I'm not a folk musician!

There is a story I remember fondly and am going to tell you. It's not really a story, per ce--we've been learning about stories in school, getting it pounded into our thick heads and it stuck in mine.
-=0=-=0=-=0=-

This summer I was at a kid's program in St. Paul, Minnesota, and besides Susie and I, there was Zach and Debbie--and Sally, our caretaker. Sally was nice and took us to a lot of cool places--including the animal grossology exhibit! It's on the way to the museum that my story starts.

Debbie (6), Zach (10), and Susie (8) were all in the back seat. I was in the front with Sally, and listening to them sing, over and over again, "A kleenex used by Doctor Dray. Wanna buy it? I bought it on Ebay!" Over and over and over. Finally, I thought: I'm probably going to be just as annoying, but I will sing something different. So, with Sally's permission, I told Debbie (Susie wasn't singing, and Zach wasn't listening), "I'll sing you a song."

"Sing the fox song, Saro!" Debbie cried excitedly. See, earlier than that we'd been in the library and I'd found a book, The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night. I can't remember the author. Anyway, it's a cute book, if you find it, check it out! But I said, "Oh, Debbie! You wanna hear a cool book?" and Debbie said, "Sure!" so I read it to her. Unfortunately, it had the words to a cute folk song illustrated--and when you get to stuff like "town-o, town-o," you have to start to sing. So I sang the book to Debbie, making a few necessary changes--Aubrey Atwater sings a slightly different version and I learned it from her CD, Daily Growing, so of course I made necessary changes.

So back up to the car. I was kind of surprised that she'd like it--I mean, it's a song about a fox that steals a farmer's ducks and geese!--but I love to sing, so I sang it all the way through. Debbie listened attentively, but Zach didn't, which was fine with me.

Not so with Debbie. "He'd like it! There's killing in it!" she said. Zach is very into "killing" stuffed animals grusomely--but if he saw a real violent death--oh, never mind. Anyway, I was forced to humor Debbie and sing the song again. Zach listened gravely, and then he had to comment. He'd just heard the verse:

Well, the fox and his wife, without any strife
Cut up the goose with a fork and knife--
And they'd never had such a supper in their life,
And the little ones chewed on the bones-o!

"Saro, that's not a scientific song, is it?" I jolted out of the song.

"What? Oh, no, it isn't. Why?"

"'Cause they 'cut up the goose with a fork and knife'. In real life, a fox would use his claws and teeth, and not a fork and knife."

"Well, yeah." Inwardly, I was thinking, It's just a song, Zach!

Daddy says that I will probably become a folk musician and that I was gonna teach the kids of Lone Valley songs--folk songs. I say no. Lots of them know little or no English, and to try and explain old fashioned words I don't even know in simple English...yeeks. Hence the title. I'm not a folk musician!

Saro