The pirates and their ship were invisible, and you could only see it if you were a pirate too. It also meant that the pirates could get to all the hidden treasure before anyone else, for they wouldn’t leave a trace.

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As usual, the pirates set sail for some hidden treasure that no one had ever heard of, but even so this treasure was very special for it guarded a big secret…

Following the course of the treasure map, the pirates were impatient to get there as soon as possible, for they believed it would be the best treasure they had ever seen. In no time at all, the pirates’ invisible ship had reached the treasure island and as they were the first to get there they were very happy.

Just as the treasure map indicated, they had to head inland from the beach by taking one hundred paces in a straight line, turning right and taking eight more paces – and there, buried in the sand, was the hidden treasure.

The pirates grabbed their picks and spades and starting digging as fast as they could, taking it in turns when one got tired. But after they had been digging for quite a while, they hit something metal…

“We’ve found it!” cried a pirate.

They had found an old chest that had to contain the treasure! So they flung it open to see the hidden treasure no one had ever heard of (but which had a map about it). But to their horror, the chest was full of sand and had a piece of parchment inside it.

Extremely annoyed, one of the pirates picked up the scroll to see if it told them where the treasure really was. He began reading: “If you have succeeded in getting this far, it is because you are not content with what you already have. You wish only to be richer and richer. Well, don’t bother looking any further, because there is no hidden treasure – the only thing that exists in the scroll on which I wrote these lines. I was once like you, a pirate who was only interested in becoming the richest pirate of all. But then I realised that material things such as money are not the be-all and end-all. I hope you learn to understand this as I did.”

These words made all the wicked pirates think hard, for someone who had also been a pirate had taught them a valuable lesson.

THE END

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From the moment they met, Winter and Summer had clashed, for Winter liked the cold, rain and snow, but Summer preferred sunshine, dryness and heat. In fact, they were polar opposites.

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So one day the four seasons got together to resolve the problem. Spring comes after Winter, and with her the trees and fields begin to flower and it stops being so cold. And Autumn, who follows Summer, brings with him the falling leaves, the start of the cold weather and a few rain showers.

At their meeting, Spring and Autumn tried to explain to Winter and Summer that they should get along, for all four of them are needed to complete the circle of life on Earth.

Spring said: “Winter, it’s because of you that all living creatures are able to live, for there is water when the frozen ice melts and the rivers fill up. And Summer, it’s because of you and your splendid summer sunshine that there is life on the planet and a climate that lets the fields flourish to give us food. So you see, you’re not so different after all.”

Winter and Summer paused to think about this for a few minutes, and then Winter said: “That’s true, Spring. Now I understand. We must be united, for each of us performs a function throughout the year and this means there can be life on this planet.”

And that was how Spring and Autumn made Winter and Summer see that it is only by being united, and not standing against one another, that they can maintain balance on Earth.

THE END

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There were lots of animals there – cows, sheep, chickens and a little piggy called Pinky, who had been the last to arrive as he was only two months’ old.

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Pinky was a very playful little pig, who liked spending time with the sheep grazing out on the meadows. He would run behind them until Pluto the sheepdog told him off for not letting the sheep eat in peace. So he would stop bothering them – until Pluto’s attention was turned elsewhere…

For all his peskiness, Pinky was a very brave little pig, for one day when the sheep were out on the field he saw a wolf creep up in the bushes and pass unnoticed in front of the napping Pluto.

All at once, the wolf bounded out of the bushes and made straight for the sheep, but Pinky acted quickly and warned them to run as fast as they could back to Pluto. Hearing the sheep baa-ing madly, Pluto awoke with a start and raced to defend them by frightening off the wolf.

From then on Pinky became known as the brave little pig at Bimbo Farm, for it was thanks to him that the sheep were not injured by the wicked wolf. And so the sheep and the little pig Pinky became firm friends, and the sheep no longer minded the little pig playing with them.

THE END

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Normally, the bus would stop in the village square to collect them and take them to another village a few kilometres away, for there was no school in Four Houses.

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Each journey cost ninety-nine cents, but one day the red bus decided that he wasn’t going to charge the children anything at all, for many of their parents had no job and it was difficult to save money, and he thought it would be a good way of helping them.

The red bus was delighted to take the children for free, but after a few months his wheels were so worn out that he couldn’t even turn around and it was very difficult to move.

One morning, the mothers and fathers were ready as usual in the main square of Four Houses waiting for the red bus. But this was no ordinary day, for the red bus was twenty minutes’ late… Very slowly, he came chugging along but once he got to the square he collapsed from exhaustion. There was no way he could take the children to school today…

Seeing that all the red bus wanted to do was help them help their children get a good education, the villagers decided that each family would put forward some money according to how much they could afford. Then the helpful bus could go to a garage to be repaired and be as good as new.

And so it was that all the mums and dads in the village managed to put together enough money to fix up the red bus they loved so much.

The day after leaving the garage, the red bus arrived at the village square on time to pick the children up and take them to school. He looked like new, for he had been painted, and shone so brightly you could almost see your reflection. He also had new wheels so now he could continue his helpful work for a while.

