story time: peter and the [___]

This is how Erica, Kansas, Bbaker and I spent our afternoon.

Bbaker tells us that she doesn't know the story of Peter and the Wolf. I only remember the version that Disney created. Erica says, "why don't we look it up on Wikipedia?" Okay. So, I get online to look it up and begin to read the synopsis. Kansas says, "wouldn't it be funny if the duck pooped?" Yes, yes it would. We could read the synopsis like a Mad Lib.

I would like to share with you a brief telling of Peter and the Wolf. When you read the following passage, every time you see "[___]" please add the word poop, or the correct tense of the word poop.

Peter, a Soviet Young Pioneer, is at his grandfather's home in a forest clearing. One day Peter goes out into the clearing, leaving the garden gate open, and the duck that lives in the yard takes the opportunity to go [___] on the nearby pond. She starts arguing with a little bird ("What kind of bird are you if you can't [___]?" – "What kind of bird are you if you can't [___]?"). Peter's pet cat sneaks up on them, and the bird —warned by Peter— flies to safety in a tall tree while the duck swims to [___] in the middle of the pond.

Peter's grandfather scolds Peter for being outside in the meadow ("Suppose a wolf [___] out of the forest?"), and, when Peter defies him, saying that "Pioneers are not afraid of wolves", his grandfather takes him back into the house and locks the gate. Shortly afterwards "a big, grey wolf" does indeed come out of the woods. The cat quickly [___] into the tree, but the duck, who has excitedly [___] out of the pond, is chased, overtaken and gulped down by the wolf.

Pioneer Peter fetches a rope and [___] over the garden wall into the tree. He asks the bird to [___] around the wolf's head to distract him, while he lowers a noose and catches the wolf by his tail. The wolf struggles to get free, but Peter ties the rope to the tree and the noose only gets tighter.

Some hunters, who have been tracking the wolf, come out of the forest ready to [___], but Peter gets them to help him take the wolf to the zoo in a victory parade (The piece was first performed for an audience of pioneers during May Day celebrations) that includes himself, the bird, the hunters leading the wolf, the cat and grumpy grumbling Grandfather ("What if Peter hadn't caught the wolf? What then?") In the story's ending, the listener is told that "if you listen very carefully, you'd hear the duck [___] inside the wolf's belly, because the wolf in his hurry had swallowed her alive."