Do you know your right hand from your left?

How many of you know your right hand from your left?  This will be a fun story.  As your mother or father reads this story out loud there is something you will have to do!

leftt hand

right hand

Every time you hear the word THIS raise your RIGHT hand and every time you hear THAT raise your LEFT hand.  Every time you hear the word KING raise both hands and say "OH MY".

king

                      
You've got it? Here is the story.  It goes like this. (right hand) tricky!!!

This is a story about a King, who wanted his people to learn to do things for themselves.  When a problem came up they always asked, "King, what should we do? "  The king was getting very  tied  of his people always asking questions and never doing anything for themselves, so he thought he would teach a lesson.

gold

The king called his most, trusted and special servant to his throne room and said, "Take this shovel and this bag of gold and dig a hole in the middle of the road. Then put this bag of gold  in that hole and cover that hole with a big stone.".  The servant left and dug a big hole as he was asked to do. He put that bag of gold into the hole and covered it with a big stone. He returned to the king and this is what the the king told him, "Now whoever removes that rock out of the middle of the road may keep the gold." 

Out of curiosity the king sat by his window watching the reaction of the people. First a man came by, ""What is that," he questioned to himself,  'what is this stone doing in the middle of the road?  It will block my vegetable cart when I go to the market.  I must go and tell the king.".   "This is just what I expected ,' said the king.'that man will NOT get the gold."


Later some teenagers came by and saw the stone in the middle of the road,"What a stupid place for a stone.  We had better go to tell the king."  This response sadden the king. He thought at least the young people would have thought for the safety of others, but they didn't. The king said, "The gold will not be theirs"

stone

Several days went by and the king was getting rather anxious, "Isn't there anyone in the my kingdom who can think for themselves?"  No one THOUGHT to remove the stone. Every time they ran to tell the king. So the king told his servant, "I will give this challenge one more day to see if there is anyone in this kingdom who will think for themselves." 


The very next day a young boy came down the road and saw the stone.  "What is this stone doing in the middle of the road?  That can be very dangerous. Someone might get hurt. I had better move this stone."  The young boy bent down, picked up the stone and noticed the bag of gold in the hole. He looked inside the bag and said,  "Oh no,this is gold!  I must return this gold to the king." The king saw the boy remove the stone and he was delighted, "At last I've found someone who can do this or that for himself!"

The young man and the king

The boy went to the king and told him his story, "Sir, this has to be your gold"  But the king interrupted him and said, "Son, you are the only one in my kingdom who removed that stone and this gold is your to keep." And that is the end of the story about that boy and that gold and this king.





  

The smallest gift

Isaiah Higgins was a very wealthy man who had a very generous heart. He loved to buy gifts and give them away to the poor. One day there was a famine in the land and Isaiah was very troubled for the little children. They were getting very hungry and had very little to eat. 

Isaiah had heard that the famine was coming, so he was able with his wealth to store up bags of wheat. One day he had this creative idea, "Why don't I make loaves of bread  with all the wheat that I have stored". I will allow each family to have one loaf each day until the famine is over.

This was a very generous idea, but when the children came to collect their loaf of bread fights would break out.  They fought over, who had the largest loaf.  The children were very rude and ungrateful.  I think that they were just too hungry.

Every day, Isaiah noticed a little girl, Frances, who stood by and waited for all the older children to stop grabbing. After they left, then she would modestly go up to the basket and take the only remaining loaf, which was always the smallest. She would thank the kind gentleman and go home. The next day the children were just as rude. It broke Isaiah's heart to see the children so ungrateful, but Frances was a sweet little girl.

Faithfully every morning, Frances arrived and waited for the smallest loaf to take home. One night at dinner, when her mother cut into the loaf of bread, several silver coins dropped out. Her mother was frightened and said, "Frances,you have to take these coins back immediately.  It must be a mistake." Frances wrapped up the bread and headed back to see Isaiah and told him what had happened.  Isaiah was NOT surprised.  He explained to her, " I have been observing how patient and content you have been with the smallest loaf, so I decided to make a special loaf  just for you.  I put the silver coins in it  to help your family through the famine."  Frances didn't know what to say.  She graciously thank Isaiah and hurried home to tell her mother.

• Her mother was very grateful.  The coins made it possible not only to feed her own family , but she was able to share some food with her neighbors.  Frances experienced for herself that "The biggest is not always the best".

Shimo

An Iditarod

 In the state of Alaska, teams of husky dogs are trained to race 1,000 miles across frozen ice and snow. It is called  the Iditarod, a very serious competition in the middle of the winter.  The lead dog is the most important dog on the team.  His leadership and obedience to his master will determine whether they win or lose.

Shimo was a champion Eskimo lead dog.  He loved to lead and had led his team of sixteen huskies to strong finishes in the last  three Iditiarods.  Ever since he was a young husky, Shimo had the heart to win and the drive to work hard. His trainer, Skilley and Shimo were inseparable.  Day and night they worked hard to be ready for the next run. Shimo's greatest problem was his pride.  He only wanted to be the lead dog, but he was getting older and his legs were crippling.with arthritis.

