THE INTELLIGENT DONKEY

There was once a donkey whose name was Bruno. He lived with his master, an elderly man called Alfred. Every day, Bruno and his owner would go to the fields to work the earth. They looked after it so well that no weeds grew, and they ploughed and sowed the seeds.

Bruno’s job was very important, for he was responsible for the hardest tasks and that helped Alfred not to get so tired.

Like every day, today Bruno and Alfred were in the fields. While his owner snoozed under a tree, Bruno took the opportunity to eat something. Suddenly, something began moving beneath the earth where Bruno was eating… and up came a mole!!

Short stories - the intelligent donkey

“What are you doing eating my soil? Silly donkey… Can’t you see this is private property!?! Go on! Get out of here!!” scolded the mole.

Bruno answered: “I’m sorry, Mr. Mole, but this soil belongs to my owner and I can eat anything I want. By the way, I’m not going to go away, and what’s more I can see you’ve tried to trick me…”

The mole was surprised to see he hadn’t managed to deceive the donkey; Bruno seemed to be more intelligent than other donkeys he knew…

“Don’t be angry, donkey, I didn’t mean to trick you! I didn’t know this land belonged to your owner…” answered the mole.

Bruno replied: “Let me tell you one thing, Mr. Mole. It’s not right to take advantage of others. You thought that all donkeys are silly, but you shouldn’t be prejudiced.”

And so the mole went back inside his molehill, blushing and reflecting on what had happened. Our dear friend Bruno the donkey had taught the mole a very valuable lesson: there’s no need to trick anyone, for you will achieve much more if you are a good and honest person.

THE END

THE DRAGON’S BIRTHDAY

A long time ago in a peaceful land far, far away, there once lived a dragon called Rufus.

Rufus was the only dragon to exist in those days. He was the only descendent of the last dragons on the planet, and the royal family considered him to be the guardian of the kingdom.

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Rufus was about to turn one year old, and the king and queen were going to organise a birthday party for him. On the morning of his birthday, Rufus came down for breakfast from his tower as he did every day. But today something was wrong – there was no breakfast waiting for him!

Annoyed, he went to the palace living room and flung open the doors. Thinking no one was there, he burst into tears, opened his mouth and filled the room with flames.

Short stories - the dragons birthday

To his surprise, he opened his eyes to see the whole room full of people wanting to celebrate his birthday. Luckily, Rufus didn’t set anyone on fire, and the only things that got burnt were the candles on the cake. Continue reading…

THE FOREST FAIRY

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Anna, who loved riding her bike. Anna always wore a hat, and lived in a big house near a green and beautiful forest.

Anna usually rode her bike away from the forest, for her mother had told her never to enter the wood because it could be dangerous.

But one day it was very windy and Anna’s hat flew up into the air and down into the wood. Anna thought that the hat would come back, but instead it disappeared as if the forest had swallowed it up… Very upset, and ignoring her mother’s warning, Anna went into the wood to look for her hat.

Short stories - the forest fairy

Great was her surprise when someone touched her shoulder and said: “Anna, I am your fairy godmother, and I have always been here to protect you the day you entered the forest, for this forest is enchanted and one must take great care.” The forest fairy then continued: “Stay here, I shall go and look for your hat.”

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THE TWITCHY WITCH

Once upon a time, in the middle of a forest, there was a grey house that looked rather frightening. It seemed as if no one lived there, for the windows were full of spider webs and the glass was so filthy it was impossible to see inside the house.

But in fact there was someone living there… a witch known all around the world as “the twitchy witch“. The twitchy witch had a wart right on the tip of her big nose, big black eyes and grey-and-white hair. She was a witch all right, a very ugly witch, and she was scary to look at.

The twitchy witch had always lived in the forest, and on certain days of the year she would go into the village a few kilometres away and frighten the people who lived there.

Short stories - The twitchy witch

Today was one of the days that our witch, the twitchy witch, went into the village. Like all witches, she used her broom to get from place to place. So, dressed in dark clothing, she put on her pointy black hat, picked up her broom and set off.

It was getting dark by the time the twitchy witch arrived at the village. When some of the villagers out on the streets saw the silhouette of the twitchy witch flying atop her broom, they went running to their houses as fast as the blink of an eye.

The twitchy witch couldn’t stop cackling to see the people flee in fear. Continue reading…

THE TINY LITTLE MOUSE

There was once a tiny little mouse called Marvin.

He was so small that when his friends called him, he had to light a match for them to see him. At school he was always teased for being so small, but he didn’t care and remained deaf to everything people said to him.

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However, what some of them didn’t realise was that Marvin was the only mouse not to fall into the traps set by humans. Whenever he had to dodge the traps to get to his mouse hole, Marvin darted home nimbly and never once stepped on the mechanism that activated the traps.

Childrens stories - the tiny little mouse

And that wasn’t all. Whenever a human went mouse-hunting, Marvin would hide in the cheese holes and they never caught him. He was the only one who could.

