Here is a ready resort in every such emergency.
"Very well," replies the mother to such a request, "I'll tell you a story; but I must have a picture to my story.

Find me a picture in some book." The child brings a picture, no matter what.

There is no possible picture that will not suggest to a person possessed of ordinary ingenuity an endless number of talks to interest and amuse the child.

To take an extreme case, suppose the picture is a rude pencil drawing of a post, and nothing besides.

You can imagine a boy hidden behind the post, and you can call to him, and finally obtain an answer from him, and have a long talk with him about his play and who he is hiding from, and what other way he has of playing with his friend.