Henry, The Tall-Tale Trout
The early settlers in the United States had a life of hardship and had little outside source of entertainment. They could laugh at their hard life, however, and used their imagination to create their own entertainment. One way in which they amused themselves was by telling “tall tales”. These stories combine practical facts with exaggerated fancies. They are told as if they really happened. “Henry The Tall-Tale Trout” is one example of a tall tale. In varying forms, the tall tale represents one type of humorous story still told in the United States.
Once there was an old fisherman who had a pet trout name Henry, which he kept in a tub. But the trout got pretty big and had to have his water changed quite often to keep him alive. The fisherman decided to teach the trout to live out of the water. He began by taking Henry out of the tub for a few minutes at a time, and then he took him out more often and kept him out longer, and soon Henry could stay out of the tub for a long time if he was placed in the wet grass.
Then the fisherman found he could leave him in the wet grass all night, and soon that trout could live in the shade whether the grass wet or not.
By that time he had become quiet friendly, too, and he used to follow the old fisherman wherever he went. The old man had affectionate feelings for that fish, and when Henry didn’t need water at all, but could go anywhere – down the dry dusty road and stay all day out in the hot sun – you never saw the fisherman without his trout. You’d see him coming to town with Henry following along in the road behind, traveling quite slowly on its stomach. People in show business wanted to buy Henry but the old man said he wouldn’t sell a fish like that, not for any price.
It was very sad the way that fisherman lost his trout, and it was strange, too. He started for town one day with Henry coming along behind him as usual. Along the way, there was a bridge over a small brook. When the old man came to the bridge, he saw that there was a small hole in the center: but he went on over it without thinking. A few minutes later, he looked around for Henry and Henry wasn’t there. He went back and called, but he couldn’t see anything of his pet. Then he came to the bridge and saw the hole and realized that his trout might be in there. So he went to the hole and looked down, and sure enough there was Henry floating on the water, dead. He’d fallen through that hole and into the brook and drowned.