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THE GROUCHY LIGHTBULB

Once upon a time there was a low-energy light bulb who sometimes got annoyed when he was switched on… Mr. Graham, the owner of the house, couldn’t understand its behaviour, because he had been told it would last a long time and save energy.

One day, he invited some friends to dinner, Robert and Isa. It was quite a sunny day, but the Graham family had switched on all the living room lights for the meal, and the grouchy light bulb was among them.

Robert realised that the light bulb looked angry, for it flicked on and off constantly. So he asked: “Hey, Graham, I think your light bulb is annoyed. Have you noticed?!”

Childrens stories - the grouchy lightbulb

Mr. Graham replied: “He gets annoyed and goes out every time we switch him on. I don’t know why, because we only bought him a little while ago…” Continue reading…

FLORA, THE LEAPING FROG

Once upon a time, there was a frog called Flora, who was very young and spent all day long leaping about

Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘Yes, but that’s what all frogs do!’ Which is true – all frogs leap to get from one place to another, but our friend Flora was nicknamed ‘leap frog’ by the other frogs, so you can imagine that she certainly didn’t lack any energy.

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From the moment she awoke to the time she went to sleep, she would jump about from one spot to another. She couldn’t sit quietly even for a little while, and her parents were constantly telling her: “Flora, don’t leap so much! One day you’re going to hit something by accident and hurt yourself.”

One day when she was in the pond, leaping from one stone to the next, a very calm toad ambled up to her and said: “Hello Flora, how is it you have so much energy to leap around like that?” For a moment, Flora the frog stopped still to stare at the toad that was transmitting so much peace, then shrugged and kept on leaping.

Childrens stories - Flora the leaping frog

The next day at school she had a gymnastics exam, which consisted of leaping over the vaulting horse and … I wonder if you can guess who leapt higher than anyone else? That’s right, Flora the frog. At that moment a classmate came up to her and asked: ‘How do you do it, Flora? I’m a frog too, but I can’t leap around all day long”… And Flora answered: “I don’t know…”

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THE TALKING TAP

Once upon a time there was a tap that was used to wash plates… which is to say he was a tap in a kitchen in a house in the countryside.

He didn’t see people very often, so to entertain himself he learned to speak – but he only ever talked to himself. He would tell himself stories about what his life would be like if people lived in his house.

 

Childrens stories - the talking tap

One day, new owners bought the house – and they had a little daughter called Maria. The little girl didn’t have many friends nearby, for her house was quite far away from the village. So she would amuse herself by playing with the furniture and items in the house, and the thing she most liked to play with was the talking tap.

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THE ADVENTURES OF LOLA

If ever there was an intrepid and adventurous little girl, it was certainly eight-year-old Lola. Lola lived with her parents and grandfather in a house in a small village, surrounded by mountains, a river and lots and lots of trees.

Every day after school once Lola had done her homework, she would eat a snack and think up a new adventure. Today, Lola put on her explorer glasses and picked up her backpack, where she kept a compass, a bottle of water, a lamp and a GPS that her parents had given her for her birthday.

Mum, I’m going into the garden for a bit“, said Lola. “Ok, Lola, but be careful and come back in before it gets dark” replied her mother.

Childrens stories - The adventures of Lola

Lola ran out into the garden, which was as big as a football pitch, and her grandfather, who was sitting on the veranda, said: “What’s today’s adventure? If you need a companion on your travels, just let me know“.

“Oooh, yes please, Granddad,” said Lola. “Come with me – I need you to help me complete a really, really important mission!!!”

So Lola and her grandfather went to a part of the garden where Continue reading…

THOMAS AND THE FLYING SNEAKERS

There was once a pair of old dirty sneakers that lived in a house outside New York. The house was situated in a rich neighbourhood and the owners were rich, too. The sneakers could be found in the room belonging to their young son Thomas.

Now, Thomas had lots of sneakers, but he only ever wore two or three pairs. One day, Thomas was cleaning his room when he discovered the old dirty sneakers at the bottom of his wardrobe. In fact, they were so grubby that he decided to clean them up.

He began rubbing them with a cloth, and as he scrubbed he remembered that he had only worn these sneakers once in his life. “I know“, he thought, “I put these sneakers on the day I went to play in the mud in the park.

Childrens stories - Thomas and the flying sneakers

Once they were completely clean, he noticed a detail he had never noticed before: the sneakers had a shining button on the undersole. It looked like a diamond and was so bright it dazzled his eyes. Thomas wondered what the button was for, so he pressed it and was amazed. A pair of white cloth wings the size of Thomas’s head had sprouted from the sneakers, and leapt to the window of their own accord.

In excitement, Thomas pulled on the sneakers and they flew through the window, dragging Thomas through the air. He began to scream and yell but the sneakers only stopped completely when he blurted out the word: “Stop!Continue reading…