The tree who carried children

In the beginning, there was a tree. Because the tree was short and had low hanging branches, little children loved to climb that tree. But soon, the tree grew very tired from the weight of the children and was constantly shouting, "Please get off!" Of course, nobody did because nobody could hear him, and nobody understood tree language. Until one day, a little boy came by who did.

"Listen," he said, "the tree is telling all of you to get off!"

"Oh," said everybody, "we didn't realise we were hurting the tree". So one by one they climbed off.

The tree was relieved and thankful. It grew tall and strong and bore big juicy fruit. Oranges, to be exact. One day, much later, a little child who did not know the history of the tree began to climb on it. The tree looked at the child. And then smiled. "Now that I am tall and big", it said, "I can carry you high!"

The end.

The Little Frog and the King

One day, Lil’ Froggy was lazing around the swamp when he began to make the long journey across the country to a faraway place. He hopped up the steep mountain, down the other side until he came to rest before a large white castle.

Inside this castle lived a king. The king wore beautiful clothes and had beautiful things, but because he had everything done for him, he was very bored most of the time. So he sent for anyone and everyone in the kingdom to come and entertain him.

Now Lil’ Froggy had a good voice and could belt out a good tune. So he sang many, many songs for the king...

Gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside,
Gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside.

The king clapped and cheered. He really enjoyed Lil’ Froggy’s singing. He said to Lil’ Froggy, “Come and stay with me in this fine palace so you can sing and dance for me every day. I will give you the tastiest food to eat and finest clothes to wear.”

Lil’ Froggy tilted his head to one side and croaked, “Thank you, your majesty, but no thank you. I would love to stay, but a little froggy like me ought to be free, and a little froggy like me belongs in the big deep swamp by the river, and so to the swamp I shall return.”

The king was sad, because nowhere in his kingdom had he met anyone who could console him with song like Lil’ Froggy could.

Lil’ Froggy said, “But whenever you need me, whenever you long to hear a froggy tune again, just lay down your crown, take off your robe, put on your overalls and, dig up a nice hole in the mud outside your palace and I will come hopping over to sing you by my very best song.”

And so Lil’ Froggy made a long journey back home to the swamp.

And whenever the king was lonely, he would lay down his crown, take off his robe, put on his overalls and dig up a nice hole in the mud near the moat outside his palace, and sure enough, Lil Froggy would be there croaking,

Gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside, down by the riverside,
Gonna lay down my burden, down by the riverside,
Down by the riverside. 

The Little Fish who wanted to be on a boat

"Don’t be silly! Boats are for people who can’t swim!"

In the deep blue ocean live Mr Octopus, Mr Giant Whale, and Little Fish. Every day, they swim happily together among the waves.

One day, Little Fish saw a small boat sailing near.

“I want to be on that boat!” Little Fish exclaimed.

Mr Octopus and Mr Giant Whale said, “Don’t be silly! Boats are for people who can’t swim, and you swim plenty fine, so why would you want to be on that boat?”

But Little Fish was overcome with curiosity. He swam right next to the boat and looked longingly at the wooden deck.

Suddenly, a line dropped down from the boat. Little Fish grabbed it with both fins! He felt himself being pulled up, out of the water, and onto the warm, wooden deck.

Just as he was beginning to take in his surrounds, he felt a big lump in his throat. He started to cough, and cough, and cough. Oh no, he felt really sick! What was he going to do!

Meanwhile, in the water below, Mr Octopus and Mr Giant Whale realised that Little Fish had gone missing. “He must be in that boat!” they cried in alarm.

So Mr Giant Whale sped towards the little boat. He flipped and swung and wobbled his giant tail as hard as he could! The water broke up into big, choppy waves! The boat rocked and tossed and tumbled... until plonk! Little Fish was tossed back into the deep blue ocean.
Mr Octopus, Mr Giant Whale and Little Fish were so happy to be together again.





Jack and Jill went up the hill

"They're orange apples!"

Jack and Jill went up the hill, down the mountain, across the stream, under the treetops, in search of adventure. They arrived at a meadow. There, they met Willy the Pig.

Jack and Jill said to Willy the Pig, “We’re really hungry. Can you give us something to eat?”

Willy the Pig said, “Here you can have some apples.”

Jack looked at them and said, “They’re not apples, they’re oranges!”

Willy said, “They’re orange apples!” [Shrieks of laughter]

So Jack and Jill gobbled up the oranges greedily.

Then, they went under the treetops, across the stream, up the mountain and down the hill.

When Jack got home, his mother asked him “Where did you go?” Jack said, “Well, we went up the hill, down the mountain, across the stream and under the treetops. We were so tired and hungry after our walk that we asked Willy the Pig for something to eat and he gave us some orange apples.”

Suddenly, Jack turned into a bunch of orange apples.

“AHHHHH!” His mum cried. She grabbed the orange apples and quickly rode off in her truck with the orange apples, up the hill, down the mountain, across the stream and under the treetops till she found Willy the Pig.

“Willy the Pig! Look what happened to Jack! He’s turned into orange apples!”

Willy the Pig said, “Oops! I must have accidentally given him the magic apples. Here, here’s the antidote.”

Puff! The orange apples turned into Jack again. Jack was careful not to accept food from a stranger in the meadow again.