Once Upon a Time...
Tales that the author remembers hearing from her Omama in Curacao but never found in any books
There are entire parts of the world where no one has ever heard of Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty or Hansel and Gretel – and people tell different stories entirely. About the rainbow snake, for instance, or water spirits and primal mothers.
These tales are about the origins of the world, how people populated it, and how to deal with danger, life and death. About princes, wanderers, hunters and warriors who have impossible adventures. Many of these stories were not written down but were instead passed from mother to daughter.
Children’s writer and television presenter Milouska Meulens searched for a long time but couldn’t find those stories on the bookshelves, so she decided to write them down herself. She began with what she had heard from her Omama, her great-grandmother, in Curaçao. But rather than choosing the tales of one single culture, she decided to combine the stories of various cultures, until something emerged that was completely new and yet universal. These are stories you’ll be welcome to tell all over the world!
The tales begin in a time ‘when all the continents were still stuck together like cookies on a baking tray’. They are mysterious and dreamy, but always exciting too. In the last story, for example, the five brothers Dhira, Bala, Indra, Laghu and Aashu go in search of a mysterious gate and have to face various monstrous challenges on the way.
In her third children’s book, Meulens has found a tone and humour all of her own, writing with great charm and ambition to bring the oldest stories, once shared around campfires all over the world, back to life. This is a fine, new storytelling voice
“Meulens writes the way her Omama told the tales, deliberately mixing stories from all over the world and interpreting and fantasising as she sees fit”
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