Both adults and children have been known to cry at the end of the story within a story in this tale from Paul Jennings. Its major theme is that giving money to people (or in the narrator’s case, spending it on them) doesn’t make them like you. Other themes: folly (the narrator, desperate for $10, searching the beach for a shipwreck), companionship and teamwork (between the Busker and his dog, Tiny), jealousy (when the Busker realizes Tiny is the star of their act), animal cruelty (Tiny in the well), and unconditional animal love (the Busker in the well).
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