Kids Story Books Online

Blue Penguin and Bob the Guinea Pig

2009-12-30T01:00:00.001-08:00

Blue Penguin and Bob the Guinea Pig

One day Bunny ran into the bedroom all excited. "Mugsy," he said, "One of the children has brought the class pet home for the weekend. It is a guinea pig named Bob!"

When the family went out for dinner, Mugsy, the big brown stuffed dog, and Bunny went downstairs to visit the weekend guest. Bob was eight inches long with brown and white fur. He lived in a plastic box. It had soft wood chip bedding on the floor on which he could sleep. On one wall hung a water bottle where he drank. There was also a bowl filled with guinea pig food.

They had a fun time playing with Bob. Bunny and Mugsy took turns petting him. They found him a round cardboard tube that Bob could crawl into where he could hide. They also took turns feeding him guinea pig treats.

When they were done they said good-bye to Bob and walked back to the bedroom. When they got there they ran into Blue Penguin. Blue Penguin was Bunny's best friend.

"The children just brought home a guinea pig for the weekend," Bunny told Blue. "His name is Bob. We just finished playing with him. It was a lot of fun!"

Blue said, "Do you think he would play with me?"

"I don't see why not," replied Mugsy.

Blue ran into the closet, grabbed something, and then ran downstairs. "I'm going to play with Bob!," he yelled.

A few minutes later Blue came back into the bedroom crying. "Bob doesn't like me! I took my checker board down and set it up, but he won't play with me. I even said he could make the first move!"

Mugsy laughed, "Blue, guinea pigs don't play checkers. You can't play that kind of game with him."

Blue answered, "Well, what kind of games do they play?"

Mugsy and Bunny took Blue down to Bob's box. They showed him how to pet Bob and feed him treats. They also showed him how Bob liked to use the cardboard tube to crawl through. Blue had a lot of fun playing with Bob.

From then on whenever Bob came to visit on the weekends, Blue had lots of fun playing with him. He was never able to teach him to play checkers, though.

The End

Bunny and the Robot

2009-12-30T00:58:00.001-08:00

Bunny and the Robot

unny heard the truck pull up in front of the house with his extra-sensitive rabbit ears. When Bunny went to window, he could see a man in a brown uniform climb out of the truck, take a package wrapped in brown paper out of the back, and come up the walk.

"Ding dong!" the doorbell said.

"Delivery for Mr. Mugsy!" the man in the uniform shouted.

"Just leave it on the step. Thank you," Bunny heard Mugsy say.

This really surprised Bunny. The people who lived in the house often got packages or mail delivered, but they were not home. Mugsy was a big, brown stuffed dog. Bunny had never heard of a stuffed animal, puppet, or toy of any sort getting a package sent to them. Bunny decided to find out what was going on.

Bunny climbed down to the bottom of the steps near the front door and peeked around the corner. Mugsy was sitting behind the front door. When he heard the truck drive away, Mugsy opened the door just a crack, stuck his head out and looked around to make sure nobody could see him. Then he reached out with his paws to snatch the package off the step.

The package was rather big, even for Mugsy to carry. It blocked his vision causing him to walk right past Bunny without even noticing he was there. Mugsy then made a turn and went down the family room steps. Bunny followed. Mugsy then opened the door to the basement and carried his box down there. Again Bunny followed.

In the basement, Bunny found a comfortable place on top of a paint can from where he could watch what Mugsy was doing. The big brown dog placed the package up on a workbench at one end of the room and then opened it. Inside were wires, bolts, nuts, metal bars and plastic parts in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Out of the box Mugsy also pulled a thick book with many pages. The title was "HOW TO BUILD AND OPERATE YOUR ROBOT." Mugsy flipped open the book and started reading.

Bunny asked, "Mugsy, are you going to build a robot?"

Mugsy, startled, looked up. "Bunny, I didn't know you were down here. You surprised me."

"Sorry," said Bunny, "So are you building a robot?"

"Yes," replied Mugsy, "I ordered this kit to build a robot."

"Can I help?" asked Bunny, excitedly.

"I suppose so," said Mugsy, "but it will take a long time. First we have to read the assembly instructions, then we need to actually put it together, then we need to learn how to operate it properly."

"That's all right," said Bunny, still enthusiastic, "I'm very patient."

"Good," said Mugsy, "How about taking notes while I read. Now it says here 'Chapter One: Putting Together the Main Drive. You should have two main gear drives, parts 106 and 107. You also need two five-inch springs numbered 345 and 346. Slide the small end of one of the springs over the shaft B on the gear drive number 106. Then use a 30-millimeter wrench to-'"

"Tell you what, Mugsy" said Bunny, yawning, "I'm going to take a little nap, then I'll come down and help you finish the robot. Okay?"

Mugsy smiled. "Okay, Bunny." And with that Bunny went up to the family room and took a snooze on the sofa.

Bunny slept most of the day, but when he awakened he remembered about Mugsy and the robot and headed down to the basement to see what was going on.

Mugsy was sitting on the floor reading the instruction manual that had come with the robot kit. Bunny could tell that he was almost to the end of the book. In front of Mugsy stood a gleaming red, white and blue robot with a clear plastic bubble for a head and tank-like tracks for feet.

"So Mugsy," said Bunny, "How is it going? Is the robot done?"

"The robot's name is the FRED 2000. Fred stands for 'Fully Robotic Electronic Droid.' I just finished reading the instructions on how to operate the FRED," said Mugsy, "now I'm going to test him out."

Mugsy addressed the robot in a clear voice. "Well, my mechanical friend, let's try out your motor. Robot, please drive once around me in a circle."

FRED's eyes lit up a soft blue color and blinked. In the dome on his head wheels and gears started to turn. Then the machine's tire tracks moved, and the robot made a perfect circle around Mugsy and stopped where it had started.

"Very good, FRED," said Mugsy, "Thank you."

The robot answered with a beep. Then the lights in its eyes went out and it seemed to go back to sleep.

"Well, said Mugsy, "It seems to be okay. I'm tired after working all day to put that robot together. I think I'll go up to the bedroom and rest."

"Mugsy," said Bunny, excitedly, "Could I play with the robot while you're gone? Please! PLEASE!"

"Bunny," replied Mugsy, "Operating the robot is complicated. Tell you what we'll do. Go read the instruction manual. By the time you finish that I'll be done my nap and we'll play with the robot together."

"Okay," said Bunny. He was unhappy about having to wait.

Bunny started to read the manual, but before he finished the first page he was bored. "Why do I need to read the instructions before operating the robot?" Bunny said to himself. "It's easy. I saw Mugsy do it. I'll try just one simple command to see if it works."

Bunny stood next to the robot and said, "Okay my mechanical friend. Go forward ten feet."

The robot did nothing.

Bunny was puzzled. Maybe if he tried it louder. "ROBOT, GO FORWARD TEN FEET!" he shouted.

This time the robot replied, "That does not compute."

Bunny was getting very frustrated. "What is wrong with you, you bumbling bucket of bolts,? I said, GO FORWARD TEN FEET!"

Suddenly, the robot's eyes lit up a bright red and the gears in its dome started spinning. The robot shot forward across the floor and crashed into the side of a trash can sitting on the basement floor. The can went over and trash scattered all over the place. Papers, old cereal boxes and plastic wrappers covered the basement floor.

Bunny, ignoring the fact that he'd told the robot to go too far, yelled, "Now look what you've done! Now I'm going to have to clean up this mess."

The little rabbit had started to pick up some of the papers when suddenly and idea occurred to him. Addressing the robot he said, "Okay, since you made the mess, you can clean it up! Robot, clean up everything on the floor and put it in the trash can."

The robot replied, "That does not compute."

"You bubble-headed bum! I said pick up everything on the floor and put it in the trash can!" The eyes on the robot lit up bright red and again the gears whirred. The robot turned, picked up a paper and then rolled over to the trash can. It dropped the paper in, then went to fetch a box and did the same thing. In a couple of minutes the entire basement floor was clean. Bunny smiled to himself and said, "Who needs the instruction book? Operating the robot is easy. After only five minutes I've got this thing cleaning up for me!"

Suddenly Bunny felt a metal claw clamp around his waist and he was lifted in the air. The robot had come up from behind him and picked him up. "What are you doing, you metal monster?," yelled Bunny. "Stop! Let me go! Let me go! Let me go!" Then the robot let him go and Bunny fell straight into the trash can.

Bunny stood up, but couldn't see a thing. Then he realized there was an empty cereal box on his head. Shaking it off, Bunny climbed up the inside of the trash can. He reached the top and yelled at the robot, "Why, you transistorized tin can, you were supposed to throw trash in the can. Not me!"

The robot, ignoring Bunny, started climbing the stairs toward the family room.

"Come back here, robot! I command you to come back!"

Paying no attention to Bunny, the robot disappeared through the door at the top of the stairs.

Bunny, brushing some crumbs off his shoulders, leapt out of the trash can and followed the robot's trail. When he reached the doorway at the top ,Bunny saw the robot rolling towards him. Clutched in one claw was a small child's chair. In the other was an expensive vase.

"No! No! No!" shouted Bunny, "You were supposed to put the things you found on the basement floor into the trash, not things you find on the family room floor! Stop! Stop!"

"Warning! Warning! Danger! Danger! Obstruction in path!" announced the robot.

Bunny stretched out his paws to block the robot's progress. The robot did not stop. Instead it ran straight over Bunny.

When Bunny stood up he felt a little dizzy. He snapped out of his daze when he heard the crash of the vase as it broke when it hit the bottom of the trash can. Bunny realized if he didn't do something quick the robot would demolish the house. Bunny thought hard. He remembered a switch he'd seen on the back of the robot. He was certain it must be an off switch for FRED. If he could just throw that switch, the robot would probably stop dead in its tracks. If only he could just be certain that it really was an off switch.

While Bunny was thinking, the robot rolled past him headed into the family room again. Bunny tried to see the writing next to the switch as the robot went by, but the machine was moving too fast. Bunny thought about running upstairs to wake up Mugsy and getting him to stop the robot, but he remembered the big, brown dog's warning not to play with the robot without reading the instructions. Mugsy would be angry at him.

Bunny remembered the instruction manual was still in the basement. If he could look up the meaning of the switch in the book then he would know for sure...

Just then the robot rolled past him carrying a left sneaker and a remote control for the TV. As they crashed to the bottom of the trash can Bunny decided he didn't have time to look up the meaning of the switch in the manual. He hid behind the door and just as the robot came in, Bunny did a mighty rabbit jump after him, throwing the switch on the back of the robot.

The machine came to a sudden stop. Instead of sitting still, however, the robot began to shake harder and harder. Inside the machine there was a whirring sound that got louder and louder, like an engine revving up. Now that the robot wasn't moving ,Bunny could read the words next to the switch he had thrown. The label read "SPEED". With horror, Bunny realized that the switch had been set on "REGULAR" and he had turned it to "TURBO." With a screech of his tracks the robot took off.

Moving much faster than he had been before, the robot circled the family room, picking stuff off the floor and piling it underneath his other arm. A shoe, an umbrella, a magazine, and a chess board all disappeared into the trash before Bunny could even move.

The robot decided it was done in the family room and headed up the steps to the bedrooms. Bunny ran after it shouting, "No! No! Stop! Stop, you nuts and bolts ninny! Stop, I say."

The children must have not cleaned up their rooms before they left for school because the robot came back down the steps with its arms loaded with toys it had found on the floor. Books, tapes, cassette radios, clothes, even a toy rocket ship was in the robot's clutches as he headed for the trash can in the basement. Bunny had just enough time to dodge out of its way and avoid being run over again.

"Oh, no!" thought Bunny to himself as he heard the objects hit the bottom of the can. "What am I going to do?"

The robot shot past Bunny and headed upstairs. It was going so fast now that Bunny couldn't keep up. Bunny was halfway up the steps when the robot started down them again. Clutched in its right claw was Bunny's best friend, Blue Penguin.

"Help, Bunny, help," Blue Penguin called. "This thing has me and I don't know where it is taking me!"

Bunny stood in the robot's path and put up his paws. "Stop you-you supercilious, cybernetic short-circuit. Put my friend down!"

For a moment Bunny thought he was going to get run over again. But suddenly the robot's other claw reached out and Bunny was caught in its grip. The machine carried both of them down to the basement and dropped them with a thud into the very full trash can.

"Bunny," cried Blue Penguin as they climbed to the top of the can. "What is that thing and why did it throw us in the trash?"

"It's a robot," replied Bunny, "and it's-"

They had reached the top of the can and when they looked over the rim they saw the robot approaching. It must have believed it had finished its task because in its claw it held the tightly-fitting lid of the trash can.

"Bunny, if it puts the lid on the trash can we won't be able to get out. We'll go out with the trash," yelled the little penguin in a panic.

"Stop it! Stop it, you idiosyncratic, ill-bred, ignorant automaton," Bunny shouted in vain. The robot, ignoring Bunny's commands, raised the lid to slam it down on the can.

"Robot, PLEASE stop," a familar voice said.

The robot came to an immediate stop and the red lights in its eyes winked out.

The voice belonged to Mugsy. He had arrived at the top of the stairs just in the nick of time. Mugsy came down the stairs and helped Blue and Bunny out of the can.

"Mugsy, am I glad you showed up," said Bunny relieved. "I thought we were going for a ride in the garbage truck."

"Bunny," said Mugsy sternly, "did you start playing with the FRED-2000 without reading the instructions or waiting for me?"

"Well, just a little," admitted Bunny.

"A little?" said Mugsy. "Look at this mess. If you read the instructions you would have known that you are always supposed to say 'PLEASE' when you give the robot a command and never call it mean names. Otherwise it may not do what you want."

"You can say that again," commented Blue looking at the trash can that was now stuffed with valuable items from all over the house.

"Now you take all that stuff out of the trash can and put it back where it belongs," commanded Mugsy.

"Couldn't we get the robot to do it?" asked Bunny. "After all, it was really his-"

"You managed to run the robot's battery down to nothing, Bunny," said the big, brown dog. "It needs a rest. Besides, I think it would be a good lesson for you if you had to make things right."

"Come on," said Blue Penguin, "I'll help you put everything back."

"Great," replied Bunny walking to the trash can, "Let's start over here." After a couple of steps, Bunny turned around to look at the little blue penguin. Blue Penguin was just standing there and hadn't moved an inch.

"What's the matter, Blue?" asked Bunny.

"You forgot to say PLEASE."

THE END

Bunny and the Haunted House

2009-12-30T00:57:00.002-08:00

Bunny and the Haunted House

very year the family took a trip up to visit Uncle Clark and Aunt Donna over the Independence Day holiday. The day before the trip was to start, the stuffed animals and puppets heard the Mommy telling the little boys: "Each of you may take one, and only one, stuffed animal with you tomorrow. Now pack your school bags tonight because we are going to get an early start."

Bunny was very excited. "I bet I'll get picked to go this year," he said to his best friend, the Blue Penguin. "Wouldn't it be great if they picked you, too? Then we could go together!"

Blue, who was a little more practical than Bunny, reminded him, "Now, Bunny, only two stuffed animals are allowed to go on the trip. There are lots of us here and everyone wants to be picked. Not everyone can go. You shouldn't count on going, and you shouldn't count on me being the animal to go with you if you are picked."

"I just know I'm going to get picked," replied Bunny. "You have to go with me. You are my best friend. I just won't have any fun at all if you don't go."

"Bunny," said the little penguin, "you can have a good time with whoever you go with, if you give it a try."

Just then one of the little boys came into the room carrying a school bag. He picked out some toys and put them into the bag. Then he found a little blanket. Scooping Bunny up, he wrapped the little rabbit carefully in the blanket, gave him a hug, made him comfortable in the school bag and zipped it closed.

Bunny waited until he was sure that everyone had gone to bed before zipping open the school bag and looking around outside. It was dark, but Bunny could see that the bag was in the hallway along with other stuff to be packed into the van the next day. Another school bag was sitting right next to Bunny's. Bunny whispered, "Blue? Are you there? I told you we would get picked to go! We are going to have a wonderful time."

There was no answer. Bunny called the penguin's name again. A few moments later the zipper on the other school bag began to move. It opened a bit and a head came out.

"Oh, there you are, Blue," said Bunny. "We are going to have such a great time..." Bunny strained to look at his friend in the dark. Something was wrong. The head that was sticking out of the other bag was brown, not blue. Stranger still, it appeared to have antlers. Bunny took a closer look...

"Who are you?" asked Bunny.

"My name is Chocolate," replied the head. "I'm a moose."

"Where is Blue Penguin?" demanded Bunny.

"I don't know any Blue Penguin," replied Chocolate. "I'm new here and I don't know very many toys yet."

"This isn't right!" said Bunny with anger. "Blue Penguin is supposed to be going on the trip. How did you get in the school bag?"

"One of the little boys picked me up and put me in the bag. He told me I was going to visit his Uncle Clark and Aunt Donna," said the little moose.

"Well, get out of there!" commanded Bunny. "My best friend Blue Penguin is going, not you!"

Chocolate's voice began to tremble at Bunny's unkind tone. "I can't. The little boy told me to stay in the school bag."

Bunny was furious, even though deep down inside he knew he was wrong. A little voice inside Bunny was telling him he shouldn't be mean to Chocolate, but Bunny decided to ignore it. Instead, Bunny thought about a way to get rid of the little moose, so that Blue could go. After a few minutes he had an idea.

"Oh Chocolate," called Bunny. "Are you there?"

The little moose stuck his head out of the other bag. "Yes?" he answered timidly.

"Do you know why they are taking you to Uncle Clark and Aunt Donna's house?" said Bunny.

"No," replied Chocolate.

"Well, I happen to know that Uncle Clark and Aunt Donna love moose," said Bunny. "You see chocolate moose is one of their favorite deserts. First they take a moose and dip him in chocolate and then they eat him. That's what they are going to do to you. That's why they named you chocolate. If I were you I'd get out of that school bag and hide somewhere so they don't eat you."

The little moose suddenly started crying. "I don't want to be eaten," he wailed, "but I was told to stay in the bag!"

"Well, you better get out and hide," said Bunny. "Before they-"

Suddenly the door to one of the bedrooms swung open. Out marched Mudsy, the big, brown, stuffed dog. He was one of the oldest and wisest stuffed animals in the house. His big floppy ears were cocked. He must have heard Chocolate crying.

"What's going on here?" Mugsy demanded. "Chocolate, you are going to wake everyone up."

"But Bunny said that when I went on the trip they would dip me into chocolate and eat me. He said I'd be a chocolate moose. He said that's why they named me chocolate."

"Oh, Chocolate," replied Mugsy. "They named you Chocolate because your fur is brown. The type desert they eat is chocolate mousse. That's spelled M-O-U-S-S-E. It's a little like a pudding. You are a moose. M-O-O-S-E. Nobody is going to eat you."

Chocolate wiped a tear from his eye. "But Bunny said-"

"Yes," interrupted Mugsy, "just what did you say, Bunny?"

"Oh it was just a practical joke," replied Bunny. "How could I know he'd be silly enough to think they were really going to eat him?"

"When he started crying you should have realized he was very upset and told him the truth, Bunny," said Mugsy. "Continuing to tease him was very unkind. You should know better."

"Now I want both of you to climb back into your bags and get some sleep," commanded Mugsy. "It is late and you have a long trip tomorrow."

It was the afternoon and the family had been driving for some hours. The children were taking naps in the back seats of the van. In the very back of the vehicle Bunny unzipped the school bag to see what was going on. Chocolate was only a few inches, away sitting on the top of the other bag. He was staring at the country-side going by outside the window.

"I never knew the world was so big," admitted the little moose. "We've been driving for hours and we still aren't at Uncle Clark and Aunt Donna's house. How much longer do we have to drive? Have you ever been there before? What's it like?"

Bunny laid back against his bag and said, "No I haven't, but I did talk to Oreo. He went last year and he said-"

Suddenly Bunny had an idea. He was still annoyed because Blue Penguin hadn't been picked to come on the trip. He also felt grouchy because of the lecture Mugsy had given him about playing mean jokes. He remembered, though, that Mugsy was hours away back at home now.

"So what did Oreo say?" asked Chocolate.

Bunny smiled to himself. "He said that the house up there is haunted!"

"Haunted!" cried the little moose. "You mean by ghosts?"

"Oh, yes," replied Bunny. "Oreo told me that they have lots of stuffed animals up there. Not stuffed animals like us, though. Real animals that were once alive. There's a big, real moose head mounted over the fireplace. On the bookcase is a real, stuffed ferret. On the floor is a raccoon that was once alive."

"That doesn't sound all that bad," ventured Chocolate.

"Oh, during the day it isn't," admitted Bunny. "It's just that at night all these stuffed animals that were once really alive come back to life. They moan and make funny noises and walk around all night long!"

It was obvious that this news had upset Chocolate so much that he was about to start crying. Holding back the tears he asked, "Well, why aren't you scared of the haunted house?"

Bunny replied, "Well ,I'm not scared because I know the magic words to keep them from bothering me. Oreo taught them to me."

"Please tell me the magic words!" cried Chocolate. A tear was running down his face.

"Well, I don't know," said Bunny. "It's a secret. Oreo made me promise not to tell."

"Please tell me. Please. Please," begged the little moose. "I'm scared."

"Okay, okay I'll tell you. Repeat after me. WATA"

"WATA," said Chocolate.

"SILLY," said Bunny.

"SILLY," repeated Chocolate.

"MOOS," said Bunny.

"MOOS," said Chocolate .

"SIAM," said Bunny.

"SIAM," repeated Chocolate.

"That's it!" said Bunny. "Now to make them work you have to repeat them over and over again faster and faster. Do it!"

"WATA SILLY MOOS SIAM," said Chocolate.

"Very good, but do it faster and louder," said Bunny.

"WATA SILLY MOOS SIAM!"

"Again and again!" said Bunny.

"WATA SILLY MOOS SIAM! WATA SILLY MOOS SIAM! WHAT A SILLY MOOSE I AM?"

Bunny burst out laughing. "I can't believe you fell for that old joke!"

Chocolate was furious. "You tricked me again! I don't think you are a very nice rabbit."

"Oh, you just can't take a joke!" Bunny replied. "Well, we still have at least an hour to go before we get there. I'm going to crawl back into my bag and take a nap."

Bunny had stayed up quite late the night before and he fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up inside the school bag he noticed that it was very, very quiet. Unzipping the bag he realized that it was no longer in the van. Instead the bag sat on the floor in a large dark room.

"Wow!" said Bunny to himself out loud, "I must have slept the whole rest of the trip. This must be Uncle Clark and Aunt Donna's house. But where is everybody?"

Seeing no people anywhere around, Bunny began to look for Chocolate.

"Chocolate? Chocolate the Moose, where are you?"

There was no answer. Where could the little moose have gone? Bunny began to get a funny feeling in his stomach. He didn't like being alone in a dark place he didn't know. He decided to cross the room to where there was a circle of light around a lamp.

As he was walking, he heard a voice from above say, "Who goes there?"

Bunny looked up above his head. Hanging on the wall was the head of a moose. Not a stuffed little toy moose like Chocolate, but a huge real moose. It seemed to glare down at him with anger.

"It's jjjust mmme, BBBunny," said the little rabbit. His voice was shaking. "Wwwho are yyyou?"

"I'm the ghost of the moose," the voice replied. "And I don't like rabbits trespassing in my house!"

Bunny felt knees began to shake. Then he had an idea. "Chocolate, is that you? Okay, it was a funny joke. You fooled me for a second. Come on down."

Suddenly a voice from the other side of the room declared, "We don't like you trespassing in our house either!"

Bunny spun around. The voice had come from a real stuffed raccoon sitting on the floor. Chocolate couldn't be in two places at the same time. Maybe the house was really haunted!

"No, we don't like uninvited visitors," said a lady's voice from behind Bunny. He turned and saw that it had come from a real stuffed squirrel mounted on a log. This was too much for Bunny. He ran away across the room.

Looking for a place to hide, he found what must have been a doll house. This one was shaped like a lighthouse, though. Bunny ducked through the door which was just his size. He ran up the steps. From the little glassed-in place at the top he could look down at the whole room in safety.

As Bunny was watching, he saw something moving in the shadows. It was much bigger than Bunny and had dark fur and a brown face. Bunny thought it must have been some kind of monster. The monster came across the room toward the lighthouse. Bunny felt safe at the top of the lighthouse until the moster started climbing up the side. Bunny backed up till he was against the opposite wall. Suddenly, a giant ape face appeared staring at him from the other side of the lighthouse window. Bunny fainted.

"Bunny! Bunny! Are you all right?" When Bunny opened his eyes he found himself staring up at Chocolate the Moose.

"I had this nightmare that the house was haunted and then I saw the big, big monkey..."

