The Moral of the Story
Speech No. 3 in the Toastmasters "Storytelling"
Manual
The objectives of this speech were:
- To understand that a story can be entertaining yet display
moral values.
- To create a new story that offers a lesson or moral.
- To tell the story, using the skills developed in the
previous two projects.
Time 4 to 6 minutes.
Beware of Falling Brickbats
During the 16th century, a certain Dr. John Dee wrote in his diary, "Arthur
wounded on his head by his own wanton throwing of a brick-bat upright, and
not well avoyding the fall of it again."
Poor foolish Arthur! Some of us have to learn the hard way that brickbats
have a tendency to come back on the thrower.
My first encounter with the law of falling brickbats was when was eight. I
was holidaying with my two cousins in a house just off the beach at
Scarness. It was a glorious week of sunburnt noses, dripping ice-blocks and
sand flies. We swam and frolicked all day in our shirred elastic "bubble
togs" that took three people to peel them off our sticky bodies. My Aunt
insisted it was healthier to let the salt water dry on our skin.
In the evening we played on the swings in the park nearby, swinging higher
and higher, lustily singing "How much is that Doggy in the Window" and
"Sweet Vi-o-lets." Later we huddled together in the big double bed with
sand
between the sheets and told ghost stories - each story more frightening
than
the last until I was afraid to sleep.
The stories didn't bother my cousins. They were older than I was, and
braver. They could swim further, swing higher, and run faster. I could
never
quite keep up to them.
Frustrated, I developed my own tactics to bring them down to my level. I
tied their pyjamas in knots and short sheeted the bed. I put salt in their
soft drink and shell grit in their shoes.
I was intent on more mischief as I hurried down the stairs one day, when I
felt water splash down the back of my neck. For days I had felt little
drops
of water whenever I passed that spot. I couldn't make out where it was
coming from, since it hadn't rained all week.
Surprised, I looked up, and there were my two cousins laughing down at me
from the window above. One of them was holding a glass of water.
Enraged, I ran into the laundry. I grabbed my sand bucket, filled it with
water and raced back to the stairs. There they were, still laughing and
taunting me from the window above.
"Go on,' they dared me. "Throw it!"
So that's what I did. With all my might I threw that water up into the air
in the direction of my teasing cousins.
I have never forgotten their delighted laughter. Nor have I forgotten my
humiliation as the water splashed back down on my head. The incident has
always remained vivid in my memory, but I didn't realise its significance
until I recently read about poor Arthur. Now I know that that was the day I
learned some important truths, which have influenced my life.
I learned that "What we sow, we must also reap," and "what goes up must
come
down," and, particularly if it is a brick-bat or a pail of water, it is
likely to fall back on the thrower's head!
COMMENTS
This one was easy! I just related a childhood memory.
MAMALADE
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