Storytelling Week 11: The Moon Jump

The Moon Jump

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, there lived a cat and a cow.
They were a harmonious two, always following each other and getting along in everything they did.

However, they weren't your ordinary cat and cow.
In fact, the cat knew how to play the fiddle!
Oh, how she would play that thing for hours. And the cow, being the gracious friend he was, would sit and listen to every second of it.

Not only was the cat talented, but the cow also had a few tricks he was proud of. One in particular was the height of his jumps. No cow had EVER reached the height he could reach. He trained day in and day out to reach his height goals and had much to show for it.

One day, the cow got really ambitious.

"I think I'll jump over the moon," he announced to his cat friend.
"You can absolutely do it! I've seen you jump high, and if you go a little further, there's absolutely no stopping you," the cat replied.
The cow truly appreciated his friend's support.

And so he started training more and more to get higher and higher.
However, not everyone was a fan of the cow's jumping skills. The cat and cow's next door neighbor was especially skeptical.
The little dog had only lived there about a year and had watched the cow training the entire time. When he heard about the cow's newest goals, he couldn't even believe his own ears. And everyone knows how much dogs trust their own hearing.

"Ha! There's no way that'll happen. Keep trying," the dog scoffed.
"Oh, I plan on it," replied the cow. He wasn't going to let some little dog get to him or interfere with his heart's desires.

The day finally came. The cow was as prepared as he was going to get.

"Wait! I'll grab my fiddle," the cat said right before the jump. She wanted to give the cow a send-off tune that she had been practicing since he announced the moon jump.

And so the cat started to play.
And then, WOOSH! The cow jumped right over the moon!

Of course the dog was watching and just chuckled to himself.
"He did it...to see such sport!"
He was actually impressed.

When the cow returned, all three celebrated the momentous occasion with a good meal and good company.

(Wikipedia: Hey Diddle Diddle)

Author's Note: I decided to write this story when doing the second half of the readings for this week. I was reading through the nursery rhymes and came across ones that I remembered from my childhood. I was inspired to rewrite one of the ones most familiar to me to see how far my creativity would take me.
"The original rhyme is Hey, Diddle Diddle:
HEY! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laugh'd
To see the sport,
While the dish ran after the spoon."
I left out the dish running away with the spoon, but kept to and expanded upon the rest of the rhyme.
I chose this image because it accurately depicts the story.

Bibliography: This story is part of the Nursery Rhymes unit. Story source: The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang and illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (1897).