undefined
The Children's Corner
The story you will read today is one told to me by my father when I was a child. I have taken the poetic license to add to it but it still gives the reader the lesson he intended. PLEASE WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE GRAPHICS AND SOUND TO DOWNLOAD. THANKS. NOW ENJOY.
Chapter 1
The Day of the Full Moon
As told to me by my father, Claude Mobley, Jr.
Once upon a time there was a little boy named Roy. He, his ma and his pa lived in a cabin, deep in the woods near a great big swamp. One day Roy's pa had gone to the saw mill on the other side of the swamp to see if they might have some work for him. He was in such a hurry to get there and get back so he and Roy could go fishin' that afternoon that he left his dinner behind. (Southerners call the meal at noon dinner and the meal at night supper.)
Roy's ma called out, "Roy, your pa forgot his vittles. He's gonna be madder than a wet hen when he finds out.You are just going to have to take them over to the logging camp for me." Hurridly, Roy put on his socks with the red stripes, his brogan shoes with the holes in the bottom, brown knickers, a new red shirt, and a cocky little hat that he had won at the county fair last week."I'm ready, Ma."
Ma was in the kitchen filling the lunch bucket with a shiney new tin pan filled with some corn pone bread, black strap molasses and fried chicken. Lordy, Pa's vittles was lip-smacking good. Pa even had a thermos filled with chicory coffee. Roy could hardly resist sneaking a little bite from the crispy drumstick.
Now Roy's ma knew that little boys like to explore, but she did not want Roy to go near the swamp exploring today. When she was a little girl, her ma had told her about a little boy who had gone into the swamp on the day of the full moon and he never came out. She knew this was the gospel truth, because her ma did not lie. Today was the day of the full moon.
"Roy, don't go near the swamp today. You go around the long way to the logging camp." "Why, ma?", asked Roy. "When I was a little girl your Grandma told me to never go near the swamp on the day of the full moon or bad things would happen to me." With a little quiver in her voice, ma continued. "Now, today is the day of the full moon and me and Pa would not want anything to happen to you. Promise me that you won't go anywhere near that swamp........ You hear?" As Roy crossed his fingers in a King X behind his back, he promised. He picked up the tin bucket and thermos and began to whistle a happy tune. Lickedy split he began skipping across the field to take the vittles to his pa.
Chapter 2
.............Roy walked and walked and walked and was beginning to get tired and hungry. Going the long way around the swamp was a looooong way. Roy began to ponder. With his head cocked to one side and one eye slightly shut, he began to mumble to himself. " If I cut across the swamp, I can save a mile o' more. Who is ever heard of a day of the full moon. Full moons are at night.And it ain't night!!" So, proud of his ability to reason, Roy decided to cut through the swamp. Off he went skipping and whistling.
...............When he got to the
edge of the swamp he was starved. Pa won't miss a little pinch of
corn pone with molassas. Maybe he won't even miss a little sip of
coffee neither. So Roy sat down on a log near the edge of the
swamp and started to open up the vittles.
As he did, an eerie
quietness came over the swamp. The birds were not chirping any
more. Even the wind had stopped blowing. It was very heavy and
humid. The sweat that had popped out on his head from walking
just lay there. As Roy put the pone and molasses into his mouth,
a little frog started croaking in a very high shrilled voice.
TINPAN TINPAN TINPAN TINPAN TINPAN TINPAN Roy thought the little
frog must have seen the tin pan containing his pa's dinner and
wanted a bite. Then another frog began to sing his little tune.
Bottle, Bottle, Bottle......
Bottle, Bottle, Bottle.......Bottle, Bottle, Bottle Did this frog want his pa's thermos and
coffee? Roy got up and moved a little closer to the edge of the
swamp so he could see the frogs. As he did this, another frog
chimmed in with
JACK CRAP
HAT, JACK CRAP HAT, JACK CRAP HAT. It happened so suddenly that Roy jerked back and his
little hat fell into the edge of the water. He became a little
scared now, but he had to get his hat or Ma would know that he
had been in the swamp. He took off his shoes and the socks with
the red stripes. He stuck his left toe in, then his whole foot.
Next his right toe and foot. The water was just about up to the
edge of his brown knickers. As he bent over to
pick up his hat, a frog sitting on a lily pad a few feet away
began to croak
Knee Deep a
little Deeper, Knee Deep a Little Deeper, Knee Deep a little
Deeper. Before he could
make another move, there was a big splash in the water way out in
the middle of the swamp. A big ol' SOMETHING in the very middle
of the swamp began to chant in a deep, deep monotone voice.
OVER YOUR HEAD, OVER
YOUR HEAD, OVER YOUR HEAD. Roy squinted to
see if he could see what was in the middle of the swamp. All of a
sudden he spied a big bumpy eye sticking out of the water. Roy
thought if that eye belonged to a frog, he must be the biggest
frog in all the world. And Roy surely didn't wanta meet that
frog.
Chapter 3
.....................At that very moment, the big bumpy eye began to move in the water towards Roy.
..................... When Roy saw the eye moving towards him he really became frightened. His face went white. He jumped out of the
water, leaving his little hat. He began running so hard that he
did not notice that he had stepped in his pa's vittles on the
bank. He ran and he ran until he just plain gave out and fell
down.
.......................He
lay gasping on the ground when a hand touched his shoulder. It
was his pa coming back for his vittles. As soon as Roy could
catch his breath, he told his pa about the frogs and the thing in
the middle of the swamp. Pa took off his sweaty baseball cap and
rubbed his bald head. "You know son, in the middle of that
swamp lives a great big ol' gator.
I've never seen him, but as the story goes if a body gets close to him on the day of the full moon, he tries to eat em up. You is a lucky little boy. You could have been that gator's dinner, right now. Didn't your ma tell you not to go through the swamp on the day of the full moon? Roy answered in a very weak voice, "yes, pa, ma told me and I broke my promise to her." Pa looked hard at Roy. "I have a good a mind to whup you." "Please, pa. I will never do it again." "You know I should whup you for breaking your promise to your ma and for nearly getting yourself kilt. But I guess you have learnt your lesson...... but ifen you ever do this again I'm gonna tan your hide good."
...........................Roy
never forgot his experience. And when his ma and pa told him not
to do something on the day of the full moon, he didn't
do it. He also never broke his promise to his ma or pa even
though he had made a King X. He remembered OVER YOUR HEAD, OVER YOUR HEAD, OVER YOUR HEAD.
Moral:
Wisdom comes with experience if you can survive the experience.
