The Centipede Who Couldn't Get His Socks to Fit

The centipede couldn't get enough socks to fit his one hundred feet and five hundred toes. He shopped for weeks, trying to find a hundred pairs of size sixes, but he only found three dozen size fives, a pair of old sevens and a size three and four that didn't quite match right. So he decided to ask the local dressmaker for some help ... the local dressmaker purchased a thousand balls of wool, a new pair of knitting needles and got started ... knitting away. Inch by inch, the centipede's socks soon grew and grew. After about a month, they were finished, all woolly and shiny and new. The local dressmaker brought them for the centipede to try on ... thye fit his feet perfectly ... though they did weigh a ton. The centipede loved his new attire, which he checked in front of the mirror ... His front legs were covered in stripy winter warmers, on his middle legs he put on spotted socks, on his hind legs he wore size nines. Some were woolly, others nylon, the rest cotton. Before long, of course, holes had worn through his socks and his toes showed through as he walked his wiggly, waggly walk. He paraded his new footware about the woods, much to the admiration of the other woodland insects. The beetle gasped and the bees buzzed - they particularly liked the striped pair of socks, though the ladybirds preferred the spotted variety. Next the centipede tried to find one hundred pairs of shoes. He bought a pair of boots, high heels, a few pairs of trainers, six new slippers and an old pair of ballerina's dance shoes. Quite a mix and match. He danced all around the woodland in his two hundred new shoes ... first he danced the quick step, the waltz and then the blues. The sounds of his marching feet echoed around the woodland, rustling leaves as he trotted and tip - toed through the toadstools. Generally, centipede's feet soon become hot and sore since marching like a battallion all day can be very hard on the souls of your feet so the centipede soon needed another fifty pairs of socks ... and another ... and another.

Cent Suffix Spelling Activity

There are hundreds of words and phrases including the word "CENT". But some of the letters got trod flat by the centipede's hundreds of feet. Can you put either SCENT, SENT or SENT into these words to complete and spell them correctly ? Which is the right one to use ?

* * * * ence

* * * * ipede dollars

dimes and * * * * s

* * * * bag

* * * *down

* * * * urion

* * * * imentality

* * * * re

* * * * ed fragrance

* * * * ral

* * * * bottle

* * * * back

* * * * ury

* * * * iment

* * * * ry

* * * * gland

© Jacqueline Richards 2005

Answers : sentence centipede scent cent scent bag sent down centurion sentimentality centre scented fragrance central scent bottle sent back century sentiment sentry scent gland