Francois the Antelope
Today I was asked by a 3 year old to tell another story. The first one was about a sea lion in the desert and I had heard it the night before. However that was all I had. Below you will find a conversation with my chum Amanda as I tell her the story. The kids were 3, 5, and 7. Enjoy.
(Abridged version)
It was about François the antelope who loved to chase gazelles
He would run and chase them all day long
One day he chased them all day, until he was out of breath (pant pant)
Then he looked up and saw that he had never been here before and didn’t know where he was
[Amanda :This story is fun]
And it was starting to get dark
I asked them what they though he should do - a flashlight
Then we had to pause a moment to talk about opposable thumbs - and how François did not have them and so he couldn’t use a flashlight
[Amanda: hahaha]
[Yes - even better if you had been there = and then they tried to do things without thumbs before I continued]
So François was tired and he thought to himself François maybe this is all a dream so he curled up next to and under a shrub to sleep
Do you know what happened in his dream?
[Amanda:No]
He chased gazelles - because he loved to chase them
Do you ever dream about things you like to do?
[Amanda: Yes]
But then on the plain- there was a loud THUD like a rock falling from high above
François head jerked like this (sorry) but he couldn’t see
What would you do if you were an antelope, lost in the dark, with no opposable thumbs to use the flashlight, hiding next to/under a shrub? How would you feel?
[Amanda:Scared]
Well lucky for François about that time there was a noise - brief pause to ask them individually - what noise would you make if you were an antelope? Insert 3 noises one at a time
Now all together
Yes François friends and family had come to find them because they know that he loves to chase gazelles and could easily get lost
But François did not make any sound - sometimes do you get so excited that you can’t make even a sound?
(The 7 year old demonstrated - that yes in fact he did and he would show me the face)
[Amanda: Cute]
But what François did do was run as fast as he could, faster than when he chased the gazelles, to the call of the antelopes
The moral of the story - always pay attention where you are when you chase antelopes - or chase them with a buddy
The end