Even the lowest forms of animal life have a purpose. Their very existence should make sense. Cows give milk. Birds make beautiful music, cats catch mice, even pigeons deliver messages. What about the lowly worm? What can a worm do? Well, worms wiggle around in the ground and make it soft, so, that vegetables can grow. Although there are times when we are called to rise above the average and do something extraordinary. People throughout history have excelled and achieved wonderful deeds. Dogs have traveled thousands of miles to return home to their masters. Salmon fight the rivers swirling rapids to return to their spawning ground. Millions of army ants attack and destroy human villages and plantations, but what extraordinary feats can a worm do?
Among the millions of worms crawling around in soil loosening up the dirt there was a very special worm named Willie Wiggle. His life was really boring. Every day, all he could look forward to was dirt and more dirt. One day as he was slithering around in the dark moist earth, he was shocked by the glare of bright sunlight. He tried desperately to hide under a rock but he felt himself pinned in between a thumb and a finger. He was caught and put in a pail. Of course he was scarred but light had come into his life and something exciting had happened at last! But alas, he was nothing but bait,
He was put on a metal hook but somehow he was not hurt and he didn't mind. He had the feeling that this was happening for a reason. Suddenly, he was flung through the air, Whew! He felt like he was flying; he was thrilled, never had he been so happy. And then........ plunk!, he hit the water. Down he sunk to the bottom of the river. He felt the tingle of the cool clear water all around his body stimulating, it felt much better than dirt. He saw all these strange images swimming around him. Creatures big and small going here and there with glaring fishy eyes staring. Some how he knew that they were fish and he wanted to entertain them. This was a life changing moment. Before he was just a slimy worm whose only purpose was to find food and eat whatever worms eat. Now he had reason, he had purpose, suddenly every thing seemed to make sense. He found meaning and purpose in his life. He was compelled to attract the attention of these fish. This was now the only thing that really mattered.
So he waited and waited and all the fish just swam on by, the fish just ignored him. "This is not going to be as easy as he I thought", he mused. "Maybe I should do something, but what" I'll wiggle, I'll wiggle and do a wiggle dance!
Willie began to wiggle at first slowly but building up to a rhythmic crescendo. He wiggled and wiggled then he started to dance and sing:
I sing, I dance, I prance
I Jiggle like jell-O
I wiggle like jam
Sweet as sugar
Here I am!
Suddenly hundreds of eyes were focused on Willie, every fish in the river was taking aim and Willie was their target. Every fish attacked at once and they converged on Willie making one gigantic splash.
The boy who was fishing was drenched by an large splash of water. He saw several schools of fish jump out of the water as his fishing pole was jerked out of his hands. He was astonished, he had never seen anything like this; it was truly amazing. He told everyone he knew about hundreds of fish jumping out of the water, all at once but nobody would believe him.
Willie was hit by these fish all at once and went flying all the way to the shore. He hit the ground with a thud and he was back in the dirt again. He was back to his mundane life just crawling around beneath the earth, but there was always the lingering memory of something better, something grand and glorious, the time that he had attracted the attention of hundreds of fish.
Willie finally decided that his major purpose had something to do with these strange creatures called fish. He knew that in-order to make his life worthwhile that he would have to entertain as many fish as possible. This was his obsession, to re-live the moment when his life actually meant something, when he was brought into the light, cast into the sea, and was the major attraction to many schools of fish. Surely it would happen again, so, he waited and waited but it never did. He crept to the surface of the dirt and he saw many people fishing in the river. He looked on with envy when they baited their hook and cast the lure into the water. He would think, "This must have something to do with what happened to me." He crawled all around them trying to attract their attention. but they only stared at the water. He saw the excitement in their eyes as they felt a strike on their line and Willie would experience a jolt of joy and exhilaration as he watched them reel in the fish and how the fish jumped all around in excitement. He thought that they were making the fish happy.
He saw that they were getting their bait, those lucky worms, from a metal box, so he crawled in the box hoping to be selected but he was always passed aside, rejected and never noticed. Willie envied those other worms so much until he noticed that they were not real worms at all but were made of some weird material. Somehow the word plastic popped into his head. His only avocation in life was being replaced by something man made and artificial!
He knew that he had to do something about this outrage but what could a lowly worm do? Willie was a real worm and he would not be replace by a flimsy imitation. He must some how disguise him self as a plastic worm and this time he would show his talents to the world . He practiced and practiced impersonating a plastic worm until he felt ready to try out his plan. He crawled into the tackle box of the boy who had first grabbed him and went into a trance. He made himself look elastic and squishy. He waited with joyful expectation, but the boy whose name was Carl bushed him aside and choose a real plastic worm from the tackle box. Willie could see that the plastic worms were in some sort of a can and the boy was only taking worms from that can. So, he crawled into the tackle box, entered the can, and again imitated a plastic worm. This time the boy picked up Willie and was about to put him on the hook when the boy realized that the worm was not plastic but real. He threw Willie to the ground. Willie would not give up! He believed that he had found the reason and purpose of his life and he knew that this was his destiny! He crawled back into the can of worms and waited.