"That would be me," said a gentle voice. Bunny looked over Chocolate's shoulder and saw a big, brown furry stuffed ape about the size of Mugsy. She was holding a stuffed baby ape in her arms.

"Let me introduce myself," said the lady ape. "My name is Jay-Jay and this is my son, Jay, Jr."

"Then it wasn't a dream?" asked Bunny confused.

"I'm afraid I played a little joke on you, Bunny," said Chocolate. "I couldn't resist since you'd already played two on me."

"You were asleep when we got here and I realized it was the perfect chance to give you a little scare. The people went out to dinner and I got Jay-Jay and Jay, Jr. to help me. They live here. We each hid behind one of the animals and made it talk."

"When you started running away," said Jay-Jay, "I went after you to explain that it was all a joke, but I guess I just wound up scaring you more."

"Well," said Bunny, sheepishly, "I guess I deserved to have a joke played on me."

Turning to Chocolate he said," I need to apologize to you, Chocolate. I really wanted to have Blue Penguin come instead because he's my best friend and I wanted to have fun with him. I think we can become friends, though, and have a good time too."

"I'd like that!" said Chocolate.

"We can all have fun together while you visit," said Jay Jr.

As it turned out, Bunny and Chocolate had a great time with Jay Jay and Jay Jr. exploring Uncle Clark and Aunt Donna's house. In fact, a few days later when it was time to leave, Bunny felt sad to say goodbye to his new friends.

"Hey, I have an idea," said Chocolate. "The people left their camera sitting over there on the table. I think it has a timer on it so it will take pictures by itself. Let's take a picture of all of us to keep."

A week after the family got back home, the Mommy was looking through a stack of photographs she'd just picked up from being developed at the store.

"Hey," she said, "Who took the photograph of our stuffed animals posed with those monkey toys?"

"Not me," said one little boy.

"Not me," said the other little boy.

"Not me," said the Daddy.

Bunny and Chocolate didn't say a thing, but they just smiled.

The End

Bunny and the Pirates

2009-12-30T00:57:00.001-08:00

Bunny and the Pirates

unny woke up and stuck his ears out from under the warm covers of the big, soft bed. The people were downstairs eating breakfast. He could hear them banging dishes and talking. Bunny didn't worry about missing breakfast. That was the best thing about being a stuffed animal. You could sleep as late as you wanted and since you didn't eat real food you wouldn't be hungry.

Bunny walked to the window in time to see the Mommy putting the two little boys into the car. They were going to school. The house would be quiet for the whole morning, only the stuffed animals, puppets and toys were at home.

Bunny looked for his old friend, Blue Penguin. Blue Penguin was made of terry-cloth. Though he had a yellow beak and feet, he was mostly sky blue. Bunny had always thought this was a funny color for a Penguin, but he'd never said anything about it. He didn't want to embarrass his friend.

"Blue, all the people are gone. How about we go exploring?"

Blue Penguin was ready for an adventure. "Where do you want to go?"

"How about the back of the closet, behind those suitcases," said the little rabbit. "I've never been there before."

"Do you think it would be dangerous? Are there monsters back there?"

Bunny replied, "There are no such things as monsters! Don't be silly!"

They started to walk to the closet and Bunny said, "We'll only be at the back of the closet. If something goes wrong we can always call Mugsy for help. He's sleeping up on the bed."

Mugsy was a brown dog. He was the biggest and one of the oldest stuffed animals in the house. The others all listened to Mugsy. If they got into trouble it was Mugsy who got them out. Like the time Floppy fell into the heating vent. It was Mugsy who lowered his long tail down the vent so that the little rabbit could climb up.

Bunny and Blue walked across the floor and squeezed through the nearly closed closet doors. Above their heads was the first shelf. That was where the toys that were not being played with were stored. All the toys except the stuffed animals and puppets, of course, who got to live on the bed. Blue stared up uneasily at the shelf. It would not have been the first time a plastic hammer or toy car had come tumbling down on his head.

Bunny peered under the shelf at the row of suitcases piled there. The area was almost full, except for narrow places between the bags just big enough for a rabbit or penguin to slip through. It was very dark back there, like a cave, and Bunny wondered if he should have brought the flashlight. The flashlight was twice his size, though, and would never fit between the bags.

"Come, on. Let's go," said Bunny.

Blue looked at the narrow passage. "I don't know. It's awfully dark back there." His voice trembled.

"Don't worry. If anything happens Mugsy will get us out. I'll go first," said Bunny. They squeezed between a garment bag and a valise and were soon at the back of the closet. It was so dark Bunny could hardly see his paw in front of his eyes.

"You go that way, I'll go this way," Bunny told the penguin.

"You mean split up?" asked Blue.

"We can see more that way," replied Bunny. "Yell if you see anything interesting."

"It is so dark I can hardly see anything at all!" replied the little penguin.

They had not gone more than a few inches when the penguin screamed. Bunny ran to his side.

"What's the matter?" Bunny asked. He was out of breath.

"I saw something," said Blue.

"What?" asked Bunny.

"A monster. It was round with a lot of hair. Over there."

Bunny peered into the darkness. He could see something. Was it a monster? A rabbit-eating monster? No, no it was...

"That's just a dust bunny!" He told the nervous penguin. "You know they don't clean back here too often."

Blue was relieved, but still wanted to leave. "Come on, Bunny. We've seen enough. Let's go back to the bed. It is too scary."

"I told you," insisted the little rabbit. "Mugsy will rescue us if we get into trouble."

"How is he going to get back here?," asked Blue. "He is too big to get by those bags. And they are too heavy for him to move. Only the Mommy or the Daddy would be able to do that. If we get stuck back here they might not find us for a long time. Maybe not forever!"

Bunny had not thought of that. "Okay. I guess we will go back."

As they crawled out from in between the bags Bunny saw something. In the pocket of the garment bag was a piece of paper. Not wanting to return to the bed without a token of the adventure he pulled the square of paper out of the pocket. Then he carried it into the bedroom. There he unfolded it and took a look.

"What is it?" asked Blue. The paper had strange markings on it. Bunny did not understand any of them. "I don't know," said Bunny. "Maybe we should ask Mugsy."

"He's asleep," said Blue. "How about asking the Parrot puppet? Maybe he would understand it."

They dragged the paper over to where the Parrot puppet was perched near the window. Bunny thought the Parrot was too much of a know-it-all.

"It's a map," the Parrot told them. "I've seen plenty of them when I lived with the Pirates. They would draw them to show where they buried their treasure."

"You mean this is a pirate map leading to a buried treasure?" asked Blue.

The Parrot took another look at the paper.

"Well, it does have an 'X' on it. Yes, I'd say this was a map drawn by pirates. The 'X' must be where they put the buried treasure."

Bunny scratched his head. He did not know if he really believed the Parrot had ever lived with real pirates. He liked the idea of a treasure hunt, though. "Well, how do we read the map?" Bunny asked.

"It's easy," replied Parrot. "Follow that trail of dots. See it starts in the bedroom here. Then they go down the hall to the stairs. Then on through the living room to the kitchen. Down the other stairs to the family room. Finally across the floor to the toy box. It looks to me the ocean shown on the map must be the floor of the family room. The toy box is the island. The treasure is buried in the bottom of the downstairs toy box."

Bunny nodded. He understood the map now.

"That's a long way to go," said Blue.

He was right. The stuffed animals in the bedroom might be carried all over the house by the children or the Mommy or the Daddy. On their own they rarely wandered out of the bedroom. Maybe they might go down the hall to visit the toys in the nursery, but never further alone. Still, the idea of a trip to find pirate treasure excited Bunny. He was determined to give it a try.

"How about going with us?" asked Bunny to the parrot. "You know so much about pirates."

"No thanks," the parrot replied. "I've been on enough treasure hunts in my day. If you want to learn more about pirates, though, I think there's a book on the desk shelf."

Bunny and the blue penguin found the book. Bunny couldn't read very well, but he did make out the words Treasure Island on the cover. The picture on the front showed a boy standing on an island. Behind the boy, floating in the water, was a pirate ship. They looked through the book at the rest of the pictures. They saw a man with an eye patch and a sword. From the mast of the ship fluttered a skull and crossbones flag.

"He must be a pirate," said Blue.

"I guess if we are going to look for pirate treasure," said Bunny, "we'll need to dress like pirates."

They found some plastic swords, just their size, that had been rescued by one of the boys from a sandwich buffet. With a bit of black paper Bunny made an eye patch for Blue and a pirate hat for himself. On the front of the hat he used a piece of chalk to draw a skull and crossbones.

"Now we are set," said Bunny. "Let's go."

"Wait," said Blue, "what about the shark?"

The shark was another puppet. He lived downstairs next to the toy box. He was a bit ill-tempered and gruff. He enjoyed chasing the other, smaller stuffed animals around threatening to eat them as if he were a real shark. This was impossible since his teeth were only made of cloth, but still nobody liked the idea of being gummed in his wide jaws.

"The family room floor is supposed to be an ocean. That makes sense because that's where the shark lives. To cross it and get to the toy box island we'll need a ship."

"A pirate ship!" exclaimed Blue. "But where do we get one? There are no pirate ship toys in the closet."

"Well," said Bunny, "we'll have to make one. Let's take another look at that book."

After looking at the book, Bunny and Blue began searching for stuff to build their ship. Bunny found an old shoe box while Blue dragged some unsharpened pencils out of a desk drawer. One pencil made a mast for the boat. By putting the other two pencils through the holes poked in the side of the box a pair of oars was made. With some black construction paper they added a flag. With some white paper they added a sail. The sail was just for looks, of course, since there was no wind inside the house. Finally, they stuck a red crayon on the bow to serve as the spar. Just below it they taped a small, rubber Teddy Bear finger puppet as a figure head.

Their pirate ship was complete. They began dragging it through the bedroom and down the hall. At the end of the hall they had a problem. Between the upstairs and the living room was a flight of nine steps. Blue went down one step. With Bunny holding the ship from above and Blue holding it at the bottom they managed, with great difficulty, to get the boat down the first step.

"If we have to carry this ship down the steps one at a time it will take forever!" exclaimed Blue. "We'll never get to the treasure."

"I have an idea," said Bunny. "Remember seeing the kids outside in the snow with sleds? I bet we could use the ship as a sled to go down the steps. We'll just climb in and use the oars to push ourselves over the edge. Then we can ride all the way to the bottom!"

"These steps are steep!", remarked Blue, looking over the edge. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Don't worry," said Bunny, confidently.

They climbed into the boat. With a push of the pencil oars, they tipped the ship over the edge. Bunny hadn't taken into consideration that the hills had been smooth and the steps would be bumpy. With each step the ship hit hard and bounced. Then it flew into the air, hit hard and bounced again.

"I think I'm getting seasick!" cried Blue, several steps into the ride.

"I don't think it's seasick," replied Bunny. "I think it would have to be called stepsick!"

With a final bounce the shoe box ship hit the living room floor. As it did it tipped over on its side sending the two stuffed animals rolling across the carpet.

"Next time I think I'll climb down by myself and let you ride," said Blue.

The ship had lost its oars and mast in the final crash. After taking a few minutes to repair their boat Bunny and Blue dragged it through the kitchen. They decided to carry it down the final three steps to the family room instead of risking another sled ride. At the bottom they put their boat into the blue 'sea' that was really the family room floor. On the other side of the room was the toy box 'island.'

"I don't see the shark anywhere," said Blue.

"Good. Let's get going," said Bunny. "I'll be the lookout, and you row."

"That's not fair!" said Blue.

"Okay, we'll reverse it," said Bunny. "You row and I'll be the lookout."

"That's better! I think..." replied Blue.

The little penguin started rowing. Bunny stood in the front of the ship giving him directions. They made it halfway across the sea. Then Bunny saw a gray shape slide around the edge of the island.

"Here comes the shark!" exclaimed Bunny.

The gray shape slid across the sea toward the boat. As it came closer they could see a fin sticking up into the air. Below the fin were little black eyes. Below those were a wide mouth filled with pointed triangular teeth.

"Lunch time!" yelled the shark.

The shark was twice as long as the boat and just as wide. He bumped the ship with his nose, spinning it around.

"I'm getting dizzy!" cried Blue.

The shark pushed the ship up knocking it on its side. This broke the pencil mast in two and sent Bunny and Blue tumbling out into the 'water.' The little penguin turned to see the large open jaws of the shark's mouth approaching him.

"Look out, Blue!" yelled Bunny.

The penguin tried to get away, but the shark came closer. Quickly Bunny picked up a piece of the broken mast. He shoved it into the shark's mouth propping it open.

"Aghhhhhh," said the shark. He tried to shake his head to get the wooden stick free, but it was stuck.

Bunny and Blue got back aboard ship. With the oars they got it upright again. Then they turned their attention to the shark.

"That wasn't very nice, shark," said Bunny, leaning over the rail to look at him. "You nearly wrecked our ship."

"Aghhhhhhh," said shark.

"What did he say?" asked Bunny.

"I think he wants you to remove the pencil," said Blue.

"Shark," said Bunny, "If I remove the pencil from your mouth do you promise to be nice?"

The shark nodded his head.

"And tow our ship to the island?" continued Bunny.

The shark nodded again.

Bunny grabbed the pencil and pulled it from the shark's mouth.

"Thanks," said the shark.

Blue found an old shoe lace in the bottom of the ship. Bunny tied it to the bow. The shark grabbed the other end in his mouth and began to pull. A minute later they were at the shore of the toy box island.

They climbed up the side of the box and took a rest on the rim. Down below them was a valley made up of a jumble of toys of every shape and size. Bunny took out the map and looked at it. "According to the map the pirate treasure should be buried at the bottom of the box in the back corner," Bunny said.

They carefully climbed down the steep slope of toys until they were at the very back of the toy box. In the left corner they found a mound of miniature cars and trucks.

"It must be under these," said Blue.

Slowly they began to dig through the pile of tiny cars. A shape began to appear. Under the mound was a box. Excitedly Bunny and Blue cleared off the top so they could open it.

"This is it!" exclaimed Bunny. "The pirate treasure! This chest must be filled with gold and diamonds!"

"And all kinds of shiny stuff!" added Blue.

"We'll be the richest stuffed animals in the world!" exclaimed Bunny.

They pried the lid open and stared into the box. Instead of gold or diamonds, the chest was filled with a large, plastic, toy bone.

"Oh, you found it!" exclaimed Mugsy, looking over the edge of the toy box at them. "I thought I'd lost it when I lost the map."

"This is your bone?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, I buried it and drew a map so I'd know where I'd put it. Then I lost the map."

"I guess it wasn't a pirate treasure map after all," said Bunny, sadly. "I guess we made this long trip for nothing."

"That's all right," Blue told him. "We had a great adventure. We also helped Mugsy find his lost bone!"

Bunny smiled. "You know-you are right! Even if we didn't find a real treasure we had a good time. We should ask Mugsy to hide his bone tomorrow so we can hunt for it again!"

And they did.

The End

Bunny and the Scary Movie

2009-12-30T00:56:00.002-08:00

Bunny and the Scary Movie

ll right," said Bunny when he heard the garage door shut. "The people are gone. Let's go downstairs and turn the TV on! We can watch a video tape."

Bunny's best friend, the little blue terry cloth penguin, asked, "What kind of movie do you want to watch?"

"Something scary!" replied Bunny.

"Bunny, you know how frightened you get when you see a scary movie," remarked Mugsy. Mugsy was a big, brown, stuffed dog. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yeah," said Oreo, a black and white toy rabbit, who looked almost real. "Remember when you saw that movie about the mummy's curse? You were up all night shaking with fear."

"I don't get frightened!" declared Bunny. "Just very alert."

Seven animals left the bedroom to make their way down the steps to the family room. Bunny, Blue, Oreo, Mugsy and three stuffed dinosaurs. As they passed the nursery they were joined by the velociraptor puppet. He was another dinosaur. Truggle, a fluffy white dog, also joined them there.

Blue and Oreo stopped off in the kitchen to make some popcorn. The rest of the animals continued down to the family room. When they got there, Mugsy and the Velociraptor went into the office to pick a video tape to watch. A minute later they each came out carrying a tape.

"How about this one?" asked Mugsy. He held up a tape in his paw. "This is the one where Uncle Harry takes the kids to the park. They have to chase that black and white dog the whole time."

"This one is better," said the Velociraptor. "The title is 'The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms'. I think it's about a dinosaur."

"It sounds scary to me," said Blue. He and Oreo were coming down the steps from the kitchen. Between them they held a large pot filled with enough popcorn for everyone.

"Good," said Bunny. "I want to see a scary movie."

"Well, I don't," said Oreo. "I want to see the one about the kids in the park."

"Well, I guess we'll have to take a vote," said Mugsy. "Everyone who wants to watch the dinosaur movie, raise a paw." The four dinosaurs all raised their paws.

"Okay," said Mugsy. "Who wants to see the video about the kids in the park?"

Oreo, Blue, Truggle and Mugsy raised their paws. "Four to four," said Mugsy. "It's even. Bunny, how come you didn't vote?"

"Muummmm?" Bunny replied. He stood up from leaning over the popcorn bowl. His arms were full of popcorn and so was his mouth . That explained why he couldn't talk.

The other animals waited till Bunny finished chewing the popcorn. Then Mugsy asked, "Well, Bunny, how do you vote?"

"I want to see the scary dinosaur movie!" he yelled.

"That's five to four for the dinosaur movie," said the Velociraptor. "We win!"

"I guess you do," said Mugsy. "But remember we get to pick the movie next time."

Mugsy took the dinosaur video and put it into the VCR. Then the animals settled down around the large popcorn bowl to watch the tape. The movie told the story of a prehistoric dinosaur trapped in ice at the North Pole. When the ice melted the dinosaur swam south. He traveled through the sea, sinking ships and damaging a lighthouse along the way. Finally the dinosaur made its way ashore at a big city. There it made a terrible mess knocking over buildings and scaring people.

Halfway through the film, Mugsy looked over to where Bunny sat. The rabbit's paws were in front of his face. He was peeking out between them to watch the television screen.

"Bunny, if you're too scared, I can take you upstairs," said Mugsy.

"Nnnnnnno," replied Bunny, "I'm no-not sc-scared. I'm just very- Ahhhh!" Bunny plunged his head in between his knees and started shaking as the dinosaur appeared on the screen again.

Mugsy shook his head. It was going to be a long night for Bunny.

"I'm not scared. I'm not scared!" Bunny told himself. "I'm just very alert!"

It was well past midnight and Bunny was the only one awake in the whole house. The people had come home and now they were asleep. So were the stuffed animals and puppets. They all snored peacefully. Only Bunny sat up. The covers were pulled up so that only his head and ears were exposed.

As he sat he watched and listened. The house seemed to make a lot of noise at night Bunny had never noticed before. There was a low roaring sound. Was it some kind of monster? Like the one in the movie? Suppose it was outside? Suppose it was just about to put its head through the window and eat any little rabbits that were sitting up in bed?

Bunny started shaking Mugsy. "Mugsy! Mugsy! What's that sound?"

The brown dog stirred and opened his eyes. "What sound?"

"The roaring sound!"

The dog listened for a few seconds.

"That's just the heater fan, Bunny," Mugsy said. "Go back to sleep."

The brown dog closed his eyes, rolled over and started snoring again. Bunny continued to sit up in bed. Then he heard another sound. A buzzing. Suppose it was a helicopter? A helicopter chasing a dinosaur through the streets. Suppose the dinosaur ran up the street outside? Suppose it then came up the driveway? Suppose the dinosaur ran right over the house and crushed it?

"Mugsy, Mugsy, wake up! What's that noise?"

Mugsy sat up and listened. "That's just the refrigerator in the kitchen! Sometimes it makes a buzzing sound. Go to sleep and don't wake me up again!"

Mugsy lay down and closed his eyes. Then Bunny heard another sound. A creaking noise. Creak...creak...creak. Bunny was sure it was footsteps. They weren't very loud, so maybe they weren't dinosaur footsteps. Still, they were footsteps. Bunny was going to wake Mugsy again, but then remembered how angry the dog had been. Maybe he, Bunny, had better take a look and see what was making the noise, before waking anyone else up.

Trembling a little bit, Bunny slipped out of bed. Then he looked out the bedroom door into the hall. He didn't see anything so he went to the top of the steps. From there he looked down into the living room. On the wall, from one end of the room to the other, taller than the ceiling, was the shadow of a dinosaur. It was huge! Just like the one in the movie! Bunny ran back to the bedroom.

"Mugsy! Mugsy! There is a gigantic dinosaur in the living room! He's going to eat us all! Quick-get up!"

Mugsy sat up in bed. "Oh, Bunny you're just having a bad dream! There is no giant dinosaur in the living room! You shouldn't have watched that movie!"

By now all the other stuffed animals and puppets had been awakened by Bunny's cries.

"Quiet," warned Blue Penguin, "or you'll wake the people!"

"But it's down there! I saw it!" insisted Bunny. "It was huge! Bigger than the house!"

"Oh, come on, Bunny. Let's take a look," said Mugsy.

All the stuffed animals and puppets climbed off the bed. They walked down the hall to the stairs. Mugsy led the way and Bunny stayed close behind him. When they reached the top of the stairs Bunny ran up next to Mugsy. The little rabbit pointed at the wall. "Look there. You can see his shadow!"

The animals looked at the wall. There was no shadow. Bunny was puzzled.

"But it was there a minute ago! Honest!"

The other animals started grumbling. "Bunny! You got us all up in the middle of the night because of a bad dream!" complained Oreo.

"Gee, and I thought we might see a real dinosaur," said the green and black toy dinosaur with disappointment.

"I say we make Bunny sleep downstairs in the toy box with the shark," declared Floppy, a little white and blue rabbit. "He can wake Sharky up after he has a scary dream."

"Quiet, everyone!" barked Mugsy. Lifting a floppy ear he cocked his head and listened a moment. "I hear something!"

The other animals listened too. Through the silence they heard a slurping sound followed by a crunching noise.

"It's the dinosaur!" whispered Bunny. "I told you!"

"Doesn't sound like a giant dinosaur to me," said Oreo.

"Come on," said Mugsy. He started to creep down the stairs. The other animals followed. As they went down each step the slurping and crunching grew louder. Finally they reached the bottom step and peeked around the corner. Sitting on the brown chair, next to the light, was the Velociraptor Puppet. In front of him was a glass of milk and a chocolate graham cracker.

"Velociraptor, what are you doing down here in the middle of the night?" asked Mugsy. "You're supposed to be in the nursery."

The Velociraptor puppet was startled by Mugsy's bark. He nearly jumped to the ceiling, almost spilling his milk.

"You surprised me!" the Velociraptor replied. "I was thirsty so I came down to get something to drink. When I got down here I found I was hungry, too".

Oreo said, "Is this the dinosaur you saw, Bunny? You got us all up in the middle of the night because of a puppet from the nursery?"

"No, it wasn't the Velociraptor puppet," Bunny said, defending himself. "It was huge. As big as the room!"

Mugsy thought about this. "Bunny, did you actually see the big dinosaur with your own eyes?"

Bunny scratched his head. "Well, no, but I saw his shadow! It took up the whole wall!"

Mugsy turned to the Velociraptor. "Can you lean over as if you are taking a drink from your glass of milk?"

The puppet nodded and leaned forward. As he did his body passed between the lamp and the far wall. "There it is!" shouted Bunny. On the wall a giant dinosaur shadow had appeared.

"Bunny," explained Mugsy, "that's just the Velociraptor's shadow. It's so big because he's close to the lamp and the wall is far away!"

"Oh," said Bunny. Then he was a bit embarrassed. "I guess I did get everyone up for no reason. Sorry."

Oreo looked at the huge shadow on the wall. "Well, I can see why you might be a little frightened. I might be sacred if I was alone and I saw a shadow that big."

"Okay, everyone, let's go back to bed before we wake up all the people," said Mugsy. "If we don't get some sleep we won't be able to stay up and watch a video tomorrow."

"Another one tomorrow?" said Bunny. "Good, let's see another scary one-"

"Tomorrow, it's our turn to pick and we're watching the one about the kids in the park with the dog!" declared Mugsy.

And that was that.

The End

Copyright Lee Krystek, 1997. All Rights Reservered.

Bunny and the Wild and Crazy Sheep

2009-12-30T00:56:00.001-08:00

Bunny and the Wild and Crazy Sheep

unny was sitting on the bed one morning, laying lazily in the sun, when Mugsy, the big brown stuffed dog, climbed up next to him.

"Bunny," began Mugsy, "how would you like to help me out?"

Bunny, who always tried to assist his fellow toys, replied, "Sure, Mugsy, what do you want me to do?"

"I have a special job for you. Not everyone can do this. It requires someone who is very sensitive and gentle."

"That's me!" answered Bunny. "Gentle and Sensitive are my middle names. Bunny Gentle Sensitive Rabbit. That's what everybody calls me."

