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Speaker 1: Hello, friends, and welcome to sleep Tight Stories. This week's

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Speaker 1: story is going to be read in two parts. Have

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Speaker 1: you ever gone on a long journey where you didn't

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Speaker 1: quite know what was going to happen? This is what

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Speaker 1: you're going to hear about in this week's story, My

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Speaker 1: Father's Dragon. One cold, rainy day, when my father was

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Speaker 1: a little boy, he met an old alley cat on

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Speaker 1: his street. The cat was very drippy and uncomfortable, so

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Speaker 1: my father said, wouldn't you like to come home with me?

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Speaker 1: This surprised the cat. She had never before met anyone

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Speaker 1: who cared about old alley cats, but she said, I'd

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Speaker 1: be very much obliged if I could sit by a

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Speaker 1: warm furnace and perhaps have a saucer of milk. We

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Speaker 1: have a very nice furnace to sit by, said my father,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sure my mother has an extra saucer of milk.

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Speaker 1: My father and the cat became good friends, but my

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Speaker 1: father's mother was very upset about the cat. She didn't

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Speaker 1: like cats, particularly ugly old alley cats. Elevator. She said

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Speaker 1: to my father, if you think I'm going to give

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Speaker 1: that cat a saucer of milk, you're very wrong. Once

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Speaker 1: you start feeding stray alley cats. You might as well

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Speaker 1: expect to feed every stray in town, and I am

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Speaker 1: not going to do it. This made my father very sad,

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Speaker 1: and he apologized to the cat because his mother had

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Speaker 1: been so rude. He told the cat to stay away

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Speaker 1: and that somehow he would bring her a saucer of

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Speaker 1: milk each day. My father fed the cat for three weeks,

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Speaker 1: but one day his mother found the cat's saucer in

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Speaker 1: the cellar, and she was extremely angry. She yelled at

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Speaker 1: my father and put the cat out the door. But

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Speaker 1: later on my father snuck out and found the cat.

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Speaker 1: Together they went for a walk in the park and

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Speaker 1: tried to think of nice things to talk about. My

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Speaker 1: father said, when I grow up, I'm going to have

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Speaker 1: an airplane. Wouldn't it be wonderful to fly just anywhere

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Speaker 1: you might think of? Would you like to fly very

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Speaker 1: very much? Asked the cat. I certainly would. I'd do

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Speaker 1: anything if I could fly, well, said the cat, If

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Speaker 1: you'd really like to fly that much, I think I

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Speaker 1: know of a sort of way you might get to

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Speaker 1: fly while you're still a little boy. You mean you

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Speaker 1: know where I could get an airplane? Well, not exactly

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Speaker 1: an airplane, but something even better. As you can see,

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Speaker 1: I am an old cat now, but in my younger

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Speaker 1: days I was quite a traveler. My traveling days are over.

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Speaker 1: But last spring I took just one more trip and

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Speaker 1: sailed to the island of Tangerina, stopping at the port

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Speaker 1: of Cranberry. Well, it just so happened that I missed

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Speaker 1: the boat, and while waiting for the next I thought

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Speaker 1: i'd look around a bit. I was particularly interested in

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Speaker 1: a place called Wild Island, which we had passed on

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Speaker 1: our way to Tangerina. Wild Island and Tangerina are joined

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Speaker 1: together by a long string of rocks. But people never

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Speaker 1: go to Wild Island because it's mostly jungle and inhabit

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Speaker 1: by very wild animals. So I decided to go across

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Speaker 1: the rocks and explore it for myself. It certainly is

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Speaker 1: an interesting place, but I saw something there that made

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Speaker 1: me want to cry. Wild Island is practically cut in

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Speaker 1: two by a very wide and muddy river, continued the cat.

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Speaker 1: This river begins near one end of the island and

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Speaker 1: flows into the ocean at the other. Now, the animals

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Speaker 1: there are very lazy, and they used to hate having

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Speaker 1: to go all the way around the beginning of this

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Speaker 1: river to get to the other side of the island.

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Speaker 1: It made visiting inconvenient and mail deliveries slow, particularly during

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Speaker 1: the Christmas rush. Crocodiles could have carried passengers and mail

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Speaker 1: across the river, but crocodiles are very moody and not

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Speaker 1: the least bit dependable, and are always looking for something

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Speaker 1: to eat. They don't care if the animals have to

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Speaker 1: walk around the river. So that's just what the animals

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Speaker 1: did for many years. But what does all this have

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Speaker 1: to do with airplanes, asked my father, who thought the

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Speaker 1: cat was taking an awfully long time to explain. Be patient, Elmer,

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Speaker 1: said the cat, and she went on with the story.

