A group of upper elementary students have been studying fairy and folk tales. They gather together to read the adaptation of an old tale, " The Fast Skipping Pot." They have rehearsed the story in small group sessions, and are now ready to read it to the rest of the class.

Some sit, some stand at the front of the classroom, facing their audience. A narrator stands behind a music stand, opens the colorful folder upon the stand, and begins to read.

"Once upon a time when pigs could whistle and pots could talk, there lived a poor hungry husband and wife. The couple lived in a dusty house and owned one skinny pig."

The husband gives the audience his most hungry look and waves weakly. "I'm the husband," he says. "And I'm the wife!" exclaims his wife. "Oink!" adds the pig. The story continues.

The hungry man and wife decide to sell their skinny pig and set off to market. "Nobody will be interested in buying a pig as skinny as this pig!" moans the husband. But the pig is finally traded to a dwarf for an old black cooking pot. The dwarf hopes his new pig will learn to whistle "The Star Spangled Banner."

As the reading progresses, the readers speak their narrations or character lines fluently. They read with enthusiasm from the scripts in front of them.

Home again, the wife prepares to cook their last potato in the old black pot. But once she places it over the fire, the pot starts to make strange noises! The noises grow louder and louder until the pot cries out,

"I's a fast skippin' pot

'At's what I be.

I must skip so

SET ME FREE!"

All readers join in on the phrase SET ME FREE and shout it loudly. As the words SET ME FREE are repeated again and again throughout the story, both readers and audience members join in on the chant.

The story progresses and the fast skipping pot skips into a troll's cave, an ogre's barn, and a witch's shack, then rewards its owners with pots full of bread pudding, grain, and golden coins. But the troll, ogre, and witch chase the fast skipping pot and end "smack, splosh, swish" in a vat of hamburger soup. The witch screeches,

"You silly skipping pot! You can skip to Alaska for all we care! Just get us out of this hamburger soup!"

But, of course, the pot keeps on skipping. It skips right past the dwarf's house where a pig is whistling "The Star Spangled Banner" by the side of the road. And nobody has seen the pot since. That's not surprising, our readers tell us, because:

"Alaska is a long way away - even for a

FAST SKIPPIN' POT!"

The readers stand and bow. The audience applauds. Everyone is smiling.

(EDITORS NOTE: In the Canadian version of this story the pig, of course, whistles "Oh Canada" and the pot skips off to the Yukon).

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