Porridge

I've got a theory. I think that for me (and I believe I am not alone), fairy tales are almost as much about the words you use as about storyline. I mean, think about it. The Three Bears could eat anything for breakfast: ham and eggs, waffles, chicken fried steak, oatmeal. But in every rendering of The Three Bears you've ever read, they eat porridge. I submit to you the theory that Goldilocks and the Three Bears is not Goldilocks and the Three Bears unless someone says, "Somebody's been eating my porridge."

The giant doesn't have to say "Fi, Fie, Fo, Fum." Or the Gingerbread Man "Run, run, as fast as you can..." "The better to eat you with, my dear." "Not by the hear of my chinny-chin-chin." These phrases make these stories what they are.

Here's my dilemma. Alina just received a couple of books of fairy tales. In French. In French, the giant is not a master of alliteration. The bears eat bouillie. The Gingerbread Man has to change what he says depending on if he's using tu for one person following, or vous for multiple people.

It's just wrong.

Thomas can read them to her in French if he wants, but I think I'll continue telling the stories in English while turning the pages at the appropriate point in the story.