The Tale of Jeremy Fisher

Philip: Here is a reading from The Tale of Jeremy Fisher by the actor David Harewood:

Mr. Jeremy shoved the boat out again a little way, and dropped in the bait. There was a bite almost directly, and the float gave a tremendous bobbit. "A minnow! A minnow; I have him by the nose!" cried Mr. Jeremy Fisher, jerking up his rod. But what a horrible surprise; instead of a smooth, fat minnow, Mr. Jeremy landed Little Jack Sharp, the stickleback, covered with spines. The stickleback floundered about the boat, prickling and snapping until he was quite out of breath. Then he jumped back into the water and a shoal of other little fishes put their heads out and laughed at Mr. Jeremy Fisher. And while Mr. Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of his boat, sucking his sore fingers and peering down into the water, a much worse thing happened; a really frightful thing it would've been if Mr. Jeremy had not been wearing a mackintosh. A great big, enormous trout came up- Kerplop!- with a splash, and it seized Mr. Jeremy with a snap. "Oh!, Oh!" And then it turned and dived down to the bottom of the pond. But the trout was so displeased with the taste of the mackintosh that in less than half a minute it spat him out again. And the only thing it swallowed was Mr. Jeremy's galoshes.