JOEY’S SOCKS

There was once a little boy called Joey, who played a lot of sport. Every day he went through three pairs of socks – all of them sports socks.

He wore sports socks when he went to play basketball and sports socks when he went to play football. All that was normal. But Joey also wore sports socks when he went to school, and when he went to visit his grandparents, and in fact any time he left the house.

But in his drawers there were all sorts of other socks, including ordinary socks.

short-stories-Joeys-socks

 

One morning when Joey got up, he saw a sock jump onto his pillow and squeak: “Joey, me and my friends in the drawer, the ordinary socks, well, we’re very worried that you’re not wearing us.”

Joey quickly recognised the sock – it was one his mother had given him two years ago now. Continue reading…

THE WICKED FAIRY KIDNAPPER

There was once a wicked man who wanted to kill all the good in the world, so he went around looking for all the fairies on the planet to lock them in a room from which they would never be able to escape. That way, good things would never exist again, and there would be only wickedness and darkness.

Randor, for that was the wicked man’s name, had managed to kidnap two fairies, Maria and Victoria, who were now imprisoned in that cold room where the sun’s rays never entered, for there were no windows and hardly any light came through the door.

Every day, the wicked Randor would go searching for the other fairies in the world. But the fairies knew that he was trying to kidnap them and kill all the good in the world, so they cast spells to become invisible and that way he wouldn’t find them.

Short stories - The wicked fairy kidnapper

Christie was a young fairy in charge of looking after the animals on the planet. Thanks to her magic potions, she created the necessary balance for them to survive any misfortunes. But unfortunately the young fairy didn’t know that the wicked Randor was pursuing all the fairies in the world, for she was a little scatterbrained.

So when Christie went into the forest to check on the animals and share her magic potions among them, Randor found her. He crept silently up to where she was, then leapt out at her and stuffed her into a sack to take back to the dark room from which she would never come out again. Continue reading…

THE MONKEY AND THE ROCKS

There was once a monkey called Monty who lived on an island that was largely inhabited by other monkeys. The most important scientists on the planet had figured out that climate change would affect this island very badly, almost sinking it completely.

So each of the monkeys decided to build a house on the highest part of the island to protect themselves from the floods on the day the disaster would come. Monty had designed his house to withstand a very big flood, and this required very big rocks.

All the monkeys built their houses in just one day, and then spent the rest of their time playing cards and enjoying their new homes. They all laughed at Monty, because while they had already built their houses, Monty had only drawn some plans. But Monty was convinced that his house could survive any flood and although it might take a long time to build, it was worth the wait.

Short stories - the monkey and the rocks

So Monty moved only one big stone a day, which meant that his house took shape very slowly and the other monkeys continued to laugh at him. But Monty didn’t care, and went on building his house stone by stone.

After a few months, when the other monkeys had got tired of playing cards, Monty finished his house and very proudly threw a big party to which he invited all the monkeys on the island. Continue reading…

THE PRINCESS AND THE DRAGON

There was once a very beautiful princess named Claudia, who lived in a very big castle, for her father was the king of Dragoland. The young princess usually spent her days playing with friends in the castle dungeons. But one day, Claudia and her chums went for a walk around the castle walls where there was a forest full of trees.

Claudia was the most beautiful of all her friends. Her long blonde hair and big green eyes meant that people noticed her wherever she went.

As they entered the forest, the girls noticed something moving among the tree branches, but couldn’t see who or what it was… Suddenly, an enormous dragon came flying out of the undergrowth and grabbed Claudia with his claws. Then, as quickly as he had come, the dragon flew back deeper and deeper into the forest. Terrified, the other girls ran back to the castle to tell the king what had happened.

Short stories - The princess and the dragon

The King of Dragoland was so alarmed at hearing the news that his daughter had been kidnapped by a dragon that he ordered an army of a thousand men to rescue her. Meanwhile, the dragon had already reached his lair with the princess. Continue reading…

THE ENCHANTED HOTEL

There was once a hotel that was very popular with tourists, but it was no ordinary hotel; at least, that’s what some of the previous guests said. Matthew had gone to spend a few days at the hotel with his parents, for they were going to visit the Ordesa National Park in southern Spain, for it was one of the prettiest parks in the whole wide world.

When Matthew’s family arrived at the hotel, which had been an old stone monastery, they were very surprised and amazed at how big it was.

Matthew had a room to himself, which made him very happy, for he thought this meant he could sleep till late without anyone disturbing him. But that night as he was sleeping peacefully, a noise in the middle of the night woke him up. The young boy got such a fright that he couldn’t help screaming.

Short stories - The enchanted hotel

He jumped out of bed and switched on the light to see who had made the noise, but there was no one there. But just as Matthew was about to get back in bed, he found a piece of old cloth on the ground next to the chimney. He picked it up for a closer look and began looking around the room to see if he could find another clue.

After a while when he still hadn’t found anything, Matthew went back to bed. For a few minutes, his eyes wouldn’t close – he tried and tried to go to sleep, but couldn’t. His eyes were big as saucers and he had pulled up the bed sheets right up to his head in fear, for there were creaks and groans coming from everywhere.