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Speaker 1: One day, about four months before I arrived on Wild Island,

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Speaker 1: a baby dragon fell from a low flying cloud on

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Speaker 1: to the bank of the river. He was too young

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Speaker 1: to fly very well, and besides he had bruised one

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Speaker 1: wing quite badly, so we couldn't get back to his cloud.

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Speaker 1: The animals found him soon afterward, and everyone said, why,

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Speaker 1: this is just exactly what we have needed all these years.

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Speaker 1: They tied a big rope around his neck and waited

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Speaker 1: for the wing to get well. This was going to

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Speaker 1: end all there crossing the river troubles. I've never seen

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Speaker 1: a dragon, said my father. Did you see him? How

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Speaker 1: big is he? Oh? Yes, indeed I saw the dragon.

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Speaker 1: In fact, we became great friends, said the cat. I

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Speaker 1: used to hide in the bushes and talk to him

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Speaker 1: when nobody was around. He's not a very big dragon,

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Speaker 1: about the size of a large black bear, although I imagine

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Speaker 1: he's grown quite a bit since I left. He's got

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Speaker 1: a long tail and yellow and blue stripes. His horn

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Speaker 1: and eyes, and the bottom of his feet are bright red,

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Speaker 1: and he has gold colored wings. Oh, how wonderful, said

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Speaker 1: my father. What did the animals do with him? When

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Speaker 1: his wing got well? They started training him to carry passengers,

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Speaker 1: And even though he is just a baby dragon, they

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Speaker 1: work him all day and all night too. Sometimes they

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Speaker 1: make him carry loads that are much too heavy, and

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Speaker 1: if he complains, they get angry with him. He is

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Speaker 1: always tied to a stake on a rope just long

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Speaker 1: enough to go across the river. His only friends are

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Speaker 1: the crocodiles, who say hello to him once a week

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Speaker 1: if they don't forget. Really, he's the most miserable animal

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Speaker 1: I've ever come across. When I left, I promised I'd

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Speaker 1: try to help him some day, although I couldn't see how.

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Speaker 1: The rope around his neck is about the biggest toughest

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Speaker 1: rope you can imagine, with so many knots it would

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Speaker 1: take days to untie them all. Anyway, when you were

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Speaker 1: talking about airplanes, you gave me a good idea. Now

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Speaker 1: I'm quite sure that if you were able to rescue

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Speaker 1: the dragon, which wouldn't be the least bit easy, he

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Speaker 1: would let you ride him most anywhere, provided you were

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Speaker 1: nice to him. Of course, how about trying it? Oh,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to, said my father, And he was so

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Speaker 1: angry at his mother for being rude to the cat

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Speaker 1: that he thought running away from home might be good

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Speaker 1: for a while. That very afternoon, my father and the

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Speaker 1: cat went down to the docks to see about ships

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Speaker 1: going to the island of Tangerina. They found out that

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Speaker 1: a ship would be sailing the next week, so right

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Speaker 1: away they started planning for the rescue of the dragon.

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Speaker 1: The cat was a great help in suggesting things for

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Speaker 1: my father to take with him, and she told him

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Speaker 1: everything she knew about Wild Island. Of course, she was

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Speaker 1: too old to go along. Everything had to be kept

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Speaker 1: very secret, so When they found or bought anything to

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Speaker 1: take on the trip, they hid it behind a rock

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Speaker 1: in the park. The night before my father sailed, he

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Speaker 1: borrowed his father's knapsack, and he and the cat packed

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Speaker 1: everything very carefully. He took chewing gum, two dozen pink lollipops,

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Speaker 1: a package of rubber bands, black rubber boots, a compass,

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Speaker 1: a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste, six magnifying glasses,

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Speaker 1: a very sharp jackknife, a comb and a hair brush,

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Speaker 1: seven hair ribbons of different colors, an empty grain bag

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Speaker 1: with the label saying Cranberry, some clean clothes, and enough

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Speaker 1: food to last my father while he was on the ship.

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Speaker 1: He couldn't live on mice, so he took twenty five

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Speaker 1: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and six apples, because that's

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Speaker 1: all the apple he could find in the pantry. When

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Speaker 1: everything was packed, my father and the cat went down

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Speaker 1: to the docks to the ship. A night watchman was

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Speaker 1: on duty, so while a cat made loud, strange noises

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Speaker 1: to distract his attention, my father ran over the gangplank

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Speaker 1: onto the ship. He went down into the hold and

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Speaker 1: hid among some bags of wheat. The ship sailed early

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Speaker 1: the next morning. My father hid in the hold for

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Speaker 1: six days and nights. Twice he was nearly caught when

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Speaker 1: the ship stopped to take on more cargo, but at

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Speaker 1: last he heard a sailor say that the next port

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Speaker 1: would be Cranberry and that they would be unloading the

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Speaker 1: wheat there. My father knew that the sailors would send

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Speaker 1: him home if they caught him, so he looked in

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Speaker 1: his knapsack and took out a rubber band and the

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Speaker 1: empty grain bag with the label saying Cranberry. At the

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Speaker 1: last moment, my father got inside the bag knapsack and

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Speaker 1: all folded the top of the bag inside and put

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Speaker 1: the rubber band around the top. He didn't look just

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Speaker 1: exactly like the other bags, but it was the best

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Speaker 1: he could do. Soon, the sailors came to unload. They

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Speaker 1: lowered a big net into the hold and began moving

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Speaker 1: the bags of wheat. Suddenly, one sailor yelled, Great Scott,

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Speaker 1: this is the strangest bag of wheat I've ever seen.

