Slider, the slimy snail
There are two thing we must know about Slider. The first one is that his parent named him several times, before they found the most suitable name for him. The second is that he liked to slide very much.
Slider’s mother always dreamed of a baby girl. She even thought about girl names, but when they realised that Slider is a snail baby boy, his mother was left without ideas for a name.
Slider’s grandma, Dr Mrs Maggie Leafclimber De Snails, wanted her grandson to have a long name, like hers. But granny De Snails could only think of simple names, like Bob, but many snail boys already had this name, or Sammy the snail, but that was too flat, even for grandma De Snails.
And then there was Mr Sean Slimy, grandpa of Slider. He wanted his grandson to be named after the famous scientist, Michael Mucus. But the parents of the little snail were more humble than this, so they crossed this name off the list, too.
Slider’s father, Mr Brown De Snails, wanted to call his son SnaiLee, but according to mommy De Snails, the name Lee has gone out of fashion a long time ago.
There was nothing else to do then, but to wait until the little snail was born. After Slider’s birth, the whole family gathered around him, while he was sleeping, and they discussed what the best fitting name for him was.
“He’s blue” said his mother. But nobody liked the name Blue De Snails.
“He’s smiling” said his grandma. But Smiley isn’t the best name for snails.
“Doesn’t he look like a Lee?” asked his father, but the others pretended not to hear this.
“He was sliding around before he went to sleep” noted grandpa Slimy, who was the smartest in the family. He looked down at the sleeping snail baby, and then his face lit up and he said: “Let’s call him Slider.”
The mom and dad of the snail baby both felt that this name was perfect, so they clapped with their tentacles. This is how Slider became Slider, and he really liked to slide, just as his name showed.
Slider was happy that snails had mucus, because it was very good for sliding. So he was sliding all day long. At first it didn’t go as well as he wanted it to, but that didn’t stop him from doing it. He slid on the pavement, down the fence, over the discarded beer can and up the lamppost by the street. Then, when he went to the snail nursery school, he realised that all the other snail children liked sliding too, so from there on he was racing with his friends.
Slider not only liked to slide, but he was good at it, too. He slid much faster and better than all the other snail kids. Luckily, his parents, who knew his talent better than anyone, took him to the best sliding school there is. After month of hard training, Slider was the fastest snail in the street. He was so fast, that he could slide from the rubbish bin, to the bus stop in one day. This was very impressive, because there were snails, who couldn’t do that in their lifetime.
This is how he became the famous snail in the street. Slider was the sliding champion. And the more popular he became, the more content his family was with the name that they gave him. Because the snail world will always remember the name Slider.
Do you know who gave you your name?
And do you know why you got that name?