| New age childrens story of how the creatures got fire More than ten years ago when the earth was very old and only humans had fire the small creatures were cold and so were cold blooded. One day a cricket was skipping along and a car ran over his leg. His leg was ruined. He went to very few others for help as they might eat him. he finally found a grasshopper. The grasshopper had very strong sharp legs and he whittled cricket out a wooden leg. Brother cricket went on about his business for years but he missed his music he used to play. He tried rubbing his good leg against the wooden one and in time cut it in two. Brother grasshopper scolded him but went ahead and made him another one. Now cricket could once again hobble around. He was hobbling across the road to see brother Junebug one day when a boy on a bicycle came riding by. He saw cricket and stopped. Cricket tried getting away but his wooden leg slowed him too much and it made him too heavy to fly. The boy caught him and giggled as he pulled off the crickets good leg. He tried to pull off the wooden one but it was much too strong for him so he gave up and tired of the game and rode off down the street to his friends house. Cricket was in tears when grasshopper refused to make him another wooden leg. Cricket found brother coon who happened to be tame and wanted to play with brother cricket. Brother cricket said: I will play with you if you will make me a leg. Skeeter, I mean brother coon looked at cricket and said: all right I can make you a wooden one exactly like your other one. Cricket replied" NO. I want a leg I can play like my old ones were I was born with. I used to stay up all night rubbing my legs together and make chirping music. Coon said" hmmm. I think I can do that. Coon set about making the best leg he could for cricket. He took his modeling tools and began working. He stayed up all night and by morning was ready to start. (he spent the night on the internet) soon he was finished. Cricket woke up from the couch and coon fitted his new leg. It was beautiful. It looked exactly like a miniature fiddle bow. Coon had slipped off the wooden one while cricket slept and hollowed it out and added strings. Cricket began playing. It was beautiful. Cricket played and played and played. The Orange Blossom Special was his favorite. Cricket did fine until one day he broke the bow. It was just too thin to walk on so he had coon make him another wooden one. Coon made him another leg only this one was carved and very pretty like a walking stick. Cricket promised himself he would make the best of it and everything went smooth. The only thing was he began grinding his legs in his sleep. One night he was restless and began grinding his legs together and had a bad dream and began rubbing them together faster and faster. Soon he started a fire in his bed, or rather coons bed. This was an old Indian trick. You rub two sticks together real fast and it makes the sticks smoke and then a fire. Coon had told him not to play with fire, and especially in bed now he lost his friend cricket and his HOUSE. He also lost the cutest little fiddle player he ever knew. Coon had made him another bow and on special occasions cricket had played for coon and his friends. Such beautiful music was heard by all the animals and insects from all around. Tommy The Masked Writer � 2002 T Lovett |