The helpful red bus had learned something very important from this adventure, which is that if you are good and help people, someone else will be willing to help you the day you need it most. He also learned that working together makes you stronger: the inhabitants of Four Houses didn’t have much money, but by working together they managed to fix the helpful bus and get their children to school.

THE END

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Rufus was the only dragon to exist in those days. He was the only descendent of the last dragons on the planet, and the royal family considered him to be the guardian of the kingdom.

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Rufus was about to turn one year old, and the king and queen were going to organise a birthday party for him. On the morning of his birthday, Rufus came down for breakfast from his tower as he did every day. But today something was wrong – there was no breakfast waiting for him!

Annoyed, he went to the palace living room and flung open the doors. Thinking no one was there, he burst into tears, opened his mouth and filled the room with flames.

To his surprise, he opened his eyes to see the whole room full of people wanting to celebrate his birthday. Luckily, Rufus didn’t set anyone on fire, and the only things that got burnt were the candles on the cake.

As they celebrated Rufus the dragon’s birthday, he learned that there was no need to be annoyed because they hadn’t prepared his breakfast – for there are much more important things in life, like being happy and smiling all day long.

THE END

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He was so small that when his friends called him, he had to light a match for them to see him. At school he was always teased for being so small, but he didn’t care and remained deaf to everything people said to him.

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However, what some of them didn’t realise was that Marvin was the only mouse not to fall into the traps set by humans. Whenever he had to dodge the traps to get to his mouse hole, Marvin darted home nimbly and never once stepped on the mechanism that activated the traps.

And that wasn’t all. Whenever a human went mouse-hunting, Marvin would hide in the cheese holes and they never caught him. He was the only one who could.

Soon the day came when all the young mice wanted to be just like Marvin. And all the mice in the mouse hole understood that what might seem a weakness may actually be a strength as long as we use our brain and want it with all our heart.

THE END

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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.

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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,her parents tucked her in instead and read her the story. “Now, Flora, sweet dreams,” they said, turned out the light and went off to sleep.

Flora was amazed that her parents hadn’t told her off for her disobedience. Then she realised that what she had done was wrong, and that her parents had only wanted to stop her hurting herself when they told her to stop leaping. And once she had learned her lesson, our little friend Flora the leap frog fell fast asleep.

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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The ants were busy storing the grain for the winter so that when the cold weather came there would be enough food for everyone.

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But this year, the grain was very small and difficult to transport. It was a gloomy situation and even the wisest old ants weren’t sure they could survive the winter.

But Anita wanted to store as much grain as possible to help her family, and she knew that by showing an optimistic attitude around the rest of the ants, they could do it. So off she went to train with an ant who was much stronger than her, an ant called Alexander.

Alexander taught her a few tricks on how to carry more grain with the same amount of effort. Anita trained for a few days and as the days went past, she was able to carry more and more.

When Anita was finally ready, she called the rest of the ants together and told them: “I know you think we won’t survive the winter. But I have a solution: firstly, you have to believe we can do it, and secondly, I’ll teach you what you need to do to carry more grain.”

And so the whole anthill set to work like Anita said, with optimism and a hopeful heart, and before the winter arrived they had already gathered more grain than the year before. And so it was that, thanks to Anita, all the ants survived the winter without any problem.

THE END

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When the show begins and everything goes dark, you just don’t know what will happen, but in the next instant the stage will light up and the big top is filled with dazzling coloured lights.

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At the circus there’s a clown called Clarence and it’s his job to make the audience laugh. But one day, just as the show was about to begin, Clarence felt sad and didn’t much feel like going out on stage…

Passing at that moment outside his dressing room, his friend the acrobat stopped to talk to him: “Hi Clarence! Ready to get out on stage?” he called.

That was when the acrobat realised something was wrong with Clarence the clown, for although his face had a big smile painted on it and he was wearing a jolly red nose, his eyes were sad… “What’s up, my friend?” asked the acrobat.

Clarence the clown answered: “Well…I’m sad because I’ve lost my lucky flower and I can’t go on stage without it…” “But Clarence, my friend, it’s just a flower. The only hero here is you. Who else will get all those children laughing till the tears run down their cheeks? The flower? Definitely not! The children are waiting for you; they want to see you be silly, and to keep falling over!!”

Without another word, the acrobat left Clarence’s dressing room, leaving him very surprised at the acrobat’s mysterious exit.

It was now a few minutes before Clarence’s performance, and the children had already begun shouting for the clowns. At that very moment, Clarence’s dressing room door burst open and the acrobat appeared, holding a flower in his hand: “Clarence”, he said, “this flower will bring you luck. I picked it from the field outside the circus just for you. I know it’s not your flower, but I know it will bring you all the strength you need… It’s magic, you know…”

“Thank you so much“, said Clarence to the acrobat, “I’m glad that you’re my friend”.

Then Clarence the clown realised that he didn’t need to rely on a lucky charm – he only needed to trust in himself. He also realised that good friends like the acrobat make life easier when we see it as difficult.

“And now it’s on with the show!!! Bring on the clowns!!”

THE END

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