Little Masha and The Alphabet Tree
a Bed-Time Story
Introducing ‘Rebel the WonderBird’®
~ copyright 2009 ~
Story by Carrll Robilotta ~ Illustrated by Gary Robilotta
Chapter One: An Afternoon At Ma’s House
One snowy winter day while doing her homework, little Masha asked her grandma,
“Where do letters come from, Ma?”
Masha’s grandmother smiled at her and answered, “Letters come from the
Alphabet Tree, SweetPea.”
“Alphabet Tree?” Masha asked, her eyes aglow with wonder.
“Yes, darling, the Alphabet Tree,” her grandmother said.
“Where does the Alphabet Tree grow, Ma?”
Pointing out her living room window, Masha’s grandmother asked, “See those
snow-covered hills far away in the distance?”
“Yes, Ma, I see them,” Masha nodded while peering intently out the window.
“Well,” her grandmother explained “the world’s largest Alphabet Tree grows
in an orchard beyond those hills.”
“Wow!” little Masha exclaimed, “the biggest Alphabet Tree in the world?!”
“Yes it is, SweetPea,” her grandmother answered, holding her by her pony-tail
as she pressed even closer to the window.
“Oh Ma! Can we visit the Alphabet Tree someday?” Masha asked her excitedly.
“This spring,” her grandma replied “once the Tree begins to blossom and the
letters start to grow.”
Masha loved visiting her grandmother and did so just about every day after school.
Ever since she had learned to talk, she’d taken to calling her grandmother ‘Ma’.
Masha loved learning about things and now couldn’t wait to get home and tell
her mother and father about the Alphabet Tree that her grandma had told her
about.
Little Masha watched every tiny snow-flake fall the rest of that afternoon,
counting each and every one until she fell asleep, wondering how many
more would fall until spring arrived.
Over the next several weeks, every afternoon Masha visited her grandma
she’d immediately ask, “Is it spring yet, Ma?!”
“No, not quite yet, SweetPea…but almost.”
“So there aren’t any new letters yet?” Masha would ask in disappointment.
“No, honey, not quite yet,” her grandma would reply with a warm smile.
“Hi Goo-Goo Doll!”
“Hi uncle!”
“I brought you something I think you’ll like,” Masha’s uncle said to her as he
entered grandma’s house.
“What is it?!” Masha asked excitedly, giving him a big hug.
“Come outside and see…”
Stepping outside, Masha saw a large kite in the shape of a parrot.
“Wow!” she exclaimed “I love it, uncle. Can we go fly it?”
“As soon as the wind starts blowing, we’ll go,” he responded, patting her atop
the head.
“Okay!” Masha agreed, already imagining the kite flying high in the sky.
“What are you going to name your new kite, SweetPea?” her uncle asked.
Masha liked to pretend that her toys were little friends of hers and always
gave them names.
“Hmmm…,” Masha rubbed her chin, thinking of a good name for her new kite.
“Hey, I know, how about ‘Rebel’?” she asked her uncle, seeking his approval.
“‘Rebel’?…hmmm…I think that’s a great name!” he responded.
“I have to go to work now, Honey-Bunny.” her uncle said. “Maybe you can help
your aunt make some crafts now.”
“Yay! I love making crafts,” Masha cheered. Masha’s Aunt Patsy had taught her
to make bracelets and necklaces and Masha loved to spend time with her aunty
making new things to wear.
It was nearly dinner time now and Masha’s father came to pick her up.
“Bye Ma, Bye Aunt Patsy!” Masha shouted. “See you tomorrow!”
“Bye-bye, honey,” they said to her in unison.
Chapter Two: A Visitor At The Window
Later at home, little Masha emptied out a big bucket of plastic letters she kept in her closet. She loved spelling and could already imagine all the great words she would learn to spell when she’d get to visit the Alphabet Tree.
That night as her father sat at the piano and her mother worked on a book she was writing, Masha painted a beautiful watercolor scene of how she imagined the Alphabet Tree.
“That’s beautiful, sweetheart!” her father exclaimed when she showed him the painting.
A little while later, Masha went up to her room to brush her teeth and pray before going to bed. “Dear Jesus, thank you for my mama & papa, and both my grandmas, and my aunt, and uncle, and all my friends--and thank you for my new kite, ‘Rebel’! Amen.”
At about nine o’clock, Masha’s father went into her room to tuck her into bed and read her a bed-time story. Little Masha loved stories and in her mind she would always picture herself as a character in the stories read to her.
