Davis and I made up two stories today (initial ideas by Davis and main story by Mom). I thought it would be fun to write them for posterity and maybe some day we can illustrate them. Fact corrections appear in italics for the more discerning audience.
Davis: Mom, tell me a story about the shark!
Mom: How does it start?
Davis: In the beginning!
Mom: Oh, OK.
A story about a shark in the beginning:
In the beginning, when dinosaurs roamed the earth (
That's not really the beginning, but time is really relative anyway, so for this purpose it is the beginning), there lived a shark. He was a lonely shark, there was no one else like him. In fact, he scared all the fish in the ocean because he was so big and had such big teeth.
One day, when Pterodactyl was hovering close to the surface of the ocean, the fish popped up to get his help. "Pterodactyl there is a really large and scary beast in our ocean, can you help us do something?"
Pterodactyl flew off to ask Tyrannosaurus Rex for help. Tyrannosaurus Rex
could hardly believe that such a large and scary animal could exist as what Pterodactyl was telling him about. So he suggested they find a good scout and they headed off to find Brontosaurus.
"Brontosaurus, do you think you could use your long neck to look in the ocean and see what the fish are talking about? If we know, then maybe we will know what we can do to help."
Brontosaurus paused his tree-eating and grudgingly said "I suppose so. While I'm there I guess I could snack on some yummy seaweed". So Brontosaurus slowly carried himself to the ocean where he stuck his head in as far as it would go. He was there sometime eating up the seaweed before he saw a large and dark object slowly swim toward him. Brontosaurus was scared indeed. This new animal didn't just have teeth, it had rows and rows of teeth.**
Brontosaurus quickly pulled his head out of the water and told Tyrannosaurus Rex and Pterodactyl what he had seen. They immediately called a meeting of the dinosaurs. That night Diplodocus, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops joined them at the fire. Brontosaurus relayed what he had seen to the rest of the dinosaurs. They were all very alarmed. They thought some about how to help the fish and decided to build a large net, which they would use to catch the shark! They worked all night and the next day they set their trap.
(During this story Dad asked how they made a net without opposable thumbs. They don't, it's make believe, just accept it).
Only..they didn't catch the shark, they caught all of the fish! The fish began to panic as the shark came closer and closer. They thought there were done for when he opened his great big jaws and bit into the net. It took a few minutes after the shark ripped open the net for the fish to realize they hadn't been eaten! The shark had set them free! They and the dinosaurs rejoiced in the realization that just because something looks different than you, it doesn't mean it's bad!
**Alternate ending.
I had to work very hard to steer my mind away from this version of the story that had popped into my head. When Brontosaurus is watching for the shark in the ocean, Tyrannosaurus Rex realizes he is quite famished and Brontosaurus' tail is looking quite tasty. At the same time T-Rex can no longer stand it Brontosaurus' head and butt are eaten at the same time!
Perhaps someday, when Davis is older, that ending will be fine.
I think that Davis and I will refine our other story about the Seahorse, the jellyfish, the sharks and the turtles.
