THE TRAINER AND THE THREE CHILDREN

Once upon a time there was a children’s football trainer called Vincent, in whose team there were three boys who all played as forwards. In every game, the trainer could only put one forward on the pitch, so he sometimes had difficulty choosing which forward should play. By coincidence, the three forwards were the best players in the team, so it was bad luck that only one of them could play in each match.

However hard Vincent looked for a solution, he couldn’t find one. He also found it very difficult to ask for help, for he believed that people would think he was stupid for not being able to resolve the problem himself.

But one day, the three forwards came to him and said: “Vincent, sometimes when we can’t fix something ourselves, it’s best to ask someone else for help…”

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So Vincent remembered an old friend of his whom he could trust,someone with a lot of experience in training children’s football teams – the previous trainer, in fact.

So he decided to go to the former trainer, for he was very wise as he was older and more experienced. The old trainer was called Julian, and he welcomed Vincent with pleasure: “How are you, Vincent? How’s the team?” he asked. And Vincent replied: “That’s exactly what I’ve come to talk to you about.” Continue reading…

COLIN, THE SPANISH CUCUMBER

Once upon a time, there was a cucumber called Colin who had been born on one of the beautiful fields in southern Spain. Colin the cucumber had been in the earth for many days since he was just a little seed – until today, the day he was picked by the farmer.

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Each of the cucumbers grown all over Spain are closely examined, then sorted out and packaged to be shipped out later. That’s how Colin and his cucumber friends were going to get to the supermarkets and from there to people’s homes.

Together with the other cucumbers from his field, Colin was placed in a box by the farmer and put into a refrigerated van to be transported to Germany, for Spanish cucumbers are very popular there.

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When the cucumbers arrived in Germany, Pablo the truck driver unloaded them into a warehouse that the Germans had prepared for storing the vegetables. Suddenly Colin felt something sting him, but he couldn’t see who it was… Continue reading…

THE HAMBURGER BOY

Once upon a time, there was a thirteen-year-old boy who loved to eat hamburgers and chips in fast-food restaurants. Every week, Joe and his friend Daniel would meet up to go to the local McDonalds, and order a Big Mac with fries and a fizzy drink.

Joe liked hamburgers so much that during the week he couldn’t stop thinking about the burger he would be eating the following weekend. One night, he even dreamed about a burger because he’d been thinking about it so much…

In Joe’s dream there appeared a freshly made burger with grated cheese, which said to him: “Eat burgers, they’re delicious!!” So Joe took the two enormous hamburgers that had appeared in his dream, and gobbled them down in one mouthful. But suddenly he began to feel sick, for he had eaten too much too quickly and his tummy was hurting. Just before waking up, Joe looked at himself in the mirror and saw that he had developed a belly as big as Santa Claus’, so he shouted: “Noooooo!!”

Well, this woke Joe up with a start and he ran to the bathroom mirror to check his tummy. Phew! It had all been a dream.

The next day, like every Sunday, Joe and Daniel met up by the park to go for a burger, but today something unexpected was about to happen. Continue reading…

JOEY’S SOCKS

There was once a little boy called Joey, who played a lot of sport. Every day he went through three pairs of socks – all of them sports socks.

He wore sports socks when he went to play basketball and sports socks when he went to play football. All that was normal. But Joey also wore sports socks when he went to school, and when he went to visit his grandparents, and in fact any time he left the house.

But in his drawers there were all sorts of other socks, including ordinary socks.

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One morning when Joey got up, he saw a sock jump onto his pillow and squeak: “Joey, me and my friends in the drawer, the ordinary socks, well, we’re very worried that you’re not wearing us.”

Joey quickly recognised the sock – it was one his mother had given him two years ago now. Continue reading…

THE WICKED FAIRY KIDNAPPER

There was once a wicked man who wanted to kill all the good in the world, so he went around looking for all the fairies on the planet to lock them in a room from which they would never be able to escape. That way, good things would never exist again, and there would be only wickedness and darkness.

Randor, for that was the wicked man’s name, had managed to kidnap two fairies, Maria and Victoria, who were now imprisoned in that cold room where the sun’s rays never entered, for there were no windows and hardly any light came through the door.

Every day, the wicked Randor would go searching for the other fairies in the world. But the fairies knew that he was trying to kidnap them and kill all the good in the world, so they cast spells to become invisible and that way he wouldn’t find them.

Short stories - The wicked fairy kidnapper

Christie was a young fairy in charge of looking after the animals on the planet. Thanks to her magic potions, she created the necessary balance for them to survive any misfortunes. But unfortunately the young fairy didn’t know that the wicked Randor was pursuing all the fairies in the world, for she was a little scatterbrained.

So when Christie went into the forest to check on the animals and share her magic potions among them, Randor found her. He crept silently up to where she was, then leapt out at her and stuffed her into a sack to take back to the dark room from which she would never come out again. Continue reading…

THE MONKEY AND THE ROCKS

There was once a monkey called Monty who lived on an island that was largely inhabited by other monkeys. The most important scientists on the planet had figured out that climate change would affect this island very badly, almost sinking it completely.

