With the Deer's Own Teeth
by Ed Ogle

An old codger named Frank Whatom didn't like living any nearer other people than he had to. Frank was an old prospector who had simply become a hermit.

He lived in a half cave, half cabin some ten miles back in the bush near a place called Little Fort, in British Columbia.

Frank knew how to take care of his simple needs and didn't care whose toes he trod on. He was in the habit of shooting a couple of deer each fall to preserve and store and provide him with meat when he was snowed in.

This particular fall, he got his deer all right, but at the same time, he found he couldn't eat it. During the summer, the last of his diseased old teeth had fallen out.

He decided he'd better go into town and buy some of those "store-boughten" teeth as replacements. He was both astonished and mad to discover such teeth cost $50. "No way", he said, and found some heavy plastic that he thought would do they job. Taking that home with him, he pulled the deer's teeth and with the plastic made himself a new set of teeth and ate the deer with it's own teeth.

I asked if the new choppers really worked and Frank grinned and bearing half of them said, "sure they work". He munched on an apple as I watched. "Not only do they work", he proclaimed, "I'm the only man in all Canada with genuine buck teeth".

Background Information

Do you know anyone who doesn't like to live near other people? Why do you think people would choose to live by themselves, with no friends, no family? Do you think it's better to live simply or with lots of stuff? Finally, talk about false teeth. Where you have to go to get them, how much they cost, what they might be made of.

Questions

1. What does the word codger mean?

2. What is a hermit?

3. Where did Frank live?

4. What did he do to get meat for the winter?

5. Why couldn't Frank eat his deer meat?

6. Use the word preserve in a sentence.

7. Why do you think Frank decided to live by himself?

8. What happened to Frank's teeth?

9. How did he solve his problem?

10. How would you solve a problem like Frank's?