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The Dog & The Flea
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There
was a dog that had a flea. Now, it’s not uncommon for dogs
to have fleas. In fact, dogs quite often have fleas, not one
flea but many fleas. This particular dog, whose name is Max
had only one Flea though. Max was a friendly dog. He even
liked fleas, but this flea is different and Max did not like
him at all. Max was used to small flea bites, but this was
a large flea, with an itch to match its size. He seemed to
have teeth the size of an elephant’s tusks. He was also very
energetic and active. Bite, bite, bite, itch, itch, itch,
scratch, scratch, scratch. This went on and on, until Max
was scratching and howling in misery and people were chasing
him away because he was so noisy and disagreeable.
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One day, when the
flea had been particularly troublesome, Max decided he must do something
to get rid of him, the flea had bitten and bitten him, hour after
hour, hopping from Max’s left ear all the way down his body until
the tip of his tail. Max scratched, scratched and scratched. He
said to himself, “this fly must go”.
Being a sensible dog, he decided to talk to the flea. “Excuse me
Mr Flea”, Max said turning his head to face the tip of his tail.
Max then asked the flea, “Don’t you think it’s time to go on a holiday?”
“What’s a holiday?” asked the flea. It is when you go to a different
place, see different sights and meet new people,” replied Max. “Why?”
asked the flea. “Because it is interesting,” answered Max. What’s
interesting?” asked the flea. Max did not know what to say, but
he suddenly remembered all the fleas’ bites and itches, He said,
”you can taste many different animals. Some are salty and some are
sour, some are bitter and some are sweet, some are dry and some
are juicy.”
“I have never heard of such a thing”, said the flea, “but it sounds
tasty. Which one should I try first?” Max smiled secretly, “try
the cat”, he said. The flea gathered all the strength in his powerful
hind legs and with a mighty hop, the flea jumped off the dog’s tail
and landed on the ground. The last Max saw of the flea was a cloud
of dust disappearing in the distance.
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A couple of
days later Max felt a very familiar itch. The flea had returned.
From the pain of his bite, it seemed that he was very cross
and hungry. “That cat holiday was not good at all,” the flea
complained. “I got my teeth full of fur and couldn’t even
sink them in anywhere. It’s taken me ages to clean them up”,
said the flea. “Oh dear, I’m very sorry” said Max. “I didn’t
think the fur will be a problem. Why don’t you try the camel?
He’s more hairy then furry and he’s big too. There’s plenty
to eat on a camel”
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“Well, I certainly
need a big meal”, said the flea, and he hoped off once more. The
camel was ruminating quietly, digesting his supper for the third
or possibly the fourth time. They flea leaped onto his back…..,
and immediately fell off. A ruminating camel can be very rumbly
and wobbly beast to a flea used to the stability of a rather small
dog. To the flea, landing on the camel was like hitting the surface
of an erupting volcano.
Feeling slightly battered, the flea hopped slowly back to Max, “The
camel was even worse than the cat”, he moaned. “I didn’t get even
a sniff.” Max thought for a moment, “I know,” he said, “the elephant
is having a nap, He is big so there would be lots of food, He has
no fur or hair, and he doesn’t have a rumbly stomach, at least,”
for Max was quite an honest dog. “I am absolutely positive he doesn’t
have a rumble like the camel. He won’t notice you are there either.
I just can’t think of any drawbacks.” “All right,” said the flea,
“but this is definitely the last time. If this holiday is as bad
as the last two times, I am coming home for good,” and the flea
jumped off to find the elephant……. Who was, indeed very big but
did not seem to be asleep. Nevertheless, the flea decided that he
would try one more time. He took a deep breath and climbed on to
the Elephant’s enormous foot.
Max had no great hope that the flea would be satisfied with the
Elephant, so he was not surprised to see him hopping back, the following
day. “What went wrong this time?” he asked sadly resigning himself
to a future of being bitten, feeling itchy and having to scratch
himself almost to death. The flea hung his head and mumbled his
excuses.
“You were right, there was a lot of him, he wasn’t hairy or furry
and his stomach did not rumble, but look what he has done to me!”
The flea looked up at Max, revealing a toothless grin, : his skin
was so tough, that he broke my teeth!”. “Well!” exclaimed Max, grinning
back at the flea. The flea immediately jumped onto Max’s back, “home
at last,” the flea said, sinking his gums into Max and helping himself
to a square meal. Max didn’t feel a thing. This was wonderful –
one huge flea that no longer had his two huge biting teeth, was
the best he could hope for. “Welcome home Mr Flea”, he said, “it
is good to have you back”
Contributing Story Teller:
Master Dhananjay Singh, (age
9 years)
pradeepnavy@gmail.com
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