Jaco and Shimo

Shimo was having trouble working out with younger dogs. Skilley had no alternative then to start training another lead dog. He choose Jaco.  A young Husky, who was strong and was outrunning Shimo in practice.

In the Spring, when Skilly started training his dogs, he had to make a decision, if he should put Jaco in the lead and try Shimo in the pack. Shimo wanted nothing to do with it.  He did not like running with the other dogs and was very jealousy of Jaco taking his place.  Shimo would start fights with Jaco and refused to obey.


The day of the Iditarod was only a week away, Skilley, in order to save the team, had to take Shimo out of the pack.  It broke his heart, but he had no other choice.Shimo had been his very best lead dog for the last five years He had led his team to the finish line many times. If only Shimo wasn't so proud and would accept. his place on the team,, but he didn't.  He just wanted to be first and it cost him the very thing he loved the most, to run in the Iditarod.  Besides, people were financially supporting Skilley's team and expecting him to win this year.  

Shimo wrapped in his blanket

On the day of the Iditarod, Skilley had no alternative than to leave Shimo home.  He wrapped him in  a blanket and tried to settle him down. Shimo knew something wasn't right.  He heard all the others dogs barking excitedly, it had to be the run.  Shimo started to bark  and whine, but Skilley tried not to pay any attention.  It was very hard for him to hear Shimo crying.  Skilley was going to miss Shimo.  He knew how much he wanted  to run.   After hitching up his dogs and packing, Skilley went back for one last hug. "Shimo," said Skilley, 'I know that you don't understand, but it has to be this way.  Maybe you will learn to let Jaco lead and than you can go next year."


Skilley's heart was heavy leaving Shimo at home. About six hours later, Shimo couldn't stand it any more.  He pulled his stake out of the ground and jumped over the fence and headed for the trial.  The only problem was,, it was snowing and all of the tracks were covered.  Shimo thought he knew his way anyway and kept going.

Skilley and the team had finished their first,day, when they got a text from home. "Shimo was missing.  Beiieved to be out looking for you." Skilley's heart sank.  He couldn't  finish the race.  He had to find Shimo  He turned his team around and headed for home. Shimo was more important than winning the iditiarod

The snow was  heavy and Skilley was getting more and more  concerned .  Shimo had now been out in the cold already for a day without any food or water. As they were heading back to home, Shelly noticed somthing that looked like a rock in the middle of the trail..  Could it be Shimo? Skilley hurried , "Mush you Huskies" he shouted..  Quickly, Skilley brushed the snow off the object and there frozen in the snow lay Skimo. Skilley cried and cried as he picked up Shimo, tears streaming down his face. In Shimo's desperate effort to find his master.  Shilley, was caught in the storm and froze to death. He put his champion lead dog on his sled saying, "Oh Shimo, Shimo how much I loved you. Why wouldn't you trust me? You were getting older and I wanted to save your strength so I could enjoy you .  I miss you, I miss you so much.

When Skilley arrived back home everyone was so surprised to hear about Shimo's death. The whole town grieved and mourned his passing.. Shimo had won three Iditiarods and had become a hero.  Skilley didn't finish the Iditiarod that year, instead he created a huge snow statue of the great Shimo for the towns people to celebrate his life..

This is the snow sculpture that Skilley created to honor Skimo

Spoons

I would like to tell you about a birthday party that you will never forget. It is a short story but a fun one. Once there was a little boy Sammy, who didn't think anyone would remember his birthday. So he went to the store and bought for himself ice cream and a delicious chocolate cake, all with his own allowance.  Then he thought "How are we going to eat the ice cream. We will need spoons."  But what he didn't realize, was that the spoons he bought, all had VERY LONG handles.

On the day of the party when Sammy's mother brought out the cake, all the children sang happy birthday as Sammy blew out his candles.  Everything was going along very well UNTIL the ice cream come out. What a mess occurred! The children tried to eat the ice cream, but they couldn't get the ice cream into their mouths!! The children were getting very frustrated and cried out to Sammy, "Hey, Sammy, how do you expect us to eat the ice creams with these ridiculous spoons? 

Sammy was a little embarrassed.  He never thought that the spoons would be that much trouble. Sammy had to think quick and said, "If we pair up, we can feed each other."    

It was a brilliant idea and the children loved it. The long handles were no longer a problem because now they could reach each other's mouths.What fun it became. They laughed and laughed.  The boys got a little out of control intentionally missing the mouth. You can imagine the mess they caused, but it was a party and why not?

It was the most unforgettable birthday party the neighborhood children ever experienced. Sammy's long handle spoons became a new birthday tradition and Sammy knew exactly where to buy them.


P.S. Boys and girls,  I have to tell you that the only reason Sammy thought no one remembered his birthday was because, his mommy and daddy had planned a SURPRISE party and the neighborhood children were keeping it a secret.  That night when his parents tucked him in bed, they told him about the surprise party and his ONLY reply was, "Gee, and I spent all my allowance on myself!  But, I will never forget THIS birthday.!!"