©Copyright 2001 by Douglas Christian Larsen -- all rights reserved. Please feel free to use these stories in storytelling to children, or for bedtime reading, or for use in church or Vacation Bible School, or for simple entertainment purposes, but please do not rewrite, repackage or include for sale or resale in any form without express permission of the author (and he's pretty easy-going).
A boy waded at the edge of the river, his pant legs rolled up. The water was freezing, but nice. The boy's father stood looking into the sky, his rifle slung over his shoulder. The boy was looking for worms in the thick mud, bait for a fishing trip they would take early the next morning. The father was looking for something to shoot with his gun. Their picnic basket was empty, and ants carried away their crumbs.
And then the father slid his rifle from his shoulder into his hands, and he aimed along the barrel, pointing the gun at the sky. The boy looked up and squinted into the sky, holding a hand over his eyes to shade away the sun, and he saw the eagle flying high, high in the sky. He looked from the eagle to his father, and then followed the aim of the rifle and knew that his father was about to shoot the great bird.
"No Daddy!" the boy cried, "You can't shoot an eagle."
The father jerked his aim away from his flying target, surprised by his son's cry, and then he thought better of what he was about to do. It was illegal to shoot eagles, as there were not many left in the world.
"Thank you," the father said, hardly believing what he had almost done.
Riding high, high upon the uprising winds of thermals, the eagle looked down with its sharp eagle eyes, and there below, yes, food, swimming far below in the river, food for the eaglets, the baby eagles who waited high in the nest for their papa eagle to return, with their gaping beaks peeping, hungry. A person riding in an airplane would only see a sparkling river below, far far below, a tiny trickle of sparkling blue. But the eagle sees things in greater detail. And the eagle plunges through the sky, falling, spiralling faster and faster, down through the warm air, great talons open and reaching. The food would not escape!
In the river, in the cool waters, a little fish swam near its mommy, they bubbled happily as they ate moquito eggs. Then the mommy fish noticed a shadow growing above them and she bubbled at her baby: "Swim!" And they did, as fast as their fins could move them along. Just then there was a huge splash as a giant eagle hit the water above them, and talons scratched along the baby fish's back, but they dove deep, just barely escaping their doom.
The little fish cried and nestled close to its mommy, and she soothed her baby with her fin. To make her baby feel better she said, "Look at that, baby!"
And the little fish saw a tasty morsel, just a little bit away, a tasty fat worm! The little fish moved forward, oh what a wonderful, wonderful treat!
In the mud, a mommy worm oozed and gooed near her gluey little baby worm, they loved the mud dearly, and they adored mucking up near the water, where it was nice and cool, but at the last second the mommy worm noticed the gaping mouth of the monster fish bearing down upon them, and she screamed to her baby worm: "Dig down, baby! Down in the mud!"
And the two worms oozed down, but just before they were completely buried the baby fish seized the baby worm's tail. The baby worm screamed: "Mommy!"
The baby fish pulled and pulled, the Mommy fish watched proudly as her little fish caught its meal.
But the Mommy worm didn't want to lose her baby, and she wrapped her ooey-gooey body around her baby's body, and they pulled, and pulled, digging deeper into the mud. The baby fish pulled and pulled, with all its might attempting to pull the baby worm up out of the mud. Back and forth they yanked, first down, and then up.
"Pull!" the Mommy fish told its child.
"Pull!" the Mommy worm told its child, as she yanked upon its head.
"Too twong!" the baby fish slurred, mouth full of worm tail.
"Ouch!" the baby worm howled, desperately wrapping around its mommy.
With a pop of bubbles, the baby worm snapped in half, the bigger part of its slimey body shooting down into the mud. The baby fish tumbled backward in the water, its mouth still holding a tiny bit of tail, only the smallest of snacks, hardly a mouthful!
"That was close," the Mommy worm said, wrapping her body comfortingly around her baby, and the baby worm cried and cried. In time its little tail would grow back, but right now it was a terrible boo-boo, but at least the baby worm felt very safe cuddled next to its Mommy.
Just then something huge came burrowing down through the mud, it seized both the Mommy and baby worms.
"Daddy! I found two big worms!" the boy cried, pulling the worms from the mud, washing them clean in the water of the river.
"Great," the father said, "we'll catch those two fish I just saw in the water, it looked like a mother with its baby!"
The father and his son packed up their picnic gear, and headed home. The boy placed his two fat worms in a can and kept it on the nightstand next to his bed, excited about getting up early in the morning to catch the two fish in the river.
That night as the boy lay sleeping in his bed, he dreamed about the eagle in the sky, he dreamed about his father pointing his gun at the eagle, he dreamed about the eagle nearly catching the fish, a Mommy fish and a baby fish, he dreamed about the fish nearly catching a worm, he dreamed about putting those worms on a hook and catching those fish, and he dreamed about the hungry eaglets peeping in their nest.
The boy rolled over and over in his bed. He untucked the covers. He turned upside-down so that his head bumped into the footboard. He dreamed of himself flying and getting hit by a bullet and falling, he dreamed of himself caught in the cruel talons of an eagle, he dreamed of himself getting ate by a fish. Twice he almost fell off the side of his mattress. Finally, grumpy and cold and very upset, he sat on the edge of his bed and thought about the two worms in the can. He felt sorry for the eagle and its babys, he felt sorry for the Mommy fish and its baby, he felt sorry for the Mommy worm and its baby. And he felt sorry for himself because he could not sleep.
The boy turned on his lamp and peeked over the edge of the can. The two worms were sitting on their tails, and they were looking at the boy with sad, sad eyes. The boy stared at the worms for a long time. The worms stared at the boy for a long time.
Finally, the boy took the can and crept to the back door and stuck his arm out the dog's little door flapper. He quietly spilled the worms onto the soft dirt of the backyard.
The two worms, smiling, crept side-by-side toward the river. The boy watched their progress in the moonlight.
Then the two worms turned back, stood on their tails, and waved good-bye to the boy, bending their bodies up and down like hands waving.
In sweet little voices they called to the boy: "Tankoo Bye-Bye!"
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze; their young will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox. And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:6-9 (NAS)
And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 65:24-25 (KJV)
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Art et Amour Toujours
These stories were created for children and are best acted out, with drama, passion and a sense of fun & mystery. These are parables that teach deeper truths, but first and foremost they should entertain and keep the child's attention. At the end of each story are scriptures which support the story, enabling the parent to open scripture to young children.
