When the Shark and the Fish First Met
A small and gentle fish was swimming in the middle of a peaceful ocean. All of a sudden, the fish saw a shark that wanted to devour him.
He then began to swim very quickly, but so did the shark.
Suddenly the fish stopped and called to the shark:
"Why do you want to devour me? We can play together!"
The shark thought and thought and said:
"Okay- fine: Let’s play hide and seek."
The shark and fish played all day long, until the sun went down.
In the evening, the shark returned to his home.
His mother asked:
“How was your day, my dear shark? How many animals did you devour today?”
The shark answered: “Today I didn’t devour any animals, but I played with an animal called FISH”.
“That fish is an animal we eat. Don’t play with it!” said the shark’s mother.
At the home of the fish, the same thing happened. “How are you, little fish? How was it today in the sea?” asked the fish’s mother.
The fish answered: "Today I played with an animal called SHARK."
"That shark is the animal that devoured your father and your brother. Don’t play with that animal," answered the mother.
The next day in the middle of the ocean, neither the shark nor the fish were there.
They didn’t meet for many days, weeks and even months.
Then, one day they met. Each one immediately ran back to his mother and once again they didn’t meet for days, weeks and months.
After a whole year passed, the shark went out for a nice swim and so did the fish. For a third time, they met and then the shark said: "You are my enemy, but maybe we can make peace?"
The little fish said: "Okay."
They played secretly for days, weeks and months, until one day the shark and fish went to the fish’s mother and spoke together with her. Then they did the same thing with the shark’s mother; and from that same day the sharks and the fish live in peace.
THE END
This story was written by Gilad Shalit when he was 11
and was a student in the 5th grade at the Maale HaGalil Elementary School!
You can see students in a public school in the Bronx doing a touching reading from the book that was made of Gilad's story on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0rb_SmjUKc
1 comment:
That is such and emotional story and a great metaphore. There are stories that can really open our eyes as well as our minds. I heard once one like this one when I travelled to Argentina. I got an apartment for rent in buenos aires and my neighbour had a daughter of the same age as mine and the kid wrote a story for school that was a metaphore for the way she saw things at the country. It was so moving we both started crying. Apparently children there know how to write well!
Kim
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