tales-of-Fogo-Island

A Lucky HorseYears ago, a man bought a horse from one of his neighbors. Later that winter,the man, his wife and young child were visiting another community. On theirreturn trip, the sleds went through the ice. The people climbed out of thewater, but they had to leave the horse behind. About an hour later, the ownerreturned with a group of men to rescue the horse. Amazingly, it was still aliveand was pulled to safety.A while later, the men were talking about the rescue when one of them said,"It's a wonder that horse didn't freeze." After which, the son of the horse's firstowner jokingly answered, "Freeze! I don't spose he did freeze! The last thingfather done before he sold 'en was give 'en a gallon of antifreeze!IcebergsBefore depth recorders or 'sounders' were invented, people used icebergs tofind the best fishing grounds. One man remembers the days when icebergswere very important:Icebergs are all right for the tourists to look at, but one time, peopledepended on them to find the good fishing grounds. The men would goup on the hills and watch the icebergs to see where the grounds were.When an iceberg stopped drifting south, the men would watch it forseveral days. If it still did not move, they knew that it was aground on ashoal or 'nob'. To be sure it was not moving, they would line up a stickwith the center of the iceberg. Then they would place another stickdirectly behind the first. They would mark these two sticks with whiteribbon or cloth and would watch to see if the berg moved out of position.If the iceberg did not move, they would take the 'marks', or coordinates. Whenthe fishing season opened, the fishermen would row out in a straight line onthese marks. They did not know how far they had to go to reach the spot.However, they knew there was a shoal along that straight line somewhere. Ofcourse, they knew where this straight line was because they 'marked' it withtheir compasses in the spring.Questions to think and write about:1. Which of these short stories was your favorite?2. Do you have some short tales of your own to add?