So each of the monkeys decided to build a house on the highest part of the island to protect themselves from the floods on the day the disaster would come. Monty had designed his house to withstand a very big flood, and this required very big rocks.

All the monkeys built their houses in just one day, and then spent the rest of their time playing cards and enjoying their new homes. They all laughed at Monty, because while they had already built their houses, Monty had only drawn some plans. But Monty was convinced that his house could survive any flood and although it might take a long time to build, it was worth the wait.

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So Monty moved only one big stone a day, which meant that his house took shape very slowly and the other monkeys continued to laugh at him. But Monty didn’t care, and went on building his house stone by stone.

After a few months, when the other monkeys had got tired of playing cards, Monty finished his house and very proudly threw a big party to which he invited all the monkeys on the island. Continue reading…

THE PRINCESS AND THE DRAGON

There was once a very beautiful princess named Claudia, who lived in a very big castle, for her father was the king of Dragoland. The young princess usually spent her days playing with friends in the castle dungeons. But one day, Claudia and her chums went for a walk around the castle walls where there was a forest full of trees.

Claudia was the most beautiful of all her friends. Her long blonde hair and big green eyes meant that people noticed her wherever she went.

As they entered the forest, the girls noticed something moving among the tree branches, but couldn’t see who or what it was… Suddenly, an enormous dragon came flying out of the undergrowth and grabbed Claudia with his claws. Then, as quickly as he had come, the dragon flew back deeper and deeper into the forest. Terrified, the other girls ran back to the castle to tell the king what had happened.

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The King of Dragoland was so alarmed at hearing the news that his daughter had been kidnapped by a dragon that he ordered an army of a thousand men to rescue her. Meanwhile, the dragon had already reached his lair with the princess. Continue reading…

THE ENCHANTED HOTEL

There was once a hotel that was very popular with tourists, but it was no ordinary hotel; at least, that’s what some of the previous guests said. Matthew had gone to spend a few days at the hotel with his parents, for they were going to visit the Ordesa National Park in southern Spain, for it was one of the prettiest parks in the whole wide world.

When Matthew’s family arrived at the hotel, which had been an old stone monastery, they were very surprised and amazed at how big it was.

Matthew had a room to himself, which made him very happy, for he thought this meant he could sleep till late without anyone disturbing him. But that night as he was sleeping peacefully, a noise in the middle of the night woke him up. The young boy got such a fright that he couldn’t help screaming.

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He jumped out of bed and switched on the light to see who had made the noise, but there was no one there. But just as Matthew was about to get back in bed, he found a piece of old cloth on the ground next to the chimney. He picked it up for a closer look and began looking around the room to see if he could find another clue.

After a while when he still hadn’t found anything, Matthew went back to bed. For a few minutes, his eyes wouldn’t close – he tried and tried to go to sleep, but couldn’t. His eyes were big as saucers and he had pulled up the bed sheets right up to his head in fear, for there were creaks and groans coming from everywhere.

Finally, just as he was about to fall back asleep, he heard another noise – just like before. In a flash Matthew turned on the light to see where it came from. Then he caught sight of a figure in a nightdress made from the same cloth he had found a little while before. He dashed out of his hotel room and into his parents’, and leapt into their bed.

“Mum, dad, there’s someone in my room! She went up the chimney!” Matthew cried, trembling in fear. Continue reading…

THE BRAVE PIZZA DELIVERY BOY

There was once a pizza delivery boy called Pizzo, whose job it was to take dinner to customers’ homes so they could eat and relax. The pizzas were put into a case, and he would put them in a box that was behind his seat on the moped. But Pizzo usually left the pizza box unlocked, because that way he could make his deliveries faster.

One day, as he was motoring around from home to home as usual, two cars suddenly appeared and stole the pizzas.

Pizzo secretly followed them, and saw them pretend to be pizza delivery men at the next customer’s house. The poor customer opened the door to the thieves, who forced their way in and tied all the members of the house to a chair.

Short stories - The brave pizza delivery boy

Watching everything through the window, Pizzo called the police and warned them that a family was in danger. But there was no time to spare. As the police were making their way there, Pizzo pretended to be a policeman and shouted: “You’re surrounded! Come out with your hands up and your eyes shut. You’re under arrest!” Continue reading…

CHATTY SUMMER

Once upon a time, there was a season called summer who loved the sun. He loved it so much that he spent all day talking to it. The sun was his best friend, and summer was the nicest companion the sun could wish for, too.

All day long the sun was bored, for all it had to do was shine upon the Earth’s surface and not much else. So he was happy when summer came to talk to him, and passed the time pleasantly.

One summer’s day on the beach, when all the swimmers were enjoying a beautiful cloudless day and the sun was casting its rays on the sand, summer started chatting to him without stopping (as was usual!).

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Seeing that the sun was very distracted by summer, a cloud sneaked up and hid behind the sun – and the sky began to darken. The people on the beach looked up and began to leave, gathering up their beach umbrellas and towels. There didn’t seem to be any sun, you see, and that’s why the people went home. Continue reading…