Mugsy nodded, then went on, "Yes, I know you are gentle and sensitive, Bunny. However, this job is also going to require something you might not be so good at-"

"Like what?" interrupted Bunny, "I'm good at everything!"

"Sometimes," continued Mugsy, "you can get to be a little over-excited-"

"Who gets over-excited?" demanded Bunny, "CERTAINLY NOT ME!"

"You're doing it," noted Mugsy.

"DOING WHAT?" replied Bunny, his voice rising in pitch with each sentence.

"Getting over-excited about being over-excited," replied Mugsy.

Bunny caught himself and calmed down. "I guess you're right," he remarked, "I did get a little over-excited. But I promise it won't happen again. Not on this job."

"Good," replied Mugsy, "Come on, I'll show you what needs to be done."

They went to the end of the bed and Mugsy pointed a paw towards the desk. Standing there, side by side, were two white, fuzzy, stuffed animals with four feet and ears that pointed off to each side. "Do you know what those are?" asked Mugsy.

Bunny thought for a second and, still a bit unsure, replied, "Poodles?"

"No, Bunny, they're not dogs at all. They're sheep."

"Oh," said Bunny, "I've heard of those."

"The children brought these home today. They just arrived."

Bunny took a close look at the sheep. They stood side-by-side, not moving.

"As you might know, Bunny," continued Mugsy, "sheep are very timid animals. They scare easily. We need somebody who can be very gentle and sensitive to the sheep to show them around the house and get them used to the place. Introduce them to each of the animals one by one. I'm sure crowds staring at them would make them very nervous."

"I can do that!" exclaimed Bunny.

"You will also be responsible for their safety, too," added the big brown dog, "you need to warn them about Shark, and keep them away from him."

"No problem!"

"Well, go ahead and start then, Bunny," finished Mugsy, "it's up to you. Remember, though, sheep are very timid. Try not to get excited and scare them. Okay?"

Bunny nodded and strode off to talk to the sheep.

"Hi, my name is Bunny," said Bunny, in his softest tone, as he stood before the sheep. "Welcome to your new home."

The sheep were small, fuzzy animals. Even on Bunny, who was one of the smaller stuffed animals himself, they only came up to his waist.

"What are your names?" Bunny asked.

There was the most fleeting of glances between the sheep and then one replied, "My name is Whitey," he said, "and this is my brother, Whitey."

A frown passed over Bunny's face. "You're both named Whitey?"

Both sheep nodded in reply.

Bunny scratched his head and turned back toward Mugsy to relay this surprising fact, but the brown dog was gone. As Bunny turned, though, he could have sworn he heard a snickering sound, but when he turned back to the sheep they stood there watching him in perfect silence.

"Well, that seems confusing to me, but I guess we'll find a way to get along. Come on, I'm supposed to show you the house and help you meet all your new friends," said Bunny.

"The first place we'll visit, since it's so close, is the closet here." Bunny and the sheep were standing on the floor in front of the big closet, looking up. "All the toys are on the second shelf up there. Now you have to be careful, especially when you are walking up there. Sometimes the kids don't put them up too well and you can knock something heavy off onto somebody down here..."

Bunny turned around. To his amazement, the sheep were gone. Then he heard a creaking noise overhead. Bunny looked up just in time to have a plastic toy hammer land on his head.

"Ouch! Who did that?" Bunny yelped.

From the shelf two white faces appeared. "Sorry about that," said one sheep. "My brother Whitey knocked it over."

"No! My brother Whitey knocked it over!" said the other sheep.

"Never mind, just try to be more careful, okay?" said Bunny, "and don't wander off by yourselves. You don't know the house or the other animals yet."

The sheep disappeared from the shelf, but Bunny was almost sure he heard just the slightest wisp of laughter as they climbed down.

"Okay," said Bunny, when the sheep were with him again, "Now I'm going to show you the rest of the bedroom. This way."

Bunny took a few steps, then noticed he was walking alone. Whirling around he realized that the sheep had disappeared again. Now he was getting annoyed.

"Timid! Humph!" said Bunny as he searched for Whitey and his brother Whitey. "Those sheep are getting on my nerves."

Suddenly Bunny heard a roar. Out from under the bed shot a sleek, silver, toy car with a bat insignia on the hood. Bunny jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being run over.

"Heh! Watch it!" Bunny yelled.

The car spun around and Bunny could see the driver from behind the darkly-tinted windshield. It was one of the sheep!

Suddenly there was another roar and a jeep raced out from under the other end of the bed. There was no windshield on this toy and Bunny could see the driver easily. It was the other sheep!

"We're just two wild and crazy sheep," yelled the jeep driver as he zipped past Bunny.

The two vehicles spun around Bunny in a tight circle. Bunny, turning his head to watch them, quickly became dizzy and flopped on the ground in a faint.

"Bunny! Bunny, wake up!" Bunny opened his eyes to see Mugsy staring down at him. He was laying on his back in the middle of the bedroom floor. With a little help from Mugsy, he stood up.

"Are you all right Bunny? You must have fainted," said Mugsy.

"Yes, I think I'm okay," replied Bunny, not quite remembering what had happened just before he fell down.

Mugsy continued, "It's a good thing the sheep ran right over and told me that you had fainted-"

"Those SHEEP!" yelled Bunny, remembering about the car. "Those sheep are responsible for this! They tried to run me down, and then they got me dizzy..."

Bunny then realized that the sheep were standing next to Mugsy. They stood there very quietly and meekly not saying a word.

"Tried to run you down?" said Mugsy. "With what?" The big brown dog looked about at the empty floor. "There's nothing around here."

"Perhaps he hit his head falling down," said Whitey.

"That would explain his delusions," noted the other Whitey.

"It was no delusion!" said Bunny, his whiskers twitching. "They tried to run me down!"

Mugsy cocked his head to one side and said, "Come on, Bunny. They 're only sheep..."

"But they had a car and a jeep and-"

"All right, Bunny," said Mugsy, "I can see this isn't going to work out. I'll have to get someone else to look after the sheep. Maybe Bear-"

Bunny noticed one of the sheep nudging the other and they both smiled. Bunny decided he was not going to let the sheep scare him off the job.

"Okay, Mugsy, I'll look after them. You don't have to get Bear to do it."

After Mugsy left, Bunny turned to the sheep and said, "Okay, you two, you'd better behave yourselves and listen to me or you are going to get in a lot of trouble. Now come. I'll introduce you to the rest of the toys."

Bunny turned his back to lead them over to the bed, but didn't hear the clicking of their feet behind him. When he turned around Whitey and his brother Whitey had disappeared. "Now where could they have gone!?!" groaned Bunny.

Just then there was a big crash in the next room. Bunny raced over to find a box of plastic construction blocks spilled all over the floor. Standing on the bed were Whitey and Whitey. Bunny realized they had pushed the box of blocks on the floor.

"What are you two doing!" said Bunny. "Get down here and clean this up before one of the children gets in trouble."

"We don't have to do what you say!" announced one of the Whiteys. "We're two wild and crazy sheep!"

The sheep ran out the door, leaving Bunny to clean up the mess.

Bunny was grumbling to himself as he picked up the blocks and he almost didn't here the "Baa-ing" coming from downstairs. "Now what kind of trouble are they getting into!" he groaned.

He would have ignored the sound completely except for the noise that came next: A deep, clear voice the bellowed, "Lunch time!"

"Oh no!" cried Bunny, "I never got a chance to warn them about Shark!"

Bunny ran downstairs. From the kitchen he had a good view of the family room three steps further down. In the middle of the room was a pole on a cross-shaped base. The pole stuck up in the air perhaps a foot and a half above the family room floor. Bunny recognized it as part of one of the children's t-Ball set.

Hanging tightly to the top of the pole by their little forefeet were the sheep. Circling below on the family room floor,was the shark.

The shark was a bit of a bully and loved to try and eat some of the smaller stuffed animals in the house. He must have seen Whitey and Whitey crossing the family room floor and gone after them.

As Bunny watched, Shark made a leap up toward the top of the pole. His jaws snapped shut just short of one of the sheep's tails. Then he started rocking the base of the pole, trying to knock it over. Bunny realized he wouldn't have much time to save the sheep. He had to come up with a plan.

"Help," cried the sheep. "Somebody help us."

Bunny spotted a toy missile gun sitting in the living room. He grabbed it and brought it to the kitchen steps. Then he raced to one of the cabinets and found a length of string. After tying the string to one of the missiles, Bunny wedged the gun next to a step so it pointed across the family room toward the sofa. Then, with a mighty rabbit jump, he leapt up into the air and came down on the missile gun's trigger.

The missile sailed across the room carrying one end of the string. It became snugly lodged between the sofa cushions. Bunny then pulled the string tight so it ran right past the top of the pole where the sheep were hanging.

"Grab the string," yelled Bunny. "Hurry!"

The sheep grabbed the string just as the shark managed to send the pole crashing over. Bunny then made another mighty rabbit jump to the kitchen counter. This made the string tilt on a downward angle and the sheep slid along it until they came to rest safely on the sofa. On the floor below the shark gashed his teeth in disappointment.

"I'm sorry, Bunny," said Whitey. "I should have listened to you. I shouldn't have given you such a hard time."

"Me too," admitted the other Whitey.

"Well, everyone makes mistakes," said Bunny, glad that the sheep were no longer acting wild and crazy.

"That was sooo scary," said one of the sheep. "I thought that we were going to end up in that shark's stomach for sure."

"Oh, he wouldn't have really eaten you," said Bunny. "He just likes to pretend. His teeth are really just made out of cloth. Still, I don't think you would enjoy being gummed by him."

"Well, thanks again for saving us," said the sheep together.

Bunny smiled, glad that he now had two more friends.

The End

Copyright Lee Krystek, 1997. All Rights Reservered.

Bunny and the Brave Bear

2009-12-30T00:55:00.000-08:00

Bunny and the Brave Bear

t all started on a sunny afternoon when the family decided to take a walk around the block. One of the little boys grabbed a stuffed animal to take with him: the terri-cloth bear. Bear and the little boy got a ride in the red wagon while the rest of the family took turns pulling. Bear liked to ride in the wagon. In particular he liked to sit in the back and lean out over the edge to watch the ground roll by under the rear wheels. Bear was doing this when the wagon hit a bump.

"Yeoww!" bear cried as he went sailing through the air. "Ouch," he yipped as he landed on the hard sidewalk. When bear got up and dusted himself off he realized nobody had noticed he had fallen out. He sat sadly on the sidewalk trying not to cry.

It was nearly a half an hour later when the people got home, noticed Bear was missing, and went looking for him. The Mommy found him sitting on the sidewalk near where he had fallen out. She picked him up and gently brushed him off, then carried him home. Bear was very happy to see the house again.

"It was really scary," said Bear, telling the story to the rest of the stuffed animals and puppets the next day. "It was getting dark, and it looked like it might rain. I was worried they might never find me. I even started to cry a little bit."

Bunny shook his ears and said, "Ha! If I got lost like that I wouldn't get scared and cry. I think it would be a great adventure!"

Mugsy shook his head, "You say that now, Bunny, but if you were lost and alone and thought you might never see your friends again, you would have been scared too."

"Bear's just a frady-cat," said Bunny, "now if I'd been there-"

"Bunny!" interrupted Mugsy. "That's not a very nice thing to say. You apologize to Bear."

Bunny hesitated for a moment.

"Bunny!" repeated Mugsy.

"All right, I apologize, Bear," said Bunny, not really feeling sorry. "I shouldn't have called you a fraidy-cat."

"Good," said Mugsy. "I don't want to hear any more about Bear being afraid when he got lost. I think he was very brave."

Later that day Bunny was still thinking about being brave. He wanted to show the rest of the stuffed animals that he would not be scared on an adventure. Bunny wasn't sure about how to do that though.

All the people were at work or school or shopping and Bunny sat alone in the living room. It had been the younger boy's birthday just a few days ago and the living room was still decorated with a dozen balloons of all sorts of colors. They floated on their strings at the top of the room while a breeze from the heater vent pushed them around making them bump into each other.

Suddenly Bunny had an idea. He ran over to the dining room cabinet and opened the bottom door. There he found a small basket. After dragging the basket into the living room he began to hop high into the air. With each jump Bunny grabbed the string of a balloon. Then he took the balloon to the basket and tied it to the handle. After the balloon was secure Bunny hopped after another one. When he was done every balloon in the living room was tied to the basket. The pull from the balloons was so strong Bunny had to find a sack of pennies to weigh the basket down and keep it from flying off. Then Bunny dragged the basket out the back door.

"Everyone, see what I've done," called Bunny. "I'm going to go on an adventure! Come to the deck in back of the house."

Almost all the stuffed animals and puppets were curious about what Bunny was up to so they climbed down the steps and out to the deck behind the house. Sitting in the middle of the deck was the basket and flying above it the many colored balloons. The animals gathered around it to get a good look.

"Very pretty, Bunny" said Mugsy. "What is it for?"

"I'm going to take a balloon trip," replied Bunny as he climbed into the basket. "All I need to do is throw this sack of pennies out and away I go."

Bunny threw the sack out and it landed on the deck with a thud. The balloons, with the basket hanging below, began to rise into the sky.

"That's very clever, Bunny," said Mugsy, "but how do you get it to come back down?"

"Oops," said Bunny, "I forgot about that."

A great gust of wind pushed the balloon up and away into the sky. The stuffed animals started chasing after it, but they had to stop when they reached the fence at the end of the yard.

"Help! Help!" yelled Bunny. "Somebody get me down!"

"Bunny," barked Mugsy. "Untie the balloon strings!"

"I can't," the little rabbit replied, "they're fastened too tight."

"Well, cut them!"

"I don't have anything sharp," answered Bunny.

There was nothing the rest of the toys could do to help Bunny. In a few minutes the balloon was out of sight. Bunny watched the house disappear as he wondered if he would ever see it again, or talk to his friends again, or sleep in the big, soft bed again.

When the house was out of sight, Bunny began to look around at what else he could see. He was flying over the tops of houses and trees. He could see a river with real ducks paddling on it. On the other side of the river he could see railroad tracks and on the tracks chugged a train with lots of box cars behind it. Behind the train was a mountain.

"This isn't so bad," said Bunny to himself, feeling a little bit better. "I knew I wouldn't be scared if I went on an adventure. Now if I could only figure out q way to get the balloon to take me home..."

Then Bunny looked ahead and saw in front of him a very big and dark cloud. Bunny trembled a little bit, because the big cloud looked very unfriendly. Suddenly the balloon reversed direction as a strong, cold wind, from the cloud, rushed by. Bunny started to feel tiny drops of water hit his whiskers.

"Oh, no," said Bunny to himself, "It's going to rain! How could this get any worse?"

Then there was a flash of light and a deep roar from inside the cloud.

"Oh no," cried Bunny, "Thunder and lightning! It is getting worse."

Bunny sank down in the basket to try and hide from the thunder. The wind whipped up in gusts driving the balloon in front of it. As the balloon went the basket swung up and down and left and right. Bunny started feeling sick. "I wish I'd never said that Bear was a fraidy cat!" said Bunny. "Now I'm cold and alone and scared too! It isn't much fun."

Back at the house Bear was standing up at one of the windows watching the sky. Bear remembered how scary it had been when he'd been lost and knew Bunny might be scared too. So Bear was worried about him. Then Bear saw Bunny's balloon. The wind from the storm had pushed it back the way it had come and in a minute it would pass over the house again.

Bear shouted to the rest of the stuffed animals. "Everybody! Here comes Bunny's balloon. I've got an idea about how we can help him!"

Bunny was huddled at the bottom of the basket when he heard his named being called. When he peeked up over the edge he saw the stuffed animals standing in the yard below.

"Bunny" barked Mugsy. "Get ready to grab Bear's hand."

Bear was sitting on one of the swing seats with his feet and one paw wrapped around one of the ropes the seat hung from. Mugsy pushed the swing hard and sent Bear up into the sky. When Bear swung back Mugsy pushed him hard again. With each swing Bear went higher and higher into the sky.

"Bunny," barked Mugsy, "when you go by grab Bear's paw and jump out of the balloon. Get ready!"

Mugsy gave the seat another hard push and Bear sailed way up into the sky. After a few more pushes Bear was going up as high as Bunny's balloon. Bunny leaned out of the basket as it raced forward to where Bear was swinging. He would only have one chance to grab Bear's paw. If he missed the wind would carry the balloon away before Mugsy could give the swing another push.

"This is it, Bunny" barked Mugsy. "Grab Bear's paw this time!"

The big, brown dog pushed and the swing went up. Bear reached out his paw. From the balloon Bunny leaned out as far as he could. Their paws touched and ... missed!

The balloon went sailing past the swing set. Bunny thought, "Oh no, what am I going to do now? I'll never see my friends again!"

The swing came back down and Bear yelled, "Mugsy, push me again! Really hard!"

The brown dog answered, "But the balloon has gone past! You'll never reach Bunny now!"

"Please, just do it!" answered Bear.

Mugsy pushed the swing one more time. It went up carrying Bear. When it reached the top Bear jumped off.

"Bunny, catch me!" shouted Bear. Bunny reached out and grabbed Bear and pulled him into the balloon's basket.

"What did you do that for?" asked Bunny. "Now we will both be lost."

"That's all right, Bunny," Bear answered. "At least you won't be lonely. You'll be lost with a friend."

"Oh, thank you, Bear" answered Bunny.

Then they heard Mugsy bark, "You did it! The balloon's coming down."

Sure enough the balloon was rapidly losing altitude. In a few seconds it made a gentle landing in the back corner of the yard.

"Why did it go down?" asked Bear. He was relieved, but puzzled.

Bunny thought for a moment, then answered," It was your weight, Bear. The balloon could carry one of us, but not both. When you jumped on board your extra weight made it come down. You rescued me Bear!"

The stuffed animals crowded around the balloon. Mugsy plopped the bag of pennies into the basket so it wouldn't fly away again.

"I think we had better get back inside the house," said Mugsy. "It's starting to rain."

"Yes," said Blue Penguin. "If we get all wet the people will have to put us in the dryer machine to get the water out. I don't like going around and around in that thing."

Neither did the rest of the animals, so they hurried back into the house. Once there they disassembled Bunny's balloon and put everything back where they found it so it wouldn't be missed.

Later on, as they sat up on the big bed, Bunny thanked Bear for rescuing him. "I thought I would be lost forever. Thanks for jumping aboard like that, Bear."

"I just remembered how scared and alone I felt when I was lost," replied Bear, "and I didn't want you to feel that way too."

"I'm really sorry I called you a fraidy cat, too," said Bunny. "In my book, now, you are one brave bear."

The End

Bunny and the Christmas Present

2009-12-30T00:53:00.000-08:00

Bunny and the Christmas Present

ll the stuffed animals and puppets were sitting in the living room one afternoon late in December watching the people decorate the Christmas tree. As they sat on the sofa under a warm blanket, they talked quietly so that the people wouldn't notice.

"Christmas is my favorite time of year," remarked the terri-cloth bear. "Mine too," agreed Blue Penguin.

"I can't wait for Christmas Eve to come."

"I wonder what Santa will bring us this year," said Truble, a white, fluffy stuffed dog.

"I'd like us to get a toy bulldozer, " said Bear.

"I hope one of the kids gets a toy boat," remarked Blue Penguin, "Then I could sail it."

There was a commotion in the room as one of the children opened up a big bag filled with Christmas decorations. Inside the bag was a large stuffed bear with a red stocking cap. Across the cap was the name 'Rudi' in bright green letters. One of the little boys placed the bear on the sofa next to the animals. Next, out of the bag he pulled a black and white Penguin wearing antlers and a dinosaur wearing a Santa cap and a scarf. These also were placed on the sofa. When the children walked out of earshot the animals and puppets greeted the newcomers.

"It's nice to see you again, Rudi," said Bunny addressing the white bear.

"Yes, we're glad you could come for Christmas," added Mugsy. "All of you."

"It's certainly good to get out of the bag and wake up from hibernation," replied Rudi. "Eleven months is a long time to sleep."

The Christmas decorations spent most of their time sleeping in a warm cozy bag in the basement. Once a year, during the Christmas season, they came out to celebrate Christmas and visit the stuffed animals and puppets that lived in the children's rooms.

The animals and decorations sat on the couch happily watching the tree being trimmed as they talked about Christmas plans and presents. As they were sitting, there Blue noticed that Bunny seemed unnaturally quiet. So he asked, "Bunny, what would you like for Christmas?"

The little rabbit rested his chin on his paws and thought for a moment. "I don't know. We seem to have a lot of toys to play with here already. I want something special. But I don't know what it is!"

"Well, Santa will know," remarked Mugsy, the big brown dog. "Santa is very wise."

The last few days before Christmas passed quickly and it was soon Christmas Eve. That night when everyone went to bed, Bunny couldn't sleep. He still couldn't think of what he wanted his special Christmas present to be. He wondered how Santa would know what to bring him if he didn't know himself.

As he was sitting up in bed, Bunny heard a thumping on the roof and a noise downstairs. It was Santa Claus, he realized.Bunny hopped out of bed and raced down the hall to the stairs hoping to catch a glimpse of the jolly old elf before Santa departed for his next stop.

By the time Bunny reached the bottom of the stairs, though, everything was again silent. Brightly wrapped presents were piled under the Christmas tree, but Santa was gone. A little disappointed Bunny turned to climb back upstairs when he heard a groan.

"Hello," said Bunny, "Is somebody there?"

He was answered by another groan. Bunny peeked around the a big pile of presents to see what was making the noise. Right under the tree was a funny looking brown animal with big feet and mournful eyes. Bunny might have mistaken the creature for a dog, if it hadn't been for the antlers on his head.

"Are you a reindeer?" asked Bunny. The creature replied with another groan. It was obvious it wasn't feeling very well.

"Does your tummy hurt?" asked Bunny.

The reindeer nodded. Bunny went off to find a bottle of fizzy soda to quiet the reindeer's stomach.

"So you're a reindeer?" asked Truble.

By now all the excitement of Christmas morning was over. The children had gone with their parents to their Aunt's house for Christmas dinner and the stuffed animals had the place to themselves.

"Yes, replied the brown creature with antlers, "my name is Ralph."

"And you were pulling Santa's sleigh?, " asked Rudi Bear.

"I was until I got air-sick," replied Ralph, "Santa had to leave me here and go on with the other seven reindeer."

"Isn't it a bit unusual for a reindeer to get air-sick," asked the Velocirapter puppet. "I mean, isn't flying what reindeer are famous for?"

"I'm afraid that I've always had a sensitive stomach when it comes to flying," replied Ralph. "But everyone expected me to pull Santa's sleigh, so when it was my turn I gave it a try. I'm afraid I just wasn't cut out for the job. Now I'm stranded here and I don't know how to get back to the North Pole."

"I guess flying your way home is out, " said Velocirapter.

Ralph shook his head. "No, I couldn't. Thanks to my friend, Bunny, here, I'm feeling much better-"

Bunny smiled. He had stayed up all night nursing the reindeer back to health with fizzy soda and a warm bed made of sofa cushions and blankets.

"-but," continued Ralph, "I'll never be able to make that flight all alone."

"I have an idea," said Bunny. "You need to go by ground. How about a train?"

"A train would work," replied Ralph. "Do you know where I can find one?"

"Yes!" replied Bunny.

Bunny, Ralph the Reindeer and a couple of other stuffed animals went down to the basement. On the floor, parked neatly at a station, was a toy train. Bunny found a place for Ralph to sit on a flatcar located behind the shiny steam locomotive.

All the animals waved goodbye.

"Nice meeting you, Ralph," said Blue.

"Have a smooth trip back to the North Pole."

"Say hello to Santa for us," added Rudi Bear.

"All aboard," announced Bunny. Bunny found the power pack that controlled the engine and switched it on. The train pulled out of the station. As it disappeared around a curve, Bunny ran after it and waved to the reindeer. "Wish you could have stayed longer, Ralph. Goodbye."

When the train was gone, Bunny felt a little sad. "I'm going to miss Ralph," he told Blue. Before Bunny could say more the train rounded the track and pulled back into the station. Sitting on the flatcar was Ralph. His eyes looked more mournful than ever.

"Bunny," remarked the Velocirapter. "I think this toy train track just goes around in an oval. You can't get to the North Pole on it."

"Oh," replied Bunny, "I forgot."

"Ralph, don't be sad," said Bunny as they sat in the kitchen drinking hot chocolate, "We just need to find some vehicle that doesn't run on tracks. Then you can take it whatever direction you'd like. Even to the North Pole."

"Like a car?" asked Rudi Bear.

"That's it!" exclaimed Bunny. "Last year one of the boys got a radio-controlled car for Christmas. We can use that!"

Ten minutes later the animals had managed to get the car down from the closet shelf and out of its box. Bunny stood with the remote control in his paws. "Let me see. I think if I push this lever forward it will make the car go. Watch out everyone!"

