Headfirst into the Oatmeal
By Sean Taylor
1.
0201
0202
2.
Anna and Benni had a farm in the hills.
They had one brown cow, some hens, a sheep
0203 a goat, and a big field of hay.
0204
3.
4.
2.__________________
They lived in a little wooden house in the
0205 shelter of a grassy mound.
0206
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3.___________________
One morning, Benni sat down on his old
0207 rocking chair and sighed. 5. “Why are you
4.__________________
0208 huffing and puffing?” Anna asked.
5.__________________
6.
0209
“I’m tired,” said Benni, “and I’ve got to
0210 cut the hay.” “You’re just lazy!” said Anna.
0301
7.
Benni frowned. 8. “You’d complain too, if you
0302 had to do what I do!” he said.
“Are you sure?” asked Anna.
0303
9.
0304
10.
“Oh yes. 11. As sure as a man can
0305 be!” said Benni. 12. “I do more work in one
6._________________
7._________________
8._________________
9._________________
10.________________
11.________________
0306 day than you do in three.”
0307
13.
12._________________
“Well, if that’s what you think,” said Anna,
0308 “then why don’t I cut the hay?
14.
You can stay
0309 here and do the things that I usually do.”
0310
15.
“All right,” said Benni.
16.
“You can start
0311 by pouring the tea,” said Anna.
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14._________________
15._________________
16._________________
0401
17.
“What do I have to do then?” asked Anna.
17._________________
0402
18.
“Cut all the hay in the field,” said Benni.
18._________________
0403
19.
“And I suppose all I have to do is rock the
0404 baby and make the bed?”
0405 Anna.
21.
20.
“That’s right,” said
“And feed the sheep, and milk the goat,
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20._________________
0406 and clean out the chicken coop, and sweep the floor,
0407 and beat the rug, and chop the wood, and wash the sheets,
0408 and make the fire, and cook the oatmeal, and take the
0409 brown cow down to the grassy field.”
0601
22.
Anna set off for the hayfield, and Benni sat
21.________________
0602 down with a smile.
0603 day,” he said.
0604 long.”
25.
23.
“Well, this will be a fine
22.__________________
“Those chores won’t take
23.__________________
He stretched his legs and looked
24.__________________
24.
0605 around the room.
26.
“I might just drink
0606 another quick cup of tea,” he thought.
25.__________________
26.__________________
0607
27.
He drank his tea and sighed happily.
27.__________________
0608
28.
“Those chores won’t take long. 29. They
28.__________________
0609 won’t take long at all,” he said to himself.
29.__________________
0610
30.
“Maybe I’ll have a small cheese sandwich.”
0611
31.
He started his sandwich and fell asleep by
0612 the warm fire.
30.__________________
31.__________________
An hour later he woke up. 33. “Well,” he
32.__________________
0702 yawned, “I’d better get those things done.”
33.__________________
0701
0703
32.
34.
So, he made the bed, and rocked the baby,
0704 and put the food for the sheep in a sack by the door. 34.__________________
0705
35.
Then he found the broom and swept the floor.
35.__________________
0706
36.
He sharpened the axe, chopped the wood, and
0707 tied up the goat.
0708
37.
36.__________________
He milked the goat, took the milk bucket
0709 indoors, and put the sheets in the washtub.
0801
38.
37._________________
Then he took the rug outside and started to
0802 beat it.
39.
All this hard work was making him
38._________________
0803 thirsty!
40.
“I’ll just go and get a cup of apple
39._________________
0804 cider!” thought Benni.
0901
41.
40._________________
Benni went down to the cellar.
0902 apple cider was in a large barrel.
42.
43.
The
Benni put
41._________________
42._________________
0903 his cup under the tap and turned it on when
0904 suddenly…CRASH
1001
44.
Benni rushed back upstairs.
43.________________
45.
The sheep
44._________________
1002 had come in the open door and was standing in
1003 the kitchen.
1004 the floor.
47.
46.
It had knocked the milk all over
Benni splashed through the milk
45._________________
46._________________
1005 and pushed the sheep out of the door.
1101
48.
47._________________
Benni was mopping up the mess when he
1102 heard a strange swooshing sound from downstairs. 48._________________
1103
49.
