Tales about understanding
FLORA, THE LEAPING FROG
Once upon a time, there was a frog called Flora, who was very young and spent all day long leaping about… Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘Yes, but that’s what all frogs do!’ Which is true – all frogs leap to get from one place to another, but our friend Flora was nicknamed ‘leap frog’ by the other frogs, so you can imagine that she certainly didn’t lack any energy.
From the moment she awoke to the time she went to sleep, she would jump about from one spot to another. She couldn’t sit quietly even for a little while, and her parents were constantly telling her: “Flora, don’t leap so much! One day you’re going to hit something by accident and hurt yourself.”
One day when she was in the pond, leaping from one stone to the next, a very calm toad ambled up to her and said: “Hello Flora, how is it you have so much energy to leap around like that?” For a moment, Flora the frog stopped still to stare at the toad that was transmitting so much peace, then shrugged and kept on leaping.
The next day at school she had a gymnastics exam, which consisted of leaping over the vaulting horse and … I wonder if you can guess who leapt higher than anyone else? That’s right, Flora the frog. At that moment a classmate came up to her and asked: ‘How do you do it, Flora? I’m a frog too, but I can’t leap around all day long”… And Flora answered: “I don’t know…”
After brushing her teeth, Flora’s mother ordered her to bed to read a children’s story given to her by her uncle John. But suddenly a huge din came from Flora’s room… Her parents went jumping to her room to see what had happened… Flora had fallen and was lying stunned on the floor.
“Are you all right, Flora?” asked her father.
“Yes daddy, I’m ok,” replied Flora.
“But what happened, why did you fall?” asked her mother.
“Well I was jumping on the bed… and I slipped,” answered Flora, scared that her parents would scold and punish her. But to her surprise, Read the rest of this short story »
CHESTER THE POLICE-CAT
Once upon a time there lived a cat called Theodor. All the other cats in the area had great respect for him, for he had managed to be adopted by an old lady and he was looked after better than he could ever have imagined.
Old Chester was the local police-cat and his main duty was to warn the other cats of dogs prowling around nearby.
Today was an important day, for all the cats were going to decide who would be the new police-cat, for old Chester couldn’t run as fast as he used to and he was getting old and tired…
Theodor gave a long speech to persuade everyone that he was the best cat for such a big responsibility. He ate very well, he said, and this made him strong and healthy and therefore very fast.
Theodor thought he was certain to be voted the new police-cat because nobody else volunteered. But suddenly a pretty little cat appeared on top of a rubbish bin and spoke. “Hello friends, I too would like to be a candidate, for I’m very agile and quick“. Read the rest of this short story »
Posted in Animal stories, Short stories for kids, Tales about equality, Tales about understanding, Tolerance stories | 
Tags: Police | 
1 Comment »JAMIE THE ELEPHANT AND THE TEACHER SQUIRREL
There was once an elephant called Jamie who was bigger than any elephant that had ever existed before. He went to see a squirrel called Sally to ask her a favour.
Sally had been a maths teacher for many years. So Jamie went to see her at school, for he thought that she would be there, like every day.
But Jamie the elephant was surprised to find that Sally wasn’t at school that day, for she had gone to teach a little girl whose leg was in plaster and had to stay at home. This annoyed Jamie the elephant quite considerably, because he couldn’t ask the teacher for help right then and there. Instead, he would have to work really hard by himself to solve a maths problem they had given him at the university.
The next week, Sally went to visit Jamie, to see what he had wanted the day she wasn’t at school.
“Hello Jamie, how are you? I hear you came to see me at school the other day. Was there something you wanted?”
“Oh, no, well, it was about a sum I couldn’t do… but it’s too late now.”
“I’m so sorry, Jamie, I would have loved to help you. Will you forgive me?”
“Weeeeeell, I’m actually very angry…” Read the rest of this short story »
