Just So Stories

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After listening to "The Crab That Played With The Sea", a Rudyard Kipling Just So story, we created our own. We used story elements that modeled Rudyard Kipling's distinctive voice and added our own creativity and imagination. Enjoy our explanations for the beginnings of things!

This page was last updated on: May 15, 2002

Rachel                                                                                                       April 18, 2002 Why The Squid Squirts Ink           Once long, long ago, there lived the king of the squid-fish named Gokolo in the world's deepest darkest ocean. There was the man-painter who loved to paint on very, very nice days.  The man-painter painted in the deepest darkest ocean where the king of the squid-fish Gokolo lived. He went painting with the strongest black ink that was almost magical and that never smudged because he was writing a letter. The man-painter painted a border for the letter that was the ocean painted as the border and he wrote with the strongest black ink that was almost magical and that didn't ever smudge. The man-painter painted and he wrote his letter.           After he was done painting his border and writing his letter he went back on his way home. The man-painter looked up at the sky and said I better get home fast or I'll get rained on. The man-painter heard lightning and he was nowhere near home. Then it started to rain and the strongest black ink that was almost magical and didn't ever smudge fell in the water and the squid-fish was right under it. And the strongest black ink that was almost magical and that never smudged hit the king of the squid-fish named Gokolo and went into the squid-fish's body.       Whenever the king of the squid-fish named Gokolo ever got scared or frightened the strongest black ink that was almost magical and that never smudged shot out of the king of the squid-fish Gokolo and went into the water. And since then the black ink that was almost magical and didn't ever smudge went into all of the squids in the seven seas. That is why squids squirt ink.

Aaron                                                                                                           April 18, 2002 How The Swordfish Got Its Sword                      Once upon a time there was a regular fish swimming in the water. Then, one day the fish saw a magic sword made of crystal. It was so clear, he almost didn't see it, but he saw the handle. He picked it up and tried to cut a rock. When he tried to cut the rock, the sword bounced off the rock and landed in his nose. He called himself the sword-creature.      He lived in the Yomagastu River, in the ocean. When all the other fish saw his sword, they were curious. So, they asked him, "How did you get a sword in your nose?"  The sword-creature said, " I found a magic sword made of crystal and I tried to cut a rock with it, but it bounced off the rock and went right into my nose."      The other fish tried to find a magic sword made of crystal, but they couldn't. They were stumped. Then one fish found one! She was overjoyed! After examining it carefully, she tried to cut a rock with it and then the same thing happened! It went right into her nose too! She called herself the sword-creature too. When the other sword-creature saw her, he asked her, "Did you do the same thing as me?" She bobbed her head up and down. "Wow!" thought the first sword-creature. "And I thought that there was only one magic sword made of crystal!"       When the other fish heard this news, they kept on looking, but still they couldn't find one. They were MAD! So the two sword-creatures got married in the Yomagastu River and had baby sword-fish. And that is how the sword-fish got its sword. THE END

Alexandra                                                                                                 April 18, 2002 Why the Squid Squirts Ink           Once upon a time there was an artist-writer on the sea. The artist-writer was writing a story when there was a wave right in back of the boat. The artist-writer tried to get out of the boat but the wave carried the boat crashing on to shore. The artist's ink bottles fell out of the boat and into the wide sea. When a giant squid was around, the ink went into his tentacles. Since he was mean he said inga, which means should I help the artist-writer? He said ingan, which means no I should not because he is a human and I am a squid and I do not care for humans! So the creature went to the bottom of the sea. The years have passed and the ink spread to all squids. So whenever something scares a squid it squirts the ink. That is why the squid squirts ink.

Michael                                                                                                     April 18, 2002 How the Swordfish Got Its Sword           Once somewhere long ago there was a sword fight going on while a bored fish was watching. The sword fight went on and on and on and on and on (you get it) so the fish left. He was swimming when he met a whale. He said, "You look horrible." "I've been watching a sword fight all day."  "You should have a weapon yourself," said the whale.           The fish went and took a sharp sword from the fighters and gave it to the whale. He said that it was a good sword and he knows a magic-man that could help him. So the fish went to see the magic-man. The magic-man said he could help him for a fee, to protect him.  The magic-man said the magic words and the fish got the sword on his nose.           The fish went to show his friends. His friends didn't know who he was at first, then they recognized him. He said the magic-man put the sword on my nose. The fish looked more confident than ever. He had gotten much braver too. He went out and nobody bugged him at all. The fish thought and thought and thought and thought and thought (well, you get it) then came up with a name for him and his own language. His name was swordfish in his language it was pronounced " sword fin ". He was the happiest fish in the sea. The sword-fish or " sword fin " lived very happily and very safely ever after.

