Once upon a time, and maybe even nowadays, whole oysters in their shells could be bought in cans. You would open up the can, and possibly or possibly not, find inside the oyster shell, a pearl . . .
The Oyster’s Story
There once was an oyster
Whose story I’ll tell,
Who found that some sand
Had worked under his shell.
Just one little grain
But it gave him such pain
(For oysters have feelings
That are very plain).
Now did he berate
This working of fate,
That left him in such a
Deplorable state?
Did he curse the government?
Call for an election?
Or gripe that the sea
Should have given him protection?
No! He said to himself
As he sat on the shelf,
“Since I cannot remove it,
I think I’ll improve it.”
Well, years passed by,
As years always do,
Till he came to his destiny,
Oyster stew!
But the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so,
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.
Now this tale has a moral,
For isn’t it grand,
What an oyster can do
With a small grain of sand?
And what couldn’t we do
If we’d only begin
With all of the things
That get under our skin?
by Author Unknown
The Oyster’s Story
There once was an oyster
Whose story I’ll tell,
Who found that some sand
Had worked under his shell.
Just one little grain
But it gave him such pain
(For oysters have feelings
That are very plain).
Now did he berate
This working of fate,
That left him in such a
Deplorable state?
Did he curse the government?
Call for an election?
Or gripe that the sea
Should have given him protection?
No! He said to himself
As he sat on the shelf,
“Since I cannot remove it,
I think I’ll improve it.”
Well, years passed by,
As years always do,
Till he came to his destiny,
Oyster stew!
But the small grain of sand
That had bothered him so,
Was a beautiful pearl
All richly aglow.
Now this tale has a moral,
For isn’t it grand,
What an oyster can do
With a small grain of sand?
And what couldn’t we do
If we’d only begin
With all of the things
That get under our skin?
by Author Unknown
