This morning I brought my little one to Festilou, a Festival de contes pour la jeunesse, held at Théâtre de l’Esquisse on rue Marie-Anne.

The piece we saw, entitled Petites sagesses, had three different storytellers, each as unique as their stories: Éric Michaud, Éveline Ménard and Saulo Olmedo Evans.

We heard a story about a family with twelve children who, hating bathtime, were attacked by a dirt-feeding monster in the mountains. A second one about a little boy travelling the world, learning to open up his heart and push away his fears. And a third one about a panther stealing fire from villages in the deep of Panama.

“Story is so central to the lives of young children that it comes close to defining their existence. What do little kids do? Mostly they do story.”

Johnathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal

When the stories ceased, we walked Mont Royal Avenue and stepped into O Petit Paris for some coffee + croissants.

We finished off by admiring Marie-Anne some more…

Of course, this song came to mind as it always does when I stroll Marianne, this time pushing his stroller through the heavy Montreal heat:

So Long, Marianne

[Verse 1]
Come over to the window, my little darling
I’d like to try to read your palm
I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy
Before I let you take me home

[Chorus]
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 2]
Well you know that I love to live with you
But you make me forget so very much
I forget to pray for the angels
And then the angels forget to pray for us

[Chorus]
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 3]
We met when we were almost young
Deep in the green lilac park
You held on to me like I was a crucifix
As we went kneeling through the dark

[Chorus]
Oh so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 4]
Your letters they all say that you’re beside me now
Then why do I feel alone?
I’m standing on a ledge and your fine spider web
Is fastening my ankle to a stone

[Chorus]
Now so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 5]
For now I need your hidden love
I’m cold as a new razor blade
You left when I told you I was curious
I never said that I was brave

[Chorus]
Oh so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again

[Verse 6]
Oh, you are really such a pretty one
I see you’ve gone and changed your name again
And just when I climbed this whole mountainside
To wash my eyelids in the rain

[Chorus]
Oh so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began
To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again