Cover of Ripple Stories

Ripple Stories

Ripple Stories

By: Nicole Mathers
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Welcome to Storytime with Teacher Nicole! I'm delighted to share with you the classics reimagined, world fairytales and books with representation.

My dream is to have a library of stories that meet the children of today and yet still have beautiful language and story plots.


As a teacher (public and Waldorf) for the past 25 years, one of my favorite teaching moments has been when I get to tell stories during storytime. I often memorized the tale, making it much easier to change things as I told it, kind of like when Grandma used to sit in her rocking chair and tell stories late into the night, as the fire blazed and then died out. Some of the changes I've played with over the years were making Briar Rose have dark, luscious, springy hair and beautiful warm umber skin, or the heroine being a warrior Princess instead of a Prince! These little changes made me happy in the telling and I want to share that joy of making the stories speak in a new way with you! One of my recent retellings was The Frog Prince, which in the classic telling has the frog turn into a prince when the princess throws him against the wall in disgust. I changed this to a version where the princess is actually kind and makes the frog a bed on the floor next to hers for three nights and the frog's spell is broken by the princesses kindness instead of anger.

What we are teaching our children through stories, is giving them a lens into new worlds and situations. Each story they hear can give them a view of the world that is full of healthy relationships, kindness in many forms, representation of all peoples and magical vistas of wonder and awe.

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Nicole Mathers Literature & Fiction
Episodes
  • My Lord Bag of Rice

    My Lord Bag of Rice
    18 Sep 2022

    Long, long ago there lived, in Japan a brave warrior known to all as Tawara Toda, or “My Lord Bag of Rice.” His true name was Fujiwara Hidesato, and there is a very interesting story of how he came to change his name.

    One day he traveled forth in search of adventures, for he had the nature of a warrior and could not bear to be idle. So he buckled on his two swords, took his huge bow, much taller than himself, in his hand, and slinging his quiver on his back started out. He had not gone far when he came to the bridge of Seta-no-Karashi spanning one end of the beautiful Lake Biwa. No sooner had he set foot on the bridge than he saw lying right across his path a huge serpent-dragon. Its body was so big that it looked like the trunk of a large pine tree and it took up the whole width of the bridge. One of its huge claws rested on the parapet of one side of the bridge, while its tail lay right against the other. The monster seemed to be asleep, and as it breathed, fire and smoke came out of its nostrils.



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    16 min
  • The Twelve Dancing Princesses

    The Twelve Dancing Princesses
    15 Aug 2022
    A soldier with help from an old woman discovers the secret of the where the twelve Princesses dance each night.

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    12 min
  • The Fisherwoman and Her Husband a Grimm's Fairy Tale Reimagined

    The Fisherwoman and Her Husband a Grimm's Fairy Tale Reimagined
    7 Aug 2022

    Ripple Stories retells classic fairy tales reimagined with more representation. Support us on Patreon to never miss a story! https://www.patreon.com/RippleStories

    The old version of this story has a woman as the greedy one asking for bigger and grander houses and positions. I've changed the tale portraying the woman as the fisherwoman and the bread winner in the family. The man in the story is never satisfied with what he has and is always pondering what he can be or the riches he can gain next. In a way this is quite pertinent to our society today and the way that some people want all of the resources and power for themselves. If only we could be happy in our little house, close to nature, working the land. The fisherwoman shows this side of life, content with every new situation, always asking "isn't this enough"? I hope you enjoy this tale!


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    16 min
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