There were a group of frogs relaxing in a pond where they used to spend every day splashing in the water. One day, one of the frogs said:

– “We need a king to take care of us”.

All the frogs went to ask Zeus, their God, to send them a king. When Zeus heard this, he struck a lightning bolt against a trunk near the pond. When the frogs heard such a tremendous noise, they lept frightened into the water. Only one of them approached the trunk to meet the King Zeus had given them.

But when the frog realised that it was just a trunk floating on the water, she called her mates and they jumped onto the trunk one by one to get it all muddy. The angry frogs reproached Zeus for not having sent them a real king.

When Zeus heard the daring frogs, he sent a stork to eat them one by one.

Then the frogs, angry again, begged Zeus to save them from the danger of the stork. But he said:

“These are the consequences of your acts. You already had peace and harmony, but wanted a king to rule you, now it is the stork who will govern you.

That is why frogs hide every time they see a stork, repenting of having asked for a king.

THE END

Moral of the story: If you already have peace and harmony you don´t need more.

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A dragonfly is hanging around a lagoon, when it suddenly sees a frog crying on the bank.

– “What´s wrong?” – asks the dragonfly – “Why are you crying?”

– “I want to go home, to the other side of the lagoon” – says the little frog – “but every time I try to enter the water my skin gets a rash, look!” – and the frog shows her leg to the dragonfly.

– “Poor little frog, the water of the lagoon is polluted and you can´t cross it” – says the dragonfly.

– “Don´t worry I´ll look for help!” – he says.

Excited by the idea, the frog waits for the dragonfly, and she calls out to all the animals to come to the lagoon to help.

A big group of animals appear, all kinds, lions, spiders, snails, monkeys, tigers, turtles, butterflies…

They all come to help the frog and clean the lagoon. They put on gloves and begin.

Finally they get the water clean again and the little frog can go home.  The animals are happy for having done their work.

But unfortunately this happens quite often. Humans contaminate the environment which affects nature, the animals and every living being.

It´s time to stop pollution, Can you help us?

THE END

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Jake, for that was the name of an adventurous little boy from the area, decided to investigate and set off to explore the area around Loch Ness. Jake knew that if the rumours of the monster were true, he wouldn’t come out of his adventure alive. But there was something inside him that made him think that what people said was false.

Jake believed that if there really was a monster in Loch Ness, she couldn’t be as bad as the villagers said, for he believed that all living beings had their good and bad points, and that we should try to get the best out of each other.

So Jake went off with his backpack full of food. When he reached the banks of the lake, he began throwing the food to attract the Loch Ness Monster.

Suddenly, he heard a thunderous noise coming from the lake – the monster!! Jake, who was very brave, stopped still at the edge of the lake and began shouting at the same time as the monster bellowed. This made the monster fall silent, and after a few seconds her four-eyed head popped out of the water right in front of Jake’s.

Of course Jake was very scared, but he stood quietly. Puzzled that Jake wasn’t moving, the monster asked: “Aren’t you frightened, little boy?” Jake didn’t say a word, so the monster kept on talking: “I like you. You’re the first person not to run away when they see me.”

Little by little, Jake grew calmer and more reassured and eventually replied: “I’m sure you can’t be all bad. You don’t eat children, do you?”

And that was how Jake and the Loch Ness monster ended up being friends, and Jake told the story all over the village and made them see that the Loch Ness monster wasn’t as bad as everyone thought. And everyone realised that we should get to know someone first before saying negative things about them.

THE END

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Pluto lived with his master, Philip, a somewhat absent-minded student at the university, whom Pluto occasionally had to get out of trouble…

Yesterday was no different. Can you guess what happened to Pluto and Philip when they went into the country for a day out?

Well, it was a Sunday when Philip liked to take Pluto out to run around as much as he pleased. The field they usually went to was very pretty, full of trees with big pastures, and there was even a river where Philip would settle into a boat to read and relax.

Like always, Pluto was dashing around here and there and everywhere, while Philip lay in the boat by the riverbank and read his book. Suddenly, a strong wind began to blow, the boat began to tilt madly from side to side until eventually it turned over and tipped Philip into the water with a splash.

