story 1Henry: A Chameleon
Read the story very carefully and a quiz will be done on story in coming week.
Henry: A Chameleon
This is story of Henry, Our pet Chameleon.
Chameleon are in a class by themselves
and are no ordinary reptiles. They are easily distinguished from their
nearest relatives, Like lizards, By certain outstanding features.
A chameleon's tongue is as long as its body. Its limbs are long and slender and its fingers and toes resemble a parrot's claws. On its head may be any of several ornaments. Henry had a rigid crest that looked like a fireman's helmet.
Henry's eyes were his most remarkable feature. they were not beautiful, but his left eye was quite independent of his right. He could move one eye without disturbing the other. Each eyeball, bulging out of his head, wobbled up and down, backward and forward. This frenzied movement gave Henry a horrible squint. And one look into Henry's frightful gaze was often enough to scare people into believing that chameleon are dangerous and poisonous reptiles.
One day, Grandfather was visiting a friend, when he came upon a noisy scene at the garden gate. Men were shouting, hurling stones, and brandishing sticks. The cause of the uproar was a chameleon that had been discovered sunning itself on a shrub. Someone claimed that the chameleon could poison people twenty feet away, simply by spitting at them. The residents of the area had risen up in arms. Grandfather was just in time save the chameleon from certain death- he brought the little reptile home.
That chameleon was Henry, and that was now he came to live with us.
When i first visited Henry, he would treat me with great caution, sitting perfectly still on his perch with his back to me. The eye nearer to me would move around like the beam of a searchlight until it had me well in focus. The it would stop and the other eye would begin an independent survey of its own. For a long time Henry trusted no one and responded to my friendliest gestures with gave suspicion.
Tiring of his attitude, I would tickle him gently on the ribs with my finger. This always threw him into a great rage. He would blow himself up to an enormous size as his lungs filled up with air, while his color changed from green to red. He would sit up on his hind legs, swaying from side to side, hoping to overawe me.
Opening his mouth very wide, he would let out an angry hiss. But his threatening display went no further, he did not bite.
Henry was a harmless fellow. If I put my finger in his mouth, even during his wildest moments, he would simply wait for me to take it out again.
I suppose he could bite. His rigid jaws carried a number of finely pointed teeth, But Henry seemed convinced that his teeth were there for the sole purpose of chewing food, not fingers.
Henry was sometimes willing to take food from my hands. This he did very swiftly. His tongue performed like a boomerang and always come back to him with the food. usually an insect, attached to it.
Although Henry did not cause any trouble in our house, he did create somewhat of a riot in the nursery down the road, it started out quite innocently.
When the papaya in our orchard were ripe, Grandfather sent a basket full to her friend Mrs Das, who was the principal of the nursery school. While the basket sat waiting, Henry searching for the beetles and slipped in among the papayas, unnoticed. The gardener dutifully carried the basket to the school and left it in Mrs Das's office. When Mrs. Das returned after making her rounds, she began examining and admiring the papayas.
And Out popped Henry.
Mrs. Das Screamed. Henry squinted up at her, Bith eyes revolving furiously. Mrs Das screamed again, Henry's color changed from green to yellow to red. His Mouth opened as though he too would like to scream. An assistant teacher rushed in, took one look at the chameleon , and joined in the shrieking.
Henry was terrified. He fled from the office running down the corridor an into one of the classrooms. There he climbed up on a desk while children ran in all directions- some to get away from Henry, some to catch him. Henry finally made his exit through a window and disappeared in the garden.
Grandfather heard about the incident from Mrs Das but did not mention that the chameleon was ours, It might have spoiled their friendship.
Grandfather and i did not think Henry would find his way back to us, because the school was three blocks away, But a few days later, I found him sunning himself on the garden wall. Although he looked none the worse for his adventure, he never went abroad again.
Henry spent the rest of his days in the garden, where he kept the insect population well within bounds.
A chameleon's tongue is as long as its body. Its limbs are long and slender and its fingers and toes resemble a parrot's claws. On its head may be any of several ornaments. Henry had a rigid crest that looked like a fireman's helmet.
Henry's eyes were his most remarkable feature. they were not beautiful, but his left eye was quite independent of his right. He could move one eye without disturbing the other. Each eyeball, bulging out of his head, wobbled up and down, backward and forward. This frenzied movement gave Henry a horrible squint. And one look into Henry's frightful gaze was often enough to scare people into believing that chameleon are dangerous and poisonous reptiles.
One day, Grandfather was visiting a friend, when he came upon a noisy scene at the garden gate. Men were shouting, hurling stones, and brandishing sticks. The cause of the uproar was a chameleon that had been discovered sunning itself on a shrub. Someone claimed that the chameleon could poison people twenty feet away, simply by spitting at them. The residents of the area had risen up in arms. Grandfather was just in time save the chameleon from certain death- he brought the little reptile home.
That chameleon was Henry, and that was now he came to live with us.
When i first visited Henry, he would treat me with great caution, sitting perfectly still on his perch with his back to me. The eye nearer to me would move around like the beam of a searchlight until it had me well in focus. The it would stop and the other eye would begin an independent survey of its own. For a long time Henry trusted no one and responded to my friendliest gestures with gave suspicion.
Tiring of his attitude, I would tickle him gently on the ribs with my finger. This always threw him into a great rage. He would blow himself up to an enormous size as his lungs filled up with air, while his color changed from green to red. He would sit up on his hind legs, swaying from side to side, hoping to overawe me.
Opening his mouth very wide, he would let out an angry hiss. But his threatening display went no further, he did not bite.
Henry was a harmless fellow. If I put my finger in his mouth, even during his wildest moments, he would simply wait for me to take it out again.
I suppose he could bite. His rigid jaws carried a number of finely pointed teeth, But Henry seemed convinced that his teeth were there for the sole purpose of chewing food, not fingers.
Henry was sometimes willing to take food from my hands. This he did very swiftly. His tongue performed like a boomerang and always come back to him with the food. usually an insect, attached to it.
Although Henry did not cause any trouble in our house, he did create somewhat of a riot in the nursery down the road, it started out quite innocently.
When the papaya in our orchard were ripe, Grandfather sent a basket full to her friend Mrs Das, who was the principal of the nursery school. While the basket sat waiting, Henry searching for the beetles and slipped in among the papayas, unnoticed. The gardener dutifully carried the basket to the school and left it in Mrs Das's office. When Mrs. Das returned after making her rounds, she began examining and admiring the papayas.
And Out popped Henry.
Mrs. Das Screamed. Henry squinted up at her, Bith eyes revolving furiously. Mrs Das screamed again, Henry's color changed from green to yellow to red. His Mouth opened as though he too would like to scream. An assistant teacher rushed in, took one look at the chameleon , and joined in the shrieking.
Henry was terrified. He fled from the office running down the corridor an into one of the classrooms. There he climbed up on a desk while children ran in all directions- some to get away from Henry, some to catch him. Henry finally made his exit through a window and disappeared in the garden.
Grandfather heard about the incident from Mrs Das but did not mention that the chameleon was ours, It might have spoiled their friendship.
Grandfather and i did not think Henry would find his way back to us, because the school was three blocks away, But a few days later, I found him sunning himself on the garden wall. Although he looked none the worse for his adventure, he never went abroad again.
Henry spent the rest of his days in the garden, where he kept the insect population well within bounds.
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