Week 11 Storytelling: Best of Friends

I had a neighbor named Hank. He was the old man that lived across the street. I would see him sitting on his porch every afternoon petting his old corgi, Harry. Both Hank and Harry were lethargic and overweight. They even almost looked like each other. They would sit on the porch all afternoon and watch the world go by. When I was little he would just watch us play and smile. We always liked going up to him because he would always try to trick us with some riddles. He knew millions of them and most of the time we would never get them right. Where he learned all of these I will never know.

Hank (Pixabay)

Hank would say with a twinkle in his eye, 

"I went to the wood and got it; 

I sat me sown and looked at it; 

The more I looked at it the less I liked it; 

And I brought it home because I couldn't help it."

My friends and I would sit there stumped. Then Hank would laugh after us giving up and say, "A thorn!"

We would yell and ask for another one and Hank would always agree. 

"Long legs, crooked thighs,

Little head, and no eyes." 

And there again, we would all be stumped.

Hank would laugh and say, "A pair of tongs!"

Again Hank would start on his next riddle.

"There was a king met a king

In a narrow lane;

Says this king to that king, 

"Where have you been?"

"Oh I have been a hunting 

With my dog and my doe."

Pray lend him to me, 

That I may do so."

"There's the god take my dog."

"What's the dog's name?"

"I've told you already."

"Pray tell me again."

Hank would then ask, "What is the dog's name?"

After sitting there puzzled for a little while and after having him repeat it twice more, I finally yelled, "Take! The dog's name is Take!" 

Hank laughed while congratulating me and then said, "Now that you have gotten one right go on and play and I can tell you some more another time."

Over the course of my life I had heard hundreds of riddles from Hank. I would go and sit there and listen while petting Harry the entire time. I started writing down his riddles once when I noticed that he was getting older. I wanted to make sure that his legend lived on because he was always so much fun. The day he died the whole neighborhood mourned and all showed up to his funeral. Harry sat at the bottom of his casket the entire funeral. He was sad that he had lost his best friend. After the funeral I took Harry home and made him mine. He wasn't mine for long though. I only had Harry as a pet for three days before he died as well. I guess Harry died of a broken heart. I buried Harry right next to Hank at the gravesite and hoped them well. Now, I am the one that knows all of these riddles thanks to Hank and Harry, the best of friends. 

Harry (Wikipedia)

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Author's Note: This week I decided to read the Nursery Rhymes Unit. I have always grown up reading and hearing nursery rhymes so I thought it would be nice to learn some more. When reading this unit, I discovered that I didn't want to just choose one nursery rhyme. I thought the riddles section was interesting and funny so I focused on them for my story. I decided to make this story about an old man and his dog. For me, I always think that older men and women have a lot of wisdom and have old phrases and sayings that they often use in daily conversation. I wanted to make this man a friendly fellow that had a best friend of a dog who loved to talk to people. Kids are always fascinated by older people so I thought that having the old man tell the kids riddles was going to be a good dynamic. I also wanted to show how close of a relationship the dog and the old man had together. I always love a man's best friend story as well. Lastly, I wanted the kid in the story to grow up to love the old man and have his riddles for the rest of his life. 

Bibliography: Nursery Rhymes Unit from the The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang in 1897.