Bunny pushed the lever, but nothing happened.

"Hmmmm. There must be something wrong..." Bunny walked over in front of the car, pushing the lever forward as he peered under the front bumper. Meanwhile Blue Penguin spotted a switch on the back of the car and flipped it to the "ON" position.

"Does this help?" he asked.

Bunny was still looking under the bumper and holding the lever all the way up. Suddenly the car shot forward and ran straight over Bunny. When Bunny opened his eyes he found himself peering up at Blue.

"Opps-Sorry" the little penguin said.

They got the car downstairs and Bunny gave Ralph a quick driving lesson. Then, with the reindeer perched on top of the car holding the control, everyone repeated their goodbyes.

"Nice meeting you, Ralph," said Blue.

"Have a smooth trip back to the North Pole."

"Say hello to Santa for us," added Rudi Bear.

"Remember, go out to the end of the street, turn North and just keep on going," said Bunny. Then he turned to yell toward the front of the house. "Open the door for him!"

Several stuffed animals pushed open the front door of the house. The car shot forward, but then suddenly lost speed. It came to rest just inside the front door on the welcome mat.

"What's the matter?" asked Ralph.

"Oh, I guess the batteries are dead," said Bunny. "But we can fix that. All we need to do is take them out and hook them up to the recharger for a few hours-"

"Bunny, that won't work," said Mugsy, coming down from the bedroom where he'd been sleeping. "The North Pole is very far away. Even if you charged the batteries all the way up it wouldn't be enough to get Ralph there."

Bunny frowned.

"There is only one sure way of getting Ralph to the North Pole," declared Mugsy.

"What's that?" asked Bear.

"Well, you should know, Bear. You sent something to the North Pole last week."

"My letter to Santa?" Bear replied.

"That's it!" shouted Bunny with glee, "We'll mail Ralph to the North Pole!"

The stuffed animals found a box big enough for Ralph to be comfortable in during the trip. They cut some slits in the sides so he could see and lined the box with blankets to keep him warm. Bunny found a paper and pen and addressed the box to 'Santa Claus, North Pole Place.' Then they put as many stamps on it as they could find around the house.

"Well, this is it, Ralph," said Bunny, "this time you're really on your way. I'm going to miss you. Have a nice trip."

Then tears began rolling down the reindeer's cheeks.

"What is it?" asked Mugsy. "Why are you crying, Ralph?"

"Well," explained the reindeer, "Being a reindeer that gets air-sick I always feel out of place at the North Pole. Here I felt right at home and everyone was so nice to me. Now I have to leave."

"No you don't," said Bunny, "you can stay with us as long as you want."

"But who wants a reindeer around the house in the summer?" asked Ralph. "I'd be out of place again."

"I have an idea," said Rudi Bear, "You could be a Christmas decoration like us! Then you could come out at Christmas time and hibernate the rest of the year."

"Really? Could I?" asked Ralph.

"Of course," said Bunny. "Then you could be our friend all the time and visit us every Christmas."

The animals were so happy about Ralph's decision to stay that they decided to have a Christmas party. They got milk from the refrigerator and broke into the tins containing the Christmas cookies.

"Won't the Mommy notice some of the cookies are missing?" asked Blue.

"Don't worry," replied Bunny, "She'll just blame it on the Daddy."

As they sat together eating cookies, Bear said, "Well, Bunny, did you ever figure out what special present you wanted from Santa?"

Bunny thought about this for a moment and then broke into a smile. "Yes, I did." Putting his paw around Ralph he added, "The special present was a new friend!"

The End

Bunny's page

2009-12-30T00:52:00.001-08:00

Bunny's Homepage

Name: Bunny Rabbit

Occupation: Stuffed Animal

Best Friend: The Blue Penguin

Hobbies:

-Watching Scary Movies

-Beating Mugsy at Dominoes.

-Looking out the window at the clouds.

Favorite Color: Blue

Mugsy's page

2009-12-30T00:51:00.002-08:00

Mugsy's Homepage

Name: Mugsy Dog

Occupation: Stuffed Animal

Best Friend: Truggle (His brother)

Hobbies:

-Reading

-Working on this Web Site

-Beating Bunny at Dominoes

-Keeping Bunny out of trouble.

Favorite Color: Brown

Favorite Quote: "On the Internet nobody knows that you're a dog."

Blue Penguin's Page

2009-12-30T00:51:00.001-08:00

Name: Blue Penguin

Occupation: Stuffed Animal

Best Friend: Bunny

Hobbies:

-Coloring

-Going on adventures with Bunny

Favorite Color: Purple

Shark's page

2009-12-30T00:49:00.000-08:00

Shark's Homepage

Name: Sharky

Occupation: Puppet

Best Friend: None

Hobbies:

-Being a bully

-Chasing other animals.

Favorite Color: Gray

Favorite Movies: Jaws, Jaws 2, Jaws 3D.

FRED-2000's page

2009-12-30T00:48:00.000-08:00

FRED-2000's Homepage

Name: FRED-2000 (Fully Robotic Electronic Droid)

Occupation: Toy Robot

Best Friend: Kitchen Blender

Hobbies:

-Watching Science Fiction

-Playing Chess

Favorite Phrases: "That does not compute." and "Warning, Warning! Danger, Danger!"

Heroes: R2D2 and CP3O

Favorite Movies: "Forbidden Planet", "The Invisable Boy"

Favorite Colors: Red, White and Blue

SQUIRREL NUTKIN

2009-05-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

THE TALE OF

SQUIRREL NUTKIN

BY
BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

This is a Tale about a tail - a tail that belonged to a little red squirrel, and his name was Nutkin.
He had a brother called Twinkleberry, and a great many cousins; they lived in a wood at the edge of a lake.

In the middle of the lake there is an island covered with trees and nut bushes; and amongst those trees stands a hollow oak-tree, which is the house of an owl who is called Old Brown.

One autumn when the nuts were ripe, and the leaves on the hazel bushes were golden and green - Nutkin and Twinkleberry and all the other little squirrels came out of the wood, and down to the edge of the lake.

They made little rafts out of twigs, and they paddled away over the water to Owl Island to gather nuts.
Each squirrel had a little sack and a large oar, and spread out his tail for a sail.

They also took with them an offering of three fat mice as a present for Old Brown, and put them down upon his door-step.

Then Twinkleberry and the other little squirrels each made a low bow, and said politely--

"Old Mr. Brown, will you favour us with permission to gather nuts upon your island?"

But Nutkin was excessively impertinent in his manners. He bobbed up and down like a little red cherry, singing -

"Riddle me, riddle me, rot-tot-tote!
A little wee man in a red, red coat!
A staff in his hand, and a stone in his throat;
If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a groat."
Now this riddle is as old as the hills; Mr. Brown paid no attention whatever to Nutkin.
He shut his eyes obstinately and went to sleep.

The squirrels fill their little sacks with nuts, and sailed away home in the evening.

But next morning they all came back again to Owl Island; and Twinkleberry and the others brought a fine fat mole, and laid it on the stone in front of Old Brown's doorway, and said-
"Mr. Brown, will you favor us with your gracious permission to gather some more nuts?"

But Nutkin, who had no respect, began to dance up and down, tickling old Mr. Brown with a nettle and singing -

"Old Mr. B! Riddle-me-ree!
Hitty Pitty within the wall,
Hitty Pitty without the wall;
If you touch Hitty Pitty,
Hitty Pitty will bite you!"
Mr. Brown woke up suddenly and carried the mole into his house.

He shut the door in Nutkin's face. Presently a little thread of blue smoke from a wood fire came up from the top of the tree, and Nutkin peeped through the key-hole and sang-

"A house full, a hole full!
And you cannot gather a bowl-full!"

The squirrels searched for nuts over the island and filled their little sacks.
But Nutkin gathered oak-apples - yellow and scarlet - and sat upon a beech-stump playing marbles, and watching the door of Old Mr. Brown.

On the third day the squirrels got up very early and went fishing; they caught seven fat minnows as a present for Old Brown.
They paddled over the lake and landed under a crooked chestnut-tree on Owl Island.

Twinkleberry and six other little squirrels each carried a fat minnow; but Nutkin, who had no nice manners, brought no present at all. He ran in front singing -

"The man in the wilderness said to me,
'How many strawberries grow in the sea?'
I answered him as I thought good -
'As many red herrings as grow in the wood.' "
But Old Mr. Brown took no interest in riddles - not even when the answer was provided for him.

On the fourth day the squirrels brought a present of six fat beetles, which were as good as plums in plum-pudding for Old Brown. Each beetle was wrapped up carefully in a dockleaf, fastened with a pine-needle pin.
But Nutkin sang as rudely as ever -

"Old Mr. B.! riddle-me-ree!
Flour of England, fruit of Spain,
Met together in a shower of rain;
Put in a bag tied round with a string,
If you'll tell me this riddle I'll give you a ring!"
Which was ridiculous of Nutkin, because he had not got any ring to give to Old Brown.

The other squirrels hunted up and down the nut bushes; but Nutkin gathered robin's pin-cushions off a briar bush, and stuck them full of pine-needle pins.

On the fifth day the squirrels brought a present of wild honey; it was so sweet and sticky that they licked their fingers as they put it down upon the stone. They had stolen it out of a bumble bees' nest on the tippitty top of the hill.
But Nutkin skipped up and down, singing -

"Hum-a-bum! buzz! buzz! Hum-a-bum buzz!
As I went over Tipple-tine
I met a flock of of bonny swine;
Some yellow-nacked, some yellow backed!
They were the very bonniest swine
That e'er went over Tipple-tine."

Old Mr. Brown turned up his eyes in disgust at the impertinence of Nutkin.
But he ate up the honey!

The squirrels filled their little sacks with nuts.
But Nutkin sat upon a big flat rock, and played ninepins with a crab apple and green fir-cones.

On the sixth day, which was Saturday, the squirrels came again for the last time; they brought a new laid egg in a little rush basket as a last parting present for Old Brown.
But Nutkin ran in front laughing, and shouting -

"Humpty Dumpty lies in the beck,
With a white counterpane round his neck,
Forty doctors and forty wrights
Cannot put Humpty Dumpty to rights!"

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Now Old Mr. Brown took an interest in eggs; he opened one eye and shut it again. But still he did not speak.

Nutkin became more and more impertinent -

Old Mr. B! Old Mr. B!
Hickamore, Hackamore, on the King's kitchen door;
All the King's horses, and all the King's men,
Couldn't drive Hickamore, Hackamore,
Off the King's kitchen door."
Nutkin danced up and down like a sunbeam, but still Old Brown said nothing at all.

Nutkin began again -

"Arthur O'Bower has broken his band,
He comes roaring up the land!
The King of Scots with all his power,
Cannot turn Arthur of the Bower!"
Nutkin made a whirring noise to sound like the wind, and he took a running jump right onto the head of Old Brown!....
Then all at once there was a flutterment and a scufflement and a loud "Squeak!"
The other squirrels scuttered away into the bushes.

When they came back very cautiously peeping round the tree - there was Old Brown sitting on his door-step, quite still, with his eyes closed, as if nothing had happened.
* * * * * *
But Nutkin was in his wasitcoat pocket!

This looks like the end of the story; but it isn't.

Old Brown carried Nutkin into his house, and held him up by the tail, intending to skin him; but Nutkin pulled so very hard that his tail broke in two, and he dashed up the staircase and escaped out of the attic window.

And to this day if you meet Nutkin up a tree and ask him a riddle, he will throw sticks at you and stamp his feet and scold, and shout -
"C u c k - cuck-cuck-cur-r-r cuck-k-k!"

THE END

Timmy Tiptoes

2009-05-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

THE TALE OF

Timmy Tiptoes

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

Once upon a time there was a little fat comfortable grey squirrel, called Timmy Tiptoes. He had a nest thatched with leaves in the top of a tall tree; and he had a little squirrel wife called Goody.

Timmy Tiptoes sat out, enjoying the breeze; he whisked his tail and chuckled--"Little wife Goody,the nuts are ripe; we must lay up a store for winter and spring." Goody Tiptoes was busy pushing moss under the thatch--"The nest is so snug, we shall be sound asleep all winter. Then we shall wake up all the thinner, when there is nothing to eat in spring-time," replied prudent Timothy.

When Timmy and Goody Tiptoes came to the nut thicket, they found other squirrels were there already.
Timmy took off his jacket and hung it on a twig; they worked away quietly by themselves.

Every day they made several journeys and picked quantities of nuts. They carried them away in bags, and stored them in several hollow stumps near the tree where they had built their nest.

When these stumps were full, they began to empty the bags into a hole high up a tree, that had belonged to a woodpecker; the nuts rattled down--down--down inside.
"How shall you ever get them out again? It is like a money box!" said Goody.
"I shall be much thinner before springtime, my love," said Timmy Tiptoes, peeping into the hole.

They did collect quantities--because they did not lose them! Squirrels who bury their nuts in the ground lose more than half, because they cannot remember the place.
The most forgetful squirrel in the wood was called Silvertail. He began to dig, and he could not remember. And then he dug again and found some nuts that did not belong to him; and there was a fight. And other squirrels began to dig,--the whole wood was in commotion!

Unfortunately, just at this time a flock of little birds flew by, from bush to bush, searching for green caterpillars and spiders. There were several sorts of little birds, twittering different songs.
The first one sang--"Who's bin digging-up my nuts? Who's-been-digging-up my nuts?"
And another sang--"Little bita bread and-no-cheese! Little bit-a-bread an'-no-cheese!"

The squirrels followed and listened. The first little bird flew into the bush where Timmy and Goody Tiptoes were quietly tying up their bags, and it sang--"Who's-bin digging-up my nuts? Who's been digging-up my-nuts?"
Timmy Tiptoes went on with his work without replying; indeed, the little bird did not expect an answer. It was only singing its natural song, and it meant nothing at all.

But when the other squirrels heard that song, they rushed upon Timmy Tiptoes and cuffed and scratched him, and upset his bag of nuts. The innocent little bird which had caused all the mischief, flew away in a fright!
Timmy rolled over and over, and then turned tail and fled towards his nest, followed by a crowd of squirrels shouting--"Who's-been digging-up my-nuts?"

They caught him and dragged him up the very same tree, where there was the little round hole, and they pushed him in. The hole was much too small for Timmy Tiptoes' figure. They squeezed him dreadfully, it was a wonder they did not break his ribs. "We will leave him here till he confesses," said Silvertail Squirrel and he shouted into the hole--
"Who's-been-digging-up my-nuts?"

Timmy Tiptoes made no reply; he had tumbled down inside the tree, upon half a peck of nuts belonging to himself. He lay quite stunned and still.

Goody Tiptoes picked up the nut bags and went home. She made a cup of tea for Timmy; but he didn't come and didn't come.
Goody Tiptoes passed a lonely and unhappy night. Next morning she ventured back to the nut bushes to look for him; but the other unkind squirrels drove her away.
She wandered all over the wood, calling--
"Timmy Tiptoes! Timmy Tip-toes! Oh, where is Timmy Tiptoes?"

In the meantime Timmy Tiptoes came to his senses. He found himself tucked up in a little moss bed, very much in the dark, feeling sore; it seemed to be under ground. Timmy coughed and groaned, because his ribs hurted him. There was a chirpy noise, and a small striped Chipmunk appeared with a night light, and hoped he felt better?
It was most kind to Timmy Tiptoes; it lent him its nightcap; and the house was full of provisions.

The Chipmunk explained that it had rained nuts through the top of the tree--"Besides, I found a few buried!" It laughed and chuckled when it heard Timmy's story. While Timmy was confined to bed, it 'ticed him to eat quantities--"But how shall I ever get out through that hole unless I thin myself? My wife will be anxious!" "Just another nut--or two nuts; let me crack them for you," said the Chipmunk. Timmy Tiptoes grew fatter and fatter!

Now Goody Tiptoes had set to work again by herself. She did not put any more nuts into the woodpecker's hole, because she had always doubted how they could be got out again. She hid them under a tree root; they rattled down, down, down. Once when Goody emptied an extra big bagful, there was a decided squeak; and next time Goody brought another bagful, a little striped Chipmunk scrambled out in a hurry.

"It is getting perfectly full-up downstairs; the sitting room is full, and they are rolling along the passage; and my husband, Chippy Hackee, has run away and left me. What is the explanation of these showers of nuts?"
"I am sure I beg your pardon; I did not know that anybody lived here," said Mrs. Goody Tiptoes; "but where is Chippy Hackee? My husband, Timmy Tiptoes, has run away too." "I know where Chippy is; a little bird told me," said Mrs. Chippy Hackee.

She led the way to the woodpecker's tree, and they listened at the hole.
Down below there was a noise of nutcrackers, and a fat squirrel voice and a thin squirrel voice were singing together--
"My little old man and I fell out,
How shall we bring this matter about?
Bring it about as well as you can,
And get you gone, you little old man!"

"You could squeeze in, through that little round hole," said Goody Tiptoes. "Yes, I could," said the Chipmunk, "but my husband, Chippy Hackee, bites!"
Down below there was a noise of cracking nuts and nibbling; and then the fat squirrel voice and the thin squirrel voice sang--
"For the diddlum day
Day diddle durn di!
Day diddle diddle dum day!"

Then Goody peeped in at the hole, and called down--"Timmy Tiptoes! Oh fie, Timmy Tiptoes!" And Timmy replied, "Is that you, Goody Tiptoes? Why, certainly!"
He came up and kissed Goody through the hole; but he was so fat that he could not get out.
Chippy Hackee was not too fat, but he did not want to come; he stayed down below and chuckled.

And so it went on for a fortnight; till a big wind blew off the top of the tree, and opened up the hole and let in the rain.
Then Timmy Tiptoes came out, and went home with an umbrella.

But Chippy Hackee continued to camp out for another week, although it was uncomfortable.

At last a large bear came walking through the wood. Perhaps he also was looking for nuts; he seemed to be sniffing around.

Chippy Hackee went home in a hurry!

And when Chippy Hackee got home, he found he had caught a cold in his head; and he was more uncomfortable still.

And now Timmy and Goody Tiptoes keep their nut store fastened up with a little padlock.

And whenever that little bird sees the Chipmunks, he sings--"Who's-been-digging-up my-nuts? Who's been dig-ging-up my-nuts?" But nobody ever answers!

THE END

MISS MOPPET

2009-05-25T09:01:00.000-07:00

THE STORY OF

MISS MOPPET

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

THIS is a Pussy called Miss Moppet, she thinks she has heard a mouse!

THIS is the Mouse peeping out behind the cupboard, and making fun of Miss Moppet. He is not afraid of a kitten.

THIS is Miss Moppet jumping just too late; she misses the Mouse and hits her own head.

SHE thinks it is a very hard cupboard!

THE Mouse watches Miss Moppet from the top of the cupboard.

MISS MOPPET ties up her head in a duster, and sits before the fire.

THE Mouse thinks she is looking very ill. He comes sliding down the bellpull.

MISS MOPPET looks worse and worse. The Mouse comes a little nearer.

MISS MOPPET holds her poor head in her paws, and looks at him through a hole in the duster. The Mouse comes very close.

AND then all of a sudden -- Miss Moppet jumps upon the Mouse!

AND because the Mouse has teased Miss Moppet -- Miss Moppet thinks she will tease the Mouse; which is not at all nice of Miss Moppet.

SHE ties him up in the duster, and tosses it about like a ball.

BUT she forgot about that hole in the duster; and when she untied it -- there was no Mouse!

HE has wriggled out and run away; and he is dancing a jig on the top of the cupboard!

THE END

JOHNNY TOWN-MOUSE

2009-05-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

THE TALE OF

JOHNNY TOWN-MOUSE

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

JOHNNY TOWN-MOUSE was born in a cupboard. Timmy Willie was born in a garden. Timmy Willie was a little country mouse who went to town by mistake in a hamper. The gardener sent vegetables to town once a week by carrier; he packed them in a big hamper.

THE gardener left the hamper by the garden gate, so that the carrier could pick it up when he passed. Timmy Willie crept in through a hole in the wickerwork, and after eating some peas -- Timmy Willie fell fast asleep.

HE awoke in a fright, while the hamper was being lifted into the carrier's cart. Then there was a jolting, and a clattering of horse's feet; other packages were thrown in; for miles and miles--jolt--jolt--jolt! and Timmy Willie trembled amongst the jumbled up vegetables.

AT last the cart stopped at a house, where the hamper was taken out, carried in, and set down. The cook gave the carrier sixpence; the back door banged, and the cart rumbled away. But there was no quiet; there seemed to be hundreds of carts passing. Dogs barking; boys whistled in the streets; the cook laughed, the parlour maid ran up and down-stairs; and a canary sang like a steam engine.

TIMMY WILLIE, who had lived all his life in a garden, was almost frightened to death. Presently the cook opened the hamper and began to unpack the vegetables. Out sprang the terrified Timmy Willie.

UP jumped the cook on a chair, exclaiming "A mouse! a mouse! Call the cat! Fetch me the poker, Sarah!" Timmy Willie did not wait for Sarah with the poker; he rushed along the skirting board till he came to a little hole, and in he popped.

HE dropped half a foot, and crashed into the middle of a mouse dinner party, break- ing three glasses.--"who in the world is this?" inquired Johnny Town-mouse. But after the first exclamation of surprise he instantly recovered his manners.

WITH the utmost politeness he introduced Timmy Willie to nine other mice, all with long tails and white neckties. Timmy Willie's own tail was insignificant. Johnny Town-mouse and his friends noticed it; but they were too well bred to make personal remarks; only one of them asked Timmy Willie if he had ever been in a trap?

THE dinner was of eight courses; not much of any- thing, but truly elegant. All the dishes were unknown to Timmy Willie, who would have been a little afraid of tasting them; only he was very hungry, and very anxious to behave with company manners. The continual noise upstairs made him so nervous, that he dropped a plate. "Never mind, they don't belong to us," said Johnny.

"WHY don't those youngsters come back with the dessert?" It should be explained that two young mice, who were waiting on the others, went skirmishing upstairs to the kitchen between courses. Several times they had come tumbling in, squeaking and laughing; Timmy Willie learnt with horror that they were being chased by the cat. His appetite failed, he felt faint. "Try some jelly?" said Johnny Town-mouse.

"NO? Would you rather go to bed? I will show you a most comfortable sofa pillow."
The sofa pillow had a hole in it. Johnny Town-mouse quite honestly recommended it as the best bed, kept exclusively for visitors. But the sofa smelt of cat. Timmy Willie preferred to spend a miserable night under the fender.

IT was just the same next day. An excellent breakfast was provided--for mice accustomed to eat bacon; but Timmy Willie had been reared on roots and salad. Johnny Town-mouse and his friends racketted about under the floors, and came boldly out all over the house in the evening. One particularly loud crash had been caused by Sarah tumbling downstairs with the tea-tray; there were crumbs and sugar and smears of jam to be collected, in spite of the cat.

TIMMY WILLIE longed to be at home in his peaceful nest in a sunny bank. the food disagreed with him; the noise prevented him from sleeping. In a few days he grew so thin that Johnny Town-mouse noticed it, and questioned him. He listened to Timmy Willie's story and inquired about the garden. "It sounds rather a dull place? What do you do when it rains?"

"WHEN it rains, I sit in my little sandy burrow and shell corn and seeds from my Autumn store. I peep out at the throstles and blackbirds on the lawn, and my friend Cock Robin. And when the sun comes out again, you should see my garden and the flowers--roses and pinks and pansies--no noise except the birds and bees, and the lambs in the meadows."

"THERE goes that cat again!" exclaimed Johnny Town-mouse. When they had taken refuge in the coal-cellar he resumed the conversation; "I confess I am a little disappointed; we have endeavoured to entertain you, Timothy William."
"Oh yes, yes, you have been most kind; but I do feel so ill," said Timmy Willie.

"IT may be that your teeth and digestion are unaccustomed to our food; perhaps it might be wiser for you to return in the hamper."
"Oh? Oh!" cried Timmy Willie.
"Why of course for the matter of that we could have sent you back last week," said Johnny rather huffily--"did you not know that the hamper goes back empty on Saturdays?"

SO Timmy Willie said goodbye to his new friends, and hid in the hamper with a crumb of cake and a withered cabbage leaf; and after much jolting, he was set down safely in his own garden.

SOMETIMES on Saturdays he went to look at the hamper lying by the gate, but he knew better than to get in again. And nobody got out, though Johnny Town-mouse had half promised a visit.

THE winter passed; the sun came out again; Timmy Willie sat by his burrow warming his little fur coat and sniffing the smell of violets and spring grass. He had nearly forgotten his visit to town. When up the sandy path all spick and span with a brown leather bag came Johnny Town-mouse!

TIMMY WILLIE received him with open arms. "You have come at the best of all the year, we will have herb pudding and sit in the sun."
"H'm'm! it is a little damp," said Johnny Town-mouse, who was carrying his tail under his arm, out of the mud.