Amanda                                                                                                    April 18, 2002 How the Eel Got Its Electricity              On a dark night an eel that was just born went into the dark part of the ocean. He went up into the surface and looked around. He saw a flash of lightning in the sky. He wanted to see more so he went to the other side of the ocean and told his mom. Puck, he said to her, which means I will be gone for a long time. Pucken, which means no, you will not be gone for a long time his mom said. And the little eel went off and went to the surface and saw a boy-son walking on the beach. The eel said to the boy-son will you teach me to walk and I'll teach you how to swim? OK, but it was not that easy for the eel to walk. So the eel taught the boy-son to swim first. But a moment later the boy-son saw lightning.           The eel and the boy-son went home but the lightning almost hit the eel. When the eel got home the mommy eel said Tonca, which means where were you? The little eel said Topay, which means at the beach. The next day the eel went to the beach again. The boy-son said where were you? At home the eel said. The boy-son said because I was waiting for you all day.           So they got to work and this time the boy-son taught the eel to walk first. And the eel walked and he did it well too. And the boy-son swam well too. But the eel saw something. It was lightning. They ran home again but this time the eel got hit by lightning and it shot a powerful lightning strike right through him. And from that day on he is able to shoot lightning bolts and walk well. And from that day on the boy-son swam well too. That's how the eel got its electricity. THE END

Alex                                                                                                         April 18, 2002 How the Eel Got It's Electricity           Once in the land of Eel Town there lived an eel named Ysugitsu. It was a lovely hot day outside. Ysugitsu decided to go for a swim. He was having a grand old time. Then a terrible storm came above the ocean! The clouds roared and smashed together and caused thunder. And when that happens all the eel-people were terrified. Every eel-person was screaming like maniacs.           Suddenly Ysugitsu saw a strike of lightning was coming his way! Then it hit the water! A gigantic wave came over his head. Ysugitsu swam as fast as he could.  The rest of the eel-people hid under rocks. There was so much pushing and shoving he could not hide.           Later the wave was calm but the storm wasn't. A humungous bolt of lightning hit Ysugitsu! Ysugitsu was all right but he was hurt by the electric shock. And that's how the eel got its electricity.

Lauren                                                                                                   April 18,2002 How the Octopus Got Its Tentacles            Once upon a time day there was a mean witch-lady who came to the Earth. The witch-lady cast a spell on the Earth and made the Earth go upside down because they were making fun of her because she is different than them. The seas went upside down. Sea creatures held on except for Oply the octopus because Oply had no tentacles. My friend, so he landed on Venus, my friend. When he walked goo got on him and then he had arms and legs because the goo was some kind of magic that the witch-lady put there. Oply had to try to get home because he has a family on Earth.        One day Oply yelled out witch-lady, witch-lady! Why are you doing this to us? She said because in the beginning you all started to make fun of me because I was different than you. I have an idea. If you bring me to the Earth and change the world right-side up, I promise we will not make fun of you. And Oply and the witch-lady were best friends after that.  So the witch-lady turned the goo into tentacles. They lived happily ever after and that's how the octopus got its tentacles. The End!

Allyson                                                                                                     April 18, 2002 How the Octopus Got Its Tentacles           Once on a nice summer day a dad-father and his daughter went fishing. While the dad-father was fishing the daughter took a break and made sun catchers. When she tried to put on the suction cup on one she spilled the whole bag!!! When the dad-father was fishing there was a baby octopus in the sea. Well that little octopus did not have his tentacles. When the suction cups fell in they landed on the baby octopus and he got his tentacles. When he saw them he said, "Hey I got my tentacles!" Well the baby grew up and he uses the tentacles for everything. He used them for food and enemies.           Now the octopus was old and he still used his tentacles. One day he got in a fight and he hurt his tentacles. He said,  "Ooch! Ouch! and blaw which means that really hurts! The octopus went home and had a nice cold drink, something to eat of seaweed juice, and coral casserole. He took a nap and slept for hours. When he woke up he felt really sore and he watched the swordfish fight. When he was laying down a swordfish got a hold of his tentacles and they almost came off but they were too tight. And the octopus said,  "Blaw, (which means this really hurts). I thought these were only temporary!" The next day he went up to the shore and saw the dad-father and his daughter and they were fishing again. He said,  "I thought these were fake" and the girl said nope. He said,  "OK?" He went home and the octopus never used his tentacles again, except for important things.

