THE LITTLE TANNED CRAB

Once upon a time there was a crab that lived on a beach in southern Spain. The other crabs called him Croqui, because he loved to cover himself in the sand, a bit like a croquette.

Croqui loved sunlight and when summer came he went mad about getting the best place on the beach to sunbathe. He was always very tanned, but he never listened to the older crabs’ advice.

The adult crabs always told him to put on sun cream to stop himself from getting sunburnt on his shell, but he would say that it wouldn’t do him any harm.

short stories - the-little-tanned-crab

One splendid hot summer’s day, Croqui was sunbathing when suddenly he began to smell burning. “What could that be?” he thought. Then he realised that smoke was coming from one of his claws, and that it was scorched. So he raced into the sea to cool off. 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.

- By the way, do you want to learn Spanish in Spain? Do it with Valtour…

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.

shortstories-colin-the-spanish-cucumber

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 CHILDREN AND THE SWIMMING POOL

Once upon a time there was a summer camp that was very popular with children aged up to 10. The camp had a large swimming pool for the children to enjoy refreshing dips in the water, as it was very hot.

The children usually played and dived near the edge of the pool, which really annoyed the swimming pool.

One day, the swimming pool got tired of this and decided to frighten the children so that they wouldn’t play and jump around near the edge.

Short stories - The children and swimming pool

So without warning she started to talk in a very stern and serious voice: “Boys and girls at the summer camp!! If you don’t stop jumping and playing near my edge, I will open my mouth and gobble you all up!!” Continue reading…

THE TRAFFIC LIGHT AND THE ZEBRA CROSSING

Once upon a time there was a school situated in the middle of a very big city and surrounded by very busy roads. The children would often run out of school and start playing, not realising how dangerous it was to have a road so close by. There had already been accidents when children crossed the road without looking, or when they ran around near the traffic lights.

To stop this happening again, a local traffic light thought to himself: “Why don’t I warn the children by shouting when cars are coming? Or perhaps I should grab them by the backpack…?”

He thought this would be a very good idea, so he told his friend the zebra crossing. But the zebra crossing said: “If we do that, we will only cause children in a different neighbourhood to have an accident, because they will rely on us to save them. But we won’t be there!” The traffic light thought this through, and realised that the zebra crossing was right.

Short stories - The traffic light and the zebra crossing

So they decided to do something different: “From now on, every day we’ll explain to each child the dangers of crossing the road without looking, and we’ll use videos so they can see the dangers for themselves.” Continue reading…

ALBERT AND THE TIME MACHINE

Legend has it that there was once a time machine that belonged to an old scientist named Albert. This machine had never been tested, but Albert knew that his dream of travelling to the future would one day come true.

No one had any idea about what experiments old Albert had performed with the machine, but he declared that he was able to travel to the past and future just by sitting in the cabin and typing in the year to which he wanted to go.

The villagers thought that the old scientist had gone mad and that he was losing his mind. In fact, some would say: “Travelling to the future, humph! He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Short stories - Albert and the time machine

Albert ignored these comments and while they were all wondering if he really had gone mad, he kept working on the final details of his time machine. For more than five years, the old scientist had devoted all his time to designing and experimenting with equipment that could make his dream to travel back in time a reality, for he wanted to return to a very special moment in his life, the day his father had let him come into his laboratory to do an experiment together. That day was very special for Albert, for it was at that moment that he knew he wanted to be a great scientist when he grew up. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t achieved it. 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.”

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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Watch this children’s story and connect English subtitles:

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…”

Continue reading…