Story about why their tongues are blue...

[aggiegirl]

Don't know how many of you newbies have the Bluey Bible (Hitz, Shea, et al) but there is a fun story in it about why our lizards have blue tongues. My kids loved this story---which is a tale from the Aborigines. I'll butcher it, so feel free to change the wording!
Once there was a very sick old man. To cure his life-threatening illness, he required ink from a squid. He sent his friend, a lizard, to the ocean to get it for him. The lizard hurriedly ran to the ocean and found a squid. In his hurry, the lizard had forgotten to take something to put the ink into. For this reason, he was forced to carry the ink in his mouth. He ran back to the old man as quickly as he could---even though he almost ground his legs into the ground. The lizard arrived with the ink just in time to save the old man from certain death. His tongue was stained blue and his legs were permanently shortened but his dear friend was saved. Ever since this time, all lizards of this type have the enduring short legs and blue tongues.

[mom22wins]

That is the cutest thing I've ever heard...

[Jenn]

Aggiegirl got the gist of it but because my bible is right by my computer and I'm procrasinating about cleaning the bathroom I copied the exact wording:

An old man was very sick and asked his friend, the lizard, to run to the ocean and urgently bring back ink from the squid which was required to cure him from his bad illness. When the lizard arrived at the ocean, he called the squid and asked him for a little bit of ind for his sick friend. The squid was in a charitable mood and offered the lizard to help himself from his full bladder of ink. But in all his hurry the lizard had forgotten to bring a vessel for the ink so the only way to transport the ink was in his mouth. Then he ran back so fast that he nearly ground off his legs. But eventually he arrived just in time to save his friend from certain death. Since then these skinks have blue tongues and very, very short legs.

[Phantom]

squid inks black <--- thats supposed to be shifty eyes

[Jenn]

These are from a second grade class I long term sub for in 2005. As a special reward Frankie got to visit for a day and we had blue tongue skink day. After reading the above story they wrote and illustrated their own.

These are some of the stories and pictures my kids did on BTS Day!

Once there was a blue tongue skink. He went to the candy store. The candy store seperated the candy by different colors. The skink liked blue candy so he went to that part. I liked blue candy too. I was getting blue candy. I got a lot of blue candy but the skink got more! We went to my house. When the skink was done eating all his candy I said, "Your tongue is blue!" The skink looked at his tongue. It was blue. "I told you to save some of your candy for later. Now your tongue will always be blue!"



A blue tongue skink found blue gum and bit some of it. He found out that his tongue was blue! That's why their names are Blue Tongue Skinks.


Once there was a blue tongue skink who got a terrible headache. He went to the sea to get a drink of water. When he was done he felt much better. When he looked at his reflection he noticed that he had a blue tongue!


The blue tongue skink was at the store looking for some blue juice. He looked and looked and looked. Finally he found it and took a sip. The next thing he knew he had a blue tongue!


One day a blue tongue skink went to the store. He had three dollars. He bought a box of air heads. It took all his money. He at the whole box! When he got home he brushed his teeth and he saw that he had a blue tongue.


Once upon a time a blue tongue was swimming in the water. He finally got on land. The he found a shell. He wanted it. He put it in his mouth. Then he saw that he had a blue tongue.

[aggiegirl]

I was trying not to plagiarize but since it was published in German (originally), I'll bet we are safe! I do like their story better than mine!
Phantom, it is just a story! Don't think too hard about it!
Jenn, I so love all the kids pictures and explanations. What a neat assignment! I will definitely borrow your idea to have kids explain why animals have certain adaptations. How fun!!!!!
My own children love neat tales like these. They also like eating candies to give themselves blue tongues!

[Jenn]

I'm a teacher, I'm all about plagiarizing things to use with my kids so why not do it here!!!! Somehow though I don't think the authors are hanging out on here waiting to catch us! The kids loving doing that assignment and it was a group that really didn't like to write. I haven't tried it with first grade but I might try it next year towards the end of the year.

[DeadEye]

Cool story all the aboriginals have story,s like that , like the serpent . Dreaming, wongina is a spirit , full bloods are terrified off the wongina spirit... ol man perenty bushy told me that story bout the tongue .Very cute do you know the yarrin and noongar people eat shingle,s blue tongue,s livers ...They say its very good for colds //Spose when sand worms wichidy grubs are like a sausage anything would be good ...The city aboriginals the other day i showed a pair of twins to a women and her kids she said yuk - get em away dem bite ya ..

[DeadEye]

there great drawings Jenn

Ill find you something i learnt from full bloods ... 0ne aborigan brother ere in the bush 1 night , and he said hey bro , slow down wid that light easy der fell ...Common Marc i thought you black fella,s could run thru the bush bare foot ...Well he said **** Off Ian iam a city Noongar mate He so scared of the bush and snakes at night ... lol very shy to with white people he doesn,t know .

[bluetonguemad]

actually, squid ink is blue, because we see it usually under water and through a camera all we see is balck, light hits it wrong and makes us think its black, so the story is right

[kris21]

When i read this i knew i had seen a different story about it....here it is.


In one Aboriginal legend, a fella was sitting around the campfire when he spotted the lizard. He thought to himself: "If that lizard is still around in three days I will do something terrible. My spirits will curse me for what I am going to do." Three days later the lizard was still there so he threw a bit of blue ochre at the lizard just it was poking his tongue out. The lizard has had a blue tongue ever since.

[bluetonguemad]

wow there are so many different legends, does anyone have the time to research the legends for the different areas, like new guinea and such