Philip yelled for help because he didn’t know how to swim… he couldn’t get back in the boat because the wind was gusting so fiercely…

So Pluto raced towards the riverbank to help his friend, took a big jump and fell into the water close to Philip.  He grabbed Philip’s shirt with his mouth and began to swim to shore.

When Philip reached land, he was so shaken that he couldn’t say a word. Even so, his fear didn’t stop him from realising that his brave dog had saved his life, so he gave him the biggest hug he could and said: “Thank you so much, my friend. You’re the best swimming dog I ever knew!”

THE END

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The story of our friend the crocodile begins at the river bank of the Nile, which was no ordinary river… It was a dangerous river, not just because of its wild waters, but also because there lived some fierce and very dangerous crocodiles.

For a very long time, no one had gone near the spot despite its great beauty, for the wicked crocodiles prowled its banks. That was why they put up warning signs telling people about the savage crocodiles.

One day, Ahmed and Maya were taking a walk along a path near the Nile. It was a very pleasant stroll, for the sun had come up and the birds were trilling merrily.

Suddenly they heard shouts – it sounded like shouts for help and it was coming from the riverbank of the Nile…

Ahmed didn’t hesitate for a second and ran to see what was happening, for he knew that crocodiles lay in wait at the banks of the river and it was a very perilous place.

When Ahmed reached the river bank, panting and out of breath from the speed at which he had run, he found himself face to face with two huge crocodiles trying to attack a little crocodile that had turned up at this part of the river and was completely confused at finding himself cornered by the wild beasts.

“Don’t worry, little one, come here, grab my hand! Swim, swim!” called Ahmed to the little crocodile.

“Please help me, they’ve injured my leg!” answered the little crocodile.

At last he managed to grab Ahmed’s hand, who pulled with all his might to heave the little crocodile out of the river where the two wild crocs were lurking. “Come on, my brave little croc, I’ve got you. Let’s get out of here,” said Ahmed with a wink.

The poor little crocodile was trembling in fear at what had happened, and said to Ahmed: “Thank you so much for saving my life, but I don’t know what I’m going to do now – I can’t go back there…”

Ahmed and Maya exchanged a look and replied: “If you want, you can come and live with us. We have a little house near a lake where you could swim whenever you wanted… Would you like to come home with us?”

“Oh, yes please!” answered the little crocodile.

“Well, let’s go home them, my limpy little crocodile, I’ll help fix up your leg,” said Maya.

And that was how the little crocodile got his name, for although his leg recovered completely the name was a reminder that Ahmed and Maya had saved his life. And so it was that Limpy could paddle from one side of the lake to the other near the house where he now lived.

THE END

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Dory, for that was the name of the strongest little duck in the lake, was helping the other little ducks as well as getting her children some food. Life at the lake was an oasis of peace.

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But then something unexpected happened… Ever since the lake had been built, a villager called Steven had been in charge of cleaning the lake. Steven respected the ducks as well as all the plants that surrounded them. But Steven wasn’t there today – instead, a man called Horace was now in charge.

Horace did not think the ducks were as important as making the lake as pretty as possible to surprise all the villagers.

One beautiful day when the first rays of sunshine were beginning to peep out, Horace arrived at the lake pushing a wheelbarrow in which he was carrying a strange object. Dory the duck, who was already awake and looking for food for her children, paddled silently over to the place where Horace and his wheelbarrow were, but couldn’t make head or tail of what was inside it.

After a few hours, Horace had finished his work of art. He placed a fountain right in the middle of the lake, with all kinds of pipes sticking out everywhere – poor Dory couldn’t begin to guess what they were for.

Suddenly, there was a deafening noise and a huge mass of water sprang from the fountain. Frightened, Dory quickly sent all the little ducks out of the lake.

All the ducks were terrified to see their oasis of peace destroyed in an instant by this new fountain. They weren’t at all happy and no longer even played in the water: now they only went in to drink and wash. This behaviour was unusual, and Horace realised that something strange was going on. So one day, just before leaving the lake, he disconnected the fountain to see if this was why the ducks were acting differently.

The next day when Horace returned to the lake, he couldn’t believe his eyes… The ducks were playing and splashing about in the water more joyfully than they had ever done before. Then Horace understood in a flash that the ducks, just like people, need peace and quiet, as well as a comfortable environment in which to live. The fountain might be very pretty, but the most important thing in the lake was the ducks that lived there.

THE END

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