There was once a little girl named Jane. She never talked back to her parents, she was neat and clean, but there was one thing that was very ugly about this little girl. Jane would stuck her tongue out at people. I’m sure you’re thinking that kids do that sometimes and mean no harm. But Jane would stick her tongue out at everyone she met, all the time, everywhere. Even at school, she stuck her tongue out at the teacher during class.
It made Mommy and Daddy very sad. They explained to Jane that it was rude to stick one’s tongue out and that she should not do it. But they could say whatever they wantedr, Jane kept doing it all the time. When they were walking in the crosswalk, she stuck her tongue out at the drivers who were waiting. At the store, instead of saying hello, she stuck her tongue out at the clerk. At the doctor’s, instead of saying hello, she stuck her tongue out at the nurse, then at the doctor. And the worst was at school. She stuck her tongue out at the teacher in the morning instead of saying hello, and then many times during class.
Jane’s tongue didn’t hurt from the constant sticking out. She had already trained it so much that it was bigger and longer than those of the other children in the class. No one even remembered how it all started. Mummy thinks Jane started sticking her tongue out as soon as she was born. Daddy thinks it all started later, when Jane started talking. Instead of the first words, she just stuck out her tongue. One thing was certain. Once Jane stuck her tongue out for the first time, she did it all the time. And on purpose.
Mummy and Daddy hoped that Jane would grow out of it eventually if they kept ignoring it. But she didn’t. On the contrary, her sticking the tongue out started to get worse. Jane would stick her tongue even at animals, and she even used her fingers to make her nose look bigger.
“You can’t go on like this, Jane,” Daddy once said. “You can’t stick your tongue out at people. Besides, you do it so often that it’s almost always sticking out of your mouth. Do you want to look like a panting dog?”
“Ha ha, you wish,” said Jane, sticking her tongue out at Daddy.
“Dr. Tongue Tamer is coming for a visit today, and I hope he can cure you of that.”
And indeed, in the afternoon, Doctor Tongue Tamer came to Jane’s house. He was a tall and thin man with a long tongue sticking out of his mouth. It reached up to his waist. When he saw everyone looking at him in amazement, he smiled and said:
“Ith it my thung you’re thtarin’ at? I’ve been thtickin’ it out at people thinth I wath a kid. And it gwoo wike dat.”
Then Dr. Tongue Tamer wiped his mouth with his handkerchief, because it is not easy to swallow saliva with a tongue sticking out, and looked at Jane. She stuck her tongue out at him. The doctor nodded and took out various instruments from his doctor’s bag. First, he examined Jane’s tongue with a special light. Then he pulled out a tongue grabber to hold Jane’s tongue extended. With his other hand, he conjured a ruler and measured the tongue. When he was done, he released Jane’s tongue again. She stuck it out again, but the doctor was already writing something on a piece of paper.
“If youw daughtew keepth thtickin’ hew thung out tho often, she wiw end up wike me. Alweady hew thung ith fwee thentimetewth wongew dan da nowmaw.”
“Is there a cure?” Mom asked.
“”Dith ith an incuwabow cathe. Hew thung wiw eventuawy weach da gwound.” said Dr. Tongue Tamer, rolled his tongue into the breast pocket of his doctor’s blouse and left.
Later, Mommy and Daddy ran away too, so they wouldn’t have to watch their little girl turn into a panting dog with her tongue all the way to the ground.
Jane didn’t mind at all, at least she could do whatever she wanted. She continued to stick her tongue out at people and animals. She stuck her tongue even in her sleep. She didn’t mind at all that one day she would grow up and drag it around on the floor.
So, dear children, think twice about how you behave. Sticking the tongue out is very rude and nasty, don’t be like Jane.
