Week 10 Story: Cody and the Growing Bed

Every child, sooner or later, reaches an age where he or she simply refuses to go to bed. The most popular antidote to this problem is the bedtime story. Young Cody had just reached this ripe old age, and he demanded a story from his mother each night. Of course, she didn't mind. She loved to tell stories to Cody, although it was getting harder to find new ones each night.

One day, she came across a very old story from the Native American people of Yosemite Valley. She couldn't wait to tell it to her son, because it featured two young boys around his age. After getting him settled into bed (with much difficulty) she cleared her throat, put on her most theatrical voice, and began.

"Once upon a time, long long ago, there lived two little boys named Wody and Shmody," she declared. Cody giggled and made a face at the names, but he was very happy for the characters to be named after him.

"Wody and Shmody loved to swim in the river by their home, and they especially loved to lie out in the warm sun after a long day of swimming. Sometimes they were so tired from playing and so comfortable on the sunny rock that they would fall asleep. One day, the boys slept for so long that the rock grew and grew up to the sky with them still on it! They were so fast asleep that they had no idea they were getting farther and farther from earth."

Cody smiled at the boys' foolishness, imagining what it would be like to wake up in the sky.

"The boys' parents missed them very much, and they asked for help from all the nearby animals to get them down from the rock. The rabbit went to the rock and jumped as high as she could, but the rock was too high for her. The grizzly bear went to the rock and jumped as high as he could, but still the boys were too high up. Even the lion and the kangaroo jumped, but they couldn't make it either. The parents cried and cried, but then they noticed a tiny worm crawling up the side of the rock. It crawled  until it was out of sight, and when it came back, it held the boys on its back."

Cody was quite young, but he knew that worms were too small to carry boys on their backs. He laughed and laughed at such a silly idea, and his laughs got softer and slower until he fell asleep.

Hours later, Cody woke up shivering. He opened his eyes and was surprised to see only a twinkling black surrounding him, rather than his familiar nightlight. Looking down, he saw his house and yard getting smaller and smaller. He could just barely make out a hole in the middle of the roof, and suddenly he realized that his bed was growing taller and had smashed through the ceiling! 

Too curious to be panicked, Cody scooted to the edge of his bed to get his bearings. He saw that the trees were already far below him, and even the skyscrapers out in the distance were not quite as high as he was! He was filled with excitement to be so far above the world, but he began to grow very cold and wished to return to his warm room.

"Perhaps a worm will come rescue me," he thought, remembering the bedtime story. He waited very patiently (as patiently as a boy his age can, anyway) and even peered over the side of his bed to look for a sign of his rescuer. He saw no worm. Patience does not last long in young people, so little Cody decided to take matters into his own hands.

As he tried to think of a plan, his bed continued to grow. He was so high that he could see stars all around him! "Stars," he called to them, "My bed has been growing all night, and I would like to go back home, but I don't know how. Can you help me, please?"

The star nearest him beamed with concern and called back, "Just hop off our backs, like trampolines! We will be able to help you down safely part of the way. But we don't go all the way down, so you'll have to get help from someone else after a while."

Cody was grateful for the star's help and could see no better option, so he took a daring leap off his bed and onto the star's back. It was very bouncy, and he jumped down diagonally from star to star, whooping with joy all the way.

Suddenly, he saw no more stars below him and grew very scared. But the last star noticed his predicament, and she called out to her cloud friend. "Cloud," she said, "please help this boy get down to earth. Hurry, catch him!" 

The cloud whooshed over to the boy. "Just flop down on my back and I will float you down as far as I can," she said. Cody spread himself out and landed on the cloud, marveling at how soft and comfortable it was.

The cloud carried the boy for a long time but reached a point where she couldn't go any farther. "I know!" she said. "I will rain, and you can grab onto one of my droplets to reach the ground." 

Cody grabbed onto the droplet, and although it was very slippery, he managed to hold onto it until his feet touched the familiar grass of his backyard. Exhausted, elated from the adventure, and grateful to be home, he went inside and found his bed returned to normal and the hole in his ceiling fixed. 

"I sure have a good bedtime story to tell Mom tomorrow night," he thought as he drifted back to sleep.

Author's Note: This story is a retelling of "The Legend of Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La (El Capitan)," a Native American story from Yosemite Valley. The original story tells how the rock Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La (also called El Capitan) was formed. The bedtime story that the mother tells in my story follows the exact same plot as the original story. I thought it would be a nice bedtime story because of the fantastical nature of the growing rock and the worm as a rescuer. I made up the boy's dream, wondering what would happen if there was no worm to rescue him off the growing rock (or bed, in his case). I thought that maybe instead of animals going up to rescue him, inanimate objects already up in the sky could help the boy get down.

Bibliography: "The Legend of Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La (El Capitan)" from Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson. Link to the reading online.

Image Information: View of Newark, New Jersey, from airplane. Source: Wikimedia Commons.