The First Greybeard Story

I made up this bedtime story a while back and I thought I would post it. It's not exactly a masterpiece, but with some work I think it would make a really cute children's book. So, here goes. Feed me back if you wish.

Greybeard Goes Swimming

In the middle of the forest, in a small hole in the tallest tree lived Greybeard, the oldest squirrel.

One day Greybeard said, "I'm getting old. I think it's time I learned to swim." So he left his hole and jumped from tree to tree, all the way to the big pond. He sat on a tree branch and looked down at the water. Then he picked an acorn and threw it down so it landed - splash! - next to a fish. The fish looked up.

"Hey, Mr. Fish," said Greybeard. "Can you teach me how to swim?"

"TEACH you to swim?!" responded the fish. "Why would I TEACH you to swim? It's as easy as breathing!" The fish shook his head and swam away with a flick of his tail. Greybeard picked another acorn and tossed it down into the pond - splash! - next to a frog. The frog looked up.

"Hey, Mr. Frog," said Greybeard. "Can you teach me to swim?"

"TEACH you to swim?!" replied the frog. "Why, it's as easy as kicking your feet, silly!" The frog laughed to himself and swam away with a few strong kicks of his feet. Greybeard picked another acorn.

Splash! the acorn landed next to a water bug. The bug was already looking up, floating on his back on top of the water. "Hey," he said lazily.

"Mr. Water Bug," said Greybeard, "can you teach me to swim?"

"Well..." said the water bug. He stroked his oars a few times. "Nah." He paddled away.

Greybeard picked one last acorn. Splash! it landed by a duck. The duck looked up.

"Hey, Mr. Duck," said Greybeard. "can you teach me to swim?"

"I guess so," responded the duck. "Jump down on my back."

Greybeard scampered down the tree trunk and climbed on the duck's back. The duck started to swim across the pond while Greybeard held on tight.

"I'm going to dive. Take a deep breath!" said the duck. Greybeard held his breath and the duck dove under the water. They went down, down, down. Greybeard looked around. He saw fish swimming, and frogs kicking. He looked up and saw water bugs paddling and the wavy blue sky. He looked down and saw plants and rocks and mud. Greybeard decided he had seen enough.

Greybeard let go of the duck and kicked his legs until he was back in the air. He kicked his legs until he was at the side of the pond. He shook the water out of his fur. "Well," he said, "I guess that's enough swimming for today."

THE END

I was thinking Greybeard could get into the water each time (try breathing underwater, kicking his legs and floating, for example) but I don't know if that would improve the story at all. Let me know what you think of the basic idea.

And just for fun, I will add: copyright Sept 2014, Jordan Johnsen