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!).

Short stories - Chatty summer

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…

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.

Short stories - The wise and patient caveman

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.

Short stories - Tip, the curious ant

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…

THE GARDEN SCARECROW

My name is Laura, I’m 9 years old and I live in the city. In summer, when it’s school holidays, I go to my grandparents’ house in a little village.

One day, I walked through the orchard to visit Mr. Anselmo, one of my grandparents’ neighbours, so he could teach me how to grow tomatoes and carrots. I wanted to plant my own little vegetable garden at home. There were all sorts of vegetables and fruit in Mr. Anselmo’s garden, because he was the best gardener I had ever met.

“Hello Mr. Anselmo!! How are you?” I asked.

“Well good day to you, miss, ready to learn where most of my food comes from?” he replied.

“Yes! I’m impatient because I want to be a gardener,” I said. Continue reading…

THE SEASONS OF THE YEAR

There were once four seasons in the year called Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Each season was very different, but two of them didn’t get on very well at all. Which two were they? I hear you asking. Well, Winter and Summer, that’s who.

From the moment they met, Winter and Summer had clashed, for Winter liked the cold, rain and snow, but Summer preferred sunshine, dryness and heat. In fact, they were polar opposites.

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Watch this children’s story and connect English subtitles:

So one day the four seasons got together to resolve the problem. Spring comes after Winter, and with her the trees and fields begin to flower and it stops being so cold. And Autumn, who follows Summer, brings with him the falling leaves, the start of the cold weather and a few rain showers.

Short stories - the seasons of the year

At their meeting, Spring and Autumn tried to explain to Winter and Summer that they should get along, for all four of them are needed to complete the circle of life on Earth. Continue reading…

THE LITTLE BOY AND THE ALMONDS

Once upon a time there was a little boy called Marco who lived in a village near Madrid, in Spain. Marco was a very observant little boy and loved nature. He especially loved flowers, and he had realised that the only time almond trees blossom is in spring.

Every spring day, he liked to look at the blossoms and see the pretty colours that appeared in this season. But the little boy got very sad when spring passed into summer and he could no longer see the almond blossoms.

One day, his wise old grandfather told him something very important: “You should look on the positive side of things,” he said, and continued, “Almond trees may not flower in summer, but you can sit under them for shade. Almond trees may not flower in autumn, but they produce the almonds that you can eat if you break the shells between two stones. And almond trees may not flower in winter, but their branches are full of snow and look beautiful.”

Short stories - The little boy and the almonds

That was how Marco understood the greatness of nature and decided not to get sad at any time of year, because there are always beautiful things to admire.

THE END

THE DAY AND THE NIGHT

There was once a planet called Earth, half of which was night and the other half was day.

Five-year-old Julia had realised that during the day there was light but that at night everything went dark. One evening, Julia was reading a bed-time story when her mother came to give her a kiss and wish her goodnight. “Night night, Julia, sweet dreams,” said her mother as she tucked her in. “Mummy, why is everything dark at night and there’s no sun?” asked Julia.

So Julia’s mother sat on the edge of the bed beside her and said: “Ok, tonight I’ll tell you a story about night and day, and then I’m sure you’ll understand why they exist.”

Short stories - The day and the nigth

Julia was very eager to hear the story, because it would help her understand lots of the questions she had about the sun and the moon.

Julia’s mother started her tale. “A long time ago, the planets were created and among them was the planet where we live, called Earth. Our planet is like a spinning top, but there’s one difference: Earth spins more slowly; in fact, it takes 24 hours to go round once. That’s why it’s called earth rotation.”

All this while, Julia was listening hard to everything her mother told her, for she had never heard anything about the planets and the sun. Julia’s mother continued: “So as Earth spins around, the sun will shine its light on one side of it and it will be day. But the side facing away from the sun will be dark, and that means it’s night-time. So while it’s day on one side of the Earth, it’s night-time on the other.”

