Cead Fáilte
A thousand welcomes to Crann na beatha Short Stories and Poetry for June 7th, 2024
I am Terrance Ó Domhnaill, your village scéalaí, with more stories and poems from online writers.
I have two stories and one poem this week. We have chapter nineteen of the ongoing story From Beyond the Water Wall, a second revision of Alice in wonderland and the Hundred Aker Wood with Winnie the Pooh and a poem to close things up. The Pooh Bear in Wonderland story is read by the authors once again so I hope you enjoy it.
So gather round once more and let me read them to you under the shade of the crann na beatha, the tree of life. Click play above and listen to the stories and poem I selected.
Last week I mistakenly mixed in a little politics in this weekly newsletter and I apologize for it. I shouldn’t be mixing politics into this podcast and newsletter as it takes away what this show is all about.
I intend for this show to be a break from all of the scary stuff happening beyond our doorsteps and I promise to do that from now on. I will leave the scary stuff to my other podcast, The Village Oak Tree.
If you are interested in the scary stuff of world politics, you may find all of the episodes and blog articles on my website at www.crann-na-beatha.com.
To that end, I want to thank Pernoste and Dahl for their wonderful children’s story, Pooh Bear in Wonderland, in which they created a really great story, with different voices and sound effects and sent me a copy of the audio file to use in today’s podcast. It is the other side of the coin from their first story I read a few weeks back, Alice in the Hundred Aker Woodland. Today’s story is told from Pooh’s side of things when he met Alice in the previous story.
I hope children all over the world will have a chance to hear this story somehow. God’s know that there are a lot of children around the world right now that could use a little peace and tranquility for a few minutes out of their struggle to survive.
It is summer, or very close to it, according to the solstice. It’s a time when children in developed countries are out for summer break and families are going on their annual vacations. I know my wife is talking to me about taking a trip to the southern Appalachian mountains for a long weekend this summer. I am thinking sometime in July.
Right now, flowers are blooming everywhere. The monsoon rains are nearly finished as we wait for the first hurricanes and typhoons in the northern hemisphere to arrive as the climate scientists tell us that this year may be a banner year for big storms.
I have talked to a couple of people from Florida who tell me that the temperatures have already reached a hundred degrees this spring. Portents of things to come this summer.
I plan to keep reading stories for everyone for a long time to come as this podcast is becoming somewhat popular. Not so much here on Medium and that is okay but more so on Substack and Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcast apps. That is your loss Medium readers. I think it has more to do with the Medium algorithms than actual readers. As someone else noted last week, Medium isn’t geared for short fictional stories or poetry.
I will admit that I am a little distracted this week with everything that is going on so I won’t make this a lengthy post. I hope everyone who finds this newsletter listens to the stories and supports the writers who have graciously allowed me to read their stories and poems to the world at large.
That is all I have this week. Here are the stories and poem I selected for the podcast. Sláinte
From Beyond the Water Wall
Chapter 19/26 — The Wolf and the Wounds
Pooh Bear in Wonderland
A short story inspired by Lewis Carroll and A.A. Milne
Being Wild
Your sweet dreams are mirrored in me…
Go raibh maith agat. Thank you for listening to the show today. I hope you enjoyed the variety of stories and poems again this week. Maybe one of them might touch your heart a little.
Disclosure for everyone; In order to read the complete stories and poems, you will need to sign up for a subscription in Medium. If I see a link by the author on one of the stories to allow everyone to read it, I will let you know in the newsletters.
Please return again next week for another episode of Crann na Beatha Stories and Poetry as I continue to bring everyone more stories and poetry from great writers around the world.
As a Seanchaí, I want to continue to delight you with a story or a poem that may bring you a smile or make you think a little after we part for the day.
As I say good bye this week, I wish to leave you with this Irish blessing as you go about your day. “Long-life and fair health to you — Saol fada agus breac-sláinte chugat.” “Slán go fóill — goodbye for now”.
T. Ó Domhnaill — Gaelic Seanchaí
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