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"Wild Boy"
In 1794, when David Crockett was eight, he told his father he wanted to hunt for supper. The Crockett family ate what they grew on their land or hunted in the Tennessee woods. David wanted to hunt like his older brothers.
John Crockett said he couldn't afford to waste rifle balls on a boy's missed shots. A flood had just swept away John Crockett's mill, and he owed money.
David promised he would make every shot count. So his father let him use a long Kentucky rifle. It was almost as long as David was tall!
But each day, David only got one ball and enough powder to shoot it. If he hit something, he'd have supper. If he missed he'd go hungry.
David aimed carefully with that one ball. Sometimes he missed, but most days he brought home supper. And he learned to love roaming the woods.
Meet David Crockett: One tall tale tells how David greeted a crowd on his way to Congress. He bragged, "I'm that same David Crockett, fresh from the backwoods, half-horse, half-alligator, a little touched with the snapping-turtle; can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio, ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip without a scratch down a honey locust."
Copyright ©2002 by Elaine Marie Alphin