Gugada Giel

HOW I FOUND OUT ABOUT GUGADA GIEL: continued

My mother, and her mother before her, knew that this story has a magic which helps fussy children to eat, so I heard it most often over the kitchen table. When Gugada's mother said, "Gugada, go all the way around!" I would watch a spoon circle the edge of my bowl scooping up some cereal that was cool enough to eat. I would have swallowed that spoonful before Gugada's mother began saying, "Go around!" again. My cereal would always be finished before the story was, but I have only recently come to suspect the motherly craft in this.
I found out about Gugada Giel through two generations of mothers, but how did my grandmother find out? As I said, she grew up in Italy. Maybe she knew Gugada Giel personally and could hear his mother calling him from across the piazza? She certainly knew rainy days, little boys and food.

Translate plain English into the mother tongue using the Alta Vista translator.

Back to the family page.

Write us!