Carl was a ten year old boy who lived in the town of East Meadow. His dad first took him fishing when he was six in the Jack Rabbit river not far from his house. His dad was away in the Army fighting a war in a country far away. Ever since his dad left 6 months ago he could not catch any fish. The one time that he even came close to catching fish was the great fiasco with Willie. This incident was a great disaster for Carl as his fishing pole broke in half and he fell in the water and he got soaked and wet. He borrowed the money from his mother to buy a new fishing rod and decided to used only plastic worms as he had a feeling that the worm that he used for bait was somehow responsible for the incident. Carl again picked up Willie from the can and started to put him on the hook and again realized that it was not plastic. This time he stared at the worm for a long time, he thought, "Could this be the worm that caused all that trouble a few month back." He keeps crawling back into my worm can, why? His first impulse was to smash this trouble making worm on the nearest rock. But he thought, ?Maybe this worm can really catch fish. Carl's family was very poor and he had three younger bothers. He was fishing to increase his family 's meager food supply. Willie was staring back at Carl with pleading little worm eyes, he was thinking as hard as he could think, "Please give me just one more chance". Willie was determined to do it right this time. Carl started to push the hook though but Willie backed up and broke into a dance, he sang,
With the beat I wiggle and twist,
Watch me as I love to fish fish, fish
Carl was completely enchanted and was charmed by the worms rhythmic dance. He was happy and filled with glee. The boy threw back the rod and Willie flew once more though the air curling tightly around the hook and splashed down into the water. This time Willie was going to do things differently. He had plenty of time to plan his strategy. Dancing and singing loudly caused too much attention and caused many fish to charge. So, Willie just stood still and waited. He wanted to entertain a really big fish, so, he did not move until he saw a large big mouth bass. He made a slight wiggle and sang:
Hee hee hee,
Look at me,
I?m the Chicken,
Of the sea!
The bass came swimming fast and hard; he hit the hook with a violent jolt that nearly pulled Carl into the water, but he managed to hold on to the line and reel in the fish. He took the fish off the hook and to his amazement Willie was not in the belly of the fish but siting near the top of the hook staring and bowing, ready to go again.
The boy cast into the river again and again and each time he pulled out a large fish until he had dozens of fish, many more than he needed to feed his family. He would sell the extra fish to the market to earn extra money. So, he packed away his gear and headed into town. Willie jumped into the tackle box and away they went.
Carl had caught dozens of fish and the money that he made at the market and would help his family to survive though these tough economic times. Carl was very happy to return to his family with a few fish to cook and bags and bags of groceries full of fruits, cakes, cookies and ice cream.
This went on for a few days, each day, Carl caught more and more fish and made more and more money. Willie was very happy! He did not know exactly what was going on but he knew that he was making a difference and for a worm whose whole life consisted of crawling around in dirt; this was a great improvement. He knew that he was helping Carl and his family but he actually thought that he was making the fish happy. They flopped around when they came on land and Willie thought this was because they were happy. He thought that they where jumping for joy. He did not realize that he was luring them to their death to be eaten on somebody's dinner table.
The people of the town started to wonder, "How is this boy catching all those fish"? So, they followed him to the river bank to find out what was going on. They saw Carl pulling in one fish after an another and they were amazed but they could not figure out how he was doing it. The word of this amazing wonder spread though out the town and large crowds of people gathered to see this amazing spectacle. The press arrived, newspaper reporters and T.V. cameras. Carl was pulling up one fish after an other and it was a news sensation. Headlines read, "Boy catches thousands of fish" and "Fishermen up in arms as local fishing industry goes bankrupt". Fish far and wide could hear Willie's singing and feel the vibrations of his dance. They came from way up the river and even up the river from the ocean. They were unable to resist Willie's charm. The sherif tried to stop Carl but his hands were tied when he showed thr sherif a valid fishing license. The camera crew pushed though the crowd to take a picture of what was going on. They got some good shots of Carl continuously pulling up fish. All the attention was on Carl, nobody noticed Willie. Willie was completely focused on the fish, all his effort and attention was on them. He did not notice all the eyes of people on the shore watching him. Carl would take the fish off the hook while Willie would cling to the top of the hook waiting to be cast back into the water.
All of a sudden Carl's hand slipped and a fish fell to the ground jumping around and gasping for air! Willie saw the fish and thought that the fish wanted to dance, so, Willie jumped on the ground and started to dance with the fish but Willie could sense that there was something wrong. Willie could feel that the fish was not dancing happily but was frightened and gasping for air. Willie experience a shocking realization. He thought all this time that he was making the fish happy but now he knew that he was leading all those fish into a trap. He watched as the fish flopped around the ground and into the water where he swam away to safety. Willie was glad to see the fish escape but he just stood there feeling very sad because he had thought all the time that he was making the fish happy and he was sad to now know the truth. The crowd cheered.
Then Willie looked up and seen hundreds of eyes, not the eyes of the fish but the eyes of all the people watching him. Willie was intrigued by these new eyes watching him, so, he stood up and took a bow. When he did the crowds attention was focused on Willie. From Willie's point of view this was a whole new audience and he thought, "Maybe I can really make these people happy". Carl tried to put Willie back on the hook but each time he tried to catch him Willie evaded his grasp. and the crowd cheered Hooray! Willie start to sing and dance.
Now I see,
Get away from me,
All people, fish and even worms
Must be Free!
I see birds fly in the air
In water fish swim every where
Worms dig though the ground.
People like you should dance around.
Dance around and around you go
Move your body to and fro.
Let us party for all life to be free,
Come on people Dance with me!
People started playing their guitars, and banging on makeshift drums, one guy even had a harmonica and Willie went into his crazy dance. The crowd went wild dancing and watching Willie entertain them. The television cameras were on Willie and they would broadcast his dancing all over the world. Willie was a hit sensation and almost became as popular as Elvis, the king himself.
Carl quit fishing and became Willie's manager. They started a band and called it, "Willie Wiggle and the Wanderers". Everywhere they went they sang of love and freedom. Willie Wiggle was really happy because he knew that he was making so many people happy.