Carol Birch, a retired Chappaqua Library staff member, has a devoted following among the pre-school and young grade school set. On Tuesday evening they came, skipping ropes in hand, to listen to the storyteller tell her version of author Eleanor Farjeon's Elsie Piddock Skips in Her Sleep.

The story is about a special girl who lives in Sussex, England among the fairies, who teach her their magic fairy tricks with a special skipping rope. It is one she is awarded when she out-skips even the fairies when they practice during the light of a new moon.

Elsie hears the fairies, singing their skipping song, and soon meets the person named in a rhyme:

Andy Spandy Sugardy Candy
French Almond Rock
Bread and butter for your supper's all your mother's got!

The last line is said very quickly, and takes a while to figure out the words.

Andy Spandy is the fairy who encourages to "skip like never so" and all the special moves like the high jump, long jump, the sly jump through a keyhole and the light jump that lets her land softly on dew.

Eventually, Elsie grows up, but helps save the village and the fairy site from being destroyed by an evil lord who wants to build a factory. She and the villagers do this with a special skipping contest in which the lord is outwitted.

Farjeon published the story in the 1930s, part of a collection of stories titled Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field. The story has been republished on its own as an illustrated children's book.

Most of the children in the small audience brought their jump ropes, and while not plain (like the one Elsie's father made) or made of magic candy (like the one Elsie gets from Andy Spandy) they jumped to their version of the fairy skips. There was a green and pink jump rope that played music, and a rope with red, white and blue wooden handles that worked just fine.

The event was the first of three performances for the Midsummer Tales storytelling series at the Chappaqua Library, an annual event of which Birch helped found. The next evening is Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. This performance, known as the Joan Schlanger Memorial Storytelling Concert, will feature story teller Jonathan Kruk and folksinger Rich Bala. The last in the series is on Aug. 10 at 7 p.m., and is called "The Water of Life," which will be performed by the Storycrafters featuring world folktales. Registration is encouraged.

For more information, call the library at 914-238-4779 ext. 3. or visit the website to register online at www.chappaqualibrary.org.