The
Tale of Rodger the Sloth
One
day, Rodger the sloth was hanging in a tree. It was a warm day in
the jungles of Puerto Rico. Rodger had just woken up from a five
hour nap. He decided to take another nap, before moving. His eyes
blurred in the sunlight, and he decided to nap in a nice warm sunny
spot.
Rodger
moved slowly up the branch. He spied a great big branch in the
sunlight. “This would be perfect for a nap,” Rodger thought. He
slowly made his way and took hold of the branch.
“Get
off me, s-s-s-sloth,” said the branch. “I am not a branch.
You’re making me angry.”
Rodger
looked surprised at the branch. It wasn’t a branch at all! It was
Ziggy the snake! Rodger jumped back, startled. He lost hold of the
branch and fell into a pond!
The
pond splashed around Rodger. He was all wet! All around him he
heard the sound of grumbling coming from under the water. Suddenly
the head of a turtle surfaced with a big angry frown. “You jumped
on me, sloth, watch where you’re going,” the turtle snapped at
Rodger, then slid back down underwater.
Rodger
swam as fast as he could to the shore, which wasn’t very fast,
considering he was a sloth. As he was swimming he felt angry bubbles
forming around him. When he hauled himself onto the shore, all the
fish in the pond stuck their heads out of the water. “Watch it,
sloth! You’re getting in our way,” they all yelled at him.
By now
Rodger felt very bad. He had made everyone in the jungle angry. “It
wasn’t my fault!” he tried to say to the fish. Their yells and
insults drowned out his cries.
Rodger
sulked; he crawled across the ground until he was under his favorite
tree. He felt very bad about making all his friends angry. He cried
to the sky, “What can I do to make everything better?”
“Say
you’re sorry,” a voice said flatly from above. Rodger looked up,
and saw the source of the voice. It was Fluffers, the jungle cat.
He was perched on a low-hanging branch on Rodger’s favorite tree.
“Say
I’m what?” Rodger asked Fluffers. He didn’t know what sorry
was.
“You
heard me.”
“But
what is sorry? I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Rodger
climbed up to where Fluffers was perched.
“Sorry
is an emotion. It is when you regret what you’ve done, and want to
make up for what you did that you didn’t mean to do.” Fluffers
licked her paw.
“How
do I do that?” Rodger felt that way exactly. He wanted to make
everything better with his jungle friends.
“It’s
simple, Rodger. All you have to do is say ‘I’m sorry.’ That
is how you feel, isn’t it?”
“Oh,
yes! I definitely feel that way!” Rodger felt much better now
that he knew how to make things better. “Thank you, Fluffers!”
Rodger ran off as fast as he could, which wasn’t very fast.
He ran
to the pond, and saw the fish under the water. He splashed at the
pond to get their attention. When he had their attention, he cried,
“I’m sorry!” A dopey smile erupted on his face. The fish were
stunned. Rodger had never told anyone sorry!
“It’s
okay!” The fish all said in unison.
Rodger
then crawled toward the turtle. He cried, “I’m sorry, turtle!”
The
turtle was shocked, Rodger had never said sorry before! He poked his
head up and said, “Its okay, Rodger. I forgive you.”
Rodger
felt great! He was making everything okay with his jungle friends!
He climbed a tree as fast as he could to find Ziggy the snake. He
found him basking in the sunlight.
He
cried, “I’m sorry, Ziggy for using you as a branch!” Rodger
smiled his dopey smile.
Ziggy
was taken aback; Rodger had never apologized to anyone! He told
Rodger, “It’s-s-s-s okay, Rodger. I ac-c-c-ept your apology.”
Rodger
felt great! He apologized to everyone he had wronged today. All of
his jungle friends were not angry with him anymore. Rodger climbed
into his own sunny spot, and took a long, happy nap.
