A Collaborative Fairy Tale with My Children: 'The Old Man, the Old Woman, and Lady Gaga'

An improvised fairy tale I started telling when my children (my third-grade daughter and three-year-old son) said, 'Tell us a story that starts with Once upon a time!' I managed to finish it while responding to their requests.

I've written it down from memory, so I'm posting it here.

Once upon a time, there lived an old man, an old woman, and Lady Gaga.

(Request from my son: 'Make a ghost appear!')

The house where the three of them lived was very old, and a ghost appeared in the bath every day. But because Lady Gaga was there, it wasn't scary at all. If she sang in a loud voice, the ghost would run away immediately.

(My daughter sings 'Bad Romance')

One day, the old man was about to go to the mountain to cut grass, and the old woman was about to go to the river to wash clothes. Then, Lady Gaga said,

'Old man, old woman, thank you for everything you've done for me. I am now heading to my concert at the Tokyo Dome.'

That is what she said.

The old man and the old woman were very surprised, but they decided to send off Lady Gaga, who loved to sing. Since the Tokyo Dome was far away, they thought she would get hungry, so they gave her some kibi-dango (millet dumplings) to take with her.

(Request from my son: 'Launch a boat, launch a boat!')

When Lady Gaga reached the river, there was a boat floating on it. The captain called out to Lady Gaga.

'Hey you, miss, why don't you hop on my boat?'

He said that and pulled Lady Gaga's hand, so Lady Gaga drove the captain away with the sword she was carrying and slashed the boat clean in two.

'I give up. I'll follow you, so please forgive me.'

Lady Gaga continued her journey, taking the captain with her. Then, coming from the other side of the road, were Momotaro and his retainers: the dog, the monkey, and the pheasant.

'Momotaro, Momotaro, where are you all going?'

'We are on our way to Onigashima to defeat the ogres.'

'Forget about that, why don't you come with us to the Tokyo Dome instead?'

Saying that, Lady Gaga gave the kibi-dango to Momotaro's party. Momotaro's party also decided to head for the Tokyo Dome together.

However, Tokyo was far away, and they couldn't seem to get there on foot. Lady Gaga hailed a taxi and got in. Unfortunately, because it was over capacity, they had to part ways with the former captain here. The pheasant flew above the taxi to follow them.

(My son's request: 'Launch the boat again!')

When the taxi was about to cross a bridge to get over the river, a large boat came from upstream, crashed into the bridge, and destroyed it. The captain they had just parted ways with was on the boat.

Lady Gaga and Momotaro's party were tossed into the river and went floating along, bobbing up and down. Eventually, they drifted to where the old woman was doing her laundry.

"Oh, welcome back, Lady Gaga. You've brought friends with you, I see."

Lady Gaga and Momotaro's party headed toward the old man and old woman's house. However, the moment they arrived, the dog, the monkey, and the pheasant mistook it for Onigashima and completely wrecked the house.

Then, a ghost appeared from inside the house. It was a weak little ghost that had been chased away by Lady Gaga long ago. But as it flew out of the broken house, the ghost grew bigger and bigger in the blink of an eye, and horns even sprouted from its head.

"To think you'd figure out that I'm an Oni."

The ghost's true form was actually a giant Oni.

(My daughter's request: "Put me in it!")

Just then, Coco happened to pass by. She slashed at the Oni with two swords. The Oni, not to be outdone, rhythmically caught the blades with a bare-handed sword catch. Swish, clap, swish, clap, swish, clap, clap.

Seeing that sense of rhythm, Lady Gaga invited the Oni to be the drummer in her backing band.

"Let's aim for the Tokyo Dome together."

"I want to go too!" said Coco.

When Lady Gaga asked, "What can you do?", Coco began to sing "Gypsy."

(My daughter's solo performance of "Gypsy")

Lady Gaga said, "I like it. Let's sing together."

Momotaro was assigned the guitar, the dog the bass, and the monkey the dancer. The pheasant was flying in the sky.

From there, by traveling via Shinkansen and taxi, the group arrived safely at the Tokyo Dome. The audience was at full capacity, even while maintaining social distancing. Lady Gaga and her group thrilled the audience with an incredible live performance. The end.

(Daughter: Singing "Judas" passionately)

(Fin)

The prototype is from my own collection of music-themed short stories

http://neetsha.jp/inside/comic.php?id=21721

within

"Gypsy" Lady Gaga

http://neetsha.jp/inside/comic.php?id=21721&story=95

from.