At night I read to the children while they are in their beds. Some times they drop off to sleep before the story is done. I love the idea of the seamless transition from the story in to the dreams of a child.

The past few weeks we have been making our way through The Wizard Of Oz by Frank Baum which was an instant success from the time it was first published in 1900. (By the way, Baum's original story is much richer and scarer than the Hollywood film we all know.) Baum loved nursery rhymes and old fairy tales and they are very present in his stories.

It is interesting to me how these stories have remained with us so stubbornly from ages past. The first time they were actually published was over 500 years ago and before that they flourished in an rich oral tradition. And here they are still with us along with our smart phones and mp3 players. Today we still have the wolf that gets its stomach cut open by the woodsman so granny can come back to life and hug Little Red Riding Hood. Could it be that we need these images and narratives to give our lives meaning? Are there lessons to be learned and re-learned by child and parent alike?

Listen to my song Nursery Rhyme here.