years ago, when my daughter Rebecca was 14, we started writing stories together. I wrote a few children's stories at the time, and this is one of them.
Suitable for ages 4 to 8 (read-aloud).
Part 2 of 3 in the “Why Does It Work Like That?” series
Why Do Fish Swim?
It’s a little-known fact that when fish first evolved, they stood upright on their tails and walked around much like we do today. A big problem for fish, though, was that they couldn’t wear shoes and socks on their tails, so walking on rough or hot ground was very uncomfortable. Because of this, they all walked around with rather grumpy looks on their faces.
One day, one small fish had really had enough of walking and hurt himself, so he sat in a hole in the path and sobbed. His tail hurt so much, and the more he thought about how much it hurt, the more upset he became. The more upset he got, the more he sobbed and cried.
After a while, his crying started to attract a large group of fish, who gathered around the hole to see what the matter was. Nobody could make him happy, so he became sadder and sadder, and cried more and more.
All the time he was crying about his poor, aching tail, the little hole began to fill up with his tears, so much so that the water rose up to his face. The little fish looked around and saw the huge crowd that had gathered. Suddenly, he felt very embarrassed. He dunked his head under the puddle of tears and kicked his tail to try to get away from everyone.
To his amazement, and to the amazement of all the other fish watching, the little fish glided quickly and effortlessly through the water. He kicked again with his tail and swam around faster and faster.
And to this day, while they could still walk on land on their tails if they wanted to, fish choose to swim, because it’s much easier.
An original story by Andrew Scaife (written in 2013)
© Andrew Scaife, 2013–. All rights reserved.
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