EAL Conversation Club Story
The Fire in the Woods
By members of the EAL Conversation Club
Based on a traditional Slovakian tale entitled: ‘The Dear Little Hen: The Story of a Rooster that Cheated’ (see www.worldoftales.com)
A long time ago in Shagam lived a very old and very wise Chihuahua , he was king of all the animals. He had 2 friends the cat and the rabbit.
One day they decided to go for a stroll in the forest but as they got closer they could hear crackling wood, smell black smoke and see flames!
The woods were on fire! The friends shouted at each other and ran towards the lake. Before they got there they bumped into a kangaroo who commanded them to stop. “ I am the guardian of the lake, what do you want?”.
“We need water
For fire!
In Forest!
Crackling flames!
Black smoke!
Oh dear
All trees
Will die!”
The kangeroo said:
“If you want water you must go the tree and get me an apple.”
So the friends ran to the tree as fast as they could and all out of breath they gasped:
“Tree!
Give us
Apple
For kangaroo
For water
For fire!
In Forest!
Crackling flames!
Black smoke!
Oh dear!
All trees
Will die!”
The tree said:
“If you want an apple you must run to the fish and get me some water.”
So the friends ran to the fish as fast as they could and all out of breath they gasped:
“Fish!
Give us
Water
For tree
For apple
For kangaroo
For water
For fire!
In Forest!
Crackling flames!
Black smoke!
Oh dear!
All trees
Will die!”
The fish said:
“If you want water you must go to the beach and get me a sea shell,”
So the friends ran to the beach as fast as they could and all out of breath they gasped:
“Beach!
Give us
A sea shell
For fish
For water
For tree
For apple
For kangaroo
For water
For fire!
In Forest!
Crackling flames!
Black smoke!
Oh dear!
All trees
Will die!”
The Beach said:
“If you want a sea shell you must go to the camel and get me some sand from the desert”
So the friends ran to the camel as fast as they could and all out of breath they gasped:
“Camel!
Give us
Some sand
For beach
For sea shell
For fish
For water
For tree
For apple
For kangaroo
For water
For fire!
In Forest!
Crackling flames!
Black smoke!
Oh dear!
All trees
Will die!”
The camel said:
“If you want some sand from the desert you much go to the meadow and get me some grass”
So the friends ran to the meadow as fast as they could and all out of breath they gasped:
“Meadow!
Give us some grass
For camel
For sand
For beach
For sea shell
For fish
For water
For tree
For apple
For kangaroo
For water
For fire!
In Forest!
Crackling flames!
Black smoke!
Oh dear!
All trees
Will die!”
The meadow said :
“If you want grass you need to get me some rain from the sky.
So the friends looked up at the sky and pleaded:
“Oh sky
Dear sky!
Give us some rain
For meadow
For grass
For camel
For sand
For beach
For sea shell
For fish
For water
For tree
For apple
For kangaroo
For water
For fire!
In Forest!
Crackling flames!
Black smoke!
Oh dear!
All trees
Will die!”
The sky pitied the by now exhausted friends and gave then some rain.
So, they gave the meadow the rain and the meadow gave them some grass.
They gave the camel the grass and the camel gave them some sand.
They gave the beach the sand and the beach gave them a sea shell.
They gave the fish the sea shell and the fish gave them some water.
They gave the tree some water and the tree gave them an apple.
They gave the kangaroo the apple and the kangaroo gave them some water.
They rushed back to the forest to put out the fire, which by now had already been extinguished, by the rain!
The End!
