Storytelling Speech - “A Land-loving Catfish”
Once there was a boy who used to spend his day doing different chores around John Mauk’s country store. IButt2014-07-19T17:13:00.25IPause after every full stop.
-- He used to prepare corn,IButt2014-07-19T17:12:00.25IShort pause after every comma.
-- chop wood,-- go fishing -- and do many other kinds of things there. -- One day he was fishing in a pond, which was a quarter of a mile away from the store. Instead of a fishing rod, he was using a piece of wrapping thread and a cane pole with a big, red worm attached to it to attract the fish. He used to catch a lot of fish that way, and IButt2014-07-19T17:13:00.26IWith excitement sometimes would be lucky to catch more than one fish with the same worm! That day, he caught about nine to thirteen fish in a row, but then all of a sudden, he could not catch any more of them, no matter how long he waited holding his pole in the water. He decided to give up and leave with the fish that he had caught. IButt2014-07-19T16:37:00.26ISay this with excitement plus shock
But when he turned around to pick them up, he was shocked to see them all dead and stiff, because they were left to lie there in the hot sun for about two hour. However, the boy noticed that one of the fish was moving and making strange sounds. He was surprised to see IButt2014-07-19T16:37:00.26IWith shock in voice that it was alive unlike the others. He picked it up and dipped it in the water a number of times. He then picked all the other fish and put this living fish on top of them. He held it carefully and started towards his home.
After coming home, the boy dumped all the fish in his backyard after cleaning and frying them all and went to bed. He did not put the living fish separately from the others and left it lying on the grass with the rest of fish. The next morning when he woke up, he realized his mistake of leaving the living fish in the backyard. He feared that a stray cat might wander there and eat it. He rushed out of the backdoor and found that living fish with the others, when he left it. IButt2014-07-19T16:38:00.26IPut emphasis. Show excitement in voice
He was amazed to see that the fish was still alive and was living off moisture and dew on the grass. The boy could not believe that a fish could live on such a small amount of water. Suddenly, an idea crossed his mindIButt2014-07-19T16:38:00.26IShow excitement
. He decided to train the fish to learn to live without water. The first day, he put the fish out of the water for four hours but the next day, he increased the duration to eight hours. On the third day, he kept it out of the water for 16 hours and the next day, for 32 hours. IButt2014-07-19T16:39:00.26IShow amazement and excitement in voice
Thus he came to this amazing conclusion that fish could live even without water by just taking in the air that we all breathe.
However, the boy did not stop with his experiments on the fish there. One day, he tied a string around it and started pulling. And what happened next amused him greatly. IButt2014-07-19T16:35:00.26ISay this with excitement and amusment.
The fish got up in its two front fins and started paddling through its way towards the boy! IButt2014-07-19T16:36:00.26IShow some more amusement
What was even more amusing was the fact that when he took off the string from the fish, it kept following him around the house. After that the boy taught the fish some more tricks like “roll over”, and it obeyed him like he was its mother! The boy also named the fish as Homer. Another amusing thing about the fish was that it liked all kinds of things to eat, including M&Ms! One day, Homer, the fish, saw the boy’s mother with a big knife. In fear of being cut and used as dinner, IButt2014-07-19T16:48:00.26ISay with excitement the fish stood up on its tailIButt2014-07-19T16:48:00.27IShort pause
! IButt2014-07-19T16:49:00.27ISay slowly and with wonder and excitement
The boy had never seen anything like this before!
A few days later, some men from the biology department of University of Tennessee came to the boy’s house and asked him about the fish. When they came to know about the tricks that Homer, the fish, could do, they asked the boy if they could take it back to the university, as the fish was a great step towards the process of Evolution. But the boy refused to part with the fish. The men then took some photos of the fish and took notes. Another time, some men from a carnival came to buy the fish, but the boy again refused to hand it over. He had gotten so attached with the fish that wherever, he go, the fish would follow him! IButt2014-07-19T17:14:00.27ISay slowly and with emphasis
Thus he could not give it away!
However, when the time came for school to open, the boy realized that he would have to part with his fish for a few hours and he could not take it to the school with him IButt2014-07-19T17:00:00.27ISay with amusement and have the same trouble that Mary had with her lamb when she took her to school. However, when he was walking to school one day, he suddenly looked back IButt2014-07-19T17:08:00.27IWith emphasis and FOUND THE FISH WALKING RIGHT BEHIND HIM. It was right there, behind me, when I was crossing an old wooden bridge on my way to school. The bridge was old and rotten. After crossing the bridge, I again looked behind IButt2014-07-19T17:08:00.27ISay with surprising tone and FOUND THAT HOMER WAS NOWHERE IN SIGHT. I hurried back to the bridge and found a hole in one of the boards of the bridge. I realized that the fish might have fallen down from this hole. When I looked down the bridge, there I saw Homer, in the water, DROWNING!