"WHAT is that fearful noise?" he started violently.
"That?" said Timmy Willie, "that is only a cow; I will beg a little milk, they are quite harmless, unless they happen to lie down upon you. How are all our friends?"

JOHNNY'S account was rather middling. He explained why he was paying his visit so early in the season; the family had gone to the seaside for Easter; the cook was doing spring cleaning, on board wages, with particular instructions to clear out the mice. There were four kittens, and the cat had killed the canary.

"THEY say we did it; but I know better," said Johnny Town-mouse. "Whatever is that fearful racket?"
"That is only the lawnmower; I will fetch some of the grass clippings presently to make your bed. I am sure you had better settle in the country, Johnny."

"H'M'M--we shall see by Tuesday week; the hamper is stopped while they are at the sea-side."
"I am sure you will never want to live in town again," said Timmy Willie.

BUT he did. He went back in the very next hamper of vegetables; he said it was too quiet!!

ONE place suits one person, another place suits another person. For my part I prefer to live in the country, like Timmy Willie.

THE END

PETER RABBIT

2009-05-25T08:32:00.000-07:00

THE TALE OF

PETER RABBIT

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

ONCE upon a time there were four little Rabbits, and their names were
Flopsy,
Mopsy,
Cotton-tail,
and Peter.
They lived with their Mother in a sand-bank, underneath the root of a very big fir-tree.

'Now, my dears,' said old Mrs. Rabbit one morning, 'you may go into the fields or down the lane, but don't go into Mr. McGregor's garden: your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.'

'Now run along, and don't get into mischief. I am going out.'

Then old Mrs. Rabbit took a basket and her umbrella, and went through the wood to the baker's. She bought a loaf of brown bread and five currant buns.

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane together to gather blackberries:

But Peter, who was very naughty, ran straight away to Mr. McGregor's garden, and squeezed under the gate!

First he ate some lettuces and some French beans; and then he ate some radishes;

And then, feeling rather sick, he went to look for some parsley.

But round the end of a cucumber frame, whom should he meet but Mr. McGregor!

Mr. McGregor was on his hands and knees planting out young cabbages, but he jumped up and ran after Peter, waving a rake and calling out, 'Stop thief!'

Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate.
He lost one shoe among the cabbages, and the other amongst the potatoes.

After losing them, he ran on four legs and went faster, so that I think he might have got away altogether if he had not unfortunately run into a gooseberry net, and got caught by the large buttons on his jacket. It was a blue jacket with brass buttons, quite new.

Peter gave himself up for lost, and shed big tears; but his sobs were overheard by some friendly sparrows, who flew to him in great excitement, and implored him to exert himself.

Mr. McGregor came up with a sieve, which he intended to pop on the top of Peter; but Peter wriggled out just in time, leaving his jacket behind him.

He rushed into the tool-shed, and jumped into a can. It would have been a beautiful thing to hide in, if it had not had so much water in it.

Mr. McGregor was quite sure that Peter was somewhere in the tool-shed, perhaps hidden underneath a flower-pot. He began to turn them over carefully, looking under each.
Presently Peter sneezed - 'Kertyschoo!' Mr. McGregor was after him in no time.

And tried to put his foot upon Peter, who jumped out of a window, upsetting three plants. The window was too small for Mr. McGregor, and he was tired of running after Peter. He went back to his work.

Peter sat down to rest; he was out of breath and trembling with fright, and he had not the least idea which way to go. Also he was very damp with sitting in that can.
After a time he began to wander about, going lippity - lippity - not very fast, and looking all around.

He found a door in a wall; but it was locked, and there was no room for a fat little rabbit to squeeze underneath.
An old mouse was running in and out over the stone doorstep, carrying peas and beans to her family in the wood. Peter asked her the way to the gate, but she had such a large pea in her mouth that she could not answer. She only shook her head at him. Peter began to cry.

Then he tried to find his way straight across the garden, but he became more and more puzzled. Presently, he came to a pond where Mr. McGregor filled his water-cans. A white cat was staring at some gold-fish, she sat very, very still, but now and then the tip of her tail twitched as if it were alive. Peter thought it best to go away without speaking to her; he has heard about cats from his cousin, little Benjamin Bunny.

He went back towards the tool-shed, but suddenly, quite close to him, he heard the noise of a hoe - scr-r-ritch, scratch, scratch, scritch. Peter scuttered underneath the bushes. But presently, as nothing happened, he came out, and climbed upon a wheel-barrow and peeped over. The first thing he saw was Mr. McGregor hoeing onions. His back was turned towards Peter, and beyond him was the gate!

Peter got down very quietly off the wheel-barrow, and started running as fast as he could go, along a straight walk behind some black-currant bushes.
Mr. McGregor caught sight of him at the corner but Peter did not care. He slipped underneath the gate, and was safe at last in the wood outside the garden.

Mr. McGregor hung up the little jacket and the shoes for a scare-crow to frighten the blackbirds.

Peter never stopped running or looked behind him till he got home to the big fir-tree.
He was so tired that he flopped down upon the nice soft sand on the floor of the rabbit-hole, and shut his eyes. His mother was busy cooking; she wondered what he had done with his clothes. It was the second little jacket and pair of shoes that Peter had lost in a fortnight.

I am sorry to say that Peter was not very well during the evening.
His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea; and she gave a dose of it to Peter!
'One teaspoonful to be taken at bed-time.'

But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail had bread and milk and blackberries, for supper.

THE END

NURSERY RHYMES

2009-05-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

CECILY PARSLEY'S

NURSERY RHYMES

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

CECILY PARSLEY lived in a pen,
And brewed good ale for gentlemen;

GENTLEMEN came every day,
Till Cecily Parsley ran away.

GOOSEY, goosey, gander,
Whither will you wander?
Upstairs and downstairs,
And in my lady's chamber!

THIS pig went to market; This pig stayed at home;

THIS pig had a bit of meat;

AND this pig had none;

THIS little pig cried
Wee! wee! wee!
I can't find my way home.

PUSSY-CAT sits by the fire;
How should she be fair?
In walks the little dog,
Says "Pussy! are you there?"

"HOW do you do, Mistress Pussy? Mistress Pussy, how do you do?"
"I thank you kindly, little dog, I fare as well as you!"

THREE blind mice, three blind mice,
See how they run!
They all run after the farmer's wife,
And she cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did ever you see such a thing in your life
As three blind mice!

BOW, wow, wow!
Whose dog art thou?
"I'm little Tom Tinker's dog,
Bow, wow, wow!"

WE have a little garden,
A garden of our own,
And every day we water there
The seeds that we have sown.

WE love our little garden,
And tend it with such care,
You will not find a faced leaf
Or blighted blossom there.

NINNY NANNY NETTICOAT,
In a white petticoat,
With a red nose, --
The longer she stands,
The shorter she grows.

THE END

THE PIE AND THE PATTY-PAN

2009-05-25T01:18:00.000-07:00

THE TALE OF

THE PIE AND THE PATTY-PAN

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

ONCE upon a time there was a Pussy-cat called Ribby, who invited a little dog called Duchess, to tea.
"Come in good time, my dear Duchess," said Ribby's letter, "and we will have something so very nice. I am baking it in a
pie-dish--a pie-dish with a pink rim. You never tasted anything so good! And you shall eat it all! I will eat muffins, my
dear Duchess!" wrote Ribby.
Dutchess read the letter and wrote an answer:--"I will come with much pleasure at a quarter past four. But it is very strange. I was just going to invite you to come here, to

supper, my dear Ribby, to eat something most delicious."
"I will come very punctually, my dear Ribby," wrote Duchess; and then at the end she added--"I hope it isn't mouse?"
And then she thought that did not look quite polite; so she scratched out "isn't mouse" and changed it to "I hope it will be fine," and she gave her letter to the postman.
But she thought a great deal about Ribby's pie, and she read Ribby's letter over and over again.
"I am dreadfully afraid it will be mouse!" said Duchess to herself--"I really couldn't, couldn't eat mouse pie. And I shall have to eat it, because it is a party. And my pie was going to be veal and ham. A pink and white pie-dish!

and so is mine; just like Ribby's dishes; they were both bought at Tabitha Twitchit's."
Duchess went into her larder and took the pie off a shelf and looked at it.
"It is all ready to put into the oven. Such lovely pie-crust; and I put in a little tin patty-pan to hold up the crust; and I made a hole in the middle with a fork to let out the steam--Oh I do wish I could eat my own pie, instead of a pie made of mouse!"

Duchess considered and considered and read Ribby's letter again--
"A pink and white pie-dish--and you shall eat it all. 'You' means me--then Ribby is not going to even taste the pie herself? A pink and white pie-dish! Ribby is sure to go out to buy the muffins....."
"Oh what a good idea! Why shouldn't I rush along and put my pie into Ribby's oven when Ribby isn't there?"
Duchess was quite delighted with her own cleverness!

Ribby in the meantime had received Duchess's answer, and as soon as she was sure that the little dog could come-she popped her pie into the oven. There were two ovens, one above the other; some other knobs and handles were only ornamental and not intended to open. Ribby put the pie into the lower oven; the door was very stiff.
"The top oven bakes too quickly," said Ribby to herself. "It is a pie of the most delicate and tender mouse minced up with bacon. And I have taken out all the bones; because Duchess did nearly choke herself with a fish-bone last time I gave a party. She eats a little fast--rather big mouthfuls. But a most genteel and elegant little dog; infinitely
superior company to Cousin Tabitha Twitchit."
Ribby put on some coal and swept up the hearth. Then she went out with a can to the well, for water to fill up the kettle.

Then she began to set the room in order, for it was the sitting-room as well as the kitchen. She shook the mats out at the front-door and put them straight; the hearth-rug was a rabbit-skin. She dusted the clock and the ornaments on the mantelpiece, and she polished and rubbed the tables and chairs.
Then she spread a very clean table-cloth, and set out her best china tea-set, which she took out of a wall-cupboard near the fireplace. The tea-cups were white with a pattern of pink roses; and the dinner-plates were white and blue.
When Ribby had laid the table she took a jub and a blue and white dish, and went out down the field to the farm, to fetch milk and butter.

When she came back, she peeped into the bottom oven; the pie looked very comfortable.
Ribby put on her shawl and bonnet and went out again with a basket, to the village shop to buy a packet of tea, a pound of lump sugar, and a pot of marmalade.
And just at the same time, Duchess came out of her house, at the other end of the village.

Ribby met Duchess half-way down the street, also carrying a basket, covered with a cloth. They only bowed to one another; they did not speak, because they were going to have a party.
As soon as Duchess had got round the corner out of sight--she simply ran! Straight away to Ribby's house!

Ribby went into the shop and bought what she required, and came out, after a pleasant gossip with Cousin Tabitha Twitchit.
Cousin Tabitha was disdainful afterwards in conversation--
"A little dog indeed! Just as if there were no CATS in Sawrey! And a pie for afternoon tea! The very idea!" said Cousin Tabitha Twitchit.

There seemed to be a sort of scuffling noise in the back passage, as she was coming in at the front door.
"I trust that is not that Pie: the spoons are locked up, however," said Ribby.
But there was nobody there. Ribby opened the bottom oven door with some difficulty, and turned the pie. There began to be a pleasing smell of baked mouse!
Duchess in the meantime, had slipped out at the back door.

"It is a very odd thing that Ribby's pie was not in the oven when I put mine in! And I can't find it anywhere; I have looked all over the house. I put my pie into a nice hot oven at the top. I could not turn any of the other handles; I think that they are all shams," said Duchess, "but I wish I could have removed the pie made of mouse! I cannot think what she has done with it? I heard Ribby coming and I had to run out by the back door!"

Duchess went home and brushed her beautiful black coat; and then she picked a bunch of flowers in her garden as a present for Ribby; and passed the time until the clock struck four.
Ribby--having assured herself by careful search that there was really no one hiding in the cupboard or in the larder-went upstairs to change her dress.
She put on a lilac silk gown, for the party, and an embroidered muslin apron and tippet.
"It is very strange," said Ribby, "I did not think I left that drawer pulled out; has sombody been trying on my mittens?"

She sat down before the fire to wait for the little dog. "I am glad I used the bottom oven," said Ribby, "the top one would certainly have been very much too hot. I wonder why that cupboard door was open? Can there really have been someone in the house?"

Very punctually at four o'clock, Duchess started to go to the party. She ran so fast through the village that she was too early, and she had to wait a little while in the lane that leads down to Ribby's house.
"I wonder if Ribby has taken my pie out of the oven yet?" said Duchess, "and whatever can have become of the other pie made of mouse?"

At a quarter past four to the minute, there came a most genteel little tap-tappity. "Is Mrs. Ribston at home?" inquired Duchess in the porch.
"Come in! and how do you do, my dear Duchess?" cried Ribby. "I hope I see you well?"
"Quite well, I thank you, and how do you do, my dear Ribby?" said Duchess. "I've brought you some flowers; what a delicious smell of pie!"

"Oh, what lovely flowers! Yes, it is mouse and bacon!"
"Do not talk about food, my dear Ribby," said Dutchess; "what a lovely white tea-cloth!.... Is it done to a turn? Is it still in the oven?"
"I think it wants another five minutes," said Ribby. "Just a shade longer; I will pour out the tea, while we wait. Do you take sugar, my dear Duchess?"

"Oh yes, please! my dear Ribby; and may I have a lump upon my nose?"
"With pleasure, my dear Duchess; how beautifully you beg! Oh, how sweetly pretty!"
Duchess sat up with the sugar on her nose and sniffed--
"How good that pie smells! I do love veal and ham--I mean to say mouse and bacon--"
She dropped the sugar in confusion, and had to go hunting under the tea-table, so did not see which oven

Ribby opened in order to get out the pie.
Ribby set the pie upon the table; there was a very savoury smell.
Duchess came out from under the table-cloth munching sugar, and sat up on a chair.
"I will first cut the pie for you; I am going to have muffin and marmalade," said Ribby.
"Do you really prefer muffin? Mind the patty-pan!"
"I beg your pardon?" said Ribby.

"May I pass you the marmalade?" said Duchess hurriedly.
The pie proved extremely toothsome, and the muffins light and hot. They disappeard rapidly, especially the pie!
"I think"--(thought Duchess to herself)--"I think it would be wiser if I helped myself to pie; though Ribby did not seem to notice anything when she was cutting it. What very small fine pieces it has cooked into! I did not remember that I had minced it up so fine; I suppose this is a quicker oven than my own."

"How fast Duchess is eating!" thought Ribby to herself, as she buttered her fifth muffin.
The pie-dish was emptying rapidly! Duchess had had four helps already, and was fumbling with the spoon.

"A little more bacon, my dear Duchess?" said Ribby.
"Thank you, my dear Ribby; I was only feeling for the patty-pan."
"The patty-pan? my dear Duchess?"
"The patty-pan that held up the pie-crust," said Duchess, blushing under her black coat.
"Oh, I didn't put one in, my dear Duchess," said Ribby; "I don't think that it is necessary in pies made of mouse."

Duchess fumbled with the spoon--"I can't find it!" she said anxiously.
"There isn't a patty-pan," said Ribby, looking perplexed.
"Yes, indeed, my dear Ribby; where can it have gone to?" said Duchess.
"There most certainly is not one, my dear Duchess. I disapprove of tin articles in puddings and pies. It is most undesirable--(especially when people swallow in lumps!)" she added in a lower voice.

Duchess looked very much alarmed, and continued to scoop the inside of the pie-dish.
"My Great-aunt Squintina (grandmother of Cousin Tabitha Twitchit)--died of a thimble in a Christmas plum-pudding. I never put any article of metal in my puddings or pies."

Duchess looked aghast, and tilted up the pie-dish.
"I have only four patty-pans, and they are all in the cupboard."
Duchess set up a howl.
"I shall die! I shall die! I have swallowed a patty-pan! Oh, my dear Ribby, I do feel so ill!"
"It is impossible, my dear Duchess; there was not a patty-pan."
Duchess moaned and whined and rocked herself about.
"Oh I feel so dreadful, I have swallowed a patty-pan!"

"There was nothing in the pie," said Ribby severely.
"Yes there was, my dear Ribby, I am sure I have swallowed it!"
"Let me prop you up with a pillow, my dear Duchess; where do you think you feel it?"
"Oh I do feel so ill all over me, my dear Ribby; I have swallowed a large tin patty-pan with a sharp scalloped edge!"

"Shall I run for the doctor? I will just lock up the spoons!"
"Oh yes, yes! fetch Dr. Maggotty, my dear Ribby: he is a Pie himself, he will certainly understand."
Ribby settled Duchess in an armchair before the fire, and went out and hurried to the village to look for the doctor.
She found him at the smithy.
He was occupied in putting rusty nails into a bottle of ink, which he had obtained at the post office.

"Gammon? ha! HA!" said he, with his head on one side.
Ribby explained that her guest had swallowed a patty-pan.
"Spinach? ha! HA!" said he, and accompanied her with alacrity.
He hopped so fast that Ribby had to run. It was most conspicuous. All the village could see that Ribby was fetching the doctor.

"I knew they would over-eat themselves!" said Cousin Tabitha Twitchit.
But while Ribby had been hunting for the doctor--a curious thing had happened to Duchess, who had been left by herself, sitting before the fire, sighing and groaning and feeling very unhappy.
"How could I have swallowed it! such a large thing as a patty-pan!"
She got up and went to the table and felt inside the pie-dish again with a spoon.

pp25.gif (1843 bytes)
"No; there is no patty-pan, and I put one in; and nobody has eaten pie except me, so I must have swallowed it!"
She sat down again, and stared mournfully at the grate. The fire crackled and danced, and something sizz-z-zled!
Duchess started! She opened the door of the top oven;--out came a rich

steamy flavour of veal and ham, and there stood a fine brown pie,--and through a hole in the top of the pie-crust there was a glimpse of a little tin patty-pan!
Duchess drew a long breath--
"Then I must have been eating MOUSE!... No wonder I feel ill.... But perhaps I should feel worse if I had really swallowed a patty-pan!" Duchess reflected--"What a very awkward thing to have to explain to Ribby!

I think I will put my pie in the back-yard and say nothing about it. When I go home, I will run round and take it away." She put it outside the back-door, and sat down again by the fire, and shut her eyes; when Ribby arrived with the doctor, she seemed fast asleep.
"Gammon, ha, HA?" said the doctor.

"I am feeling very much better," said Duchess, waking up with a jump.
"I am truly glad to hear it! He has brought you a pill, my dear Duchess!"
"I think I should feel quite well if he only felt my pulse," said Duchess, backing away from the magpie, who sidled up with something in his beak.
"It is only a bread pill, you had much better take it; drink a little milk, my dear Duchess!"

"Gammon? Gammon?" said the doctor, while Duchess coughed and choked.
"Don't say that again!" said Ribby, losing her temper--"Here, take this bread and jam, and get out into the yard!"
"Gammon and Spinach! ha ha HA!" shouted Dr. Maggotty triumphantly outside the back door.
"I am feeling very much

better my dear Ribby," said Duchess. "Do you not think that I had better go home before it gets dark?"
"Perhaps it might be wise, my dear Duchess. I will lend you a nice warm shawl, and you shall take my arm."
"I would not trouble you for worlds; I feel wonderfully better. One pill of Dr. Maggotty----"
"Indeed it is most admirable, if it has cured you of a patty-pan! I will call directly after breakfast to ask how you have slept."

Ribby and Duchess said goodbye affectionately, and Duchess started home. Half-way up the lane she stopped and looked back; Ribby had gone in and shut her door. Duchess slipped through the fence, and ran round to the back of Ribby's house, and peeped into the yard.
Upon the roof of the pig-stye sat Dr. Maggotty and three jackdaws. The jackdaws were eating pie-crust, and the magpie was drinking gravy out of a patty-pan.

"Gammon, ha, HA!" he shouted when he saw Duchess's little black nose peeping round the corner.
Duchess ran home feeling uncommonly silly!
When Ribby came out for a pailful of water to wash up the tea-things, she found a pink and white pie-dish lying smashed in the middle of the yard. The patty-pan was under the pump, where

Dr. Maggotty had considerately left it.
Ribby stared with amazement-- "Did you ever see the like! So there really was a patty-pan?.... But my patty-pans are all in the kitchen cupboard. Well I never did!.... Next time I want to give a party-- I will invite my Cousin Tabitha Twitchit!"

THE END

TWO BAD MICE

2009-05-25T01:01:00.000-07:00

THE TALE OF

TWO BAD MICE

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

ONCE upon a time there was a very beautiful doll's house; it was red brick with white windows, and it had real muslin curtains and a front door and a chimney.

It belonged to two Dolls called Lucinda and Jane; at least it belonged to Lucinda, but she never ordered meals.
Jane was the Cook; but she never did any cooking, because the dinner had been bought ready-made, in a box full of shavings.

There were two red lobsters, and a ham, a fish, a pudding, and some pears and oranges.
They would not come off the plates, but they were extremely beautiful.

One morning Lucinda and Jane had gone out for a drive in the doll's perambulator. There was no one in the nursery, and it was very quiet. Presently there was a little scuffling, scratching noise in a corner near the fireplace, where there was a hole under the skirting-board.
Tom Thumb put out his head for a moment, and then popped it in again.

A minute afterwards Hunca Munca, his wife, put her head out, too; and when she saw that there was no one in the nursery, she ventured out on the oilcloth under the coal-box.

The doll's house stood at the other side of the fireplace. Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca went cautiously across the hearth-rug. They pushed the front door - it was not fast.

Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca went up-stairs and peeped into the dining-room. Then they squeaked with joy!
Such a lovely dinner was laid out upon the table! There were tin spoons, and lead knives and forks, and two dolly-chairs - all so convenient!

Tom Thumb set to work at once to carve the ham. It was a beautiful shiny yellow, streaked with red.
The knife crumpled up and hurt him; he put his finger in his mouth.
"It is not boiled enough; it is hard. You have a try Hunca Munca."

Hunca Munca stood up in her chair, and chopped at the ham with another lead knife.
"It's as hard as the hams at the cheesemonger's," said Hunca Munca.

The ham broke off the plate with a jerk, and rolled under the table.
"Let it alone," said Tom Thumb; "give me some fish, Hunca Munca!"

Hunca Munca tried every tin spoon in turn; the fish was glued to the dish.
Then Tom Thumb lost his temper. He put the ham in the middle of the floor, and hit it with the tongs and with the shovel - bang, bang, smash, smash!
The ham flew all into pieces, for underneath the shiny paint it was made of nothing but plaster!

Then there was no end to the rage and disappointment of Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca. They broke up the pudding, the lobsters, the pears, and the oranges.
As the fish would not come off the plate, they put it into the red-hot crinkly paper fire in the kitchen; but it would not burn either.

Tom Thumb went up the kitchen chimney and looked out the top - there was no soot.

While Tom Thumb was up the chimney, Hunca Munca had another disappointment. She found some tiny canisters upon the dresser, labeled "Rice," "Coffee," "Sago"; but when she turned them upside down there was nothing inside except red and blue beads.

Then those mice set to work to do all the mischief they could - especially Tom Thumb! He took Jane's clothes out of the chest of drawers in her bedroom, and he threw them out of the top-floor window.
But Hunca Munca had a frugal mind. After pulling half the feathers out of Lucinda's bolster, she remembered that she herself was in want of a feather-bed.

With Tom Thumb's assistance she carried the bolster down-stairs and across the hearth-rug. It was difficult to squeeze the bolster into the mouse-hole; but they managed it somehow.

Then Hunca Munca went back and fetched a chair, a bookcase, a bird-cage, and several small odds and ends. The bookcase and the bird-cage refused to go into the mouse-hole.

Hunca Munca left them behind with the coal-box and went to fetch a cradle.

Hunca Munca was just returning with another chair, when suddenly there was a noise of talking outside upon the landing. The mice rushed back to their hole, and the dolls came into the nursery.

What a sight met the eyes of Jane and Lucinda!
Lucinda sat upon the upset kitchen stove and stared, and Jane leaned against the kitchen dresser and smiled; but neither of them made any remark.

The bookcase and the birdcage were rescued from under the coal-box; but Hunca Munca has got the cradle and some of Lucinda's clothes.

She also has some useful pots and pans, and several other things.

The little girl that the doll's house belonged to said: "I will get a doll dressed like a policeman!"

But the nurse said: "I will set a mouse-trap!"

So that is the story of the two Bad Mice. But they were not so very, very naughty after all, because Tom Thumb paid for everything he broke.
He found a crooked sixpense under the hearth-rug; and upon Christmas Eve he and Hunca Munca stuffed it into one of the stockings of Lucinda and Jane.

And very early every morning - before anybody is awake - Hunca Munca comes with her dust-pan and her broom to sweep the Dollies' house!

