Eyes So-O Big
by Lisl Weil
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00I so owe big.
00:06By Lyle Vile.
00:08To my dear husband.
00:10Anyone in Portugal knows that the good luck lady looks out for everyone and brings good
00:15luck.
00:17At the fishing village where Isabelle and Clara and their donkey gentle Joaquina live,
00:22it is the good luck lady who helps their father bring home his boat full of fine fish.
00:28That is why fishing boats here have eyes painted on them.
00:32The eyes help the good luck lady to look out for the boats and fill the nets.
00:37And that is what Isabelle and Clara are thinking so hard about today.
00:43Gentle Joaquina is thinking about something too, but she cannot tell.
00:48Isabelle and Clara need some good luck for themselves.
00:52They need some white dresses and veils of lace.
00:56Because that is what one must have to walk in the great parade next week at festival
01:01time.
01:02But white dresses and veils of lace are expensive, too expensive for the girl's father.
01:09What if Isabelle and Clara painted the eyes on father's boat a bit bigger?
01:15Then the good luck lady could look out for father better and there would be more fish
01:19to sell.
01:21Then mother could easily buy the white dresses and veils of lace.
01:25That's what Isabelle and Clara think and so they paint the eyes on father's boat a bit
01:30bigger.
01:32Wouldn't it be lovely to have white stockings too.
01:35And white shoes.
01:37And seven petticoats each and.
01:40So the girls paint the eyes so big.
01:44How wonderful it is the following day when father comes home with his net full of fish.
01:49Such good luck say the other fishing families at the beach and Isabelle and Clara are very
01:54pleased with themselves.
01:57There are lots and lots of fine fish that day.
02:01There are enough to save for the winter months ahead and enough to sell too.
02:05At last the fish are properly washed salted and put into the air to dry.
02:10And at last Isabelle and Clara are on their way to sell their fish their baskets heaped
02:15as high as their hopes.
02:18When they arrive at the miller's house, his windmill is turning busily in the breeze.
02:24But the miller himself must have gone out for the girls cannot find him anywhere.
02:29Watch out Isabelle wants to call, but it is too late.
02:34Clara's basket has caught on one sail and lo and behold all her fish are flying around
02:39in the air.
02:41What a mess the fish are after Isabelle and Clara have gathered them together again.
02:46They are no good anymore and no one will want to buy them.
02:50But the girls are not worried.
02:53Why?
02:54Because there are lots of fish in Isabelle's basket and in gentle Jokina's basket too.
03:01The girls remember that the keeper of the castle always likes fish, so they walk up
03:05to the castle.
03:08But today they do not find the keeper anywhere.
03:11Not down not up simply nowhere.
03:14Careful Clara wants to warn, but she is too late.
03:19Up there on the castle wall.
03:21Isabelle has lost her balance.
03:24Her basket and all her fish drop far far down.
03:28This time it is even harder to pick up the pieces.
03:32It is too bad for no one will buy such sad looking fish.
03:37Well say the girls.
03:39Gentle Jokina still has her baskets of fine fish.
03:44Surely they will earn enough money for white dresses.
03:47The girls run over to the soldiers guarding the fortress hoping to sell their fish before
03:52anything else happens.
03:55The soldiers are having shouting practice.
03:58When gentle Jokina hears the noise, she is off as fast as she can go her baskets trailing
04:04behind her.
04:06Gentle Jokina keeps running and her fish keep falling out onto the road.
04:11Oh my.
04:13Surely now the worst has happened.
04:16All of the fish are dirty and dusty and no one will ever buy them.
04:20And the girls will never be able to walk in the parade.
04:24Never.
04:26Their good luck just isn't.
04:28They've had nothing but bad luck.
04:31They should have never tried to trick the good luck lady and Isabelle and Clara are
04:35very sorry they did.
04:38When gentle Jokina finally stops running, the girls pick up after their donkey.
04:44It seems to the girls that there are even more fish now than before.
04:48So oh many fish that are good for nothing.
04:52Isabelle and Clara sit by the side of the road and think of the white dresses and the
04:56lace they will never have.
04:59They think of the fish that are wasted, and their faces grow long and sad.
05:04As they sit, a thin black cat sits in front of them and meows quietly.
05:10Then Isabelle and Clara have an idea each at the very same time.
05:15What if they, but first they must clean the fish as well as they can.
05:20There are many hungry cats in the big city, only now they are no longer hungry.
05:26They all enjoy fish.
05:28That's all Isabelle says giving the last piece of fish to a grey cat with a big moustache.
05:34At last their fish have been good for something.
05:38But now they must hurry home for it is late.
05:42The girls are tired when they arrive home, but mother and father have a visitor.
05:47The padre is at the house and has heard how the girls have fed the cats.
05:53It is good to be kind to animals he says, and good the fish were not wasted.
05:59Come to the school tomorrow morning at nine o'clock sharp.
06:03Such good girls should march in the parade.
06:06At the school at nine o'clock sharp in the morning Isabelle and Clara have a happy surprise.
06:12The girls who have no white dress of their own will be able to match in the parade too.
06:18They will get angel wings to wear.
06:21What an exciting festival it is.
06:24With bullfights and gay dances and lots of music.
06:28And of course the great parade.
06:31And the happiest marchers are the two angels Isabelle and Clara.
06:36But wait, who is coming now?
06:39Well if it isn't gentle Jokina, wearing the prettiest floweriest hat any donkey has ever worn.
06:46The good luck lady must have looked out for us Clara says.
06:50Oh yes she did says Isabelle.
06:53Gentle Jokina only shakes her head of course, because she cannot talk.
06:59It is then that the girls notice.
07:02The sea was washed away the big eyes they had painted on father's boat.
07:07The eyes are just as they have always been which is just as it should be.
07:11The end.