“Gentleman, please!” said the croco-diamond, “Before
you tooth him with your teeth, may I offer up a parable?”
“Pair a bowls? Them’s the thangs you et spaghetti in,
right?” Asked Earl. “That feller talks funny but he’s always givin’ us things.”
“Parable. It’s a story whose purpose is to teach a
lesson,” said the giant man. “I would mention also that it’s a VERY SHORT story,” he added,
giving the croco-diamond a look.
“Very well then, the parable,” said the croco-diamond.
“Once there was a - feller.”
The whitey biteys looked bored. One said, “That
feller’s jest gonna talk some more stuff nobody unnerstans what he’s sayin’. I
thought we was gettin’ some spaghetti.”
The croco-diamond had to keep their attention and make them understand.
So he sang his parable.
“Once there was a
feller, he never was a yeller!”
On the wharf the kangawrong did drum jumps to accompany
the croco-diamond.
“He would not get
maaaaad
Even when others
made him sad
Because they did
things that were bad
He said the best
way to live
Was always to forgiiiiive!”
The croco-diamond lifted the octopeu from his head and
looked into his eyes, which were still covered, sort of, by the sunglass. The
tentacles stretched but did not release the croco-diamond’s head.
“And if you’re
bad or tell lies
You must always apologiiiiiize!”
“I think that feller is on ta somethin’ with his
pair-a-bowls,” said the largest whitey bitey. “Anyways, now we got back our
fine mittens. We don’t need no more bother with that crafty feller and doin’
things like to tooth him.”
The octopeu released the croco-diamond’s head and
plopped with a ploop into the water. The croco-diamond poked
him with a nail and whispered “Go ahead.”
“Here ees a leetle song from moi.
I le stole your le
meetens
eet was very bad
I made every fone
oh sooooo sad
I jeest fant to
say I’m sorry
I am good now
plees don’t worry!”
All clapped and the octopeu bowed.
Earl said, “Aw shucks, pardner, we done forgave you
your stealin’ all our fine mittens.”
And then the whitey biteys sang their own song for all who
had brought the mittens:
Under
the sea! Under the sea!
Won't
you come see us under the sea?
We'll
eat starfish crackers and jellyfish cheese!
So
pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease
Won't
you come see us under the sea?
Slowly their grey heads vanished into the water as the last
line was being sung. Soon all that could be seen in the deep were the
OrangeUGlad and BananaSafely mittens glowing in the water.
#
The kangawrong patted the giant man’s leg. When he bent
down creak oof it
handed him the beret and scarf it had knitted from the sock. The giant man put
his hand in the water KERPLUNK and the octopeu took the gifts.
“Ees perfecto! Very stylee!” With his scarf, beret, and
sunglass the octopeu looked very Freuch.
“Well, I am finally glad he wears red socks!” said the
croco-diamond. “The color is very suitable to the octopeu’s complexion I
think.”
#
After the whitey biteys and the octopeu departed the
croco-diamond made a few more swim strokes in the water so all on the wharf
could see how well he swam. Then he swam the length of the wharf, following the
kangawrong and the giant man.
The sun dried the water from the croco-diamond’s back
and he lay sleepily on the sand as the giant man pulled out a snack for all to
eat.
“Given your song, is there anything you’d like to say
to us?” he asked the croco-diamond, handing him a plate of pretsicles.
“Yes, yes there is.” The croco-diamond put his plate of
pretsicles down in the sand and looked at all with a serious expression.
“I think my song was better. I have much more range
than the octopeu.” He began to hum dee dee deetle deeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
“Anything else?”
“Hm,” thought the croco-diamond, “I wanted to tell you
about what happened on my mission but thought I should wait until dinner...dinner...Oh dear, I’d forgotten!”
The croco-diamond quickly dumped his plate of
pretsicles into his mouth and hurriedly crunched them. He indicated to the
kangawrong and the giant man by madly flapping his front feet that they should
finish their snacks as well.
“In all the excitement of the mission I forgot about THE experiment! We must return home
IMMEDIATELY! He
is going to be waiting...”
“Oh no,” said the giant man. “What now?”
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