thought the grandmother.

Once inside, she seemed to hear whispering voices. As curious as she was, she went forward and what did she see?! Broken plates everywhere, chipped vases, amphorae and pitchers without handles, cups in search of their saucers to stand upright. A real disaster!

“But what happened to you?” asked the grandmother.

A less broken teacup began to speak. “Once, this was a factory; the workers were so skilled at making and painting ceramic objects that they made them magical. Unfortunately, one unlucky day, a fire reduced the factory to what it is now, and we were left here, waiting for someone to come and save us, but so much time has passed that our fate is sealed.”

The teacup stopped talking, sighing and looking around with a sad air.

The grandmother, thoughtful, sought a solution. “Who could fix these objects?” she wondered. “There must be some emergency service for these ceramics that need repairing!”

Suddenly, the “absent-minded” but decidedly ingenious grandmother put a plan into action.

Quickly, she took out the cellphone that her grandson had given her and which, on his advice, she always kept in her pocket, and called the Emergency Service.

On the other end of the phone, a professional voice asked for information and who was speaking.

“I am a grandmother,” explained the old lady, “and I need emergency assistance; I am in the forest on the hill and there has been a big accident, there’s a lot of confusion and I can’t make heads or tails of it!”

“How can we find you, grandmother?” asked the voice on the phone, worried.

“Don’t worry, I will send two fantastic birds, my friends, who will lead you through the forest to me.” In a flash, the ambulance, with its siren blaring, traversed the rough paths and arrived at the site.

“Thank goodness for the birds, grandmother, otherwise who would have found you?!” said the driver, rushing out and ready to help. They were about to load her onto the stretcher when she started yelling: “Are you daft! I am healthy; I didn’t call you for me, but for all those broken ceramics inside the Factory that need to be fixed immediately!”

The driver was dumbfounded and speechless, as he had never encountered such a situation before; but he obviously understood the good intentions of the somewhat strange grandmother and, considering they had already arrived, he obliged her in carrying out that incredible “emergency intervention”.

One by one, those beautiful, albeit broken, magical objects were transported to a specialized ceramics shop, restored, and placed in a real museum that everyone, absolutely everyone, could visit.

When the grandmother received the letter from the Museum with the news, she was overjoyed and decided to celebrate with a lovely afternoon tea in the garden. It was right there, to her great surprise, that she found the teacup from the abandoned Factory waiting for her.

At exactly 5 o'clock in the afternoon, with steaming tea in the Talking Cup, magically, the conversation continued... The birds that accompanied the grandmother every day arrived just in time for tea, and when they saw the grandmother chatting with the magical cup, a great chirping and flapping of wings began to erupt in the air like applause. The clouds, and the sun peeking out above them, had followed the entire adventure and, happy for the happy ending, greeted the Grandmother with a big smile. The absent-minded, yes, but truly ingenious Grandmother.

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