Well as a child I must say that highlight of my day was my parents reading to me at night. I recall that most often I would ask for my Dad to read to me... mostly because he did the funny voices. We had these Sesame Street Encyclopedias... they were some of my favorites because of the funny stories. I fell in love with a particular story about the "Dorky Daughter Dora and the Duke of Dundee"... it was full of nothing but the letter D... Dad and I would laugh for hours. He started calling me his Dorky Daughter Dora... and it just stuck.
Here is the story for your entertainment:
Dozens of years ago. In a drafty castle. Duke David of Dundee did dwell. Duke David was dumpy but dignified. And he had a darling daughter named Dora who was a delight.
One day Dora danced through the door in the dear little dress decorated with Daffodils. "Doodley-doo, doodley-doo", Dora sang, as she danced. "Oh, hello, dear, dumpy daddy", said Dora to Duke David of Dundee.
"Dora, my darling, dimpled daughter", said Duke David. "You are indeed delightful, so I have a dandy present for you."
"Do tell," said Dora. "Do describe this doo-dad, daddy".
"It is a dazzling Diamond D dangling from a chain!" So,hanging the D around Dora's dimpled neck, Duke David of Dundee departed through the door.
Although Dora and Duke David didn't know it, someone else dwelt in the castle. This someone was Donald, the Dreadful Dragon of Dundee.
"I am Donald, the Dreadful Dragon of Dundee. I live in a dungeon downstairs in Duke David's dwelling. It is a deep dungeon, a dark dungeon - a deep, dark, damp, dank, dreary dungeon. It is a dump!"
Donald used dozens of D words - which was the only nice thing you could say about him. Otherwise he was a dud.
Donald the Dragon dashed from his dungeon, directly to Duke David's dandy daisy patch. "I am dashing from my dungeon to steal the Diamond D that Duke David gave his daughter Dora," he said.
Donald, the doer of dark deeds, drifted into the daisy patch. Dora, daughter of duke David, saw the dreadful dragon and dropped a drooping daisy from her dainty dimpled hand. She danced directly up to Donald the Dragon and declared, "Well, look who's here - a dear doggie! Hi there, doggie."
Donald disbelieved his droopy ears. "Doggie?" he screamed. "Did you say doggie?"
"Definitely," said Dora.
"Well, I do declare!" said Donald. "If Dora, the dignified Duke David's daughter thinks that I, Donald the Dreadful Dragon of Dundee, am a doggie, then Dora is dumb!"
"But you're the dearest doggie I've ever seen," Dora declared. "Do come and dwell in our castle, doggie dear, and I'll give you this Diamond D which my doting daddy draped around my dimpled neck."
"Don't doggie me!" Donald roared, darting toward Dora, determined to grab the Diamond D.
Suddenly, Duke David dashed into the daisy patch. Diving between darling Dora and Dreadful Donald, the Duke drove Donald around and around the daisy patch. The dismal dragon ducked, dodged, darted and dashed through the ducklings and the daisies until the Duke dumped him into the duck pond.
"Daddy dear," said Dora, "why did you do that?"
"Because that dreadful, dishonest dragon was determined to steal the dazzling Diamond D from around your dainty, dimpled neck," said the Duke.
"Dragon?" said Dora. "I'll be darned! He looked like a doggie to me."
"You're dorky but you're adorable, Dora," said Duke David, "so here's what we'll do. From this day on this dreadful dragon will dwell in a dog house, dine on dog biscuits, and do doggie tricks to delight my divine daughter Dora - or else!"
"Or else what?" Donald demanded.
"I'll dump you in the duck pond again!"
"Bow-wow," said Donald. "I'm a doggie."
And so David, Duke of Dundee, and his delightful daughter Dora lived happily ever after with Donald the Doggie, who used to be a dreadful dragon.
Wow... a walk down memory lane! Love you Dad for all the great memories you created with me!
10 comments:
I was so glad to see someone else had the pleasure of having read Duke David and his delightful daughter Dora. I have been searching for this book for years.
Do you know the author and/or the
name of the book? I would love to find this book. It was my daughter's favorite(she is 38 yr old now)
The version I got was out of a Sesame Street encyclopedia. Your daughter is about my age. I wish I had more information, but that googled forever to even find the version of it I posted here.
Wow, thank you for posting this! I have been looking for it all over the internet. My mother used to read these stories to me and my brother, this one was my favorite too. To this day I sign all notes to my mother (and she sends all notes as) "delightful daughter." Funny how these things stick around!
Thanks! I was just tryong to recite this story from memory to my co-workers here at the library, but I couldn't get very far. It's been years. But hey, I work in a library, I can find anything. Thank you so much for making this available.
A childhood favorite. I too carry the nickname Dora :)
Oh my goodness! My dad and I used to read this at the clinic I got allergy shots at every time he went with mom and I and we've tried to convey the story to my daughter and explain why 'Papa' still calls her mom his 'dumb dopey daughter Dora' from time to time. LOVED this book!!
I looked on Amazon and found this, and the B and IJKL books, but of course they are out of print.
Sesame Street Finding out Encyclopedia. the A Book by Richard Carlisle ... and others, Richard Carlisle and John Gossler ... and others (Dec 31, 1982)
I had this story in the Sesame Street Storybook circa 1971. Along with "The Boy, The Girl, and the Jellybeans" - It is available "new" on Amazon for a mere $155 - and some used copies are still available, but if they're anything like mine, they're pretty rough. I think I paid $42 for a used one for my niece.
My (Darling Dimpled)daughter and I shared this story so many times that when she got married, she found a copy of the book and had it framed open to that story as a gift to me. I'm not a terribly emotional guy, but that one really got to me that she remembered it so fondly. It still hangs on my bedroom wall even though she is in her late thirties, she'll always be my DDD.
Dad
I could have sworn it was Duke David of Dundeedle... We had this memorized because my friend's then 2 year old had to hear it at least twice a day.
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