Percy Penguin: Creative Critter

There once was a penguin named Percy who lived in a zoo. In that same zoo were a lot of gifted animals: a turtle named Tina who painted beautiful murals with mud, a beaver named Bart who could carve things out of wood, and meerkats named Mary and Martha who could dance. Percy wished he had a talent, but he couldn't figure anything out. There was no mud or wood in his exhibit. He wasn't sure if he could dance, and he was afraid to try. What could Percy do? It was winter, a penguin's favorite time of year.

It was starting to snow for the first time that winter. Percy saw a little girl walk by his exhibit, saying, "When we get home, I want to build a snow man!"

Build a snow man! That was it! Snow was falling in Percy's exhibit, so he rushed to gather some to see if he could make a snow penguin.

Soon, Percy's ordinary snow heap turned into an extraordinary snow sculpture. The other penguins gathered around the sculpture to get a closer look. It was amazing! Percy had made a snow sculpture of a penguin twice life size! It was beautiful! The humans were impressed too. They had no idea how such a marvelous snow sculpture had gotten into the penguin exhibit.

The penguins told all the animals in the zoo except the parrots. They knew if the parrots heard they would tell the humans the first chance they got. Soon the word was buzzing around the animals: "There's a new creative critter, and his name is Percy Penguin!" Percy had never felt happier.

Tina Turtle: Creative Critter

Tina had always been happy.  She had plenty of food, a comfortable pond and lots of friends at the zoo.  Tina never wanted for more that is until the artists came. 
 
It seemed interesting that the humans were setting up equipment right beside Tina's pond.  All the turtles were watching and talking.  New words were being used: artist, acrylic, oil, paints, easel, and palette.  But Tina only had one word, "Wow!"

The intensity of the colors, the different styles in the paintings, and the complexity of the painted scenes- Tina took it all in.  Suddenly she knew she wanted to be a painter, but there was one problem.  Tina had no paint.  Tina pondered long into the night after the zoo had closed and the artists had left.  She had to find a way to be a painter.  While thinking and s-l-o-w-l-y pacing around her pond, her food splashed into a mud puddle.  She looked down and noticed a print of mud in the shape of her foot. 
 
"I CAN PAINT!" Tina exclaimed.
 
She dipped her two front feet in the mud, and she stepped on the concrete in front of her pond at the zoo.  She made different shapes and designs.  She could feel her inner artist emerge.
 
In the morning when the keepers opened the zoo, they were astonished at the sight in front of the turtle pond.  It was a beautiful painting on the concrete.  By using different amounts of water and dirt on her feet, Tina had created the most beautiful mural two tiny turtle feet had ever made!  The humans never knew who made the mural but Tina knew.  She was the creative critter of the zoo.

Easel

There once was a cat named Easel. He loved to watch his human paint beautiful pictures. Day after day, and sometimes though the night, the human would paint. Easel admired the human's determination.

When he wasn't watching his human paint, Easel was hanging out with his friend Lisa. Lisa had a different human, but Easel and Lisa still found places to meet. They would talk and exchange the news from where they lived.

"Hi, Easel! Has your human painted anything interesting lately?"

“I think he's going to. He said something about 'Lisa'. There were a few other words, but I think he's going to paint a picture of you!"

And so it went. Whenever they could find time to meet, they snuck to the nearest alley to talk.  One day, the news Easel had for Lisa was quite different than usual.

"Lisa! My human is gone!"

"Interesting, my human is gone too!  I wonder where they could be."

"He's been gone half the day! He's never gone this long!"

"Maybe our humans will be back tomorrow."

"I hope so. See you around."

The humans were back that night, but both of the humans left again early the next morning.  Each day, Easel's human left early; whispering words like paint, picture, and Lisa. Since Lisa was never gone, Easel's human couldn't be painting a picture of her. However, Lisa's human was gone every day at the same time as Easel's human, so maybe Easel's human was painting a picture of Lisa's human! Easel couldn't wait to tell Lisa what their humans were doing.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance to for a while. There was too much horse-and-carriage traffic to get to the alley.  By the time Easel did get the chance to go to the alley, both of the humans where back. Easel's human had brought home a beautiful picture. It was a picture of Lisa's human! Easel rushed to tell Lisa.

"Lisa! Did you hear the news?"

"I did. Easel, your human painted a picture of my human! That's why they were gone so long!"

It was very exciting for both of the cats. Easel and Lisa had their humans back, and they knew where the humans had been and why they had been there. Easel's human had indeed been painting a picture of Lisa's human. What a beautiful picture it was!

What neither Easel nor Lisa knew at the time was that painting would become extremely famous long after their lifetimes. It would come to be known as "The Mona Lisa."

All poetry and stories Copyright © 2008-2009 faith4faith.org