“Did you say your prayers yet?” Masha’s daddy asked her as she was starting to
doze off.
“Yes, papa.”
“Did you remember to brush your teeth?” he asked.
“Yes, papa,” Masha responded with a big smile to show her teeth.
“Sweet dreams then, SweetPea,” he whispered, kissing her softly on the forehead.
“Thank you, daddy,” she said, already half asleep.
Some time after midnight, Masha was awakened by a strange sound at her window.
Like most little children, she was kind of afraid of strange noises in the middle of the
night. She pulled her blanket over her head and listened intently.
Tap, tap…tap, tap…tap, tap, tap. It sounds a lot like a bird tapping its beak against the window, Masha thought. She loved animals-especially birds-and wondered what type of bird it could be…
After a few minutes, her curiosity got the best of her so she decided to go to her window and take a look outside.
As she tip-toed towards the window, Masha saw what looked like a pair of large wings silhouetted by the bright moon’s shining light. She took a deep breath and peeked out from behind the curtain………………………………...a large eye winked at her!
Little Masha was so startled that she jumped right out of her fluffy Tweety-Bird slippers and darted right back into bed, pulling the covers tightly over her head. Masha had never seen a bird with an eye that size! Whatever kind of bird it was,
it had a big beak, too!
The tap-tap-tapping continued for a few more minutes but Masha was too scared to come out from beneath the blankets. When she finally did, she saw the wings spreading apart in the moonlight.
Maybe it’s not a bird, but an angel, Masha mused. Maybe the angel is thirsty
and needs a drink of water.
Once more, Masha mustered up the courage to leave the safety of her bed and again tip-toed to the window for another look… She took another deep breath and slowly counted to three… “One…Two……Two-and-a-half………Three!”
She pulled open the drapes and saw a colorful bird looking back inside at her.
She’d never seen anything like it! Even though it was really large, Masha was
no longer afraid of the bird.
As they studied each other through the glass, the bird seemed to be smiling
at Masha, and, in turn, Masha smiled back at the bird.
The curious bird tapped his large beak against the pane once again, as if beckoning Masha
to open the window.
“Okay, birdie, I’m going to let you in,” she said to herself. Sliding the window open,
Masha heard someone say, “Thank you, my dear.”
Masha couldn’t believe her ears! This must be a parrot, Masha thought to herself;
but she’d never seen a parrot this size!!
Motioning him to enter, the bird hopped down from the window sill
onto Masha’s dresser.
“Hi, my name is Masha! What’s your name?”
“I‘m Rebel the WonderBird” he replied, “but you can call me ‘Rebel’ for short.
Thank you for letting me in. I was getting tired of flying and your house looked like
a cozy place to stop and rest for awhile.”
“Wow!” Masha exclaimed, “You talk better than any parrot I’ve ever met.
Hey, I have a new kite named Rebel, too.”
“Really?” Rebel asked his new friend “is he good at flying?”
“I don’t know yet because I just got him and he’s still at my grandma’s house,”
she told him.
“I see,” the big bird said.
“How old are you,” Masha asked her new friend.
“I’m 159,” answered Rebel.
“159?!” she asked in amazement..
“Yes, Masha, but that’s in ‘WonderBird years’, which is about 46 in human years,”
Rebel explained.
“Oh…you’re the same age as my father: 46,” Masha said.
“How old are you?” Rebel asked her.
“Four-and-a-half,” Masha told him.
“Oh, you’re the same age as my son…about fifteen-and-a-half in bird years,”
he smiled in response.
“Wow…if I were a WonderBird I’d already be a teenager!” marveled Masha.
“Indeed you would be,” chuckled Rebel.
Masha gave her feathered-friend a cup of water and some crackers she had in
her school nap-sack. She asked Rebel where he was flying to.
“Well, it’s the first day of spring and I’m flying to an orchard not far from here
to gather some new letters,” Rebel told her.
“Wow! You’re going to the Alphabet Tree?!” Masha asked curiously.
“I am indeed,” said Rebel. “You’ve heard about the Tree?”
“Uh-huh,” nodded Masha, “my grandma told me about it a few weeks ago.”
“What do you do with the letters you gather from the Tree?” Masha queried.
“I use them to teach little children reading & writing,” the colorful bird responded.
“Wow!” Masha said in amazement. “I‘d love to learn how to read & write, too!…
Do you think you could teach me along with the other kids?” she asked him eagerly.
