by Robert Laurence
Tip:
To really enjoy the
story have your children close their eyes while you read the story and encourage them
to imagine their own images.
It was getting dark from the storm in
the sky,
As I hurried on, the gulls flew by.
They made their evening flight from
the ocean to bay,
They were ready to rest till another
day.
Gulls roosting and waiting for
another day,
Tired as I was of work and play,
But I wasn’t near home
when the rainstorm began,
So into an old, empty house I ran.
I shouldn’t have done it, that I
could see –
If you had been there, I think
you’d agree.
The wind was howling, there were no
lights inside,
I couldn’t stop shaking as hard
as I tried.
It sure wasn’t a very nice place
to be,
For strange things began to happen to
me . . .
First a shrill voice cried, then the
floorboards creaked –
And then down the stairs a wild thing
sneaked.
That thing sneaked down, and it came
so near
That it made me shut my eyes in fear,
It was weird, green with seaweed, its
tongue was bright red,
"I should have stayed in
bed," I said.
And then that thing touched me –
I leaped in the air –
Sprang up at the touch of its clammy
wet hair!
That wild thing that touched me felt
cold as the sea –
What was it" Who cared – it was
too much for me!
So I backed away and down toward the
beach,
I tried to get out of that wild
thing’s reach.
I dropped my hat in its haunted lair,
But I didn’t go back – I
didn’t dare!
Because that thing made a noise and I
soared off the ground,
I flew down the beach without making
a sound.
That wild thing made more noises that
made me keep running.
It seemed that my feet couldn’t
stop running.
I ran and I ran, but on that thing
came,
We played hide and seek, but we
played no game.
I ran and I ran, and each time I
looked back –
That weird wild thing was still on my
track.
It was on my track, it was sniffing
my trail.
My hair stood on end and my skin got
pale.
I was trapped outside, it played Cat
and Mouse,
I tried to hide once more in the old
empty house.
The house on the beach, the house
without lights,
The house full of cobwebs and scary
sights.
Owls in the rafters, rats and bats in
the walls –
And then I heard that thing’s
footfalls.
That wild thing was coming up the
stairs,
That wild thing was coming up the
stairs.
Thump went my heart, thump
went its feet.
In a moment, I knew, we would have to
meet!
So flat against the wall I stood,
I screwed up my courage as tight as I
could.
That wild thing came closer, closer,
and soon –
I saw something strange in the light
of the moon.
In that wild thing’s mouth was
something strange,
Something that seemed to have made it
change.
I said to myself, Now what is
that"
When I clearly saw that it had my hat!
In its mouth it held my hat,
And by my feet it stopped and sat.
It made soft sounds, it seemed to
purr.
I knelt down then and brushed its
fur.
I brushed back its fur, I saw its
nose,
I saw its eyes, its paws, its toes.
I realized then just what it was,
There was no doubt about what it was.
It wasn’t a wild thing covered
with hair.
I just hadn’t seen it – it
had always been there.
What had made me run, leap about like
a frog,
Was a harmless, toothless, shaggy
dog!
A shaggy old sheep dog who could
hardly see,
A dog that had sniffed his way to me.
He wasn’t wild and weird, I had
been all wrong.
His voice was so strange because his
hair was so long.
And then that dog looked at me, as
much as to say,
I haven’t eaten or bathed in
many a day.
I’m lost, I’m lonely, I
sure look a sight,
But don’t be scared of me
– I won’t bite.
So I petted that dog, and he licked
me,
I parted his hair so at least he
could see.
And as soon as I could tell one end
from the other,
I took him home to meet my father and
mother.
The End
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