Talkative Tina and the Teeny-Tiny Troublesome Tongue
Once upon a time there was a girl called Tina who was having a bit of trouble with her tongue. You wouldn’t think a tongue could cause much trouble, would you? A tongue isn’t punchily powerful like a fist, or quick to kick like a foot. Surely a tongue would be too teeny-tiny to do much damage! Well, Tina’s tongue wasn’t very big, but it was still very troublesome.
You see, talkative Tina’s teeny-tiny troublesome tongue was a little bit two-faced. One minute talkative Tina would be telling her mummy just how much she loved her, and that she was the best thing since sliced cheese, and that she was better than the very best thing ever ever, and the very next minute, as soon as her mum had left the room, Tina’s two-faced tongue would start spitting poisonous words all over her annoying little brother, Timmy.
“I love you Mummy”
“I can’t stand you, Timmy.”
“You’re so pretty, Mummy!”
“You look like a boiled frog, Timmy…”
And so it went on.
Then one day talkative Tina’s teeny-tiny troublesome tongue went too far. At breakfast time, Tina was talking away, telling her mummy how lovely her dress was and thanking her for a yummy breakfast, when Timmy accidentally spilled some milk. And by now, Tina was so used to telling Timmy he was stupid in secret that, quick as a flash, the words rolled right off Tina’s troublesome tongue and out into the room before she had a chance to stop them!
Oh. No.
Oh. Dear.
Mummy looked from Tina’s shocked and guilty face to Timmy’s entirely unshocked and sad one, and suddenly understood what had been happening. As Timmy mopped up his milk and Tina sniffled into her Shreddies, Mummy picked up her coffee and her Bible and joined them at the table.
“Did you know,” Mummy started, “James says in the Bible that ‘you can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very people he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!’ And then he says, ‘my friends, this can’t go on.’ And now, my Talkative Tina with the teeny-tiny troublesome tongue, I’m saying to you, this can’t go on.”
Then Tina threw her arms around Mummy and Timmy and said she was sorry to them and sorry to God. And she really was sorry and not just saying it, because from then on, although her troublesome tongue was never totally tame, because no tongues ever truly are, Talktive Tina with the teeny-tiny tame-ish tongue, did try very hard to speak kindness and joy and love and blessing to everyone she met, even her annoying little brother, Timmy.
The end.
