Week One Storytelling: He Caught Fishes in Other Men's Ditches

He Caught Fishes in Other Men's Ditches

The once was a little man named Tommy Tittlemouse. He moved into a small home in a rural area one summer. The move was quick and subtle. None of the neighbors saw anyone or anything go in or out of the house except for Tommy. All of Tommy's neighbors thought he was exceptionally strange, and it was assumed that Tommy lived alone in his small home. Tommy didn't reach out to his neighbors when he arrived in the area, so they assumed he wanted to be left alone.  Each day he would wake up at exactly 6 a.m., walk onto a neighbor's property (uninvited) and begin fishing in a large ditch until sunset. Each day of the week Tommy would rotate between three of his neighbors, but he followed a strict pattern. Monday and Tuesday he walked east one mile to the property of Frank Wellington, Wednesday and Thursday he walked one mile west to the property of Elijah Smithson and Friday he walked six miles north to the property of Gerald Barnsworth. The three men all knew that Tommy came to their property but could do nothing about it because they had to work, so instead they avoided him altogether. The men began growing suspicious of Tommy after several months of him trespassing on their property. They began planning to find out what exactly he was doing. The men kenw that Tommy was not catching substantial amounts of fish in their ditches, but they did not like Tommy constantly coming onto their property uninvited. One day the three men got together and decided to see what Tommy was up to. Frank, Elijah, and Gerald took a day off work and went to “fish” with Tommy on Geralds property. When they approached the ditch Tommy began to hurriedly pack his things and took off towards his home. The men pursued Tommy and arrived at his small house. “Surely he wants to meet his neighbors. Let’s invite ourselves in just as he has done with our property!” Gerald said. The other two men agreed and they began to open the door to Tommy’s home. As soon as the door was cracked they smelled a wonderful aroma and grew very hungry. They saw a large pot of fish soup cooking over a stove and Tommy tending to a sickly woman on the other side of the tiny home. The three men knew immediately that Tommy had been fishing to provide warm soup for his sick wife and approached him with great sympathy. They learned that Tommy had lost his job and had to move to a small home in a rural area just to put a roof over his wifes head. He was too embarrassed to reveal his situation to anyone so he avoided the neighbors and instead fished in order to feed his wife since he couldn’t find a job. He revealed that if he was lucky he would catch a fish every two days and that food was scarce. He ate only one meal each week just so his wife could eat every day. The three men were grief stricken after hearing such a sad story and devised a plan. Each night the men go out and secretly release live fish into their ditches so that Tommy will catch several each day. They even mix up the types of fish so Tommy has a little variety! Now he and his wife now eat a full three meals each day, and Tommy is still seen catching fishes in the other men’s ditches.

Tommy fishing in a ditch

Author's Note. This story is based on the nursery rhyme "He caught fishes in other men's ditches". You can find the rhyme in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897), as well as quoted below:

LITTLE Tommy Tittlemouse

Lived in a little house;

He caught fishes

In other men's ditches.

As you can see, the rhyme simply states that Tommy Tittlemouse lives in a small house and catches fish in other men's ditches. I wanted to expand a little on that and express why he lives in a small house, who these other men are and why Tommy fishes in their ditches! There was a lot of room to make up a cool story, which is why I chose this nursery rhyme.