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Paints-With-Words


Paints-With-Words had been born with deep lavender eyes that glinted with brilliant flecks of many colors. Her great-great-grandmother, Amethysta, had such unusual eyes too. Amethysta had been the tribe’s most beloved storyteller. Like her great-great-grandmother, Paints-With-Words did not learn to speak earlier than other children did, but when she began to talk, she was able to paint with words, and she inherited Amethysta's ability to make up magnificent stories.

For example, another four-year-old child might ask, “May I have some blackberries?”

Paints-With-Words at age four said, “May I have some berries, the color of midnight, sweet as my mother’s kisses, berries washed with morning dew?”



EXCERPTS