A SMOKY MOUNTAIN TALL TALE, description:
Well, fairly tall. I used to ask, after telling this tale, how many of you believed me, raise your hand. I stopped doing that about 40 years ago.
Sometimes, e.g.,. for pre-K, I leave out the snake paragraphs.
Here’s an Introduction I sometimes use (or use part of) instead of the first sentence:
Somebody will probably say that I’m stretching the truth again. Someone usually says that, or something like that, so this time I’ve taken extra special care to check every detail so that this story will be absolutely correct in every respect. I know this story to be completely true because it actually happened to me, a long time ago when I was a child living in a log cabin on the edge of the Great Smoky mountains. I was a bit younger then than I am now. I was probably younger then than you are now, but, of course, I wouldn’t state such a thing as an absolute fact because I am always very careful to say something only when I am completely sure it is completely correct.
There was no Great Smoky Mountain National Park then. Now that is an absolute fact. Maybe later on I’ll tell you some more true facts about the various inhabitants of the Smokies. There were bears, mostly friendly. There were Cherokee Indians, mostly friendly. The chipmunks were much bigger then, and not so friendly. They were called “varmints,” by the locals. The squirrels were smarter then; once I had a pet squirrel who could beat me at checkers. Some people believed there was an old man living on top of the highest mountain who had magic powers, or conjuring powers, as they said. Only a few people actually believed the stories about the great bearlike, manlike monster called Big Foot. I knew better. I tell stories about all these creatures, true stories only, and also stories about creatures that are no longer around, the hippopotomouse, the smelephant, the giant foot-worm, the Smoky Mountain penguins, and more. But that’s all for later. Right now, I want to tell you just a tiny story about a tiny thing, in fact, a wart.
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Well, fairly tall. I used to ask, after telling this tale, how many of you believed me, raise your hand. I stopped doing that about 40 years ago.
Sometimes, e.g.,. for pre-K, I leave out the snake paragraphs.
Here’s an Introduction I sometimes use (or use part of) instead of the first sentence:
Somebody will probably say that I’m stretching the truth again. Someone usually says that, or something like that, so this time I’ve taken extra special care to check every detail so that this story will be absolutely correct in every respect. I know this story to be completely true because it actually happened to me, a long time ago when I was a child living in a log cabin on the edge of the Great Smoky mountains. I was a bit younger then than I am now. I was probably younger then than you are now, but, of course, I wouldn’t state such a thing as an absolute fact because I am always very careful to say something only when I am completely sure it is completely correct.
There was no Great Smoky Mountain National Park then. Now that is an absolute fact. Maybe later on I’ll tell you some more true facts about the various inhabitants of the Smokies. There were bears, mostly friendly. There were Cherokee Indians, mostly friendly. The chipmunks were much bigger then, and not so friendly. They were called “varmints,” by the locals. The squirrels were smarter then; once I had a pet squirrel who could beat me at checkers. Some people believed there was an old man living on top of the highest mountain who had magic powers, or conjuring powers, as they said. Only a few people actually believed the stories about the great bearlike, manlike monster called Big Foot. I knew better. I tell stories about all these creatures, true stories only, and also stories about creatures that are no longer around, the hippopotomouse, the smelephant, the giant foot-worm, the Smoky Mountain penguins, and more. But that’s all for later. Right now, I want to tell you just a tiny story about a tiny thing, in fact, a wart.
Options: "Text": Read this story
"Audio" Hear this story