Shingebiss & The Winter Wind - A Traditional Tale Adapted for Coronavirus
Note: We are reaching out to storytellers, parents, and children all over the world to collect stories that bring a little healing and levity to the coronavirus outbreak. We believe families need tools to help children (and parents) deal with the anxiety and cabin fever, not just the virus. Storytelling is a time-tested way to build safety, intimacy, and creativity in the home.
Visit the Coronavirus Storytelling Home Page
To be clear - these stories, articles, and resources are intended to help parents guide young children and ease anxiety in the household after the serious work of preparation has been done. They are not intended to make light of the illness. While this and other stories can be shared directly with children, we believe you will find the greatest comfort in crafting stories of your own with the help of your child.
This story comes from Jenni Cargill-Strong, creator of The Story Tree. She writes, “As globally we go into various stages of quarantine to ‘flatten the curve’ of Covid-19, I pondered how much it is like being in hibernation during a severe winter. I recalled ‘Shingebiss and the North Wind’ as told by my storytelling friend and colleague Fran Stallings. It has its origins in a traditional Chippewa or Ojibwe story and has highly relevant themes: courage, enduring isolation, resourcefulness, and staying calm in a crisis.
We can translate the skills Shingebiss uses to survive the Winter Wind - keeping his nest warm and staying calm and cheerful - to the skills required to stay healthy and cope with quarantine.
In the Southern hemisphere, where I live, winds from the north are warm, so I changed North Wind to Winter Wind. Fran tells Shingebiss as a woman, in other versions the character is a man, and in others a duck. I wanted the story to work for children, so I decided to make the protagonist a duck.
Please feel free to tell your own version and rewrite the song to suit your purposes.
Shingebiss & The Winter Wind
By Jenni Cargill-Strong
There was once a beautiful land which was very dangerous in the Winter. A fierce, icy wind whistled and howled for many months. The creatures who lived in that place were scared of Winter Wind. They told stories about his angry face, his headdress made of glittering, silver icicles and his coat of fine white snow.
Each Autumn, before Winter Wind arrived, the people, the animals, the birds and the insects traveled far away to a warmer place. They didn’t dare come back until Spring. Only one creature stayed: a brave little brown duck called Shingebiss. The other creatures shook their heads.
‘You know, Winter Wind will freeze you Shingebiss. Don’t be foolish. Come with us!’
But Shingebiss said, ‘No. I’ll be fine. I know just what to do. My grandmother taught me how to build a good warm nest and gave me a fine song to keep me strong.’
Shingebiss worked hard to make his nest cozy and warm. He added a roof and lined it carefully with layers of tightly woven grass and feathers and down he’d saved. He caught fish and collected berries, dried them and stored them. Then he waited.
Soon Winter Wind came whistling and blowing. Whoosha whoooosha!
Ha ha ha, Ho Ho ho!
Who dares stay where I do blow?
There’s nowhere safe for you to hide
Not even when you stay inside
But Shingebiss was brave and Shingebiss was calm. He sat in his nest, closed his eyes, and smiling sang:
Winter Wind you can’t scare me.
I’m as safe as safe can be
With my cozy nest and my Courage song
I’ll be fine when you’re long gone.
The Winter Wind was angry that Shingebiss dared to stay.
Ha ha ha, Ho Ho ho!
Who dares stay where I do blow?
You won’t feel nice
When you’re made of ice!
Winter Wind blew most of the day and night, whistling and howling. He blew his icy breath across the gaps in the ice where Shingebiss had been fishing until they were frozen over.
But Shingebiss was brave and Shingebiss was calm. He sat in his nest, closed his eyes, and smiling sang:
Winter Wind you can’t scare me.
I’m as safe as safe can be
With my cosy nest and my Courage song
I’ll be fine when you’re long gone.
Shingebiss told himself stories and dozed through the long dark days. When he ran out of fish, he waited until Winter Wind was blowing somewhere else, then waddled further from his nest until he found new holes in the ice to fish through. He brought home his catch and ate the fish with his berries.
A long time passed. A long, long time passed.
No matter how hard Winter Wind blew or tried to get into his nest, Shingebiss stayed brave and Shingebiss stayed calm.
Gradually, Winter Wind grew weaker.
One day he said, ‘That little brown duck is brave. Perhaps I’ll let him stay.’
With that Winter Wind took himself far away. The sun grew stronger. The snow and ice began to melt. New green shoots began to push up from the Earth and sprout from the limbs of the bare trees. Shingebiss came out of his cozy nest. He sang:
Winter Wind you never scared me.
I was safe, as safe can be
With my cozy nest and my Courage song
Now I am fine and you’re long gone.
When all the creatures arrived back, they were amazed to find Shingebiss not only alive, but healthy and fat! He taught them all how to make warm cozy homes, how to store enough food and how to fish through the ice so they could also stay through the Winter Wind.
Then they all sang his grandmother’s song:
Winter Wind you can’t scare me.
I’m as safe as safe can be
With my cosy nest and my courage song
I’ll be fine when you’re long gone.
~ ~ THE END ~ ~
My Covid 19 version of the song is:
Rona Rona you can't scare me.
Cos I know what to do
I’ll wash my hands and sing my song
I’ll be fine when you’re long gone.
Announcing The Coronavirus Storytelling Challenge
Schools are closing their doors. Parents are feeling anxious. Social distancing and empty shelves have us gasping for normalcy. We need skills for handling the disease, but we also need tools for managing the anxiety that treads in its footsteps.
That’s why we created The Coronoavirus Storytelling Challenge. As the nation struggles to catch up with the disease, let’s help parents and children connect and calm at home.
PS - We want stories from parents and kids too!
Stories from kids and parents empower others to share at home. That’s the goal! Pass it on.
The Storytelling Loop is a newsletter bringing you tips, science, and real-life examples of how storytelling builds the connection between parent and child. It is a joint project of Silke Rose West and Joseph Sarosy, authors of How to Tell Stories to Children. Originally published in August of 2019, a new edition is due out from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2021. You can find more from Joseph Sarosy at Fatherly. Are you involved in storytelling? Join Us.