Man and wife were walking along the shore, when man’s tummy started to rumble.
“I’m hungry”, man said.
“Well do something about it then. Climb that palm tree and pick some palm nuts”, said wife.
So man did, but nothing is ever that easy! The nuts didn’t want to be picked. So man had to get his knife from his belt and reach out to cut the stalks of the nuts. So wife had to wait beneath the tree to catch the nuts as they fell. And all this while man tried to grip the tree between his feet and his knees. Not an easy task, and things didn’t go well.
Along came a fly which flew into man’s eye with a “buzz, buzz, buzz.” Man dropped his knife.
“Wife, wife, knife, knife“, man in a palm tree shouted.
Knife went “swish” through the air.
Wife screamed, “aieeeee!” and jumped out of the way.
Snake thought wife would land on it. So, with a “hissssss“, snake disappeared down a hole.
Now down that hole was a rat who knew that snakes eat rats. So with an “eek eek eek“, rat ran out of the other end of his hole and up a tree.
Now up that tree was a hornbill who knew that rats bite birds. So hornbill tried to scare that rat and flapped its wings with a “clackety, clackety, clackety, clack.“
Now up that tree was a startled chimpanzee who dropped its banana with a disappointed “ooo! ooo! ooooo!“
And banana went “splat” on the back of a passing elephant.
Now elephant thought hunters were attacking and charged off trumpeting a “mwrrhh” and ran into the dense forest without time to look where he was going.
Now elephant got tangled in jungle vines which wrapped around elephant’s fat grey legs and flapped and flailed behind elephant with a “crickle, crackle, crickle, crackle, crick.“
Now those jungle vines wrapped themselves around a termite mound, which fell over with a “THUD“…
…right on top of five eggs on a nest which went “crack, crack, crack, crack, crack.“
Which so upset their owner bush fowl that it didn’t go “cockadoodledoo.“
And bush fowl didn’t wake up bright gold sun. And bright gold sun didn’t rise into the sky and everywhere was cold and dark and not at all the way it should be.
Great Father in the Sky was not happy and wanted to know why the world was cold and dark. So Great Father in the Sky went to bright gold sun and asked it, “bright gold sun why are you not shining in the sky?”
“Well”, said bright gold sun, “it was BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see bush fowl.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to bush fowl and asked it, “bush fowl why didn’t you wake up bright gold sun?”
And bush fowl said, “I cockadoodle didn’t BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see five eggs on a nest.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to five eggs on a nest and asked them, “five eggs on a nest why did you go “crack, crack, crack, crack, crack?”
And five eggs on a nest said, “we went crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see termite mound.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to termite mound and asked it, “termite mound why did you go “THUD?”
And termite mound said, “I went, THUD BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see jungle vines.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to jungle vines and asked them, “jungle vines why did you go “crickle, crackle, crickle, crackle, crick?”
And jungle vines said, “we went crickle, crackle, crickle, crackle, crick BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see elephant.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to elephant and asked it, “elephant why did you go “mwrrhh?”
And elephant said, “I went mwrrhh BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see banana.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to banana and asked it, “banana why did you go “splat?”
And banana said, “I went splat BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see chimpanzee.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to chimpanzee and asked it, “chimpanzee why did you go “ooo! ooo! ooooo!?”
And chimpanzee said, “I went ooo! ooo! ooooo! BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see hornbill.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to hornbill and asked it, “hornbill why did you go “clackety, clackety, clackety, clack?”
And hornbill said, “I went clackety, clackety, clackety, clack BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see rat.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to rat and asked it, “rat why did you go “eek, eek, eek?”
And rat said, “I went eek, eek, eek BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see snake.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to snake and asked it, “snake why did you go “hissssss?”
And snake said, “I went hissssss BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see wife.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to wife and asked her, “wife why did you go “aieeeee!?”
And wife said, “I went aieeeee! BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see knife.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to knife and asked it, “knife why did you go “swish?”
And knife said, “I went swish BECAUSE…”
BECAUSE…
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see man in a palm tree.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to man in a palm tree and asked him, “man in a palm tree why did you go “wife, wife, knife, knife?”
And man in a palm tree said, “I went wife, wife, knife, knife BECAUSE…”
“I see”, said Great Father in the Sky, “I shall have to see fly.”
So Great Father in the Sky went to fly and asked it, “fly why did you go “buzz, buzz, buzz?”
But fly would not explain anything to Great Father in the Sky.
Great Father in the Sky was angry, “one thing leads to another thing, but everything leads to you fly“.
“If you have no explanation I will take your tongue and all you will ever be able to say is, buzz, buzz, buzz.”
And that is exactly what Great Father in the Sky did, he took fly’s tongue. And ever since that day, long ago and far away, fly has only been able to say “buzz.”
Classroom telling tips…
This is a great tale to tell to Key Stage 1 pupils, and it’s also a great story for Key Stage 2 pupils to learn and tell to Key Stage 1 pupils.
The story naturally encourages your audience to become participants joining in with each of the character’s noises, or maybe trying some of the repeat sequences once they have recognised the flow of the story.
It’s great to invent an action to act out alongside each noise in the story getting the audience exercised and entertained all at once.
We have told this tale with the pictures on a wallpaper scroll, running back and forth as the story goes back and forth. We’ve pegged pictures on a washing line stretched across the classroom while we told the tale. There are more ideas on how to tell these there and back stories here.
