THE PICTURE OF THE BEACH

Once upon a time there was a village called Benidorm in Spain, which had a very big beach that got very busy every summer. It was also the home of Julian and Florrie, who originally came from the Spanish capital city of Madrid. They loved the beach, and they knew they would never leave Benidorm.

One day, they decided that when they grew old and could no longer travel, they would like their future grandchildren to come and spend time with them. And as they believed in magic, they thought up a plan to make their dream come true.

Julian was a good artist so he painted a picture of Benidorm beach. On the back, Julian and Florrie left a message for their future grandchildren, which was: “Think of your grandparents and you will appear on Benidorm beach with us.”

Shortstories-the-picture-of-the-beach

Julian and Florrie gave the picture to their children to pass down the generations, and told them to show it to future grandchildren and hang it in their room.

And years later, Continue reading…

THE GARDEN SCARECROW

My name is Laura, I’m 9 years old and I live in the city. In summer, when it’s school holidays, I go to my grandparents’ house in a little village.

One day, I walked through the orchard to visit Mr. Anselmo, one of my grandparents’ neighbours, so he could teach me how to grow tomatoes and carrots. I wanted to plant my own little vegetable garden at home. There were all sorts of vegetables and fruit in Mr. Anselmo’s garden, because he was the best gardener I had ever met.

“Hello Mr. Anselmo!! How are you?” I asked.

“Well good day to you, miss, ready to learn where most of my food comes from?” he replied.

Yes! I’m impatient because I want to be a gardener,” I said. Continue reading…

THE SCATTER-BRAINED FAIRY

Once upon a time there was a fairy called Rita, who lived on the edge of a big city in a house with horses, sheep, a pig and several sheepdogs.  Rita the fairy enjoyed living in the countryside, but she had one problem: she was so scatter-brained that she forgot she had animals that depended on her, and sometimes she forgot to feed them.  Other times she forgot to stroke them, or to correct them when they did something wrong, but she thought: “… Well, they’re only animals so they won’t mind…”

One day, however, she remembered what she was and thought: “Wait, I’m a fairy!! I must learn not to forget these things… I know, I’ll do one of my spells to cure myself.”

So she cast a spell for a better memory. She said the magic words “Memoria memorieta memorium memoriae,” but then she forgot to throw her magic dust and the spell went wrong. And she turned into a little pig like the one on her farm.

Short stories - the scatterbrained fairy

That meant that Rita the fairy had to find an antidote spell to go back to her normal human state. But in the meantime the animals played with her as if she were one of them, they sniffed at her and crowded around her because she was a new pig they had never seen before. Continue reading…

THE MAGIC BINS

Once upon a time there were six hard-working rubbish bins, each a different colour depending on the rubbish that was to be thrown into it. The green one was called Glassy (he was in charge of glass for recycling); the blue one was called Papius (he was in charge of paper for recycling)Oilo was charge of collecting the used oil bottles; the yellow one was called Plastica (she was in charge of plastic for recycling); Batterius was in charge of used batteries and finally there was Generalia who was in charge of the rest of the rubbish, particularly food waste.

Whenever someone put the rubbish in the wrong place, the bins would pass it into the correct one for they were very good friends. That way, the rubbish was always correctly divided so that it could be recycled properly and help after the environment.

Every so often, the rubbish van would come along to empty them and was always happy to see the right kind of waste going into the right rubbish bin.

Short stories - the magic bins

But after a few days, the bins grew tired of ordering the rubbish because it was such hard work. They can’t move around very well, as you can imagine.

Soon Batterius, the youngest of all the bins, began to feel sick and very upset. He spat out everything that wasn’t a battery into the street, for he was so tired he could no longer contain it.

It wasn’t long before Plastica began to experience the same symptoms and spat out anything that wasn’t plastic. She was soon followed by Oilo, and finally all the bins began to toss out the rubbish that didn’t belong to them… Continue reading…

CUTHBERT, THE FIREMAN CLOWN

There was once a clown called Cuthbert who would often ask a child from the audience to come up on stage with him.

Every day before starting the show, Cuthbert the clown would put on his red shoes, which were twice as big as his feet, and stick on his red nose. The circus music started to play and the procession of clowns began. A whole pile of clowns began streaming out of a fire engine – one, two, three, as many as fifteen clowns!! They were all dressed up as firemen and when they were all on stage, Cuthbert ordered all the lights to go off and just one spotlight to choose which child would come on stage today. There was a drum roll, and the spotlight fell on its chosen child.

Charlie, for that was the name of the lucky boy, ran out on stage to the clowns. Cuthbert asked him, “Are you ready to start the mission?” to which Charlie answered: “Yes I am!!”