After the story, Julia understood that day-time is when the sun gives us light because we are facing it, and it becomes night-time as we move away from the sun’s rays.

Today Julia had learned something she didn’t know before, and even though she was only a little girl she sensed that what her mother had told her was very important for all the inhabitants of Earth, for thanks to the sun there is life on our planet.

THE END

THE MAGIC BINS

Once upon a time there were six hard-working rubbish bins, each a different colour depending on the rubbish that was to be thrown into it. The green one was called Glassy (he was in charge of glass for recycling); the blue one was called Papius (he was in charge of paper for recycling); Oilo was charge of collecting the used oil bottles; the yellow one was called Plastica (she was in charge of plastic for recycling); Batterius was in charge of used batteries and finally there was Generalia who was in charge of the rest of the rubbish, particularly food waste.

Whenever someone put the rubbish in the wrong place, the bins would pass it into the correct one for they were very good friends. That way, the rubbish was always correctly divided so that it could be recycled properly and help after the environment.

Every so often, the rubbish van would come along to empty them and was always happy to see the right kind of waste going into the right rubbish bin.

Short stories - the magic bins

But after a few days, the bins grew tired of ordering the rubbish because it was such hard work. They can’t move around very well, as you can imagine.

Soon Batterius, the youngest of all the bins, began to feel sick and very upset. He spat out everything that wasn’t a battery into the street, for he was so tired he could no longer contain it.

It wasn’t long before Plastica began to experience the same symptoms and spat out anything that wasn’t plastic. She was soon followed by Oilo, and finally all the bins began to toss out the rubbish that didn’t belong to them… Continue reading…

SPRINGTIME AND THE FLOWERS

Today was a beautiful spring day and two school friends, Laura and Sarah, decided to go out into the countryside. As usual for this time of year, there were lots of flowers and the trees were blossoming.

So after school, the two friends went to play in the fields beside the school, for the sun shone so gloriously that the fields looked even lovelier than usual and the meadows were like an ocean of deep green.

Laura said to her friend: “Sarah, I’m going to pick a bunch of really big flowers for my mum.” And Sarah replied: “Great idea, Laura, I’ll do one for my mum too.”

The two girls were excited about making a bunch of flowers from the field to take home to their mothers. In fact, Laura went on to say: “We have to make a really pretty and big bunch of flowers. We’ll pick flowers of different colours, like yellow, red, white, and we’ll make a bunch that shows off the colours of spring.”

Short stories - Springtime and the flowers

As she was making her bunch, Sarah thought of her class teacher – how well she taught and all the times she had helped Laura and Sarah when they found something difficult. So she stopped and thought for a moment and then said: “Laura, shall we also do a bunch of flowers for Mrs. Cooper?” “Great idea!” answered Laura.

So the two friends made the bunch of flowers for their teacher and when Continue reading…

THE DAY OF THE TREE

Matthew had woken up before his alarm went off, which was very unusual because normally he was a real sleepyhead. He jumped out of bed, put on his explorer costume, made his bed, pulled on his boots and went down to the kitchen for breakfast.

Matthew’s mother and father were busy making breakfast, and were very surprised to see Matthew appear at the door… “Good morning, son, what’s up with you today? How come you’re up so early?!” laughed his father.

“Well, I woke up before the alarm, so I wasn’t sleepy,” answered Matthew.

For Matthew, today was a very special day. It was the day of the tree, and they had bought a small tree to plant in the field as a symbol of respect for nature.

Short stories - The day of the tree

After breakfast, they set off. They took the necessary tools to plant the tree: a hoe, gloves and a hose for watering it.

When they got to the field, Matthew’s mouth fell open: they weren’t the only ones who had thought of planting a tree! There were lots of other children doing the same thing and also writing little cards to go with them, with the date and their name on it.

Matthew was sad to discover that his idea wasn’t new, and that lots of other people had had the same thought.

“Matthew, your idea to plant a tree in the field was lovely so there’s no reason to be sad,” remarked his mother. Continue reading…