“Sure,” Rebel said, “I’d be glad to.”
After they had a little snack together, Rebel asked Masha if she wanted to fly
with him to the Alphabet Tree.
“But I don’t know how to fly,” Masha said to her new friend, looking forlorn.
“That’s o.k.,” Rebel responded “you can climb on my back and hold onto my
neck and I’ll do the flying.”
“Really?! When can we go?” she asked Rebel anxiously.
“Right now, if you’d like,” he answered.
“Okay, let’s go!” shouted Masha, jumping up & down.
Standing on the window sill, Rebel asked, “Are you ready, Masha?”
“Yes Rebel, I’m ready,” she answered him, a little nervously.
“Okay then…hold on and whatever you do, don’t let go of my neck,”
he instructed her.
“Here we go!” Rebel shouted as they flew out her window.
Chapter Three: Over The Stars We Go!
Though it wasn’t daylight quite yet, Masha could see her friends’ houses as they flew over the neighborhood. She thought about her friends and wished they could come along with her to see the Alphabet Tree. She noticed a light on in Kendall & Jorden’s room and suddenly saw them at their window, climbing aboard a bird that looked a lot like Rebel!
“Hi Jordy, hi Kendall!” Masha shouted as they flew past the window.
“Hi Masha!” the twins shouted back in unison.
“Are you going to the Alphabet Tree, too?” Masha asked them.
“Yeah!” they shouted back to her gleefully. “Kyli is coming, too!” Jorden added happily.
“Yay!” shouted back Masha.
Just up ahead, Masha noticed yet another bird like Rebel and on its back were Allie and Emma, with their baby sister, Lily, holding on to the bird’s tail.
Masha shouted, “Be careful, Lily!” But as always, Lily just giggled and laughed.
Lily was the happiest toddler Masha had ever met and she really seemed to be enjoying the ride. All of a sudden, Masha’s friend, Dylan, flew past them going really fast. Dylan loved race cars so he was thrilled to be on a fast bird. Racing with Dylan on another bird was Shane, Masha’s friend from the playground.
Masha & Rebel then flew alongside Oscar and his little sisters, Bella and Clover, who were also laughing and enjoying their ride. Just ahead of them was little
Deveraux-Grace and her baby brother, Anderson, swooping through a cloud atop
a bird of their own. Jazmine and Marley surprised Masha when the bird they were on flew past them upside down with the sisters laughing hysterically.
Everyone was so excited that they weren’t afraid of falling off the birds’ backs.
Masha especially liked the sparkly glow from the stars; it reminded her
of Tinkerbell and her fairy dust.
Masha then heard a familiar laugh. She looked behind one of the stars and saw Aki,
her friend from church.
“Hi Aki!” she shouted.
“Hi Masha!” Aki shouted back.
“What are you doing on that star?” Masha asked her friend.
“Gathering up some star-dust to bring to the Alphabet Tree,” responded Aki.
“That’s a great idea!” Masha cheered, “I’ll help you.”
The two of them gathered star-dust for quite a while before deciding it was time to
continue on to the Alphabet Tree.
Suddenly, Masha realized that her mother and father would be worried sick when
morning came and they wouldn’t find her in her bed.
“Rebel, my parents!” she shouted.
“Don’t worry, my dear,” Rebel assured her, “I’ll have you back home before sunrise. Remember, Time is measured differently where we’re going.
Even though it will seem to you like we’re away for several days, it will be
the equivalent of just a few hours in your world.”
Masha wasn’t sure she understood Rebel’s explanation, but she felt she could trust her
new friend.
“Rebel,” she asked, “would it be o.k. if I plucked a feather from your wings?”
“Sure--but just one…they don’t grow on trees, you know!” Rebel joked as Masha laughed
and searched for just the right feather to pluck.
After what seemed to Masha like several hours of flying with Rebel, she caught her first
glimpse of an amazing orchard.
“Is that the place?!” she asked Rebel in great anticipation.
“That’s the Great Orchard,” he responded, “we’ll be landing in just a few minutes.”
Chapter Four: A Place Like No Other
As the sun began to rise, Masha could now see other WonderBirds with children aboard their backs, all flying towards the Great Orchard.
“Wow!” she exclaimed, “I’ve never seen so many little children in one place!”
Masha was really happy to see her friends Stephanie and Sharmaine, and their cousins
Janelle and Sherlyn flying in for a landing.
One by one, the birds landed on a short runway with their passengers.
