The Ballad of Teddy Stallard

There is an old tale, used often as a sermon illustration, of a poor, smelly, belligerent little boy named Teddy Stallard inspired to greatness by his wonderful teacher Mrs. Thompson. In and of itself, the story is terrible, but I've heard many people make it far worse by claiming that Teddy was in fact a schoolmate of theirs, or Mrs. Thompson a close friend. As snopes reports, the story was originally published as a work of fiction in Home Life magazine in 1976, but has since been co-opted by everyone from your grandmother to Tony Campolo.

I now hop on the Teddy Stallard bandwagon with my own retelling, entitled the ballad of Teddy Stallard, and have taken a few liberties in the telling that do in fact change the substance. Those who have not previously heard the story should first click on one of the above links. The sound quality is poor. Turn up the volume.

http://www.supload.com/sound_confirm.php?get=1114027911.wav