THE END

MR. JEREMY FISHER

2009-05-25T00:01:00.000-07:00

THE TALE OF

MR. JEREMY FISHER

BY

BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

OHIO
UNIVERSITY
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
CENTER

ATHENS, OHIO

ONCE upon a time there was a frog called Mr. Jeremy Fisher; he lived in a little damp house amongst the buttercups at the edge of a pond.

The water was all slippy-sloppy in the larder and in the back passage.
But Mr. Jeremy liked getting his feet wet; nobody ever scolded him, and he never caught a cold!

He was quite pleased when he looked out, and saw large drops of rain, splashing in the pond -

"I will get some worms and go fishing and catch a dish of minnows for my dinner." said Mr. Jeremy Fisher. If I catch more than five fish, I will invite my friends Mr. Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise and Sir Isaac Newton. The Alderman, however, eats salad."

Mr. Jeremy put on a macintosh, and a pair of shiny galoshes; he took his rod and basket, and set off with enormous hops to the place where he kept his boat.

The boat was round and green, and very like the other lily-leaves. It was tied to a water-plant in the middle of the pond.

Mr. Jeremy took a reed pole, and pushed the boat out into open water. "I know a good place for minnows," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher.

Mr. Jeremy stuck his pole into the mud and fastened the boat to it.
Then he settled himself cross-legged and arranged his fishing tackle. He had the dearest little red float. His rod was a tough stalk of grass, his line was a fine long white horse-hair, and he tied a little wriggling worm at the end.

The rain trickled down his back, and for nearly an hour he stared at the float.
"This is getting tiresome, I think Ishould like some lunch," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher.

He punted back again amongst the water-plants, and took some lunch out of his basket.
"I will eat a butterfly sandwich, and wait till the shower is over," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher.

A great big water-beetle came up underneath the lily leaf and tweaked the toe of one of his galoshes.
Mr. Jeremy crossed his legs up shorter, out of reach, and went on eating his sandwich.

Once or twice something moved about with a rustle and a splash amongst the rushes at the side of the pond.
"I trust that is not a rat," said Mr. Jeremy Fisher; "I think I had better get away from here."

Mr. Jeremy shoved the boat out again a little way, and dropped in the bait. There was a bite almost directly; the float gave a tremendous bobbit!
"A minnow! A minnow! I have him by the nose!" cried Mr. Jeremy Fisher, jerking up his rod.

But what a horrible surprise! Instead of a smooth fat minnow, Mr. Jeremy landed little Jack Sharp the stickleback, covered with spines!

The stickleback floundered about the boat, pricking and snapping until he was quite out of breath. Then he jumped back into the water.

And a shoal of other little fishes put their heads out, and laughed at Mr. Jeremy Fisher.

And while Mr. Jeremy sat disconsolately on the edge of his boat - sucking his sore fingers and peering down into the water - a much worse thing happened; a really frightful thing it would have been, if Mr. Jeremy had not been wearing a macintosh!

A great big enormous trout came up - ker-pflop-p-p-p with a splash - and it seized Mr. Jeremy with a snap, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" - and then it turned and dived down to the bottom of the pond!

But the trout was so displeased with the taste of the macintosh, that in less than half a minute it spat him out again; and the only thing it swallowed was Mr. Jeremy's galoshes.

Mr. Jeremy bounced up to the surface of the water, like a cork and the bubbles out of a soda water bottle; and he swam with all his might to the edge of the pond.

He scrambled out on the first bank he came to, and he hopped home across the meadow with his macintosh all in tatters.

"What a mercy that was not a pike!" said Mr. Jeremy Fisher. "I have lost my rod and basket; but it does not much matter, for I am sure I should never have dared to go fishing again!"

He put some sticking plaster on his fingers, and his friends both came to dinner. He could not offer them fish, but he had something else in his larder.

Sir Isaac Newton wore his black and gold waistcoat.

And Mr. Alderman Ptolemy Tortoise brought a salad with him in a string bag.

And instead of a nice dish of minnows - they had a roasted grasshopper with lady-bird sauce; which frogs consider a beautiful treat; but I think it must have been nasty!

THE END

Mad Dog Mulligan

2009-05-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Art: Sandy Cerovich
Story and Music by: John Rickey

Thieves shook in their boots!
Robbers hid in their rooms!
Criminals obeyed the law!
Mad Dog Mulligan, the best police dog in Huskerville, was on patrol!
He was fierce and mean, and mean and fierce, and was vicious and had fangs and growled . . . and was very . . . very . . . scary . . . BUT
Mulligan loved butterflies!
And that bothered the townspeople of Huskerville.
" Butterflies are sweet and neat like sugary spice and little white mice," noted the town clerk.
" But police dogs are rough and tough and full of fighting stuff, " noticed the fire chief looking confused.
"It just doesn't fit!" declared the mayor.
"It just doesn't fit. It just doesn't mix," echoed everyone altogether.
So the townspeople marched to the police chief explaining, "Mulligan guards our town fine and true but oddly enough loves butterflies too. It just doesn't fit. It just doesn't mix."
The police chief squinted, thinking deep in thought. Then had to agree: "That's right! A police dog can't love butterflies. It just doesn't fit. It just doesn't mix. "
Shaking his head, the police chief looked at Mulligan. " You look fierce and mean, and mean and fierce, and look vicious and have fangs and growl, and look so very very scary, criminals shake at the mere sight of you!
But . . . so what! A police dog simply cannot love butterflies. It just doesn't fit. It just doesn't mix. I can't allow it! "
" GET OUT! YOU'RE FIRED!"
Mulligan ran fast and bolted to the hills. He rolled in the grass and jumped in the air. He didn't care because he was with butterflies and Mulligan loved . . .
Mulligan loved . . .
Mulligan loved . . .
Butterflies!
Back in town things were not the same.
Criminals became cruel and nasty , and nasty and cruel, and stole from people and scared people and . . . and . . . something had to be done!
The police chief called a meeting of the town's people. " We need someone who is fierce and mean, and mean and fierce, and is vicious and has fangs and growls . . . and is very very scary! "
" We need . . . the secret service? "
" No! " yelled the crowd.
" We need the army? "
" No! No! No! " yelled the crowd even louder.
"We need . . . We need . . .
We need Mulligan? "
" Yes! " the crowd thundered.
" Then you'll need lots of butterflies, " answered the police chief, " because
Mulligan loves . . .
Mulligan loves . . .
Mulligan loves . . . "
BUTTERFLIES!
Everyone rushed to Bob Buttlebee's Butterfly Boutique and bought bunches of beautiful becoming butterflies.
" We can't go to Mulligan, " everyone sighed. " No one knows where he is! "
. . . " But maybe we can get Mulligan to come to us! "
People had butterflies on their hats, butterflies on their shoes, even butterflies in their coffee mugs.
Butterflies were everywhere!
Everyone sat quietly and waited.
The police chief looked at the town's people and the town's people looked at the police chief.
Where's Mulligan?
There was a sound!
Everyone's eyes lit up! They held their breath!
and . . .
and . . .
In jumped Mulligan! He ran up the aisles and down the aisles. He licked their faces. He rolled in their laps. He jumped in the air. Because
Mulligan loved . . .
Mulligan loved . . .
Mulligan loved . . .
" Butterflies! "
" Hip, hip hooray! " everyone yelled.
" Oh Mulligan, please help us! " the town's people cried. " You're the only one who can! The criminals are everywhere! "
Mulligan bounded out the door. He picked up those robbers before their bodies could drop down a shadow.
He captured thieves like bagging popcorn.
"Hurray for Mulligan!" everyone cheered.
Mad Dog Mulligan was fierce and mean, and mean and fierce, and was vicious and had fangs and growled . . . and was very very scary
AND Mulligan loved . . .
AND Mulligan loved . . .
AND Mulligan loved . . .
BUTTERFLIES!

THE END

story of Sinbad The Sailor.

2009-05-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

Art: Amanda Penrose
Story: Brothers Grimm
Music & Adaptation: John Rickey

THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINBAD THE SAILOR

Once upon a time years and years ago in Baghdad there lived a porter called Sinbad. As he was passing a palace one day, he saw a bench in the great doorway and thought he would rest on it. So he put down his load, and was about to sit down when curiosity got the better of him and, slipping through the entrance he went into the gardens. To Sinbad it was like heaven. Everywhere there were flower beds, gushing fountains and palm trees, in whose shade many gentlemen were strolling. while pages served them with cakes and drinks. Sinbad couldn't help exclaiming aloud: "Well I never! Here I am, worked to the bone, poor and always hungry while other lucky men never carry burdens, but enjoy good food and drink. What a world of difference between me and the people who live here."

Sinbad had barely stopped speaking when one of the pages came across to him and said: "Come with me. My master wishes to speak to you." Rather alarmed, Sinbad followed the lad into a hall where the owner of the house was seated amongst his guests.

"Come in," he said. "What's your name?"

"Sinbad, the Porter."

"My name is Sinbad too. Sinbad the Sailor. I hear you've been complaining, but I'd like you to know that I became rich only by working hard and taking dreadful risks. All this during seven amazing but adventurous voyages. I haven't had an easy life, you know. Sit down and I'll tell you my story."

"My father," began Sinbad the Sailor, "was a merchant. When he died, he left me a fortune. I was young then and foolish, and I started to squander my riches until one day, I discovered my money had gone. I didn't lose heart, however, for I decided to become a merchant like my father. With the money I earned from selling my furniture and carpets I bought all the goods I could and set out. I boarded a ship at Bassora with other traders and began to trade in every port.

One day, the captain dropped anchor near a beautiful island and we went ashore. We had hardly lit the fires to cook our meal when the captain suddenly shouted; 'Quick! Get away! This is no island. It's a huge fish that's been sleeping on the waves so long that trees have grown on it. The heat from the fires is wakening it. It will dive to the deep any minute now. Back to the ship! Drop everything!'

Many managed to climb aboard again, but I was too far away and ended up in the sea. Luckily I found a floating empty barrel. Clinging to this and drifting with the winds and currents, I reached an island. As I came ashore, I saw a mare tethered to a stump. Then a man appeared and asked me: 'Who are you? Where have you come from?'

'I've been shipwrecked,' I said. The man went on: 'Follow me,' he said and took me to a cave, where he offered me some food. I told him of my adventure and he listened in amazement. I was dying to know why he kept his horse tethered at the shore.

THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINBAD THE SAILOR

'I used to be one of King Mihragian's grooms' he replied. 'When the moon is full, we tether the mares on the beach so they can meet with the sea horses. The foals that are born are so beautiful there are none like them in the whole world. This is the time of the new moon and the sea stallions arrive. When it's all over, I'll take you to the king. You're very lucky, you know, for you'd have died of hunger on this desert island if you hadn't met me.' My rescuer introduced me to his friends and they gave me a friendly welcome.

Later, back in the city, the grooms told the king about my adventure. The king took a liking to me and I was appointed harbourmaster; it was my job to keep a register of all freight in transit and so I found myself in an excellent post.

Just the same, I felt homesick, and every time a ship came in, I asked the captain if he was bound for Baghdad, for I intended to ask him for a passage home. One day, however, as I took a note of the cargo on a ship that had just tied up, I asked: 'Anything else on board?'

'Yes,' replied the captain. 'There's still a certain quantity of goods aboard. The owner was lost at sea and must have drowned. I'm going to see if I can sell them and take the money back to his family in Baghdad.'

'What was the name of the man who was lost?' I enquired.

'Sinbad the Sailor.' I let out a shout. 'I am Sinbad the Sailor! I clung to a barrel that saved my life and drifted ashore on an island. There I met the royal grooms. And it was the king himself who made me harbourmaster. The goods you're carrying on board your ship belong to me.'

'Well, what a story! I've never heard anything like it!' exclaimed the captain. 'Isn't there an honest soul left in the world?'

'Captain!' I gasped. 'Why won't you believe what I say?'

'Because it's perfectly obvious,' he replied, 'that you heard the trader had drowned and now, by inventing a ridiculous adventure, you hope to lay hands on his property!' At that point, I described to the captain every single thing that had taken place on board his ship since the moment it had weighed anchor. He was forced to believe I was telling the truth.

'Good gracious!' everyone gasped. 'We certainly never dreamt that you were safe and sound.'

I got my trading goods back and immediately thought of something precious to give to the king. He was astounded at what had happened, but everyone assured him that every word was true. He too gave me a gift and allowed me to leave with all my belongings. I went aboard. Some days later, I was at Bassora and then back to Baghdad. I had grown far richer than before and quickly forgot all my past suffering."

When Sinbad the Sailor had ended his tale, he gave Sinbad the Porter three gold coins and told him to return the next day.

THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINBAD THE SAILOR

The following day, after providing the porter and the other guests with a delicious meal, Sinbad the Sailor again began to speak.

"One day, I again had a great desire to travel. I decided to invest some of my money in trading goods and went on board ship at Bassora for my second voyage. To begin with, it was a pleasant journey. Then one day, we reached a strange desert island. Many of the passengers decided to go ashore and I sat down on the bank of a river and fell fast asleep. When I awoke there was not a soul in sight. The ship had sailed, for the captain had forgot all about me. However, I decided to climb a tree and survey the island. It was then that I discovered a great white dome.

Full of hope, I marched in the direction of the dome. but as I drew near, I realised it had no doors. The sun had not yet set and the sky was a fiery pink. Suddenly, everything went dark, as though night had fallen. I looked up and saw an enormous bird with outstretched wings, shutting out the sunlight. I remembered then of hearing about a bird so huge it fed its nestlings elephants. The bird's name was Rukh. Just then I realised that the dome was really one of Rukh's eggs. Indeed, the great bird settled on top of the egg and dropped of to sleep. I unwound my turban and twisted it to make a rope. I tied the end of it round the bird's leg so that it would carry me away with it. At the first light of dawn, the bird woke, spread its immense wings and took flight. So high did it rise into the sky that the earth almost vanished from sight, but it landed on a plateau. I undid the knot. Rukh floated down into the valley below and when he returned, it was with a large snake in his beak. Nobody lived on this plateau and, on the other side of the valley lay a mountain far too high for anyone ever to climb.

All I could do was clamber down into the valley. When I got there, I saw the ground was littered with diamonds and full of terrible snakes. I couldn't help shuddering. Luckily, the snakes were not moving about that day, for fear of Rukh, but darkness was about to fall. I found a cave and blocked the entrance with a rock.

In the morning, I left the cave and started to roam the valley searching for a way out. Suddenly I came upon the carcass of an animal. Just then I remembered once hearing the story of a doomed valley, into which diamond hunters would throw a large dead animal. The precious gems stuck to the carcass and the hunters would then wait for a vulture or eagle to appear. The bird of prey would swoop down on the meat and carry it away in its talons to the plateau above. There, the diamond hunters, shouting and yelling, forced the bird to give up its prey. With this tale in mind, I filled my pockets with diamonds then roped myself to the dead animal.

A little later, a huge eagle carried the carcass and me to the plateau. It was just about to tear into the flesh with its beak, when some men appeared, shouting loudly. The eagle flapped away and, though my clothes were bloodstained, I was alive!

I told the diamond hunters about my adventure and gave some diamonds to the man who had thrown the carcass into the valley. They all told me I was under Allah's own protection. I had come out alive from the valley of the snakes; something nobody else had ever done before. Next day, I set off homewards. I bartered some of the diamonds for goods to sell and became richer than ever. When I arrived in Baghdad, my friends and relations welcomed me with delight and, again forgetting all my trials and troubles, I went back to an easy life. And that's the tale of my second voyage.

I'll tell you about the third tomorrow. It's time to eat now," ended Sinbad the Sailor.

Sinbad the bearer of burdens had, like all those present, listened wide-eyed to this story, and again that evening, he found himself gifted another three gold coins. Of course, next day, he hurried back to the sailor's home. He sat at his side till the rich man's friends came, then they sat down to a cheerful feast. When the meal was over, Sinbad the Sailor told the tale of his third voyage.

"Rich as I was, I wanted to become even richer. So I got a passage again at Bassora, on a fine vessel, together with other merchants. One day, we ran into a fierce storm and the captain began to cry: 'The ship is out of control! The sails are in tatters! Let's hope we can find shelter in the lee of Monkey Mountain. Though the monkeys are dangerous beasts!`

Shortly after this, the ship ran aground on the shore of a strange island and, in next to no time. we were surrounded by a tribe of monkeys. About the height of a child, hairy and smelly, they rushed about as we stood there without moving a muscle, afraid of what they might do. All we could do was stand aside and watch them swarm up the masts and tear the rubber lifeboats with their sharp teeth.

THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF SINBAD THE SAILOR

Soon after, a giant wave swept the vessel out to sea, with the horrid creatures still aboard, together with all our cargo. As we wandered over the island, we caught sight of a huge castle-like building. Though very much afraid, we ventured through the gateway. The castle looked deserted, but somebody certainly lived there for, in the middle of the courtyard stood a large bench and a bonfire of logs was ablaze.

We all sank on to the bench and, overcome by fatigue, fell fast asleep. As evening came the ground began to tremble. A terrifying creature was approaching us. It was a real ogre, gigantic with fierce red eyes, long fangs like those of a wild pig, a great mouth and huge ears. The ogre grabbed me and started to prod me with his enormous hands. Luckily I was too skinny for his taste, so he chose to have a sleep. He stretched out on the bench and slept while we shrank trembling in a corner, unable to sleep a wink. Next morning, the giant went off after locking the door behind him. He soon returned and as soon as he had fallen asleep, we came to a decision: 'We must make it difficult to see!' So we put two long sticks into honey, and covered his eyes with the sticky honey. The ogre leapt to his feet with a scream, knocking us over as he did. Now blinded, he was quite unable to catch us. He fumbled his way to the door and stumbled out, screaming horribly as he went. We ran as fast as we could down to the sea and hastily made a raft out of pieces of driftwood. The raft was barely in the water when we saw the giant coming, with an even more horrible-looking giantess.

They started to hurl great rocks at us, and we were hit more than once. Before we could escape their reach, they had managed to scare all my companions into a nearby floating log. Though by now our raft was scarcely afloat, it carried the remaining three of us to another island. Not knowing where we were, we roamed all day, meeting no-one at all, and fell sound asleep when night fell.

It was not a peaceful night, however. A giant snake crept up and scared one of my friends so he swam off the island. The snake then curled up and went to sleep. Shaking with terror, my remaining companion and I climbed a tree. Thinking he was sure to be safe there, my friend settled down in the lowest forked branch. This was to save my life. For the snake later finding the poor man, made him scream and run right off the island onto a passing log. The snake seemed upset and didn't go any further. I didn't see how I could ever get away from this place alive. However, I had an idea. Picking up the planks lying round about, I tied one under my feet, another on each side, one along my stomach, another at my back and the last as a roof over my head. This gave me a sort of armour. When, late that night, the snake did its best to scare me, it could not, no matter how hard it tried. My wooden armour withstood the crushing. The reptile squeezed and squeezed till dawn. but as the sun came up, it wearily gave up and slithered away. I untied the planks and set off in search of food. My wanderings took me to the tip of the island, high above the sea. As I sat there, downhearted, staring at the water, I saw a ship sail past only a few hundred yards from the shore. The crew heard my cries and I was safe at last. I was hoisted aboard, fed and clothed and later I told them my amazing tale, which naturally astonished those who heard it. A fair wind swept us safely into the port of Salahita.

The captain then said to me: 'You're a poor unfortunate stranger here, but I'd like to give you another chance. This ship is carrying a batch of goods belonging to one of the passengers who vanished on a desert island. Nothing has ever been heard of him again. I'm going to sell these articles and take the money back to his family. If you like, you can try selling them. I'll give you a commission on what you manage to sell.'

I thanked the captain for his kindness; I was desperately in need. However, the bosun who was busy listing the cargo, asked a question: 'Captain,' he said, 'what name do I put on these goods?'

'Mark them as Sinbad the Sailor's. That's the name of the man who disappeared. '

'But I'm Sinbad the Sailor!' I exclaimed. 'And I didn't disappear at all. I fell asleep on the island and when I awoke, you had all gone. These are my goods. The diamond hunters I met on the mountain, to whom I told my tale, will vouch for all this.'

The crowd of seamen and merchants that had clustered round to listen, began to murmur amongst themselves. Some believed my words, others swore I was a liar. Suddenly, however, on hearing the words 'diamond hunters', one of the merchants came up to me and, after a good stare, exclaimed: 'Do you remember when I told you all about the man roped to the carcass I threw into Diamond Valley? Well, this is him! I know his face. Everything he says is true.'

At that, the captain sharply demanded: 'What marks do your goods have on them? Which are they?' I told him and he too realised that I was none other than Sinbad. That's how I got my belongings back and was able to go on trading as though nothing had happened. When I returned home, I saw that I was even richer than before. That's all I have to tell about my third voyage," Sinbad said, "but if you come back tomorrow, I'll describe the fourth one."

childrens storybook of Cinderella.

2009-05-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

Cinderella

Once upon a time... there lived an unhappy young girl. Unhappy she was, for her mother was dead, her father had married another woman, a widow with two daughters, and her stepmother didn't like her one little bit. All the nice things, kind thoughts and loving touches were for her own daughters. And not just the kind thoughts and love, but also dresses, shoes, shawls, delicious food, comfy beds, as well as every home comfort. All this was laid on for her daughters.

But, for the poor unhappy girl, there was nothing at all. No dresses, only her stepsisters' hand-me-downs. No lovely dishes, nothing but scraps. No nice rests and comfort. For she had to work hard all day, and only when evening came was she allowed to sit for a while by the fire, near the cinders. That is how she got her nickname, for everybody called her Cinderella.

Cinderella used to spend long hours all alone talking to the cat. The cat said, "Miaow", which really meant, "Cheer up! You have something neither of your stepsisters have and that is beauty."

Cinderella sighed at the cat, "Oh dear, I'm so unhappy!" and the cat murmured "Miaow".

Suddenly something amazing happened. In the kitchen, where Cinderella was sitting all by herself, there was a burst of light and a fairy appeared. "Don't be alarmed, Cinderella," said the fairy. "The wind blew me your sighs. I know you would love to go to the ball. And so you shall!"

"How can I, dressed in rags?" Cinderella replied. "The servants will turn me away!"

The fairy smiled. With a flick of her magic wand... Cinderella found herself wearing the most beautiful dress, the loveliest ever seen in the realm. "Now that we have settled the matter of the dress," said the fairy, "we'll need to get you a coach. A real lady would never go to a ball on foot! Quick! Get me a pumpkin!" she ordered.

"Oh of course," said Cinderella, rushing away. Then the fairy turned to the cat. "You, bring me seven mice!"

"Seven mice!" said the cat. "I didn't know fairies ate mice too!"

"They're not for eating, silly! Do as you are told!... and, remember they must be alive!"

Cinderella soon returned with a fine pumpkin and the cat with seven mice he had caught in the cellar. "Good!" exclaimed the fairy. With a flick of her magic wand... wonder of wonders! The pumpkin turned into a sparkling coach and the mice became six white horses, while the seventh mouse turned into a coachman, in a smart uniform and carrying a whip. Cinderella could hardly believe her eyes.

"I shall present you at Court. You will soon see that the Prince, in whose honour the ball is being held, will be enchanted by your loveliness. But remember! You must leave the ball at midnight and come home. For that is when the spell ends. Your coach will turn back into a pumpkin, the horses will become mice again and the coachman will turn back into a mouse... and you will be dressed again in rags and wearing clogs instead of these dainty little slippers! Do you understand?" Cinderella smiled and said, "Yes, I understand!"

When Cinderella entered the ballroom at the palace, a hush fell. Everyone stopped in mid-sentence to admire her elegance, her beauty and grace. "Who can that be?" people asked each other. The two stepsisters also wondered who the newcomer was, for never in a month of Sundays, would they ever have guessed that the beautiful girl was really poor Cinderella who talked to the cat!

When the prince set eyes on Cinderella, he was struck by her beauty. Walking over to her, he bowed deeply and asked her to dance. And to the great disappointment of all the young ladies, he danced with Cinderella all evening. "Who are you, fair maiden?" the Prince kept asking her.

But Cinderella only replied: "What does it matter who I am! You will never see me again anyway."

"Oh, but I shall, I'm quite certain!" he replied.

Cinderella had a wonderful time at the ball... But, all of a sudden, she heard the sound of a clock: the first stroke of midnight! She remembered what the fairy had said, and without a word of goobye she slipped from the Prince's arms and ran down the steps. As she ran she lost one of her slippers, but not for a moment did she dream of stopping to pick it up! If the last stroke of midnight were to sound... oh... what a disaster that would be! Out she fled and vanished into the night.

The Prince, who was now madly in love with her, picked up her slipper and said to his ministers, "Go and search everywhere for the girl whose foot this slipper fits. I will never be content until I find her!" So the ministers tried the slipper on the foot of all the girls... and on Cinderella's foot as well... Surprise! The slipper fitted perfectly.

