Sunday, January 16, 2011

Once upon a time...

There were two little sparrows picking up crumbs outside an international school. One came from a family that only ate white bread; one came from a family that only ate brown bread. If it hadn't been for a recent windstorm, the two sparrows would never have met, but their nests on the opposite sides of the school had been blown down. So they carefully shared the same space by the playground for the time being, and when it was snack time they both followed after the children.

The little sparrow with white spots on his head pretended to only be interested in the brown bread on the picnic tables, and the big sparrow with white-tipped feathers pretended to be busy with the crumbs from hamburger buns on the steps. After a while, though, the wind swept all the crumbs together in a whirling pile in the middle of the playground. Just as the sparrows had given up on finishing lunch, the wind chuckled at them and let the crumbs drop in one heap. The white tipped bird, who was known in his family for having a bit of an attitude, sauntered up to the pile as if he owned it. Having got there, though, he realised that it would ruin his cool image if he started picking through to find his brown crumbs.

White-Spots was known as a bit of a airhead who forgot things, and by the time the wind had settled, he didn't remember that he was supposed to ignore the other bird. So he hopped up in a friendly way and bent down for a bite of white crumbs... only to realise that they were all mixed up with the brown. He stood there in confusion and let out confused cheeps. Normally, his big sister would hear his cheeping and rescue him from any trouble, but she wasn't at the playground that day. The white tipped sparrow looked at him pityingly, but after a minute realised that the spotted bird really didn't know what to do. Without any other options, the spotted bird let out one more unhappy cheep and gave one more hop - and tucked himself right next to the white tipped bird. The bigger bird looked very very surprised. After taking a moment to get over the shock, he carefully let out a polite cheep of his own, trying to get White-Spots to move away. This was a bad idea, because White-Spots only moved closer and looked hopeful.

Sighing, White-Feathers leaned down and pushed some brown crumbs into a pile, then, trying to keep his dignity, moved a few centimetres away. White-Spots took a happy mouthful. Then moved over next to White-Feathers and looked up expectantly. White-Feathers pulled out more brown crumbs and pointedly took a mouthful of white crumbs as he moved to the opposite side of the pile. White-Spots took a mouthful of his own and followed happily.

At this point, White-Feathers had a choice. He could either fly away from this hungry, too-friendly bird... or he could stay and share. He looked carefully around in case any of his friends was watching, and cheeped at White-Spots once more, just in case the smaller bird would take the hint and leave, or at least try to find his own crumbs. No such luck.

With a bird-frown on his face, but the beginnings of a bird-smile in his heart, White Feathers gave a dramatic sigh, as if to say, "This was not my idea!"

And then he leaned down and took a big bite of crumbs - brown and white together. White-Spots looked up at him adoringly. And did the same.

The End.

Thursday, January 06, 2011

Once upon a time...

There were three little bears. Their names were Dopey, Jack, and Rumpelstiltskin. Every morning, they put on their 1000-league boots and went over a little bridge - tromp tromp tromp to visit the dwarf grandmother's house made of straw. They carried with them baskets with apples (the non poisoned kind) and cake.

When they got there, she served them porridge in bowls made of Hungarian clay with spoons made of Polish pottery. When they finished, they washed up in a little sink and then made their way back home by following cake crumbs they had dropped along the way. But one day, they stopped on the bridge to look at their reflections in the water. One saw a dog with a bone and went after it, the second saw a tiny girl drifting away in a nutshell and went to save her, and the third saw a long blonde hair. When the biggest bear traced the hair back a long way, he found a princess in a tower, and begin singing to her. She sang down that she could not be freed, unless he brought back the heart of a prince in a little casket or some other golden container. Being a bear, this did not trouble him unduly. Immediately, he hurried back to tell his brother bears of the quest they must undertake. The middle brother agreed, but the youngest brother, who had always felt that he was the ugly duckling, said that he was not worthy to save a fair maiden and would just sit on the bridge. As the others hurried off, he sighed, and dropped an apple core into the water, which grew into a tall tall apple tree. Curious, he began to climb it, stopping only to talk with a black haired girl who was so scared that her face turned white. Once again, convinced of his ugliness, he only sighed and climbed on, but the girl felt sorry for him, and as he went two steps higher, she pulled at his boot, which came off in her hand. He ignored her, and kept climbing, so she stood up and kissed him on his ankle, the only spot where magic could reach through the furry skin. He was so surprised that he turned into a frog! But then the girl pulled out a magic mirror, and when he looked into it, he turned into a handsome prince. Then he kissed her back.

Hand in hand, they climbed down from the apple tree and hurried to tell everyone the good news. Naturally, she stopped in at her sister's tower, and when the blonde sister looked in the golden mirror and saw the reflection of her dark sister and her prince... the spell was broken. The blonde sister insisted she deserved to marry the bear prince, having waited all those years in the castle while her younger sister lived freely and climbed trees, but the dark sister clung to his arm and refused. Sighing, the blonde sister gave in, and was just about to sit back down to spinning her hair when the two other bears came in, asking for another day to solve the riddle of finding a prince so they could take his heart. The blonde princess pointed out that there was no more need for all that... at which point the oldest brother leaned over to kiss her and pricked his paw on the spindle and turned into a prince too! Everyone was absolutely delighted, except of course for the youngest bear, who was neither a prince nor a human. But he pointed out manfully that someone had to keep an eye on the grandmother and take care of the cottages, and, wishing the two happy couples all the best, he departed, taking with him only one gift, a singing harp to keep him company in his little brick house.

The End
Mini story snatches...

21/9/10
once there was a sparrow who found the airways always crowded by big birds during the day. so she flew at night, and found her nest by sound and warmth:)

21/9
Once there was a girl who spent a summer on the trail in a wee land called cymru, and loved it. six years later, she went back and found the dragons and rolling language just where she left it. When she left, she blew the seagulls a kiss and said she'd come back some day

19/9/10
Once there was a dragon flying w her little brothers through the hills. But soon they got tired, and since she couldn't always carry them, the sister looked for a nest. Gladly, she saw a circle of odd tall stones, so she tucked her brothers inside and kept watch from the rim above.


18/9/10
Once there was a fairy king and queen who argued and the whole kingdom was troubled... And the fall winds blew and the other fairies rode the fall winds in confusion, but soon all was forgiven and the snow sweetness came :)

17/9
Once upon a time there was a seagull who liked flying between Dover and for breakfast and Amsterdam for lunch.... Only she kept forgetting the time change and missing meals. But then she discovered snacks and friendly messenger pigeons to be her friends, so all was well.

17/9
Once upon a time there was a fish who lived in a pond and had peace and bunny friends... And then one day a dragon came to visit. It told stories for a while, lots about dragon friends in home and city. And the bunnies waved bye when the dragon flew off. And the rain fell like a lullaby that night....

15/9/10
Once there was a longlong line of people headed somewhere, and a tired little 1yrold who was crying til a dragon appeared whoaaa. Then everybody smiled for a moment.