Today Is a Very Nice Day
Down by the winding river bank
Arose a mighty debate among the creatures
Who lived along its eastern flank.
It was raining, you see
A drizzle, a shower
Drippy drops dropping on every blade and flower.
As the Spider crawled under a dry green leaf,
Curling into a ball as far as it could get
The Squirrel went into its tree- hole with grief
Already sopping wet.
When out of nowhere came a voice with an announcement:
“Today is a very nice day!”
All the creatures looking for shelter heard it say.
The Owl asked, “Who just said that, the fool?”
“Why it’s me, the Toad,” he said, sitting on a toadstool.
“How is it good? My feathers are drenched!” was the Owl’s retort.
“Yes but it’s good in some sort.”
“How so, how so?” asked the Owl so wise.
The Toad thought it over while eating some flies.
“It’s better for hopping, it’s better for shopping…for flies that is.”
“It’s better for being able to move about,
And making sure my skin doesn’t dry out.
I live in the water and on the wet ground.”
“Yes but I don’t!” said the Owl with a frown.
“I live in the trees and on branches and twigs,
“And I eat berries and berries and berries and figs.”
“They need the rain too” said the Toad, “you know.
They need it to help them grow.”
At this moment the Fish chimed in
With a fish-eating grin,
“Well in my opinion I first should state,
I live in water and I think it’s great!
My food is here, every harvest and grain,
And I have a home thanks to the rain.”
“My home is gone because of it too!”
Said the Chipmunk, beginning to stew.
“Not to mention it fluffs up my tail!”
“But it makes me go faster,” interjected the Snail.
At that moment the rain stopped!
The sun began to shine.
“Ah,” the Owl said. “It’s about time!”
“Today IS a very nice day!”
“I’m not sure I like the Sun,”
Said the Mushroom. “It is no fun.”
The Bat winced. “I really hate the light,”
“Which is why I only fly at night.”
The Gopher climbed out of its earthy abode
And smiled a mocking smile at the Toad.
The Bird chirped, “This is far far better I think.”
But the Otter disagreed-
“A few days of this and there’ll be nothing to drink!”
“How to settle this debate?”
roared the Owl.
“I know- wait!
Let us go ask the Bee.”
“Okay Toad, I agree.”
“But what’s this, the Bee’s not home!”
“Of course, he’s in the honeycomb!”
“Hello, hello, yellow Bee,
Can you come down for me?”
The Bee buzzed down to the pair.
“I know your questions but they’re not fair,”
Said the Bee.
“Why don’t you go ask the Tree?
He yearns for both sun and for the rain.”
“I’ve been listening to you all,”
Said the Tree. “And to me it’s all the same.
A Seed needs water to grow, with time
And once a Sapling it needs sunshine.
When a grown-up it becomes,
It provides shelter from the sun.
It offers fruit to eat and a place to live
It takes and takes and gives and gives.
What’s good for you is good for me.
And what’s good for the Tree is good for the Seed,
So yes it is a nice day, a very nice day indeed.”
allsmalltales 