Five and a bit years ago I deceded to write the following piece.
As I had to dredge it out of my memory for the first time for Fionn last month when he was over I thought it high time for a revisit.

Fionn , pictured by his mother, with his new Man in the Moon decals on his bedroom wall.

When my three daughters were little, as a bribe to get them to go to sleep
(or at least to bed) at night I used to occasionally tell them bed time stories. After a while one particular series of stories became the all time favourite and, children being conservative animals, none other were permitted.
Just recently my middle daughter Eileen (who works in Hodges Figgis book shop in Dublin) told me that I must write this down. Of course I was flattered, even to think that she remembered it but also at a loss because the classic elements of a “Man in the Moon” story were not just the words. There were all sorts of actions, sound effects, and indeed audience participation which were part of the experience.
I have decided that the nearest I can get to recording this, I am at a loss to know what to call it, maybe short, interactive, one man playlet would be nearest the mark, would be to give the story as I used to to my children and suggest stage directions for the various bits of business by the size of the text where appropiate. In other words what one has here is a story for adult story tellers not for children.
My three daughters were Caitriona, Eileen and Deirdre. For the sake of the story we will imagine them as aged 9, 6, and 3 respectively.(which they would have been about 19 years ago.) Of course the stories were never the same and varied to reflect current family events but I will try to remember one . You substitute names etc. as appropriate, as indeed I have when I have told this to children of friends, nieces and nephews and even to grand nieces and nephews.Here we go;

The Man in the Moon and the Pink Planet.

Caitriona, Eileen and Deirdre were lying in their beds one night. They were bored and wide awake, didn’t feel like going to sleep.
Caitriona looked out the window and looked at the stars:

“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky”
She sang.

She looked up at the sky and saw a pink star shining and twinkling brighter than any others.
“I’d love to go up to that Pink Planet”
“Why don’t we call the man in the moon and see if he will bring us there?” said Eileen,
Then they all concentrated hard and looked up into the sky at the big fat moon with the mans face on it and they closed their eyes and called out together:

Man in the Moooooon!
Man in the MoooooooooooooooooN!

Suddenly they heard a faint swishing sound far far away in the sky.

Ssssshhhhhhhhh it went very faintly in the distance.

But then it started to get louder.

Sssssssshhhhhhhhh as it got nearer.

Then it got very close and much louder

Sssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

And suddenly, there just outside the window was the man in the moon in his rocket with a big smile all over his face.

“Did I hear someone saying they wanted to go to the pink planet ?”
He said.
“Yes!” Said the three girls all together.
“Then Hop up on the back of my rocket and off we will go!”

So they scrambled out the window and sat on the three seats on the back of the rocket.

“Are we all ready?” Said the man in the moon.

“Wait wait!” said Eileen, “I forgot my nana”
“I’ll go and get it” and she scrambled back into the bedroom to get her very important blanket.
Then Deirdre said “And I’ll get my Teddy” and followed Eileen.
Caitriona looked at the man in the moon and said
“I used to have a Mousie, but I’m too big for him now”
“I see” said the man in the moon.

The two younger girls scrambled back out the window and into their seats in the rocket.

“Are we ready now?” said the man in the moon.

Yes! They all shouted together and he started the engine of the rocket and away they went.
Sssssssshhhhhhhhhh!

Sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh.

Sssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Awayyyywayyyy into the night sky.

All the way up past the stars and the planets.

All the way up through the asteroids.

Until with a big bump they landed on the pink Planet.

“Right” said the man in the moon, “out you get”
“Don’t forget I’ll be back for you in two hours”

and awawayawayaway…….. he went

Ssssshhhhhhhhhh

ssssssssshhhhhhhhhh

ssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh

into the night sky.

Well what a surprising place the pink planet was.
Everything was pink!
The houses were pink.
The trees were pink.
The roads were pink.
The cows were pink and they didn’t say Mooooo
They said Piiiiiiiiioooooooooooooooonk.
The sheep were pink.
They didn’t say Baaaaa.
They said Piaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank.
What did the Dogs Say?
What did the Cats say?

Down the pink road walked the three children.

From behind some trees near the road they heard some strange crying.

I I I I I I
WAAAAAAANT
MYYYYYY
( PINK PINK)
MAAAAAAAMY

And there behind some trees they found a little baby elephant and he was crying his eyes out.

I I I I ! He started again very loud.
That’s enough of that said Eileen.
And he stopped except for a couple of pink hiccups.
P hic nk P hic nk.

Deirdre said.
“You stay with him and I’ll see what I can do.”

She went back on th the road and talked to the first man she saw.

“Where is the nearest pink town?” she asked.

“Down at the end of the pink road” he said.
“And is there a Pink Zoo in the pink town” said she.
“Indeed and there is” said he.

So Deirdre went back to the others and said “Come on”
“We are going to the Pink Town to find his Mother”

So they set off.
Caitriona in the lead holding the elephant by his trunk.
Eileen after her carrying her Nana.
Deirdre after her holding Teddy’s hand who was walking along the road next to her.

After a while they got to the Pink Town.
There they were guided to the Pink Zoo.
In the Zoo they found their way to the Pink Elephant house.

As they came up to the Elephant house they could hear a terrible catawauling noise.

I I I I I I I I I I I

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANT

MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

BAAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBYYYYYYY!!!

So Eileen had to go up to the big Pink Elephant Mother in the Elephant House and say
“That’s enough of that!”
And the Big Elephant Mother stopped crying
And just gave two pink elephant hiccups.

PiiiiHICnk PiiiiiiiHic upnk.

Then she saw her baby.
And the baby pink elephant saw his mother.
And they were DEEEEEEELIGHTED!

And the Zoo Keeper came and said
“Are you the children who brought back the Baby pink Elephant?”

“We have a special reward for you” he said

And he gave them a
Great !
Big !
Bag!
OF!
Pink!
Sweets!

And a

Great!
Big!
Bar!
OF!
PINK!
CHOCOLATE!

And they were

Deeeelighted

Because they were

Deeeeelicious

Suddenly Eileen looked at her watch and said
“Will you look at the time”
“If we don’t run we are going to miss the Man in the Moon”

So off the ran as quick as they could.
Through the pink town
Down the pink Road
Past the pink wood where they had found the baby elephant.

There at the spot where he said he would be was the Man in the Moon.

“Hop in” he said “and we will go back to Kilmacleague”

So back in they hopped and off the rocket went.

Sssssshhhhhhhhhhh

Sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh

Sssssssssssssssssss Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !

Until down they landed in Kilmacleague.
Back they scrambled into their beds.
They tucked themselves up all snug and comfy
And fell
Faaaaassssssttttttt Asssssssleeeeeeeep
Like Good little Girls……