"That awful untidy girl simply cannot have been at the ball," snapped the stepmother. "Tell the Prince he ought to marry one of my two daughters! Can't you see how ugly Cinderella is! Can't you see?"

Suddenly she broke off, for the fairy had appeared. "That's enough!" she exclaimed, raising her magic wand.

In a flash, Cinderella appeared in a splendid dress,shining with youth and beauty. Her stepmother and stepsisters gaped at her in amazement, and the ministers said, "Come with us, fair maiden! The Prince awaits to present you with his engagement ring!" So Cinderella joyfully went with them, and lived happily ever after with her Prince.

And as for the cat, he just said "Miaow"!

The End

Anon.

Read a story about hugs with your name

2009-05-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

There once was a little boy named tamer.
tamer loved to be hugged. Especially by his mom and dad.
But sometimes his mom and dad were just too busy.
tamer needed a hug badly today.
He felt very lonely.
tamer noticed that his stuffed animals got lots of hugs, so he wanted to be a stuffed animal.
That night tamer dreamed he was a stuffed animal

First tamer dreamed he was a dog with lots of warm cuddly hair.
But when tamer was a dog,
he got fleas!tamer had never had fleas before and lost all his hair.
This was awful!
So tamer dreamed another dream, still wanting a hug

He dreamed he was a cat that loved to purr and be hugged.
Until a dog appeared and ran after him, snapping his large sharp teeth.
tamer had never been chased by an angry dog.
This was scary!
So tamer quickly dreamed another dream, still wanting a hug

tamer finally dreamed he was a lamb that was soft and woolly. Surely this would be just right for a hug.
But a farmer came and cut off all of tamer's wool.
tamer had never been so cold.
It was freezing!
Feeling cold and lonely, tamer needed a hug more than ever

tamer felt a gentle tap on one shoulder.
Then he felt a tap on the other shoulder.
tamer began to wake up.
A big smile came across tamer's face. He felt very warm inside. Everything was all right
because....

tamer was getting the best hugs from his mom and dad! First dad wanted a hug.
Then mom wanted a hug. Then dad wanted a hug! tamer went back and forth enjoying the hugs.
Finally tamer said, 'Please! I need my sleep. I'll give more hugs in the morning!'
Mom and dad said Good night and tamer went happily to sleep.
This time tamer had a big smile on his face and could hardly wait till the morning.
FOR MORE HUGS!

The End
Try a self marking interactive quiz on this Story.

Don't Count Rhinoceroses!

2009-05-22T12:21:00.000-07:00

Back to Room 108.

Don't Count Rhinoceroses
Text and music: John Rickey
Animation: Amanda Penrose

Emma was a doddler. 'Slow and puddly' people called her. It just seemed no one waited for her and she was always left behind. It made her lonely, so she often sat in her special place, her bedroom, wondering,"If only I had a friend."
Although Emma didn't have any friends, she had the best bedroom in town.
Her room was perfect! Well almost perfect. The only thing it didn't have was a Teddy Bear to hug.

So when night time came and she couldn't sleep, she counted the sheep on the barnyard wallpaper in her room. There was sheep on the ceiling, on the wall, even on the door. It was great having barnyard wallpaper.
She'd count, "one sheep." Her eyes would roll.
"Two sheep." She'd hear a gentle baa.
"Three sheep." Her eyes would blink.
"Four sheep." Emma was snoring, dreaming about cuddling a warm woolly sheep.

But one day, her mom announced, "I bought you something special!"
"Is it a puppy?" asked Emma.
"No," said her mom.
"Oh I wish I had a puppy!" dreamed Emma. "I'd love to hug a puppy. He'd be such a good friend."
Emma thought for a minute then asked,"Is it a raccoon?"
"Why no," said her mom raising her eyebrows.
"Oh I'd love to have a raccoon for a friend," sighed Emma.
Her mom interrupted,"I bought new wallpaper for your room."
Emma's eyes lit up, then sank deep into a rolling frown.

"Yes," continued her mom. "I bought you jungle wallpaper. I'll put it right up so you can get to bed with your new wallpaper."
Emma's mom had it done in no time and yelled out to Emma,"Bedtime! Or should I say Jungle Time!"
"Oh no!" grumbled Emma.
Her mom smiled,"Look at all the wild animals around you now. You'll love it! There's Rhinoceroses, monkeys, kangaroos and even elephants!"
Emma put on her PJ's and went to bed with a funny feeling.Without sheep on the wall she'd have to try counting a new animal. A jungle animal.

"Brrrrrrr."shivered Emma as she thought about it.
Nevertheless, looking on the wall, she chose rhinoceroses and began counting:
"One rhinoceros."
"RRRRRoar" a giant rhino rumbled through the room.
"Two rhinoceroses."
"RRRRRoar" . . ."RRRRRoar."
Two rhinos rangled the room.
"Three rhinoceroses."
"RRRRRoar" . . ."RRRRRoar." . . ."RRRRRoar."
Emma dived under her covers and hugged her pillow.

Finally everything went quiet. In the silence she heard a whimper.
Something waddled across the room and sat in a corner. Peaking through a hole in one of her covers, Emma saw a little bear with tears in his eyes.
The bear whimpered, "No one ever waits for me. They always run ahead and leave me. No one waits for me . They're not my friend."
Emma perked up and smiled ,"I'll be your friend!"
Bear hobbled over to the bed and snuggled up to Emma. He had never had such wonderful hugs. But bear and Emma couldn't sleep. So they looked on the wall, took a deep gulp and tried counted animals on the jungle wallpaper again.

"One rhinoceros."
"RRRRRoar" a giant rhino rumbled through the room.

"Two monkeys."
"EEEEEk!" ... "EEEEEk!"...squeaked two monkeys swinging on the lights and whipping bananas at Emma and Bear.

"Three Kangaroos!"
"BBBBBoing!"..."BBBBBoing!"..."BBBBBoing!" bounced three kangaroos off their bed doing somersaults out the window.

"Four elephants!"
"Bing Bang gaching gabobble!" thundered four elephants stampeding through the room.

After the dust settled, a baby raccoon slowly hobbled in. He looked at bear and Emma then turned around and sat under the bed.
"No one ever waits for me," he whimpered. "They always leave me behind. No one is my friend."
Emma got out of her bed, bent down to the raccoon and pleaded ,"Please don't cry. Stay in my bed. I'll look after you."
Emma gave such wonderful hugs. Bear and raccoon felt so happy but Emma still couldn't sleep. She was about to try counting rhinoceroses again when bear interrupted,"Please don't count rhinoceroses, they're too scary and noisy. Count something like puppies.Please!"
"But there's none on the wallpaper." complained Emma "I know' answered bear, "But lets close our eyes and imagine there's puppies."

They counted:
One puppy.....
"Arf" . . .
Two puppies...
"Arf" . . ."Arf" . . .
Three puppies...
"Lick". . ."Lick". . ."Lick". . .
Four puppies...
"Cuddle". . ."Cuddle". . ."Cuddle". . ."Cuddle". . .
Five puppies..
"Szzzzz" . . ."Szzzzz" . . ."Szzzzz" . . .

The End

Animations: Copyright Amanda Penrose 1997.
Story and music: Copyright John Rickey 1997.
Meet the author
Meet the illustrator

The Living Sandcastle

2009-05-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Living Sand Castle &copyStory & Music by: John Rickey &copyAnimations by Amanda Penrose.

Zachariah Thumblemyer lived with his mom at the edge of Huckleberry Beach.
Zack was sort of smart but somewhat forgetful, although he never forgot to ask his mom to read Jack and The Beanstalk. He loved that story and asked his mom to read it often.
But reading the same story, she became bored.
One hot summer day Zack begged his mom one more time, "Please read Jack and The Beanstalk?"
"No!" she answered, "Go to Huckleberry Beach and read it yourself."

Excited, he scooted to Huckleberry Beach and began reading. However a truck unloaded a huge pile of sand beside him.
"Be quiet!" yelled Zack."I'm reading!"
The truck left, but people gathered to build a sandcastle. Zack was in their way, so they yelled,"Quit reading and help us build a sandcastle!"
"I don't know," replied Zack."I'm reading my favourite story, Jack and the Beanstalk."

"Come on kid! I'll help," yelled a lady with a bulldozer.
She smiled with a funny kind of smile then continued,"This beach really needs some magic. I mean sandcastles."

Reluctantly, Zack agreed to help and soon they built the biggest sandcastle one could imagine. It towered into the clouds but gave Zack a funny feeling.
"Sh! . . . What's that?" whispered Zack. "Thump! Thump! Thump!"
Something huge stood at the front door and roared: "Fee Fi Fo Fum I smell the . . . " "Help!"
Everyone ran away, except Zack who buried his head in the sand.

A hideous giant burst open the door. Snarling like a mad dog, he pointed right at Zack.
"You!"
Zack poked his head out and stuttered.
"M.. M.. Me?"
"Yes you!" the giant's voice thundered."I'd know you anywhere Jack and the Beanstalk! You stole my gold. Now give it back!"
"Ah . . . Ah . . . Ah . . . ," stammered Zack, "My name is Zack not Jack. I just came to read my . . . "

Before he could finish, the giant scooped him up and returned to his castle.
He tossed Zack into a large cage, and ate his dinner.
"I'll eat you later," he said with a belch.
Zack fell on his knees and begged,"Spare me! Spare me!"
The giant dragged his chair closer and demanded, "Then give me my gold!"
Zack pleaded,"I'm Zack not Jack. Jack's the one that took your gold."

But Zack's pleading only infuriated the giant who roared even louder making Zack weep. Each tear though softened the giant's heart till he mellowed and said,"I'll give you one day but if by sundown you haven't found my gold, I'll keep you forever."

Zack left the giant and frantically searched the castle.
Soon he found the window Jack had entered. Surprisingly a thick spider web still stretched to the chopped beanstalk far below. Although heights made Zack dizzy, he wrapped his legs and hands around a strand of the web and slid down.

At the bottom, beside the ragged beanstalk, was a busy store called 'Jack's Bean Store'.
Zack observed that Jack was rich but very tough. He even had a gang of thugs.
Nervously entering the store, Zack found Jack selling beans. Zack explained his problem to Jack.Then pleaded,"Give me the gold! I know you took it! I've read your story!" "The gold is mine and mine alone," yelled Jack."Get out or I'll throw you in jail!"
Bewildered, Zack left the store sadly."I'll never get the giant's gold," he whimpered.

Shuffling along the road, his stomach burned with hunger.
Shortly he met a beautiful woman carrying a potful of stew. Smelling the scrumptious meal, he begged,"could you spare but a morsel?"
But the women warned, "Food I can give you but your safety is rare. With Jack as my husband, you need to be scared. Leave quick! Or you'll be seen by my husband who's mean!"
Everything seeming hopeless, Zack wept bitterly.
Fortunately, Jack's wife having a kind heart, felt sorry for Zack, and recanted saying, "Come on in. I'll give you a meal. But beware of my husband! His thugs will chop you up like the beanstalk."

Although scared, Zack's stomach cried louder than his trembling hands. So he entered the house and ate.
No sooner had he gobbled down the meal, when a bang came at the door. "Gracious me!" screamed Jack's wife. "It's my husband!"
Frightened out of his skin, Zack leaped into the oven and peeked through the door.
Jack and his thugs rushed into the room and demanded,"whose plate is this?"
"No one," laughed his wife nervously."Now sit, eat and forget such nonsense."
Believing his wife, Jack told his thugs to leave and ate a good meal. Then comfortably sitting back ordered,"Fetch me my gold!"
His wife quickly brought him five bags of gold and laid them at his feet. Zack peeked through the door and spied Jack selfishly count it. Piling the gold high, Jack tired, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Zack desperately needed the gold so he crept carefully from the oven and tiptoed over to Jack.As quickly and quietly as he could, Zack grabbed a bag and fled out the door. Running all the way to the web though, Zack weakened. Nevertheless he pushed himself and dragged the gold up.

Finally arriving before the giant, he collapsed. "
Where's my gold?" bellowed the giant."You're late!"
With bulging muscles, Zack threw the gold at the giant's feet, then fainted exhausted to the floor.
When Zack awoke, he saw the giant sleeping by his bags of gold. Zack stared at the gold sparkling in the twilight. He dreamed of being rich. Zack decided to steal Jack's gold.
Like a hunting tiger, he crawled along the floor. Snatching a bag of gold, he slung it over his shoulder and raced for the door. But the bag had a hole and the gold clanged noisily to the floor.

The giant woke up at once and roared like a lion.
Zack, realizing his efforts were in vain, dropped the bag and dashed out the castle door with the giant close behind.
"Fee Fi Fo Fum!" boomed the giant."I'll crush your bones!"
Zack climbed up the walls of the castle. Being a good climber, he reached the top quickly. Zack looked down and saw the giant plodding up after him.
"Come and get me if you can," teased Zack with a plan.
The giant growled and worked his way faster to the top while Zack climbed silently down the other side.
Zack leaped to the ground, as the giant stood snorting out of breath, on the castle's top.

However that was right where Zack wanted him for he grabbed a water hose and hit the bottom of the castle with bursting gushes of water. Each gush chopped a gaping hole into the bottom of the castle. He chopped and chopped till the walls began to crumble.
Teetering back and forth, the mighty giant fell into collapsing sand. The castle flattened into an enormous pancake of mud and the giant began to melt.

He swirled around and around in a tornado of spinning colours, then disappeared into the sand.
Zack couldn't believe it. He looked at the glistening sand and listened to the splashing waves. Huckleberry Beach was back.
"Finally no more sandcastles or giants!" sighed Zack as he flopped into his lawnchair and picked up his storybook.
Instantly Zack slammed the book shut."I'm never reading Jack and the Beanstalk!" he said with a shiver.
Zack left and went home very frightened, especially to read.

In time though, he missed reading and returned to Huckleberry Beach. This time he chose a story with no giants. A safe story. A story about a little girl with a red hood, visiting her grandma.
"Surely nothing could go wrong with this story?"

"Tornado Alley"

2009-05-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

There's a little island in the middle of the ocean. It was a crowded island , but worse than crowded, it was poor. Its three inhabitants, a farmer, a gardener and a butler, knew nothing of richness nor even the kingdoms that thrived in their distance. Their meager existence consisted of a horse, a cow and some flowers.

The farmer living on the right of the island, loved his cow and drank it's delicious milk daily.

The gardener living on the left of the island, inhaled the fragrant perfumes of his beautiful flowers.

The butler living in the middle, rode wild and free on his marvellous horse.

The inhabitants were content, at least at first. For each knew nothing else but their one possession. Unfortunately, this changed one day when a large tornado named Windy-Lou blew in from the sea.

She twisted and turned, roaming the island often. So often, the islands three inhabitants made it law that whatever blows on your property, stays on your property and is yours to keep. This made for some interesting situations, for the inhabitants were blown either the cow, the horse or the flowers. One thing was for sure, they could always count on getting one of them. The farmer and gardener liked the change and spent their entire day waiting for Windy-Lou.

The butler on the other hand loved whatever blew his way. When he owned the cow, he sighed, " delicious, scrumptious, there's nothing smoother than cool delectable milk! " He'd hold a glass high, then gulp it down like a delicious waterfall.

When he owned the flowers, he'd take a deep breath and whisper, "Oh what elegant fragrances! I feel I'm inhaling happiness itself! " Closing his eyes, he savoured their enticing perfumes.

When he owned the horse, he'd wash and groom her till she glistened in the crystal sky, then ride in the breeze to his heart's content. Happy to be alive he smiled and prayed, " Thank-you God for blessing me. I am healthy, have food and am warm. I have all I truly need! "

Windy-Lou's winds kept the farmer and gardener happy, blowing things back and forth. Although they never seemed truly happy but rather looked over the fence at their neighbour, the butler, jealous of his happiness.

One day windy-Lou grew old and tired and retreated to the high mountains for a long needed rest. The farmer, gardener and butler were stuck with what had blown their way. The farmer receiving the cow moaned, "Where is Windy-Lou? I'm sick of milk. All I ever drink around here is milk, milk, milk."

Eyeing his neighbour, the butler, he schemed, "if only I had his horse. I could ride again like the wind."

The gardener receiving the flowers grumbled, "Where is Windy-Lou?" I'm sick of smelling flowers. All I ever do is smell flowers, flowers, flowers. "Eyeing the butler, he too schemed, "if only I had his horse, I could ride again like the wind."

The gardener and farmer looked at each other. Each could tell by their sinister eyes they were thinking alike. So they plotted that night to take the horse.

Nevertheless, evil words being lighter than good words, spread like feathers and floated to the ears of Windy-Lou high in the mountains. Windy-Lou quickly descended to see where evil was stirring. Blowing soft winds into the island, she discovered the butler's contentment but became enraged by the farmer and gardener's sinister plot.

"Swish! Swosh! Swooze!
Here jealousy abrews!
I'll fix those two just right.
I'll suck them up and blow them far.
To lands beyond the nearest star."

Her heart did stir and the wind did roar and round and round she came
She first blew left and then blew right,
Then with a twist took aim.

Windy-Lou seeing the farmer and the gardener had already started stealing, twisted even harder, sucking the farmer, the gardener and all they had. In her rage she even sucked up distant kingdoms with riches and armies. Unfortunately, it took all Windy-Lou's strength to carry her load and soon she tired, happily dropping everything on the butler's land.

The butler hearing the heavy thud rushed from his house. He couldn't believe it. The butler, the farmer, kingdoms, even armies, they were all his. Soldiers took post around their new king. The butler was truly rich and powerful.
The farmer and gardener kneeled before him, his slaves. The butler though, just like before, took pleasure in what he had.

On the other hand, the farmer and gardener still grumbled and jealously snickered thinking, "It won't be long before Windy-Lou will blow these kingdoms to our land again." Little did they know that Windy-Lou, exhausted from carrying the extra load, would never blow again but rested happily in the mountains knowing justice had been done.
The End

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# "The Snakeman"

2009-05-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

Illustrating: Matthew Manceau
Text: John Rickey

Snakes! Snakes! Snakes!

Bj knew more about snakes than anyone.That's why people called him 'The Snakeman'. That's all he ever thought about! That's all he ever did!

When other kids played tag, he caught snakes. When other kids watched cartoons, he watched 'Snake World'. Even when other kids were fast asleep, dreaming about things like baseball, roller skating or chocolate coated ice cream, he was smiling, talking in his sleep about snakes!

All the kids thought he was weird and stayed away.
"Let's face it," they said, "snakes are yuck! . . . and Bj is double yuck! "

What made things worse, he failed at school too.
Like math, his teacher Miss Beetlebottom asked him, "If three bunnies follow six bunnies into a hole, how many bunnies are together?"

Bj squinted, trying to rev his brain. He thought, "Bunnies? Bunnies? What do I know about bunnies? Ask me what's bigger than a boa constrictor! Ask me what's deadlier than a gaboon viper! But don't ask me about bunnies!"

The bell rang. Everyone laughed, just like they always did.
But one day , the laughing stopped. Matter of fact, things got serious.
It all started during story writing when Miss Beetlebottom announced,"I want you to write a story about butterflies. Just let your imaginations go wild!
Let's have lots of flitter flutter!

Right away, everyone started writing . . . everyone but Bj!
Scratching his head, he stared at blank sheet. He could imagine a sidewinder in the desert. He could imagine a sea snake in the ocean but nothing came when he thought flitter flutter!

Miss Beetlebottom looking at Bj, shook her head.

As the bell rang for recess, Miss Beetlebottom snapped, "You're not moving till I see a butterfly story!"
Bj lowered his head. All the kids chuckled and left the room.

Entering the schoolyard though, they froze in terror! A brown mottled snake stood like a deadly cobra, ready to strike!
Miss Beetlebottom hearing the children's cries, rushed into the schoolyard.
However merely seeing the snake, she fainted to the ground...ka-plop!

Principal Bouregard, better known as 'Bulldog Bouregard', realizing something was wrong, bounded into the schoolyard.
But he just screamed and ran back to his office.
He hid under his desk shaking, then fortunately had a glimmer of courage and called the Fire Department.

The fire department arrived quickly with sirens blowing and bells clanging. They were ready for action!
Seeing the snake though, no one would get off the truck. For the snake circled, flaunting a gaping mouth of razor sharp teeth. Rising, ready to strike it hissed everyone into s-s-silent, s-s-scared, s-s-submission.

The school was in trouble. Was there anyone who could help?
Finally little Annie Sue broke the silence. With knees rattling, she whispered, "how about Bj? You know, 'The Snakeman' . Maybe he can help!"
The kids looked at each other and nodded, "yeah! How about Bj, 'The snakeman'? He knows everything about snakes!"

Miss Beetlebottom hearing the end of the conversation, pushed herself up half dazed and muttered,
"He's in the classroom," then fainted again to the ground.

Quickly a brave firefighter leaped off the truck.
Finding Bj at his desk, the firefighter explained, "son I don't know why, but everyone thinks you can help.Come on! There's a cobra outside!"
"Did you say cobra?" asked Bj with a funny sort of a smile.
"Why y-y-yes!" stuttered the firefighter.

Bj strutted confidently across the schoolyard.
He faced the cobra head on, their eyes locking into a visual death grip. Swiftly the cobra spread it's majestic head, till it became gigantic, . . .circling . . . taking aim! . . .

Everyone gasped!

Then Bj with one lightning lunge, grabbed the snake with pin point accuracy and triumphantly held its limp lifeless body in the air.

"Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip,
hooray!" everyone cheered.

The principal emerged from under his desk and shook Bj's hand. The firefighters gave Bj a medal. The kids gave Bj a humongous hug. Even Miss Beetlebottom waking up groggy, had enough strength to wave her hanky and say, "very good Bj."

From that day on, things were different!
In math, Miss Beetlebottom asked, "Bj! If three snakes follow six snakes into a hole, how many snakes are together?"
Bj shot out the answer nine . . . The class clapped.

In story writing, Miss Beetlebottom asked the class to write about . . . not butterflies . . . but snakes.
Bj rattled off a five page story

. . . The class loved it!

Projects, Speeches, Art: everything was "Snakes! Snakes! Snakes!"
But the best was Show and Tell. Particularly when it was Bj's turn. Everyone thought live snakes were awesome,

. . . except Miss Beetlebottom!

Ps. The schoolyard snake was not a cobra but a harmless hognosed snake. It wouldn't hurt a fly. Although it is very good at acting, especially like a cobra and especially at playing dead!
However, that's something only a snake expert like Bj would know.
Now don't tell anyone!
Let's keep it our little secret.

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One Hundred and Twenty Loose Teeth.

2009-05-21T23:49:00.000-07:00


Art: Calli Soules Story:John Rickey

Milt wanted a bike. Not a normal bike, one with turbo power, mag wheels and laser jets. He had only one problem. It cost a hundred and twenty dollars!

He looked in his piggybank.
"Bummer!" There was only five cents!

He looked under his bed.
"PU!" There was only two cents and one moldy banana.

He emptied his pockets.
"Yuck!" There was only one cent and three squashed worms.
Milt shook his head, "I have only seven cents, one moldy banana and three squashed worms!
I need more money!"

First he went to his very busy mother.
"Would you have a teeny weeny, nothing to it job, I might do . . . for money?"
"Well . . . " said his mother, "There is a teeny weeny, nothing to it job, you might do."
"Oh yes, yes yes!" smiled Milt with big round eyes, "What is it?"
"You could . . . clean the kitchen, vacuum the rug, wash the car, scrub the floor and paint the house."
"Oooooooo!" sighed Milt. "No thanks!"

Next, he hit on his dad, who was busy splitting logs.
"Would you have a teeny weeny, nothing to it, job I might do . . . for money?"
Scratching his head and out of breath, his dad wheezed, "Well, there is a teeny weeny, nothing to it job, you might do."
Milt perked up, "Oh yes, yes, yes! What is it?"
"Pile some wood."
"How many pieces?" asked Milt.
"Oh, about 5,257,128."
"Ooooo!" sighed Milt. "No thanks!"

Giving up ever finding a way to earn money, Milt walked sadly to school where he met Henry,his best bud.
"Why the sad face?" asked Henry. "Did you blow up the dog house?"
"Nope!"
"Did you eat spider stew?"
"Nope!"
"Well, what is it?"
"I need 120 bucks to buy a bike," said Milt despondently.
"Oh, is that all" laughed Henry. "That's simple! Put a tooth under your pillow at night and the toothfairy 'll leave you a buck."
"But I need 120 bucks!" yelled Milt. "Then put 120 teeth under your pillow!" explained Henry.

"Wow!" smiled Milt. "I like this toothfairy!"
But thinking for a moment, he wondered, "Where am I going to get 120 teeth? I don't even have one loose tooth! I don't even know how to pull a tooth out!"
"I don't know," bumbled Henry. "But your dad will. He's probably lost tons of teeth."