“What could that be?” he thought.
50.
Benni
1104 hurried back down to the cellar and…SPLOSH!
49._________________
50._________________
1201
51.
He saw that he had left the tap running.
51._________________
1202
52.
He was up to his ankles in apple cider.
52._________________
1203
53.
Just then the baby started to scream, so he
1204 rushed upstairs again.
1301
54.
53._________________
Benni rocked the baby and washed the sheets
1302 in the washtub.
55.
Then he scrubbed the floor
1303 and cleaned out the chicken coop.
1304
56.
57.
55._________________
Then he hung out the sheets, and at that
1305 second…it started to rain!
1501
54._________________
56._________________
Benni ran inside from the yard and dropped
1502 into his old rocking chair.
58.
“I’m so tired!”
57._________________
1503 he thought.
1504 nap.”
60.
59.
I’ll just take a little
But when he saw the time he was
1505 so surprised that he almost fell on the floor.
1506
61.
Anna was coming back!
62.
He had five
58.__________________
59._________________
60._________________
61._________________
1507 minutes to make the oatmeal and take the cow
1508 down to the grassy field.
63.
“Anna won’t be at
62._________________
1509 all happy if these chores aren’t done!” he said to
1510 himself.
1601
64.
63._________________
So he found the oats, stoked the fire, and put
1602 the oatmeal in the pot.
65.
But how was he going
64.__________________
1603 to take the brown cow down to the grassy field,
1604 and stir the oatmeal at the same time?
1605
66.
He rubbed his chin and stared into the fire.
1606
67.
Then suddenly, he remembered the grassy
1607 mound behind the house.
1701
68.
He rushed outside, tied a rope around the
65.__________________
66._________________
67.__________________
1702 cow’s ankle, and took her up onto the grassy
1703 mound.
69.
Then he dropped the rope down
1704 the chimney.
70.
He ran back to the fireplace
68._________________
69._________________
1705 and tied the other end of the rope around his
1706 ankle.
71.
“Now the brown cow can’t run off,”
70._________________
1707 he said to himself, “and the oatmeal will still be
1708 ready on time.”
1801
72.
71._________________
But the brown cow had never eaten on the
1802 grassy mound before.
73.
She was used to the
1803 grassy field, which was long and flat.
1804
74.
72._________________
73._________________
There she would walk and eat, walk and eat,
1805 and she never bothered to look where she
1806 was going.
75.
So now she just kept on walking
74.__________________
1807 and kept on eating. 76. Soon, she had plodded onto 75.__________________
1808 the roof of the house and was eating the grass that
1809 grew in the gutters.
76._________________
1901
77.
Benni was so busy stirring the oatmeal that
1902 he didn’t notice the rope disappearing up the chimney.
1903
78.
77._______________
The brown cow kept walking across the roof, and
1904 when she came to the edge, she fell off.
78._______________
1905
79.
The rope yanked Benni by the ankle and…whoops!
79._______________
1906
80.
Benni went flying up the chimney.
80._______________
2001
81.
At that moment, Anna came back from the
2002 hayfield.
82.
She saw the sheets hanging in the rain
2003 and the brown cow hanging from the roof.
2004
83.
“Benni!” she yelled, bursting into the house.
2005
84.
But all she could see was a pot of oatmeal
2006 over the fire.
85.
She couldn’t imagine where Benni
81._______________
82._______________
83._______________
84._______________
2007 was or why he had hung the brown cow from the roof.
85._______________
86._______________
2101
86.
“MOOOOOOOOO!!!” complained the brown cow.
2102
87.
Anna rushed out, cut the rope, and…well, you know
2103 what happened next!
87.______________
2201
88.
“MOO!” cried the cow, as she landed back on
2202 the ground.
89.
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” screamed
88._______________
2203 Benni as he fell down the chimney and headfirst into
2204 the oatmeal.
2205
90.
Anna laughed until she cried.
2401
91.
“Tomorrow I’m going to cut the hay!” said Benni,
2402 trying to scrape the oatmeal out of his hair.
2403
92.
Anna looked at him, wiping the tears from her eyes.
2404
93.
“Are you sure?” she asked. 94. “Oh yes. As sure as
2405 a man can be,” said Benni.
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