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…

LEWIS AND THE GREY SMOKE

There was once a little boy of 6 years old called Lewis. One day, as he was looking out of the car window on his way to school, he discovered that a large mass of grey smoke was forming just above his dad’s car.

Somewhat alarmed, Lewis looked at the other cars on the road to find out if they too had a cloud of grey smoke chasing them. To Lewis’ surprise, all the cars travelling on the motorway had the grey smoke hovering around them.

So Lewis asked his father: “Dad, what’s that grey smoke above our cars?” Lewis’ father was a little surprised by the question, but answered: “Well, Lewis, it’s called pollution.”

“Pollution? What’s pollution?” asked Lewis, waiting intrigued for his father’s answer.

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“Well, for example, it’s that grey smoke you can see above our cars. Cars that run on petrol or diesel give off gasses into the atmosphere, which are very bad for all living beings and the planet too. Today you can see a lot of the grey smoke because it hasn’t rained for a long time,” answered his father.

Lewis spent a while pondering on this, and began to put two and two together. If the grey smoke was bad, and it was all because of cars, then why were there so many cars on the road?

“Dad,” said Lewis slowly, “If the grey smoke is pollution and is bad for us, why are we going to school in a car?”

“So I can get to work on time, son. The bus or metro would make us late,” answered his father. 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…

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.

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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…