2Disclaimer: "The Sound of Music" and all its characters belong to Rodgers and Hammerstein
Liesl and Friedrich: Edelweiss
"Look right there!" Five-year-old Liesl whispered to her brother, Friedrich, pointing through the banisters. "There's Mother!"
"Mama?" Friedrich said, peering through the railing to find his mother in a crowd of party-goers. The string quartet Father had hired - the same groups as always, the one their mother adored - played a waltz that Liesl recognized.
If there was one thing that Camile von Trapp adored almost as much as music, her husband, and her four children, it was a lively evening of dinner parties and dances, surrounded by her socialite friends from her boarding school days. Parties were a regular occurrence in the Trapp family villa. In the summer, they were held nightly. As much as Camile loved to host a party, Liesl loved to watch.
"In the pink dress," Liesl said. "Dancing with Father."
The two children looked down, trying to pick out their mother in the swirling sea of pastel evening gowns and black tuxedos with crisp white collars.
"I see her," Friedrich finally said.
Liesl smiled. She had been watching the entire night, and only had eyes for her mother. She's so beautiful, Liesl thought to herself. And graceful, too. I want to be like her one day.
The music came to an end, and the guests clapped - Liesl and Friedrich included.
Camile looked up just then, and caught her two oldest children watching the party through the banisters. Smiling, she excused herself to the guests and began to climb the stairs leading to the nursery.
Most children would have been terrified at the thought of being caught out of bed by their mother, but Liesl and Friedrich, clad in their nightclothes, excitedly clambered to their feet and ran to hug their mother's skirt. Camile laughed.
"Are you enjoying the party, darlings?" She asked them.
"Yes," Friedrich said immediately.
"You look the prettiest, Mother!" Liesl cried.
"Shhh," Camile hushed her daughter. "You'll wake the babies."
Liesl clapped her hands over her mouth. But it was too late; they could hear wails coming from baby Kurt's room.
"Sorry, Mama," Friedrich apologized.
"That's alright, darling," Camile comforted her son. "Come now, let's put Kurt back to bed."
Camile, with Liesl's hand in her right one and Friedrich's in her left, pushed open the door to Kurt's room with her toe. The infant was crying in his cradle, waving his chubby fists in the air. Camile picked him up and held him, rocking him back and forth.
"I'm sorry, Kurt," Liesel apologized to her baby brother.
"Why won't he be quiet?" Friedrich complained, covering his ears.
"Well, darling, he's too young to understand that he needs to sleep," Camile patiently explained. "So we have to help him."
"How?" Friedrich asked.
Camile looked around the room, her gaze finally landing on the rocking chair by the fireplace. The Captain had bought it for her when Liesl was born, and though it was a bit worn she had used it for each of her children. "Let's sing him a song," she said with a smile.
Liesl clapped her hands in excitement - only to regret it when Kurt began sobbing even more loudly. Quickly, Camile settled herself in the rocking chair with Kurt in her arms, Liesl leaning against the arm of the chair, and Friedrich at her feet.
"What song should we sing to him?" Camile struggled to ask over Kurt's caterwauling.
"Edelweiss!" Liesl suggested.
"Edelweiss," Friedrich agreed.
"Edelweiss it is, then," Camile agreed. In a soft, sweet voice, she began the song. "Edelweiss, edelweiss, every morning you greet me -"
"Small and white," Liesl added in.
"Clean and bright," Friedrich sang.
"You look happy to meet me!"
Just then, a fourth voice, unannounced and unanticipated, joined in. "Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow, bloom and grow forever. Edelweiss, edelweiss -"
"Bless my homeland forever," Camile and the Captain sang together.
Liesl stood on tiptoe to look down on her now-sleeping baby brother. "It worked!" She whispered.
The Captain chuckled at his daughter's antics. "And now, my dear, you need to go to bed."
Liesl pouted, but allowed her father to scoop her and Friedrich up and carry them to the room they shared with two-year-old Louisa, sound asleep and sucking her thumb. The Captain gently tucked in his two oldest children, pulling the quilts up to their chins and kissing their foreheads.
"Goodnight, Father," the siblings called out.
"Sleep well, children," the Captain called back, closing the door.
As soon as the Captain's footsteps had faded away, Friedrich rolled over in his bed to call to his sister. "Hey, Liesl!"
"What?"
"That was fun."
Liesl giggled. "It was. Even though we woke up baby Kurt."
There was a pause. "So we'll do it again tomorrow night?"
"Absolutely."
A/N: Thank you for reading! I know Sound of Music isn't as popular a category as others, but I recently starred as Liesl von Trapp in a community theatre production of this show. While preparing for the role, I did a lot of character work with the actors who played my siblings, and these stories are what we came up with. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!