The Tale of Rodger the Sloth

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.