Finally, it was Rebel’s turn to land. “Okay, Masha, make sure to keep your feet up
as we land,” Rebel instructed her as they went in for the landing.
“Okay, Rebel,” Masha said obediently.
When Masha climbed down from Rebel’s back, she noticed some of the children were wearing different styles of clothing she’d never seen before. She also noticed lots of them spoke in different languages, too.
Rebel explained to Masha that he and his friends would fly around the world to bring children from different countries to the Alphabet Tree so they could learn how to read and write.
During the next several days, all the children frolicked in the Great Orchard, gathering letters as they fell from the Alphabet Tree. They marveled at the number of letters they collected and at the wonderful words they were learning to spell with them.
“This is the best place I’ve ever been to!” Masha said to Rebel joyfully.
“I’m glad you like it, dear,” he responded.
“Yeah, there’s so much to seeeeeeeeee!” Masha’s voice trailed as she ran off through
the Orchard along with some of the other children who were just as thrilled to be there.
The Great Orchard was truly a wonderful place to be. Not just a wonderful place
to be, but wonderful because of all the things to see :
Birds of every color flocked there
as did fidgets and flookas
clac-clacs and groompas
koofpahs and yoodles
and tiny green poodles
There were monkeys and lemmings
yackles and fling-flings
limpitts and hoppits
and pink & blue wing-a-lings
Both giant and furry
spotted and small
this magic orchard surely had it all
The sky a deep purple
the grass orange, not green
with rainbow-colored plants
growing everywhere ’n between
The Alphabet Tree itself was truly magnificent! It not only towered high into the sky but spread out over a large area of the Great Orchard, much like a giant Banyan tree. Around the massive trunk of the tree was an amazing spiral staircase which led to
the many giant branches overhead. Upon each branch were classrooms where
the children were taught how to read and write. Instead of desks, the children piled into large rope hammocks that encircled each level of the tree like a carousel.
The Alphabet Tree also provided the children with lots of yummy fruit they could snack on during the day. Without a doubt, the thing the children loved most about it was the giant slide built into the Tree. It was the largest slide any of them had ever seen! It went around lots of branches like a roller-coaster and looped around
the trunk of the tree several times like a giant pretzel.
Masha and all her little friends learned so many new words during their stay that even
the Alphabet Tree’s resident owl, Wisdom, applauded them all.
He explained to the children that the most important skills they could learn in life were
reading & writing. “They are the foundation of good communication with
each other,” Wisdom taught them.
The Great Orchard was a place where children of all colors and cultures learned together and played together in perfect harmony. The friendships they forged there would last a lifetime. There was so much happiness and joy all the time that none of the kids wanted to go home.
Like all good things, however, their time at the Orchard was coming to an end.
Soon it would be time to return home so that other children could come and learn
at the Alphabet Tree and experience all the wonders of the Great Orchard.
Though the Tree had been full of new letters when Masha and the other children had arrived, only a handful of letters now remained on its branches. The kids had gathered as many letters as they could to take home with them.
“Remember to share some of your harvest with your friends back home who have not yet visited the Alphabet Tree,” Wisdom reminded the children as they boarded their birds for the flight back home.
“We will,” they chimed as they said their goodbyes to each other and the creatures that lived in the Great Orchard.
“Good-bye, Wisdom,” Masha said to her friend, giving him a big hug.
“Good-bye, Masha,” the wise owl responded. “Come back to see us again soon.”
“I will!” she said tearfully.
A little while later, the children were dropping letters down every chimney they
could find during their flight back home--all of them pretending to be Santa Claus.
Chapter Five: A Spring Of New Knowledge
“Masha, Masha…wake up, honey, you’ll be late for school,” her mother said,
nudging her from her slumber.
Little Masha’s eyelids felt heavy as she yawned and opened her eyes.
She looked around at the familiar surroundings of her room but couldn’t remember coming
back home from the Alphabet Tree. She sat up in her bed, startled.
“Mama!” she exclaimed, “when did I come back home?”
“Come home??” her mother chuckled. “What do you mean, honey?
You just woke up.”
“Yes, I know, but where’s Rebel?” asked Masha, looking dazed.
“Who?” her mother quizzed.
“My friend ‘Rebel the WonderBird’,” Masha told her.
“Sounds like you had quite a dream, sweetheart…now hurry and get ready or you’ll be late,” her mother said. “It’s the first day of school and you’ll be learning to read & write
this semester.”
