Unit 3: Retelling Narrative Stories

      Once there was a mouse who was named Will. He lived in a pumpkin patch with his wife and three children. One day Will left on a walk. As he was walking, he found an enormous pumpkin. Since he found that nobody was living in it, he decided to make it into pumpkin pie. He ran home to his wife and told her the plan. His wife replied, “Maybe if you ask your friends, I am sure they will help.” 
   
      Will replied, “Thank you, that’s a great idea!” He joyfully ran off with his wonderful plan. When he found all three of his friends, who were sleeping in the barn, he asked them: “Would you like to help me clean out this enormous pumpkin?” 
     
      The cat replied, “No, um, I have work to do." 
     
      The dog replied, “Um, I do too.” 
     
      The pig replied, “Um me too. Got to go now. ‘Bye.” They all left, and Will was all alone.
     
      Will cleaned the pumpkin all by himself. When he was done, Will asked again: “Cat, would you like to help me roast the pumpkin?” 
     
      The cat replied, “Didn’t I tell you I am busy with stuff?” 
     
      “With what stuff?” Will questioned. 
     
      “Um, you know, stuff.” 
     
      “Okay I won’t bother you anymore.” 
     
      So Will went and asked the dog, who was eating lunch: “Dog, would you like to help me roast the pumpkin?” 
   
      Will received the same answer as before: “No!” 
     
      Will asked the pig, but he knew what the answer would be: “No!” So Will did it by himself. 
     
      After the pumpkin was done roasting, Will scraped the soft roasted parts out. He decided not to ask his friends because the day was almost over. He discovered he didn’t have all the ingredients in his kitchen, so he had to go into the farmer’s kitchen. When Will got there, the first thing he did was get the milk, pumpkin spices, butter, and flour. While he was gathering the ingredients, he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t eaten his lunch. He spotted some cheese, which was strangely attached to a piece of wood. He was tempted to eat it, but he kept going. When he was finally finished, he scampered out of the house and ran home.
     
      When he got home, he decided to give the cat, the dog, and the pig another chance. Will asked them once more, “Would you like to help me make the pumpkin pie?” 
     
      They all answered: “No!” 
     
      So Will mixed all the ingredients by himself and quickly placed the pumpkin pie in the oven. As the pumpkin pie was baking, the cat, the dog, and the pig smelled the amazing scent of the pumpkin pie, which was blowing across on the breeze. All of a sudden, they felt very hungry. 
   
      When the pumpkin pie was done, Will asked his children: “Who wants some pumpkin pie?” 
     
      The cat, the dog, and the pig all replied, “We do!”
     
      Will turned around and answered, “I don’t think so!” He and his family sat down and enjoyed their delicious pumpkin pie!

 
      Early one Saturday morning, Tom Sawyer was told to paint a long and treacherous fence. He was extremely discouraged because all of his wonderful plans, which he had planned the week before, were ruined. He knew that as soon as he started, the boys from around the neighborhood would tease and torment him. This made him feel “burnt.” Suddenly, he had a magnificent idea that would fix all of his problems. He put his plan into action, and it was going well, especially when he saw his friend, Ben, walking around the corner.
     
      Ben walked up with an apple in his hand and laughed. “Hey Tom, I’m going to go swimming, and sadly you don’t get to come because you’re just a stump.” Tom heard this and paid no attention to him to make it look like the work he was doing was very important. He tried to look like an artist to trick Ben into thinking that painting a fence took talent. Tom would paint a few strokes, then stop and admire his work, then do the same thing all over again. Ben stood there pondering over why Tom was doing this. He kept thinking until he realized that only an artist could paint a fence. Then Ben asked with a pleading tone: “Hey Tom, do yuh thank I could try?” 
     
      Tom replied: “No Ben, only an elite artist could do this job. I bet one in one thousand...no, only one in two thousand could do this job.” 
     
      “But, but,” Ben replied. 
     
      “No, Ben!” Tom exclaimed. 
     
      “I’ll give you my apple!” Ben desperately begged. 
     
      Tom, after thinking for a few moments to keep the act going, finally said, “Okay, Ben. I hope yuh have the skill it takes to get this done.” Tom sat off in the distance, watching his victim and enjoying the apple which he had received for giving Ben his work.
     
      Finally, he had half of the fence painted by the time Ben had to go home. Tom returned to his work until Billy arrived and fell for the same trick. Numerous children from the neighborhood that knew Tom would appear, give him a gift, and ask to do the work. The fence had three full coats on it by the time Tom ran out of paint. He had also accumulated an abundance of treasures. From Johnny Miller, he received a dead rat, which had a string tied to it to swing it with. There was a cat with one eye, a key, and an old doorknob among the goodies. Tom learned that day that in order to deceive a man into desiring something, one must make it difficult to obtain. Because of his gullible friends, Tom Sawyer will always know how to paint a fence.

Illustration by Alyssa Goodnight