Another of my daughter's bedtime stories. Telling kids
stories you make up sure helps you to develop your skills at thinking on your feet!
Long ago when all the animals lived together they used to recognize
each other by their voices. "Good morning Elephant," you'd hear, "Hello,
Moose", "Afternoon Beaver" and so on. But then there came a time when there
were too many animals and they began to live farther and farther apart so that they would
have enough room to live. Then all the animals started to learn unique calls that would
allow others to recognize them from far away. Lion was one of the first to learn a new
call and it was a mighty roar that echoed through the hills and valleys. But soon all the
animals learned new calls and everyone came to recognize them by their call. Moose
bellowed, Loon called, Owl hooted, Mouse squeaked, Wolf howled, Dog barked, each learned a
unique sound. Everyone but Tiger. While an animal could tell where Moose was from far away
all Tiger could do was yell as loud as he could. He yelled until he got hoarse and still
no one knew who he was. He'd yell and Elephant would trumpet back asking "Who's
that?" After a while he realized that the other animals were starting to laugh and
even worse pity him so he hid in his cave so he wouldn't have to face anyone. Well he'd
still be there today but that rascal Squirrel decided to pay him a visit and see what was
wrong. Squirrel found his cave and chattered a hello to Tiger. No answer. Squirrel
chattered even louder and finally Tiger asked him what he wanted. "Why just to see
you and pass some time with you friend Tiger. How are you today?" "Oh just
wonderful friend Squirrel, just wonderful," said Tiger in an irritated voice.
"Why what's wrong Tiger?" asked Squirrel. "Oh, nothing," replied
Tiger, "It's just that every animal but me has a wonderful new sound or call that
they can use to let others know where they are." "Oh Tiger that's not true,
Rabbit has already given his voice to Lark and as for the fish, well..."
"Squirrel no one cares about the fish and Rabbit is a nobody as well. But me, I am a
great animal and I should make a great sound. But what can I do, just talk and even Man
can do that," he said scornfully. "Well it is true that I heard Lion bragging
about how great he was with his mighty roar and how long it had been since he has seen
you..." "Why that braggart if I had a sound all my own I would show him who is
the great one. I would give anything to have my own sound." Squirrel's eyes lit up
and he asked, "Anything?" "Yes," said Tiger, "Anything." In
those days it wasn't only Lion that had a great mane of shaggy hair on his head. Tiger too
had a beautiful mane on his head and it was his pride and joy. Squirrel said, "I can
teach you how to make a mighty sound if you give me..." "What," asked
Tiger, "what do you want me to give you so that you will teach me how to make a
mighty sound?" Squirrel smiled as this was the exact question he had wanted Tiger to
ask. "Why, nothing much Tiger, just your mane." "My mane," shouted
Tiger, "but I have the best mane in the world, it's much better than Lion's."
"Well, that's true", said Squirrel, "but it doesn't do you much good if you
won't come out of this cave where animals can see it. Soon everyone will think Lion has
the best mane if no one ever sees your's." Tiger thought and thought. He truly loved
his mane but he was getting tried of being cooped up in his cave. "Alright," he
said, "you can have my mane but you must teach me how to make a mighty sound."
"Oh, I'll teach you how to make a mighty sound Tiger, don't you worry," said
Squirrel. So Squirrel took a magic black stone knife he had taken from Dark Man and shaved
off all of Tiger's mane. He put the hair in his spirit bag along with the magic knife.
"What are you going to do with my mane?" asked Tiger suspiciously. "Oh, I
promise not to cause you any harm with this hair friend Tiger, don't you worry. Let's go
to the place where I teach animals to make might sounds." Tiger and Squirrel
travelled through valleys and forests and over mountains until they reached a dark glade.
Squirrel said, "For my magic to work you must close your eyes and keep them closed
until I tell you otherwise." "Okay," said Tiger, "but no tricks."
Squirrel smiled and taking the Shiny Axe he had borrowed from Stone Man he spilt a springy
tree in two. Grunting and straining he forced half of the tree down to the ground and tied
it to another tree. He then made Tiger stand on his back legs right beside the other half.
"Alright Tiger I am now going to make my magic, keep your eyes closed." He
started making nonsense noises and told Tiger, "Now Tiger you must pass water for the
magic to stick." Tiger said, "What strange magic is this Squirrel. Are you
trying to trick me? For if you are..." "Oh Tiger I promise you that you indeed
will make a mighty sound if you let me finish my magic." "Alright," said
Tiger, "if you promise." So Tiger started to make water. Chop, down came the
axe, swish up came the split trunk, snap right on Tiger's organ.
Oh yes, Tiger learned that he could make a mighty sound and Squirrel
learned that he could run much faster than he had ever thought possible. Eventually Tiger
stopped chasing Squirrel and had to settle for being without a mane. He consoled himself
with the thought that he indeed could make a mighty sound for all he had to do was think
about what Squirrel had done to him to bring a mighty bellow out of his lungs. And
Squirrel what did he get out of his trick beside a great story? Well to this day when you
see Squirrel you'll see that he has two jaunty tuffs of tiger coloured fur on the ends of
his ears and his tail is much bushier than it once was. And if you're ever near a Tiger
that hears a Squirrel you'll see his eyes narrow and he'll look like he's thinking of
climbing that tree and getting that Squirrel.
©April 10, 2000 Oliver D. Bernuetz
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