Masha looked at her mommy intently and said, “I already learned how to
read & write at the Alphabet Tree with Rebel and all the kids that were there.”
Masha’s mother humored her and said “That’s great, honey! That means the teacher
will be very impressed by your skills. Now run along and get dressed.”
Later that morning, while making up Masha’s bed, her mother found a large colorful feather beneath her daughter’s pillow. She’d never seen one quite like it and wondered where it had come from. As she bent down to pick up the teddy-bear Masha slept with, she spotted what appeared to be a large letter ‘M’ protruding from beneath Masha’s bed. Pulling the letter from under the bed, she was amazed to see a chain of letters attached to the ‘M’.
Spreading the letters out on the floor, she read the words they spelled out:
Masha & Rebel: Best Friends Forever!
Where had these letters come from?, wondered Masha’s mother…
A little later that day when Masha’s mom spoke with some of the other moms in the neighborhood, they told her that they’d also found feathers in their kids’ rooms with letters beneath their beds. More surprisingly, parents in every house in the neighborhood were puzzled over the large letters they were finding in their fireplaces!
Though none of the adults could explain where the feathers and letters had
come from, they were all amazed and very happy at how well their kids were suddenly
reading and writing.
The teachers at Masha’s school were very proud of all their students when they placed first
in the annual spelling bee which won their school national recognition.
By the end of the spring term, many of the children had done well enough
in school to skip ahead to a higher grade!
While all the children knew that they’d learned to read & write at the Alphabet Tree,
they’d given up on trying to convince adults that the Great Orchard actually existed.
Unlike the many bed-time stories their parents read to them over the years,
none could compare to the real-life experience they’d had at the Orchard.
This was a spring none of the children would soon forget, for the ability to read and write
had opened the door to new worlds of experiences and knowledge for all of them.
The lore and fascination most of the children had previously felt for video games had now
been replaced by a desire to read. Many of them were even starting to write stories of
their own!
One afternoon while at Ma’s house, Masha’s grandmother told her about the time she herself had visited the Alphabet Tree.
“I remember visiting the Great Orchard when I was about your age, honey.
There were little children from all over the world there and we all learned to
read & write at the Alphabet Tree.”
Masha looked at Ma in amazement and asked her if she still had any of the letters from the time she’d visited.
“No honey, I’m afraid not,” Ma said to her “but I do have a little souvenir from my visit there.”
“Really, Ma? What is it?” Masha asked her with much curiosity.
Walking into her bedroom, Ma returned a few moments later wearing an unusual hat lined
with colorful feathers. The feathers looked very familiar to Masha, much like
the feather of Rebel’s she’d plucked from one of his wings during her flight
to the Alphabet Tree.
“Wow!” marveled Masha, “What an amazing hat!”
Ma placed the hat on her grand-daughter’s head and stood her in front of a mirror.
“Ma, I noticed there’s a feather missing here,” Masha said, pointing to a little spot
on the hat.
“Yes, dear, that feather was lost many years ago and I’ve never been able to find one
that matches the others,” her grandma said glumly.
Masha held her hands lightly to Ma’s face and said “Close your eyes, Ma…
I have a surprise for you.”
Ma obliged her and closed her eyes, wondering what the surprise could possibly be.
A moment later, Masha said “Okay, Ma, you can open your eyes!”
Ma looked at her grand-daughter smiling at the hat. She couldn’t believe that the
missing feather had been replaced!
“Honey, where did you get that feather?!” Ma asked her grand-daughter
in amazement.
“I plucked it from my friend ‘Rebel’, Ma, and I want you to have it.”
Masha’s grandma pulled her close to her and gave her a kiss, thanking her for
making her special souvenir hat complete again.
“Oh you’re welcome, Ma!” Masha gushed, giving her grandma a big hug.
Little Masha spent much of that spring and ensuing summer writing notes to her
feathered-friend, Rebel, taping them to her bedroom window in hopes that he’d
soon return.
The notes were always a little different, but they all ended the same way:
Rebel, I can’t wait for you to return! I’m so excited to see where you take my friends
and I next! Please come back soon!!
Love,
Masha
P.S. I’m still using all the letters we gathered at the Alphabet Tree and my teacher told me
my spelling is almost perfect now-thanks to you!
P.P.S. …I hope you like the crackers I’m leaving for you on the window sill!
~ The End ~
 | ||||||
Maui Scribe Quarterly
Short Stories
by Carrll Robilotta
