A crow perched herself in the tree holding a piece of meat in her beak. Just moments earlier she was soaring through the air above the city smelling all of the fresh food. She thought to herself "What do I want for supper?" As she flew through the crouds of people all of a sudden the scent of freshly prepared meat ran up her nose and tingled her body. Without hesitation she swooped down and landed on the same table that a woman with her son was sitting.

The boy cried out "Mom! Mom! There's a bird on the table!"

 "Just a minute sweetie," the woman said while staring at her cell phone. The bird hopped over and grasped the meat in her beak and snickered as she flew away. Once she landed in the tree she noticed a fox down below.

"Hello, Mr. Fox. How are you today?"

"Well, Miss Crow, I'm actually very hungry," He said as he smacked his lips while staring at the meat.

"You poor dear," said the Crow. "I'm afraid I can't help you with that."

The Fox was beginning to be annoyed by her when a thought popped into his mind. "Why don't I just trick the dumb old Crow?'' thought the Fox.

"Miss Crow, is that a new scarf?" asked the Fox.

"Why yes, yes it is," she exclaimed with a smile.

"Why don't you model it for me?" the Fox said.

As Miss Crow spun round and round modeling her new scarf she began to get dizzy and accidentely dropped the piece of meat down to the ground and the Fox quickly picked it up for himself.

"Why yes, Miss Crow, that is a lovely scarf, but maybe next time don't be so oblivious." "Your wit is wanting," said the Fox as he casually strolled off into the woods.

Photo By: The-Fox-And-The-Crow-by-blindedangel

Walk The Plank

It was a cold winter day out when Grandfather was telling me about the Pirates.  Grandfather was once a deckhand on the “The Black Swan” the ship of the Atlantic and sailed the great ocean blue soon to be named the American Main. He was telling me of the reefs and was talking about the good and bad times of the great ship and his crew.  

“Argh me mateys!”  One of the crew members hollered off of the bow of the ship. “The ship got ye bilge on her anchor!” All of the pirates came hobbling to the edge of the ship with disgust written all over their faces.

“It seems to have punctured the keel of ye shipmates!” “Who  wants to take to the water and fix me ship?” yelled the captain.

”I was the one that took the job” said grandfather. “ I had to take the nipper to fix the hole in the tack.”

“ What was it like down there?” the grandchild said.

“It’s unlike anything you could ever imagine son.”  “ There were barnacles the size of your head!” Said Grandfather as he rubbed the child’s hair.

The wind blew through the man’s hair as he dove into the vast sea with a sense of courage.

“Sink me!” yelled one of the pirates as he witnessed the man throw himself off of the haul of the ship.

“Ye need to fix me ship and quickly matey!”  He swam over and got straight to work.  “Hurry up you bilge rat we need to get me booty from the coffer!” I tell you son, I was working as fast as my hands could go.

“Tell me more Grandpa!”  

“Okay, son” said Grandpa.  As I fixed the ship, I could hear the crew singing an old melody from the ancestors of this ship.  I could also hear the flapping of our jack up on the mast.  I hurried over and one of my men threw me the Jack Ketch to pull me back up onto the ship.

I was halfway up the side of the ship when I heard them coming. I turned amidship to see the largest ship of my life. It flowed so gracefully, but the men who were upon the starboard echoed for miles. As I got up on the ship, the men were already getting to their stations. It was the ship that last held the criminal that everybody was looking for, Jack Sparrow. There was a bounty for his capture for 1,000 shillings.  We had from the six pounders in the bilge of the ship, and men had their belaying pins in case they come aboard with also their buckle’s in the other hand.  They were ready for battle. I was preparing my powder chest when I heard a yell come from behind me.

“Brother? Is that you?” said the voice. It seems as if one of my crew men were related to the other ship’s men.  They kept yelling to each other and the men on each ship eventually put away their weapons and walked aboard their ship.  They all celebrated for the gathering of two long lost brothers. They had from Nelson’s folly, to claps of thunder, and even bumboo.

“That’s a great story Grandpa but I don’t think mom wants me to hear these words.”

“Okay, Kiddo, Maybe when you’re older.”

Ships and Sailing Lingo: bilge-The lower half of the ship.  

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Photo from Google Press.Com