Description:
There are two sides to every story. In Part One, a little girl finds a strange beast
in the woods and takes it home as a pet. She feeds it, shows it off to her friends
and gives it a hat. But that night it escapes. Then, in Part Two, the beast tells the
story of being kidnapped by the girl, who force-fed it squirrel food, scared it with
a group of beasts and wrapped it in wool. Can the two beasts resolve their
differences? A Tale of Two Beasts is an eye-opening story that makes you look
at things from a different perspective.
Transcription:
Welcome to Storyline Online, brought to you by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation.
I'm Sarah Silverman, and today I'm going to read "A Tale of Two Beasts,"
written and illustrated by Fiona Roberton.
I was walking home from Grandma's
house, through the deep dark woods, when I spied a strange little beast...
Feep, feep, feep, feep He was stuck up a tree, and whining sadly so I decided
to rescue him. Feep! "I will call you Fang!" I told him, and I wrapped him warmly
up in my scarf, and carried him safely home. I gave him a lovely bath,
and a gorgeous new hat and sweater, and a delicious bowl of fresh nuts.
I made him a beautiful house, and gave him Lord Rex to play with. Lord Rex
is her stuffed lion, it looks like. I took him out for lots of long walkies to keep him
fit and healthy. And I showed him off to all of my friends, who loved him nearly
as much as I did. -Ooh! -Amazing!
-Awesome! -He's so cute! But for some
strange reason, the little beast did not look very happy. In fact, he was looking
rather hot. 'I hope he's not sick,' I thought, and opened the window to cool him
down. But then something terrible happened! He threw off his clothes, leapt out
of the window, and ran away as fast as he could, back to the deep dark woods.
Fang! Feep, feep, feep, feep! I wanted to go look for him, but Mama had other
plans. Dinnertime! Blurgh! Bathtime! Uuurgh! Bedtime! Grrrgh! I couldn't sleep.
I missed the little beast, and wondered if I would ever see him again. But then
a small furry shadow appeared at the foot of my bed.
The strange little beast
had returned. He seemed quite pleased to see me, and I began to think that
maybe, just maybe... ...he wasn't that strange after all.
I wonder why he came
back?
A Tale of Two Beasts, Part Two:
The Terrible Beast.
Tra la la la la,
tra la la la la
I was hanging from my favorite tree, singing happily to the birds
when... Hey! I was ambushed by a terrible beast! Growf! She growled at me,
and tied me up, and carried me off to her secret lair. She made me disgustingly
clean, gross! and dressed me up in a ridiculous hat and sweater, and tried to
make me eat squirrel food. Yuck! She kept me in a tiny box, with nothing for me
to do and nowhere for me to hang from. She made me walk backwards, and
forwards, and backwards again, for no reason whatsoever. She showed me off
to a herd of even wilder beasts, who were just as terrible as she was. I had had
enough! I made a cunning plan, and put it straight into action.
a + b = freedom,
yes! Growf! Woohoo! The deep dark woods, 1 mile Free once more! I raced back
to the deep dark woods, before the terrible beast could catch me. Scritch scratch
It was peaceful in the deep dark woods, a bit too peaceful perhaps. Silence.
And also, a bit wet. In weather like this one could do with a nice warm hat.
I snuck back to retrieve it under cover of darkness. The terrible beast was waiting
for me. She seemed quite pleased to see me, and I began to think that maybe,
just maybe... ...she wasn't that terrible after all.
The end.
Questions:
1. What did the little girl found at the forest?
2. What did she do with it?How did she take care of it?
3. Why did the fox run away? What's its side of the story?