Victoria                                                                                                      April 18, 2002 How The Eel Got Its Electricity          Once upon a time, about 2:15 in the Jurassic period, there was a creature called Wagamoto (eel). It looked like a snake but it lived in water. One day Wagamoto heard some noise from the surface. It went to the surface to see what was going on. When it reached the surface it saw that a party was going on and it wanted to join it, but the party was on land.            Wagamoto was very, very sad. It wanted to be able to be on the land with the other animals. The next day Wagamoto tried to go onto the land, but when it tried it almost dried up and almost died. But, thanks to a gust of wind, Wagamoto got swept back into the water.            The next day Wagamoto heard a very loud noise. It went up to the surface again but this time there were no party animals. Instead there was a storm. Wagamoto went to shore again and it went close to a tree so the rain wouldn't catch her. Then a bolt of lightning struck the tree and it almost hit her, but it dodged the lightning bolt. Then another bolt of lightning struck and it hit her right on the back. Now that's how Wagamoto (the eel ) got its shocking personality!

Samantha                                                                                                 April 18, 2002 How the Octopus Got Its Tentacles           Once upon a time, there was once an October-octopus-creature named Pontwooooo. He had red spots that came from chicken-animals. The red spots turned into October-octopus-creature arms. He said to a sea-horse-creature hilooo? (meaning is that right?)  The sea-horse-creature replied pia-hilooo. (meaning that is quite right.) Pontwooooo totally enjoyed having the October-octopus-creature arms. He could do anything that he couldn't do before. They worked terrifically. He could swim better. He could play tag better. He turned book pages much better. He got more friends just for having them. I guess it was just because the other October-octopus-creatures didn't have any. Nobody knew what he did next. All I know is he is happy. THE END

Kristin                                                                                                        April 18, 2002 How the Eel Got Its Electricity          Once upon a time when everything was just beginning an elderly wizard began to make the beautiful land and sea. He thought that the land and sea needed some company, so he decided that he would make animals-things. He made some animals-things that lived on land and, some that lived in water. One animal-thing was the eel-creature, which lived in the water with other underwater creatures.             One day while the eel-creature was swimming around the Arteeca (R-tea-ca) Inland looking for food he saw a school of fish in a classroom getting ready for recess. So, he went to hide somewhere on the playground so he could leap out in front of a tiny fish and eat it. Then the class of fish came out and the eel-creature got ready and there was a loud sound from above the surface. Then a few seconds later all the fish were inside the classroom. The eel-creature was upset because he didn't get the little fish he wanted for dinner.          The next day he went to the other side of the Arteeca (R-tea-ca) Inland to look for food. Then he saw a fish swimming along the beautiful purple coral reef.  He got ready for a sneak attack. The fish got closer and closer. The fish was in the perfect spot. The eel-creature went to leap when there was a loud sound from the upper surface again. The eel-creature was fed up with whatever was making that loud sound. The next time he heard that sound that scared away his meals he was going to go up to the upper surface and find out who or what made that sound if was the last thing he did!          The next day when he was just about to bounce on an elderly fish he heard that loud sound, which by the way scared the elderly fish away. The eel-creature swam as fast as he could to the surface. When he got to the surface there was nothing there. He started to the underwater-sea, then out of nowhere a bolt of lightening hit the eel-creature. The eel-creature was scared of what might happen to him so he looked through the entire sea for the elderly wizard. He wasn't in there so he looked all over the land, then he found the elderly wizard. He started to say something to the elderly wizard but the elderly wizard started to say something so the eel-creature stopped talking and listened to the old wizard. The old wizard said,  "Don't worry about what happened to you because I predict that it will come in great use." The eel-creature began to talk, "But..." "But nothing," said the elderly wizard. Then the eel-creature started back to the underwater-sea. As the eel-creature started down to the underwater-sea his stomach started to hurt because he hadn't eaten in three days. Then he realized that he could shock other fish so he tried to see but he couldn't see. Then the old wizard came down to the underwater-sea and lit the way for the eel-creature.  The eel-creature saw a fish swimming around the Arteaca (R-tee-ca) Island and got ready to bounce. Then he shocked the fish and finally got to eat a meal, and that's how the eel got it's electricity! The End