BERTIE AND THE LABYRINTH

There was once a very wise man called Robert, though everyone called him Bertie for everyone loved him a great deal. Bertie had lived all his life in a small village, but two years ago when he was seventy years old he had gone to live in the big city with his daughter Ana. Bertie had always loved history and on his bedside table there were always exciting adventure books about historical figures.

One day as he was browsing his daughter’s bookshelves, he came across a well worn book that looked very old. Bertie realised that this was no ordinary book; it was a special book, and that inside its pages there could be a great secret.

On the front page were Egyptian hieroglyphics that Bertie had seen somewhere before, though he couldn’t quite remember where. So he set his spectacles on the tip of his nose and began reading the first few pages. It soon became clear that this was indeed a very old book – it had been written by an Egyptian historian who had described in precise detail the steps the reader had to follow to cross through the labyrinth and reach the treasure that was hidden there.

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Bertie spent the whole night reading that mysterious book and deciphering the riddles that he came across. He finished it just before dawn, but he still hadn’t managed to find the answer that would lead him to the Egyptian treasure. But then, on the very last page, he found an unfinished phrase that was the key he needed to solve the riddle.

After a few minutes in which Bertie thought hard about everything he had read, he found the answer to the unfinished phrase! Not wasting a single second more, he took a pen from his pocket and finished the phrase in the book. Continue reading…

THE PRINCE AND THE MONSTRO

Once upon a time there was a very handsome prince called Hugo, who wanted to become king of a distant land of mountains and caves. Unfortunately his father had died and his uncle was now king, for the family did not believe that Hugo was brave enough to be king yet. This really annoyed Hugo, as you can imagine. He was convinced that he was valiant, but he just hadn’t had the chance to prove it.

One day, Hugo found out that most of the land’s adult men (including the king) were setting off to hunt a monster that was attacking their homes at night. In that mountainous land there was a kind of very famous and peculiar monster called the Monstro. It had three eyes, growled so loudly that you could hear him from miles away and on top of that he also drooled.

Hugo silently followed the men hunting the Monstro, and soon reached the dark cave where the monster lived. Hugo hid behind a rock from the other men, for he was the prince and easy to recognise.

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While the group of men argued over how best to hunt the Monstro, Hugo snuck into the cave and went in search of it by himself. Once he had found it, Hugo threw himself on its leg to stop it moving, then pulled a sack over its head so that it wouldn’t bite him. After a few exciting and tense moments, Hugo tied its arms behind its back and took it out of the cave to show the king. Continue reading…

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…

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 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.

Short stories - The enchanted hotel

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.

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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…

PIPPI AND THE ROLLERCOASTER

There was once a twelve-year-old girl named Pippi, who really liked amusement parks even though she had never been to one.  Her parents had never let her go because they said they were very dangerous, but they would make an exception on her birthday and take her to the biggest amusement park of them all.

So on Pippi’s birthday, her parents bought her an all-day ticket for the park. Pippi was very happy about that, as you can imagine.

When she got there, Pippi’s jaw dropped in amazement at the amount of rides, and just how big the park actually was. Pippi and her sister ran to a new ride that had just been opened - the biggest rollercoaster in the world.

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Just as they were about to get on, Pippi felt a fluttering in her tummy that made her stop in her tracks…

“Come on, Pippi! Get on, it’s about to go!” cried her sister. Continue reading…

GEORGE AND HIS LITTLE BABY SISTER

My name is George, and I’m going to tell you a story that happened last year just after my birthday. For a few months, I had noticed that mum and dad were acting differently towards me – they weren’t paying me so much attention.

My parents were very happy; they laughed a lot, and even my father, who is quite serious, wouldn’t stop cracking jokes to everyone. I just couldn’t understand why they were behaving so differently. Maybe it had to do with my mum’s growing tummy…

One day at breakfast, they said to me: “George, we’ve got some good news for you; you’re going to have a little sister!”

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“A little sister? So… that’s what’s wrong with you!” I said.

“What do you mean?” Dad asked.

“Well, you’ve been ignoring me because you’re going to have another baby!” I said. Continue reading…

THE WISE AND PATIENT CAVEMAN

There was once a very, very big mountain where there were lots of trees and bushes. It was also the home of a group of humans that lived in caves dug out of the mountain rock. In fact, there were two families there. One lived in a grey-coloured cave, the other in a greenish cave (which was due to the type of rock). Naturally, they were known as the Greys and the Greens.

The Greys had a father, a mother and a fourteen-year-old son called Peter, while the Greens had a father, a mother, a four-year-old boy and a wise old grandfather.

The two families sometimes ate together, when they would talk about the mountain trees and how to fell them to obtain the wood with which to make fire and heat. One time, Peter felt he was ready to join the conversation. The wise grandfather listened intently to the young man, because Peter believed that the trees were there to be felled, and that it didn’t matter if they were replanted or not because they took so long to grow back.

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Once Peter had given his opinion, the wise grandfather told him this: “Nature is patient, and we humans must be patient too,” and he proposed a challenge: “I’m going to shave all my hair off, and we shall see what nature does to maintain the balance on my head. Come and see me in a month.”

Young Peter couldn’t understand what on earth the grandfather meant by this, and went home none the wiser. Continue reading…

TIP THE CURIOUS ANT

It was springtime and, as is usual for this time of year, the ants were coming out of their anthills in search of food to store for the winter. Tip, who was only a few days old, wondered: “Why do we have to collect food in spring and summer to eat it in winter?” However much Tip tried, he couldn’t find an answer, for he had not yet left the anthill and had no other ant to talk to that could shed light on his question.

After a day of hard work, Tip’s mother returned to the anthill. She had barely got through the door when Tip came running out asking: “Mum, why do you have to collect food for winter now?” So Tip’s mother calmly came in, sat on the sofa and said: “Son, we collect food at this time of year because we ants can’t go outside in winter. It becomes very cold then, and sometimes it rains or even snows. If any of us go out in winter, we are in serious danger.” To which Tip answered: “So … the cold, rain and snow are bad?”

“Well, no, Tip. Actually, we need them to live, but just imagine a heavy downpour of rain: we’re so small that if we go outside we could drown because just one drop could kill us,” replied his mother.

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But Tip was a very curious ant, and he began to wonder what rain or snow was really like. So he decided to wait for the first rainfall in autumn to see for himself.

Eventually, there came a cold rainy day in autumn. Tip decided it was the perfect opportunity to go outside for the very first time. He waited until his mother had gone out for a cup of tea with her friends, then slipped out of the house towards the anthill exit.

Tip was still very small and didn’t know the dangers he could face. Although deep down, he knew that disobeying his mother was wrong, he still went ahead with his plan. As he approached the anthill exit, a strange thundering noise became louder and louder. “What on earth could that be?” he wondered and grew more and more curious to get outside and see the rain.

Just as he was about to leave the anthill, a guard ant stepped into his path and said: “Where do you think you’re going, little one? Don’t you know it’s raining?” Tip froze, for he didn’t expect to be stopped just as he was about to discover what rain was… Continue reading…