Milt rushed home. "Dad, how do I pull a tooth out? Better still, how do I pull 120 teeth out?"
"Simple!" bragged his dad. "Tie all your teeth to a door, slam the door, and presto, out comes your teeth!"
"Hmmm!" said Milt raising his eyebrows. "Good idea!"
Milt tied his teeth to a door, then slammed it hard.

But the door slammed off the wall!
Milt's sister turned the corner just in time to see what happened. She laughed, then teased, "if you really want to lose some teeth, pick a fight with Boom Boom Puddlegut." He'll sure punch your teeth out!
Although Milt couldn't stand his sister, he knew she was probably right.

The next day, ready to start a fight, Milt found Boom Boom in the school yard.
He thought of some nasty entangling words, . . . cleared his throat, . . . made a big smile showing all his teeth, then shouted, "Boom Boom, you have purple spotted underwear, smelly socks and you ... pick... your... nose!" Boom Boom's eye's burned like fire. His ears steamed. His muscles bulged.
He clenched his fists, took aim, and . . .

. . . missed, giving Milt a black eye!
. . . and a fast trip to the principal's office, better known as 'The black hole of Principal Elliot T. McGumrot!'

Trembling outside the tall ominous door, Milt wondered, "Will I be suspended? Will I be thrown in jail? Will I be on death row?"
Milt burst into a flood of tears.
Everyone felt sorry for Milt.(Even Principal McGumrot)

Finally the big door creaked open. "Step this way," called Principal McGumrot.

First he yelled.

Then he stomped his feet.

Then he banged his fists on the table shouting, "I'm not putting up with this!"
Slamming the door, he walked out of the room and whispered to his secretary, "quick get each class to send any loose teeth to the office."
Students lined up eagerly, wiggling, jiggling and yanking out teeth.

Milt's stomach churned as old Gumrot returned to his office . . . with a box!
"What's in the box?" wondered Milt. "Was it a tarantula? Was it a barbed wire strap? Was it a fold out electric chair?"
Gumrot bent down and looked him straight in the eye. "It seems there's only one thing I can do."
"W..W.. What's that?" stuttered Milt.
"Give you this box," replied Gumrot with a funny twinkle in his eye."
"Give me this box?" echoed Milt.
"Yes!" repeated old Gumrot. "Give you this box."
Puzzled, Milt carefully took the box and opened it slowly.

A big smile beamed across his face. He'd never seen so many teeth.
He hugged the principal! He hugged the students! He yelled, "Yeah hoo!" And bolted out the door.

The second he got home, he donned his striped pajamas, jumped into bed and piled the teeth under his pillow. Although it made his pillow lumpy, Milt quickly fell asleep dreaming about mag wheels, laser jets and speed bikes.

Early next morning, a blast shook the neighbourhood. Everyone rushed outside, their jaws dropping in amazement.
Rocket burns singed the air . . tire burns gouged their lawns . . and something whizzed by.
"What happened?" everyone wondered. Thinking for a moment, they all looked at Milt's parents, "Where's Milt?"

Suddenly something zoomed again past the house.
"If that's Milt, he can fix my lawn!" yelled a neighbour.
If that's Milt, he can clear away this smoke," shouted another.
"If that's Milt, ... He's in trouble!" warned his parents. No one could be sure. It moved too fast. If it was Milt, no one could see him, . . at least not clearly.
But if you looked carefully and moved your eyes quickly, you might see a speeding blur of striped pajamas, mag wheels, laser jets . . and someone yelling, "Yeah hoo!", with a great big smile!
The End
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Baby Jason

2009-05-21T23:40:00.000-07:00

Art: Margaret Krakowiak
Story and Music by: John Rickey

It was spring in Cedar Valley and the flowers bloomed and the song birds sang.
"Would you like to have a baby?" asked Joe, looking at Mary with dreamy eyes.
"Oh yes!"said Mary. "Babies are so cute and cuddly"

Mary and Joe went to the hospital.
As they walked down the hall, Joe smiled at Mary with a twinkle in his eye. "I can feel it now, our baby will be sweeter than honey on a morning rose."

Mary looked at Joe. Joe looked at Mary. . . but as they got closer to the room, Mary's eyes sparkled.

Joe and Mary's joy melted to wrinkles of worry.
But as Joe listened, his face brightened...
"I think I hear a little gurgle."

Joe and Mary burst into the room, looking anxiously in the baby's basket.
"What happened?" questioned Joe with his mouth dropping to his shoes.
" Oh my!" shrieked Mary turning red.

Jason stood up and grooved, " Like -ah what's to eat Big Mama and Papa?"

"How dare you talk to us like that!" scolded Mary and Joe."Sit down! Or I'll. . ."
"Like-ah, cool it big Mama and Papa," interrupted Jason."I got a call on line one."

Jason grabbed the phone and started talking:
"Is this Joe's Pizza House?
Yeah! I want 200 Pizzas. I'll pick them up in a minute
Lay me five.
Jive Clive!"

"Give me that phone!" yelled Joe and Mary.
But Jason quickly jumped on the bed doing three somersaults to fly out the window and land in a super sports car.

Jason sped down the road to get his pizzas only to be stopped by a police officer.
"Slow down!" warned the police officer.
"I'll go as fast as I want to."argued Jason.

The police officer didn't know what to do. He had never arrested a baby before.
So he took Jason to Principal McGumrot at Black Gully Public School. He was tough and rough and didn't take any back talk from anyone.

"He talked rudely to us!" complained Jason's parents, joining the police officer.
"What have you to say for yourself?" growled McGumrot.
"I am but a teeny, weeny baby and no one has told me how to talk," replied Jason, sweeter than honey on a morning rose.

"Act like a baby!" yelled McGumrot, banging his fists.

Next the police officer complained "I caught him speeding!"
"What have you to say for yourself?" grumbled McGumrot, red with anger.
"I am but a teeny, weeny baby and no one has told me how fast to go," tweaked Jason with a whimper.

This time McGumrot exploded ordering, "Act like a baby!"
Everyone trembled and hugged each other.

Old McGumrot ground his teeth together and growled slowly,
"Act...
like...
a...
baby!"
There was silence . . .
No one dared move . . .
Even the police officer.

A tear rolled down Jason's cheek.
He crawled along the floor, stopping at his parent's feet. Looking into their eyes he murmured, "goo goo ma ma da da.".

Jason picked up his bottle and gave it to his dad.

Jason crawled into his mom's arms and cooed a gentle gurgle.
"Oh Jason!" cried his mom, cuddling him gently.
"Can I feed the baby?" asked his dad.
"May I hold him?" begged the police officer.

A pizza man arrived at the door.
"Who's paying for all these pizzas?" he asked.
Mary looked at Joe. Joe looked at Mary. Then everyone looked at Jason.
Jason had only one thing to say . . .

"Party Time!"

THE END
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Learn how to tie your shoes!

2009-05-21T23:33:00.000-07:00

Two snakes escaped from the zoo
and lived in the holes in my shoe!
In and out they twisted and fought,
Till their tails were tied in a knot.

One snake put his neck in a loop!

But his friend wrapped him round in a hoop!

Pull me out! Pull me out!
Cried this snake with a shout.
Through the hole pull me low!
And what do you know?

You've made a bow!

"Help! Meow...Meow..."

2009-05-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

A dragon forgot to shave and his beard caught fire

Muscle Mac doused that fire!

Mary-Joe's pet hippopotamus got stuck in the tub.

Muscle Mac popped that hippo!

Panting and out of breath, Mac had three phone calls at once: "I lost my shadow," cried Peter Pan.
"I fell off the beanstalk," groaned Jack.
"I lost my lamb," sobbed Mary.

"I can't take it anymore! Please, find another hero!" yawned Mac hanging up the phone. "I'm strong and brave but I'm just too tired! "
Mac doddled to his room in a sleepy daze and flopped on his bed. Within minutes all that you could hear was: "snorrr...whoo..snorrr..whoo"

Through the silence there broke an ominous, terrifying sound!
..."Meow..Meow.." .
Mac buried himself in his covers, hugging his teddy bear.
Then with one little eye, peeked through a hole in his cover thinking, "Maybe there's a burglar in the closet!"

With all the courage he could muster, he stepped carefully to the closet and got ready to do a flying Ninja kick...
. . . but nothing was there. Nothing was there at all!

Mac got himself together, took three deep breaths and went to bed.
Within minutes all that you could hear at Mac's house was: "snorrr..whoo.. snorrr..whoo.."

Again an ominous, terrifying sound pierced the darkness!.
"Meow..Meow.." and again it thundered, "Meow ..Meow.."
Mac buried himself in his covers, hugging his teddy bear. Then with one little eye, peeked through a hole in his cover thinking . . .

"Maybe there's a T-rex and a Three Horn having a fight in the basement."

Quickly putting on his army helmet and mustering up his best two point six one phaser blaster, Mac stepped carefully into the basement and pointed his phaser blaster.

...but nothing was there! Nothing was there at all!
Mac got himself together, took three deep breaths and went to bed. All you could hear at Mac's house was: "snorrr..whoo..snorrr..whoo.."

Again through the silence broke a terrifying, ominous sound..
"Meow..Meow.."
It roared again..
"Meow..Meow.."
and again "
Meow..Meow.."
Mac went screaming around the room, finally hiding in his closet. His trembling hands held the doors but the sound got louder and louder.
Meow..Meow.." Meow..Meow.." Meow..Meow.."

" Suddenly a paw reached under the door!

Mac completely gripped with fear, fainted, falling flat to the floor.
He was out cold!
It wasn't long before a warm purring awakened him.
He felt something softly brushing his side and carefully opened his eyes.
At first everything seemed blurred but gradually his eyes focused on something licking his face. Mac laughed and opened his arms for the biggest hug ever.

Warm and content, Mac fell asleep with a friend in his arms.
Within minutes all that could be heard at Mac's house was:
"snorrr..purrr..snorrr..purrr.."

The End
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"Why Didn't You Say So?"

2009-05-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Art: Denise Edwards
Story and Music by: John Rickey

Alfred didn't have time to eat his breakfast. He didn't even have time to go to the washroom. He was late. Very late, and his school bus was honking.
Gulping down three glasses of water, he shot out the door, only to boomerang back and plead, "Mom, I've got to go to the washroom!"
"Then go at school,"his mother replied. "You'll be there in just a minute."

Alfred plodded onto the bus, eagerly awaiting the washroom.
But his bus got a flat and he walked in late, right in the middle of Mrs. Peedlepot's lesson on Africa.
"Can anybody tell me the name of a large cat living in Africa?" asked Mrs. Peedlepot. "Some people call this animal the King of the Jungle."
Alfred's hand shot up like a rocket. "Yes Alfred. Tell us, what is this large animal? What is this King of the Jungle?

All eyes fell on Alfred. There was silence. Alfred stood up, twisted his legs together and blurted, "may I go to the washroom?"

"No, that's not the animal! I've heard of a lion. I've heard of a tiger but I've never heard of a cat called: 'May I go to the washroom'. Sit down! "
Shaking his head, Alfred sat down, but sighed as he heard the recess bell.
The class ran out the door, leaving him behind. You know it's hard to run with your knees stuck together!

Nevertheless, alone in the hall, he waddled to the washroom, only to have a large shadow engulf him.
"No one in the halls!" thundered Mr. Knickerwacker, the principal. "Get out!"
However the recess bell rang and the students burst back into the school.

Again Alfred waddled himself late into another of Mrs. Peedlepot's lessons. This time it was math.
"What is three plus three?" questioned Mrs. Peedlepot.
Alfred flapped his hand in desperation.

"Yes Alfred. Tell us! What is three plus three? What does this add up to? What is this number?"
All eyes fell on Alfred. There was silence. Alfred stood up. Twisted his legs and blurted: "May I go to the washroom?"

"No! That's not the number! " yelled Mrs. Peedlepot.
"I've heard of numbers like six and three and twenty, even a million and a billion but I've never heard of the number: "May I go to the washroom. Sit down!"
Shaking his head, Alfred sat down ever so carefully.

The day went slowly for Alfred.
Eating lunch made things worse.

Trampoline lessons for gym almost exploded him.

Boa Constrictor lessons for science almost squashed it out of him.

Tackle football at pm recess almost made him lose it.

As hometime approached, Mrs. Peedlepot noticed Alfred squirming and turning a bit purple. "Is anything wrong?" probed Mrs. Peedlepot.

Alfred burst like a stuck balloon. "May I go to the washroom? I've been trying all day. I have to go ! I have to go! I have to go! Please let me go!"

"Well!" replied Mrs. Peedlepot. "Why didn't you say so? Go!"

Watching Alfred waddle to the washroom, Mrs. Peedlepot just shook her head mumbling, "these kids, they just don't speak up!"
Alfred shook his head too and waddled, then ran, then raced to the washroom!
THE END Meet the Author
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"The Big Mouth"

2009-05-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Tamer had a big mouth. Everyone called him a Blabber Mouth. Although he was only six years old, his mouth moved up an down faster than a diving board on a hot summer day. It wouldn’t of been so bad if he’d occasionally asked a question to someone or even showed a hint of interest in someone else’s life. But Tamer always blurted out the first words that popped into his brain and it caused all sorts of trouble.

It seemed Tamer could never hold onto his words. Not even for a second. As soon as they popped into his head they'd shoot out his ears, bounce off his nose and boomerang out his mouth. Take at school. When it was printing time, Tamer worked hard, printing his alphabet just right. He wanted it to be perfect. He carefully held his pencil, making sure his letter "L" was standing straight. But when he looked up, there was Dalia wrapping her hand around the pencil. It was just the way teacher said not to do it! Well before Tamer could blink an eye"Ping, Pong, Poof!" . Words starting popping into his head. They shot out his ears running along his nose and boomeranged out his mouth: " Dalia isn't holding her pencil properly!"

Miss McGuillicutty, Tamer's teacher, surprised at a student yelling out, pushed her glasses up her nose, then snapped, "Tamer ! Don't tattle! Mind your own business!"Tamer shrunk down in his chair and lowered his head between his shoulders.The kids gave Tamer a steely glare. Especially Dalia! Nobody likes a tattle tale. Tamer buried his head further between his sinking shoulders. He walked home slowly that night. Each time he kicked a can, he asked:Why does no one play with me?" ... "clunk!""Why don't I have any friends?" ... "clunk!""Why does no one play with me?" ... "clunk!""Why don't I have any friends?"
By the time he arrived home his mouth had settled into a full blown frown. But he brightened up as he saw some chocolate cookies on the kitchen table. Entering the kitchen, he noticed his sister Dalia was naming her colours to mom. Although Dalia was only in Kindergarten, she was as proud as a peacock of knowing her colours. "Look mom , that colour is red! ... Look mom that colour is blue."

Then it started again. Words popped into Tamer's head."Ping! Pong! Poof!" In a blink of an eye, they shot out his ear, bounced off his nose and boomeranged out his mouth.I can even spell colour words! It's easy!RED.. R.. E.. D..BLUE.. B.. L.. U.. E.."Dalia gave Tamer a shove, then ran to her room. "Come back!" pleaded mom. But Tamer's bragging had spoiled Dalia's special time with mom.

Go to your room Tamer "scolded mom. That was mean. Showing off in front of your sister, robbing her of a special moment.

Then it happened again, "Ping, Pong, Poof!" Words started popping into Tamer's head. Before he had a chance to think, they shot out his ears, missed his nose completely and boomeranged out his mouth, "That's not fair!
His mother turned her head quickly and echoed again slowly with meaning. "Go to your room!" Tamer observed her eyes tightening together and knew to get going. The tense air lifted with a familiar "ding, dong " at the front door.

A jolly laugh and the clicking of an old cane, brought everyone barreling to the front door. Grandpa Henry's here!Come here for your grizzly bear hugs!" growled Grandpa Henry with open arms. Tamer and Dalia dived into his arms. " Tamer's in trouble! " yelled Dalia. "And no one likes him at school either. And why is that?" asked Grandpa Henry"Because he's a tattle tale" said Dalia smugly.

Grandpa signaled everyone to back away and followed Tamer. Tamer being much younger than Grandpa , arrived promptly to the bedroom and sat on his bed with covers over his head. It took Grandpa a bit longer to get there but in no time, that grizzly bear hug of his had Tamer talking and explaining his problem.Come with me!" said Grandpa taking Tamer's hand.It seems there's only one thing we can do!""What's that? asked Tamer"Go to the horse races." answered Grandpa."Go to the horse races!" echoed Tamer looking puzzled. "Yes," said Grandpa. "And then the ship yards.

"Oh Grandpa! Did you see the power! Did you see the muscles . . . the might! . . ."!"Did you see the small and the tiny?" interrupted Grandpa in a piercing tone. Tamer's eyebrows almost dropped to his nose."What do you mean, small and tiny? Those horses are huge! " argued Tamer ."Yes they are, agreed Grandpa. But they're controlled by a little piece of steel in their mouth called a bit.""No I can't believe it," argued Tamer shaking his head."Yes!" insisted Grandpa. Those powerful horses turn left and right all because of that little piece of steel in their mouth. Why a little tug left on the reins and that giant horse turns left. A little tug right and that horse turns right. The rider can do anything he wants. All because of a little bit of steel, called a bit.

Tamer had no idea what Grandpa was talking about but he really didn't care. He liked horses and liked ships even more, so he was glad to go. Although Grandpa was a slow walker, he was a fast driver and arrived quickly at the horse races.

Tamer sensed Grandpa was trying to teach him something but shook his head confused"Come on!" beckoned Grandpa, taking his hand."That was lesson one! Now off to lesson two, . . . the ship yards.

Tamer sensed Grandpa was trying to teach him something but shook his head confused."Come on!" beckoned Grandpa, taking his hand."That was lesson one! Now off to lesson two, . . . the ship yards.Fortunately the horse races were close to the lake and they arrived quickly. Grandpa took Tamer's hand and led him to a long pier. They walked and walked. Neither Grandpa nor Tamer could see any water because of the giant walls of steel on either side of the pier. Finally in desperation, Tamer jumped high into the air, hoping to see the top. He became frustrated and asked,"What are those tall walls on each side of the pier? I can't even see the water!" Before Grandpa could answer, one of the walls started moving. Tamer screamed and jumped into his arms. "Help Grandpa! The walls are moving! We're going to get hurt!"

"Calm down Tamer! " cautioned Grandpa! "It's a ship! It's a ship! It's a big ship!"By the time Grandpa said it a third time,Tamer finally got it. But wow, was it hugeThe ship's horn blasted and waves thundered back and forth rocking the dock. Grandpa grabbed Tamer and crouched low, holding onto the base of the dock.Standing beside the ship, Tamer gasped with big round eyes. "Yikes! I can't believe how big it is!" Tamer took a large gulp as the giant mass of steel pulled into the bay. In the distance as he viewed the entire ship he yelled, "it's longer than my school! It's wider than my road. It's like a moving football field!
"Grandpa!" yelled Tamer in awe. "That ship is huge! That ship is gigantic!""Yes," agreed Grandpa. "But it's controlled once again by . . . "He stopped and smiled, then slowly repeated, "It's huge but its controlled by something small. He perked up and bent down as he pointed Tamer's eyes to a little flap at the back of the ship. Do you know that grigantuous hull weighs thousands of tons but once again it turns left and right all because of a little flap at the back called a rudder. The captain, who's like a little ant compared to the ship, has a little steering wheel he turns with his finger. With just a tiny pull left that monstrosity of steel turns left and with a tiny pull right that monstrosity turns right. He smiled as he stood up.

"Ah hum," he coughed. Funny how a little thing can control something so big. Don't you think it's something like a horse?"Tamer felt Grandpa was still trying to tell him something.Come on!" yelled Grandpa, directing Tamer into the car. "Your mother doesn't like to be kept waiting for dinner."

As they went to get into the car, three fire trucks sped down the road. Billows of smoke poured into the sky over the distant neighbourhood. People started running to get a better look at the fire. Grandpa stopped a police officer, "What's happening officer? That looks like a big fire!""Everyone's fine," answered the officer. " The family got out in time. Can you imagine a small kid started that big fire playing with little matches?Grandpa thanked the officer and they got back into the car."Come on Tamer! We'd better get back for dinner!

Tamer wanted to see the fire but he knew Grandpa was right. They needed to get back for dinner.After driving for a short distance Grandpa broke the silence." I have three questions," said Grandpa. "Isn't it amazing how that big fire was caused by a little match?""Why yes," said Tamer looking a bit puzzled. Grandpa continued, "Isn't it amazing how that big ship was controlled by a little rudder.""Why yes," said Tamer again, this time feeling confident Grandpa was definitely trying to teach him something.""Isn't it amazing how those large horses were controlled by a tiny bit?" asked Grandpa.

"Yes," said Tamer feeling more confused than ever.They continued driving in silence. Nevertheless, words were bouncing around Tamer's head like ping pong balls. Unable to keep them in his head any longer, Tamer blurted, "Grandpa, what are you trying to tell me?"

Grandpa stopped the car and parked. He turned and looked at Tamer with a gentle smile."Isn't it amazing that your life, big and exciting as it is, is controlled by the words that come off your little tongue? Like the thundering horses, the huge ships, and the blazing fire, your life is controlled by something small too."

Grandpa, I can't help it! Words won't stay in my head! "They just pop in, bounce out my ear, then boomerang off my tongue." Grandpa Henry thought for a minute then took out a little box and asked,"Do you have quick hands?""Yes,"said Tamer scratching his head."Then flap your hands up and down as quick as you can," instructed Grandpa. Tamer felt sort of silly but flapped his hands up and down as fast as he could. Grandpa looked at his watch, timing Tamer. He hummed and hawed for awhile but finally nodded his head signaling Tamer to stop. "I think you can lick this problem." said Grandpa confidently."You've got pretty fast hands!""Why do I need fast hands?" asked Tamer

Grandpa handed Tamer the little box instructing, "Open the box and you'll seeTamer , opening the box was dumbfounded when he saw ear plugs inside.How?" asked Tamer, puzzled at seeing ear plugs.Whenever a word pops in your head, I want you to put these ear plugs into your ears as fast as you can." Grandpa saw by Tamer's squinting eyes that he was still confused. Grandpa went on to explain. "You see Tamer, these ear plugs will keep words in your head. They won't have a chance to pop out your ears and boomerang off your tongue. You'll have a chance to hold them in your head and ask, "should I say this?""But how will I know if I should say the words?" asked Tamer.

Good words are soft and round. They're warm and cuddly. They fill a room with a fragrant aroma and make people grow and feel stronger. They're true words that glow and light the darkest rooms."Does that mean I should keep tattling words in my head?" asked Tamer. Grandpa laughed and nodded his head."Then how will the tattling words ever leave my head?" asked Tamer. "They'll be stuck in my head forever. They'll never get out, especially if I wear ear plugs !""Say a little prayer for the person you tattled on!" replied Grandpa. "Have a real love for that person, instead of a desire to get them in trouble. With true love and a concern for that person, those critical and tattling words will melt away

As they arrived home, Tamer seemed changed. It had been a long time since he had sat peacefully at the table with his sister. As he sat down looking at the delicious turkey dinner, his eyes turned to his sister, where he noticed she was eating peas with a spoon. If there was one thing Tamer knew, it was how to eat properly. He glared with a low squint into Dalia's face. The words: "Dalia's not using a fork" popped into his head.

Like a cowboy doing a fast draw, he grabbed his ear plugs and blocked those words from shooting out his ear and onto his tongue.Everyone laughed. "Are you going swimming?" asked dad with a snicker. But Tamer couldn't hear and just looked back at his dad with a confused look.Grandpa Henry explained the situation. But mom and dad weren't quite sure they liked Grandpa's idea. They didn't want any son of theirs going around wearing ear plugs in public. Nevertheless, seeing Tamer and Dalia get along, they gave their nod of approval

Tamer folded his hands together. "Lord, help Dalia to have better manners at the table. May she eat her food with good manners, so she'll be healthy. May I be a good example."Suddenly the tattling words in his head melted away and disappeared completely.Tamer took the ear plugs out and continued eating. Mom and dad smiled as they realized Tamer was controlling his tattling and finally getting along with Dalia.That night was a new beginning for Tamer and Dalia. In time they actually became good friends. Even the kids at school started to like Tamer. He began to have friends everywhere

As Tamer got older, he developed such a habit of loving others and praying for their problems, bad words melted before they even had a chance to get started. Bad words didn't pop into his head anymore.Other than for swimming, he didn't need ear plugs. Tamer grew to be a man of few words. But when he spoke, people listened. People respected him and considered him wise. Tamer learned to be careful with the words that came out his mouth. He learned the hard way that little words can cause big troubles if they're not controlled.

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THE TALE OF

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BY BEATRIX POTTER

A PRESENTATION

OF THE

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