Finally, just as he was about to fall back asleep, he heard another noise – just like before. In a flash Matthew turned on the light to see where it came from. Then he caught sight of a figure in a nightdress made from the same cloth he had found a little while before. He dashed out of his hotel room and into his parents’, and leapt into their bed.

“Mum, dad, there’s someone in my room! She went up the chimney!” Matthew cried, trembling in fear. Continue reading…

THE BRAVE PIZZA DELIVERY BOY

There was once a pizza delivery boy called Pizzo, whose job it was to take dinner to customers’ homes so they could eat and relax. The pizzas were put into a case, and he would put them in a box that was behind his seat on the moped. But Pizzo usually left the pizza box unlocked, because that way he could make his deliveries faster.

One day, as he was motoring around from home to home as usual, two cars suddenly appeared and stole the pizzas.

Pizzo secretly followed them, and saw them pretend to be pizza delivery men at the next customer’s house. The poor customer opened the door to the thieves, who forced their way in and tied all the members of the house to a chair.

Short stories - The brave pizza delivery boy

Watching everything through the window, Pizzo called the police and warned them that a family was in danger. But there was no time to spare. As the police were making their way there, Pizzo pretended to be a policeman and shouted: “You’re surrounded! Come out with your hands up and your eyes shut. You’re under arrest!” Continue reading…

CHATTY SUMMER

Once upon a time, there was a season called summer who loved the sun. He loved it so much that he spent all day talking to it. The sun was his best friend, and summer was the nicest companion the sun could wish for, too.

All day long the sun was bored, for all it had to do was shine upon the Earth’s surface and not much else. So he was happy when summer came to talk to him, and passed the time pleasantly.

One summer’s day on the beach, when all the swimmers were enjoying a beautiful cloudless day and the sun was casting its rays on the sand, summer started chatting to him without stopping (as was usual!).

Short stories - Chatty summer

Seeing that the sun was very distracted by summer, a cloud sneaked up and hid behind the sun – and the sky began to darken. The people on the beach looked up and began to leave, gathering up their beach umbrellas and towels. There didn’t seem to be any sun, you see, and that’s why the people went home. Continue reading…

THE WOLF AND THE LADDER

Once upon a time, there was a wolf called Howler who lived in a valley where lots of fruit trees grew. Howler would often try to climb up the trees to eat the fruit they produced. But the most appetising fruit was on the very tall trees that Howler couldn’t reach.

In the valley, an elderly man named Martin also had a few fruit trees that he looked after very carefully. But as he was getting older, he began to notice that he lacked the strength to pick the fruit, for it was very tiring work.

Martin had some of the biggest and most delicious fruit trees in the valley, which was why Howler had his eye on them. So one day he decided to try and reach their fruit and started jumping up and down the trunk.

Short stories - The wolf and the ladder

Martin, who was looking out of the window, realised that the wolf was trying to steal fruit from his beautiful trees, but however much Howler jumped and howled, he couldn’t reach even the lowest branches of such a big tree.

Seeing this, Martin had a great idea: he offered Howler a ladder to climb up, but in return the wolf would have to give him half of whatever he picked. Only then would Martin continue lending him the ladder.

Howler accepted the deal and set to work collecting the fruit, and for one whole morning he went up and down the ladder filling his basket with the fruit they would then share between them. Continue reading…

THE SQUIRREL AND THE FOREST FIRE

There was once a young squirrel called Nutty, who lived in a wooden house high up in a tree in the middle of a forest. The forest where Nutty the squirrel lived was a beautiful place; it was full of plants, trees and bushes of all sizes. All of this beautiful vegetation was possible thanks to the river that burbled through the area and filled the place with life. For as Nutty the squirrel well knew, water is life.

One day, when Nutty was resting in his tree house, he heard some shouts coming from inside the forest. So he scrambled out to have a look around…

Nutty leapt from tree to tree to reach the place the shouts were coming from as quick as he could. When he arrived, he found a group of people lighting a fire on the ground for a barbecue.

Short stories - The squirrel and the forest fire

The poor squirrel was very frightened, for he knew that today – the first day of summer – people weren’t allowed to light fires in the forest because of the danger of starting a huge blaze. Continue reading…

PIPPI AND THE ROLLERCOASTER

There was once a twelve-year-old girl named Pippi, who really liked amusement parks even though she had never been to one.  Her parents had never let her go because they said they were very dangerous, but they would make an exception on her birthday and take her to the biggest amusement park of them all.

So on Pippi’s birthday, her parents bought her an all-day ticket for the park. Pippi was very happy about that, as you can imagine.

When she got there, Pippi’s jaw dropped in amazement at the amount of rides, and just how big the park actually was. Pippi and her sister ran to a new ride that had just been opened - the biggest rollercoaster in the world.

Short stories - Pipi and the rollercoaster

Just as they were about to get on, Pippi felt a fluttering in her tummy that made her stop in her tracks…

“Come on, Pippi! Get on, it’s about to go!” cried her sister. Continue reading…