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Speaker 1: It's all lumpy like, but the label said it's to

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Speaker 1: go to Cranberry. The other sailors looked at the bag too,

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Speaker 1: and my father, who was in the bag, of course,

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Speaker 1: tried even harder to look like a bag of wheat.

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Speaker 1: Then another sailor felt the bag and he just happened

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Speaker 1: to get hold of my father's elbow. I know what

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Speaker 1: this is, He said, this is a bag of dried

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Speaker 1: corn on the cob, and he dumped my father into

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Speaker 1: the big net along with the bags of wheat. This

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Speaker 1: all happened in the late afternoon, so late that the

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Speaker 1: merchant in Cranberry, who had ordered the wheat, didn't count

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Speaker 1: his bags until the next morning. He was a very

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Speaker 1: punctual man and never late for dinner. The sailors told

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Speaker 1: the captain, and the captain wrote down on a piece

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Speaker 1: of that they had delivered one hundred and sixty bags

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Speaker 1: of wheat and one bag of dried corn on the cob.

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Speaker 1: They left the piece of paper for the merchant and

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Speaker 1: sailed away that evening. My father heard later that the

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Speaker 1: merchant spent the whole next day counting and recounting the

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Speaker 1: bags and feeling each one, trying to find the bag

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Speaker 1: of dried corn on the cob. He never found it,

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Speaker 1: because as soon as it was dark, my father climbed

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Speaker 1: out of the bag, folded it up and put it

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Speaker 1: back in his knapsack. He walked along the shore to

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Speaker 1: a nice sandy place and lay down to sleep. My

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Speaker 1: father was very hungry when he woke up the next morning.

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Speaker 1: Just as he was looking to see if he had

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Speaker 1: anything left to eat, something hit him on the head.

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Speaker 1: It was a tangerine. He had been sleeping right under

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Speaker 1: a tree full of big, fat tangerines, and then he

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Speaker 1: remembered that this was the island of Tangerina. Tangerine trees

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Speaker 1: grew wild everywhere. My father picked as many as he

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Speaker 1: had room for, which was thirty one, and started off

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Speaker 1: to find Wild Island. He walked and walked and walked

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Speaker 1: along the shore, looking for the rocks that joined the

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Speaker 1: two islands. He walked all day, and once when he

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Speaker 1: met a fisherman and asked him about Wild Island. The

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Speaker 1: fishermen began to shake and couldn't talk for a long while.

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Speaker 1: It scared him that much just thinking about it. Finally,

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Speaker 1: he said, many people have tried to explore Wild Island,

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Speaker 1: but not one has come back. We think that they

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Speaker 1: were eaten by the animals. This didn't bother my father.

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Speaker 1: He kept walking and slept on the beach again that night,

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Speaker 1: It was beautifully clear the next day, and way down

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Speaker 1: the shore my father could see a long line of

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Speaker 1: rocks leading out into the ocean, and way way out

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Speaker 1: at the end he could see a tiny patch of green.

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Speaker 1: He quickly ate seven tangerines and started down the beach.

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Speaker 1: It was almost dark when he came to the rocks,

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Speaker 1: but there, way out in the ocean, was the patch

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Speaker 1: of green. He sat down and rested a while, remembering

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Speaker 1: that the cat had said, if you can go out

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Speaker 1: to the island at nice, because then the animals won't

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Speaker 1: see you coming along the rocks, and you can hide

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Speaker 1: when you get there. So my father picked seven more tangerines,

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Speaker 1: put on his black rubber boots, and waited for dark.

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Speaker 1: It was a very black night, and my father could

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Speaker 1: hardly see the rocks ahead of him. Sometimes they were

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Speaker 1: quite high, and sometimes the waves almost covered them, and

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Speaker 1: they were slippery and hard to walk on. Sometimes the

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Speaker 1: rocks were far apart, and my father had to get

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Speaker 1: a running start and leap from one to the next.

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Speaker 1: After a while, he began to hear a rumbling noise.