Short stories - Cuthbert the fireman clown

At that moment, Cuthbert took out a red sponge nose and put it on Charlie’s face. Such was his surprise when all the audience started to laugh at the funny sight of the little boy and the big red nose.

But suddenly the little boy began to look upset, for he felt as though everyone was laughing at him. In another moment, he had burst into tears and tore off the nose that Cuthbert the clown had given him, running out of the circus as fast as he could.

Everyone waited to see what would happen next. But the clowns went on with the show, whilst Cuthbert went to look for Charlie whom he found hiding at the back of the big top.

Charlie, why are you crying?” asked Cuthbert the clown kindly.

“Because everyone was laughing at me!” replied Charlie between sobs.

Then Cuthbert understood why Charlie was feeling so upset and said: “Charlie, when I come out on stage to act, do you laugh?” Continue reading…

THE GREEN GOBLIN

There was once a goblin called Godfrey who lived on a plot of land outside a very small village. There was a house on the plot, in which a family lived: a mother, father, son, daughter and a cat called Meow.

Godfrey the goblin usually lived among the bushes in the garden, but sometimes he would go into the garage for a while. The family had no idea that they were sharing their home with a goblin.

One day, Godfrey went to the garage for a change of scene, like he often did, but this time he suddenly bumped into the cat Meow.

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Meow went very quiet when she spotted the little green goblin, and Godfrey did the same. They stared at each other until they heard the voice of one of the children coming down to the garage. Then Godfrey ran off at full speed, and not even Meow knew where he had gone. Meow started to look for him, sniffing the ground to follow his tracks, but she didn’t know that goblins don’t leave any scent behind and that’s why you can’t find them.

Godfrey was very shy and only let animals see him, never people, which was why he always ran away when a human approached. But Godfrey had a little secret: he knew how to talk to cats. So he decided to go back and look for Meow so they could become friends.

And that was exactly what happened… Continue reading…

WESLEY, THE BOY WIZARD

A long, long time ago there was a family who spent all their time doing magic. Wesley’s parents and grandparents were all wizards, and Wesley wanted to be a great wizard, too.

He already knew how to turn a frog into a snake with his magic wand. He could also stop time by saying the magic words: “Tempo stoppus, abracadabra!

One day Wesley was on his way to school when he saw a couple of hooligans tormenting a little dog who had been trotting down the street.

Short stories - Wesley the boy wizard

Wesley uttered the magic words and stopped time in order to rescue the dog and take him out of reach of the horrible louts. But when he started time again, one of the hooligans caught sight of him scooping up the little dog in his arms and disappearing Continue reading…

THE FOREST FAIRY

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Anna, who loved riding her bike. Anna always wore a hat, and lived in a big house near a green and beautiful forest.

Anna usually rode her bike away from the forest, for her mother had told her never to enter the wood because it could be dangerous.

But one day it was very windy and Anna’s hat flew up into the air and down into the wood. Anna thought that the hat would come back, but instead it disappeared as if the forest had swallowed it up… Very upset, and ignoring her mother’s warning, Anna went into the wood to look for her hat.

Short stories - the forest fairy

Great was her surprise when someone touched her shoulder and said: “Anna, I am your fairy godmother, and I have always been here to protect you the day you entered the forest, for this forest is enchanted and one must take great care.” The forest fairy then continued: “Stay here, I shall go and look for your hat.”

Continue reading…

THOMAS AND THE FLYING SNEAKERS

There was once a pair of old dirty sneakers that lived in a house outside New York. The house was situated in a rich neighbourhood and the owners were rich, too. The sneakers could be found in the room belonging to their young son Thomas.

Now, Thomas had lots of sneakers, but he only ever wore two or three pairs. One day, Thomas was cleaning his room when he discovered the old dirty sneakers at the bottom of his wardrobe. In fact, they were so grubby that he decided to clean them up.

He began rubbing them with a cloth, and as he scrubbed he remembered that he had only worn these sneakers once in his life. “I know“, he thought, “I put these sneakers on the day I went to play in the mud in the park.

Childrens stories - Thomas and the flying sneakers

Once they were completely clean, he noticed a detail he had never noticed before: the sneakers had a shining button on the undersole. It looked like a diamond and was so bright it dazzled his eyes. Thomas wondered what the button was for, so he pressed it and was amazed. A pair of white cloth wings the size of Thomas’s head had sprouted from the sneakers, and leapt to the window of their own accord.

In excitement, Thomas pulled on the sneakers and they flew through the window, dragging Thomas through the air. He began to scream and yell but the sneakers only stopped completely when he blurted out the word: “Stop!Continue reading…