The Truth About Stories Read Free

to know is why you are so much
     larger than me.
    That’s easy, said the Moose, and he walked into the lake and
     disappeared.
    Don’t you love cryptic stories? I certainly do.
    Now before we go any further, we should give this woman a name so we
     don’t have to keep calling her “the woman.” How about Blanche?
     Catherine? Thelma? Okay, I know expressing an opinion can be embarrassing. So
     let’s do it the way we always do it and let someone elsemake
     the decision for us. Someone we trust. Someone who will promise to lower taxes. Someone
     like me.
    I say we call her Charm. Don’t worry. We can change it later on if
     we want to.
    So one day the woman we’ve decided to call Charm went looking for
     something good to eat. She looked at the fish, but she was not in the mood for fish. She
     looked at the rabbit, but she didn’t feel like eating rabbit either.
    I’ve got this craving, said Charm.
    What kind of craving? said Fish.
    I want to eat something, but I don’t know what it is.
    Maybe you’re pregnant, said Rabbit. Whenever I get pregnant, I get
     cravings.
    Hmmmm, said Charm, maybe I am.
    And you know what? She was.
    What you need, Fish and Rabbit told Charm, is some Red Fern Foot.
    Yes, said Charm, that sounds delicious. What is it?
    It’s a root, said Fish, and it only grows under the oldest trees.
     And it’s the perfect thing for pregnant humans.
    Now, you’re probably thinking that this is getting pretty silly,
     what with chatty fish and friendly rabbits, with moose disappearing into lakes and
     talking toes. And you’re probably wondering how in the world I expect you to
     believe any of this, given the fact that we live in a predominantly scientific,
     capitalistic, Judeo-Christian world governed by physical laws, economic imperatives, and
     spiritual precepts.
    Is that what you’re thinking?
    It’s okay. You won’t hurt my feelings.
    So Charm went looking for some Red Fern Foot. She
     dug around this tree and she dug around that tree, but she couldn’t find any.
     Finally she came to the oldest tree in the forest and she began digging around its base.
     By now she was very hungry, and she was very keen on some Red Fern Foot, so she really
     got into the digging. And before long she had dug a rather deep hole.
    Don’t dig too deep, Badger told her.
    Mind your own business, Charm told him.
    Okay, said Badger, but don’t blame me if you make a mistake.
    You can probably guess what happened. That’s right, Charm dug right
     through to the other side of the world.
    That’s curious, said Charm, and she stuck her head into that hole so
     she could get a better view.
    That’s very curious, she said again, and she stuck her head even
     farther into the hole.
    Sometimes when I tell this story to children, I slow it down and have
     Charm stick her head into that hole by degrees. But most of you are adults and have
     already figured out that Charm is going to stick her head into that hole so far that
     she’s either going to get stuck or she’s going to fall through.
    And sure enough, she fell through. Right through that hole and into the
     sky.
    Uh-oh, Charm thought to herself. That wasn’t too smart.
    But she couldn’t do much about it now. And she began to tumble
     through the sky, began to fall and fall and fall and fall. Spinning and turning,
     floating through the vast expanse of space.
    And off in the distance, just on the edge of sight,
     was a small blue dot floating in the heavens. And as Charm tumbled down through the
     black sky, the dot got bigger and bigger.
    You’ve probably figured this part out, too, but just so
     there’s no question, this blue dot is the earth. Well, sort of. It’s the
     earth when it was young. When there was nothing but water. When it was simply a water
     world.
    And Charm was heading right for it.
    In the meantime, on this water world, on earth, a bunch of