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Speaker 1: It grew louder and louder as he got nearer to

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Speaker 1: the island. At last, it seemed as if he was

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Speaker 1: right on top of the noise, and he was. He

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Speaker 1: had jumped from a rock onto the back of a

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Speaker 1: small whale who was fast asleep and cuddled up between

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Speaker 1: two rocks. The whale was snoring and making more noise

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Speaker 1: than a steam shovel, so it never heard my father say, oh,

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Speaker 1: I didn't know that was you, and it never knew

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Speaker 1: my father had jumped on its back by mistake. For

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Speaker 1: seven hours, my father climbed and slipped and leapt from

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Speaker 1: rock to rock, but while it was still dark, he

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Speaker 1: finally reached the very last rock and stepped off onto

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Speaker 1: Wild Island. The jungle began just beyond a narrow strip

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Speaker 1: of beach, thick, dark, damp jungle. My father hardly knew

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Speaker 1: where to go, so he crawled under a wahoo bush

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Speaker 1: to think and ate eight tangerines. The first thing to do,

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Speaker 1: he decided, was to find the river, because the dragon

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Speaker 1: was tied somewhere along its bank. Then he thought, if

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Speaker 1: the river flows into the ocean, I ought to be

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Speaker 1: able to find it quite easily if I just walk

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Speaker 1: along the beach far enough. So my father walked until

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Speaker 1: the sun rose, and he was quite far from the

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Speaker 1: ocean rocks. It was dangerous to stay near them because

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Speaker 1: they might be guarded in the daytime. He found a

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Speaker 1: clump of tall grass and sat down. Then he took

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Speaker 1: off his rubber boots and ate three more tangerines. He

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Speaker 1: could have eaten twelve, but he didn't see any tangerines

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Speaker 1: on this island, and he could not risk running out

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Speaker 1: of something to eat. My father slept all that day

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Speaker 1: and only woke up late in the afternoon when he

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Speaker 1: heard a funny little voice saying, strange, strange, What a

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Speaker 1: dear little boy, I mean, dear, dear, what a strange

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Speaker 1: little rock. My father saw a tiny paw rubbing itself

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Speaker 1: on his knapsack. He lay very still, and the mouse,

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Speaker 1: or it was a mouse, hurried away, muttering to itself.

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Speaker 1: I must smell somebody, I mean, I must tell somebody.

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Speaker 1: My father waited a few minutes and then started down

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Speaker 1: the beach because it was almost dark now and he

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Speaker 1: was afraid the mouse really would tell somebody. He walked

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Speaker 1: all night, and two things happened. First, he just had

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Speaker 1: to sneeze, so he did, and somebody close by said,

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Speaker 1: is that you monkey? My father said yes. Then the

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Speaker 1: voice said, you must have something on your back, monkey,

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Speaker 1: and my father said yes, because he did he had

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Speaker 1: his knapsack on his back. What do you have on

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Speaker 1: your back, monkey, asked the voice. My father didn't know

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Speaker 1: what to say, because what would a monkey have on

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Speaker 1: its back, and how would it sound telling somebody about

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Speaker 1: it if it did have something. Just then another voice said,

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Speaker 1: I bet your take and your sick grandmother to the doctor's.

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Speaker 1: My father said yes and hurried on. Quite by accident,

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Speaker 1: he found out later that he had been talking to

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Speaker 1: a pair of tortoises. The second thing that happened was

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Speaker 1: that he nearly walked right between two wild boars who

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Speaker 1: were talking in a low, serious whisper. When he first

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Speaker 1: saw the dark shapes, he thought they were boulders. Just

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Speaker 1: in time he heard one of them say, there are

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Speaker 1: three signs of a recent invasion. First, fresh tangerine peels

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Speaker 1: were found under the wahoo bush near the ocean rocks. Second,

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Speaker 1: a mouse reported an extraordinary rock some distance from the

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Speaker 1: ocean rocks, which, upon further investigation, simply wasn't there. However,

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Speaker 1: more fresh tangerine peels were found in the same spot,

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Speaker 1: which is the third sign of invasion. Since tangerines do

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Speaker 1: not grow on our island. Somebody must have brought them

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Speaker 1: across the ocean rocks from the other island, which may

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Speaker 1: or may not have something to do with the appearance

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Speaker 1: and or disappearance of the extraordinary rock reported by the mouse.

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Speaker 1: After a long silence, the other boar said, you know,

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Speaker 1: I think we're taking all this too seriously. Those pels

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Speaker 1: probably floated over here all by themselves, and you do

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Speaker 1: you know how unreliable mice are. Besides, if there had

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Speaker 1: been an invasion, I would have seen it. Perhaps you

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Speaker 1: are right, said the first boar. Shall we retire? When

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Speaker 1: they both trundled back into the jungle, Well, that taught

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Speaker 1: my father a lesson, and after that he saved all

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Speaker 1: his tangerine peals. He walked all night, and toward morning

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Speaker 1: came to the river. Then his troubles really began. B

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Speaker 1: would be fun and funto