The Unread Story (standard:fairy tales, 1953 words)
Author: Rattan Mann	Added: Jun 09 2004	Views/Reads: 5740/2946	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A little girl's story

The Unread Story 

Rattan Mann 

Once upon a time there was a beautiful little girl with big round eyes
and black curly hair.  But the times she lived in were not so beautiful 
as she.  All she ever wanted in life was for someone to tell her a 
story.  But nobody ever did.  Nobody had time.  Mom and dad had no time 
because they were rich and famous.  The maid- servant had no time 
because all she cared for was to put the girl to bed as early as 
possible so that she could then disappear with her lover.  So every 
night the beautiful little girl lay alone in bed wishing that there was 
somebody with her to tell her a story. She wished she could read.  Then 
she would be able to read tons of stories every night before going to 
bed. 

One night as she lay alone in bed, waiting for someone, anyone, to come
to her and tell her a story, a cockroach crawled into her bed.  But she 
did not scream.  She was waiting for the cockroach because she knew 
that the cockroach had come to tell her a story. 

" Cockroach, cockroach, I knew you would come to tell me a story.  Tell
me the most beautiful story on earth.  Please, please." 

Of course, cockroaches don't tell stories.  But she imagined the most
beautiful story on earth, and thought that it was the cockroach who was 
telling it to her.  That night she slept more deeply and peacefully 
than she had ever done before. 

Next evening she waited for the cockroach but it did not come. Then the
next evening and the next.  But the cockroach never came.  Slowly she 
gave up hope and began to forget that once upon a time a cockroach had 
told her a beautiful story.  All she remembered were the nightmares in 
her sleep. 

Then one night, as she lay awake in bed, a man stood before her. In his
black spotted dress and a black mask over his face, he looked like a 
very big cockroach. 

The little girl jumped up with joy and screamed, 

" Cockroach, cockroach, you have grown so big.  Where have you been? I
was waiting for you all the time.  I missed you. You tell so beautiful 
stories.  Tell me a story .  Nobody has told me a story since you left. 
Please, please." 

" Yes darling, I have come to fetch you so that I can tell you all the
stories you want to hear.  Come with with. I will take you to the most 
beautiful place on earth. And there I will tell you the most beautiful 
stories anybody has ever told a little innocent girl like you." 

The delicate little girl jumped into his strong ugly arms and he carried
her away. 

Of course, he was no cockroach and no story-teller.  He had come to
kidnap her.  And never before had he kidnapped a child so easily. 

He took her to a forest and threw her into a room with a tiny window and
locked the door. 

The little girl began to feel that something was wrong and she began to
cry.  She pressed her face against the cross-bars in the window and 
began to scream, 

" Take me home.  Take me home.  I don't like this place.  It is not the
most beautiful place on earth.  And you are not telling me any stories. 
You are not the cockroach I had been waiting for." 

The big masked coackroaches who guarded her heard her screams but did
not bother to reply. 

From that day the little girl stood on the window the whole day and
cried.  When she could not cry, she pressed her red eyes and swollen 
cheeks against the cross-bars to see if her mom was coming to fetch 
her.  She had given up all hope of ever hearing a story.  All she 


Click here to read the rest of this story (142 more lines)