Next Time Stories by Donald Bisset. P.2

Дата публикации: Aug 01, 2021 1:7:48 PM

The Red Hat

Once upon a time there was a little fish swimming in the sea with a lot of other little fishes. All down below him the water looked dark and the deeper he went the darker it got. But when he looked up he could see the blue sky and a red hat. “I would like that red hat,” he thought.

So he said good-bye to the other fishes and swam up and up and up till he got to the top of the water and all around him was the sea and big ships and above him was the blue sky and large white clouds and the red hat.

He tried to swim higher but no matter how hard he tried 1 he couldn’t get higher than the top of the water.

So he called out to a sea-gull that was flying just overhead, “Oh, Mr. Sea-gull, please fly up high and bring me down that lovely red hat. I’d 2 like to wear it.”

But the sea-gull said, “You’d better go away, little fish, or I’ll eat you for my breakfast.” And he dived down at the little fish and tried to catch him in his big sharp yellow beak, but the little fish swam under the water and got away.

Then he saw a fisherman in a boat with a great long fishing-line with a hook on the end of it. So he looked out of the water and said, “Oh, please, Mr. Fisherman, will

you try and catch 1 that red hat in the sky for me with your long line and hook?”

“You’d better look out,” said the fisherman, “or I’ll catch you!” And he twirled the fishing-line round his head three times and sent the hook towards the little fish, but he just missed him and the little fish swam away.

A little while later the little fish came to a river and there on the bank he saw an elephant who was singing a little song to himself:

The elephant is large and faf.

He eats so much of this and that.

He likes to sit and eat and cram

On hpy and grass and strawberry jam. •

The little fish called out, “Will you please stretch out your long trunk and fetch me down that red hat from the sky?”

So the elephant stretched out his trunk as far as he could. He stretched ^nd he stretched and he stretched but he couldn’t reach the red hat.

‘Til tell you what Til do,” he said. ‘Til pick you up in my trunk and throw you as high as I can right up in the sky and you can fetch down the hat for yourself.”

So he picked up the little fish and threw him high up into the air, higher than the clouds, right up into the blue sky, and the little fish looked and he saw that it wasn t a red hat in the sky but the sun.

Then he fell right back into the sea with the biggest splash you’ve ever seen.

All the other little fishes swam round him and said, “Why haven’t you brought back the red hat?”

“It isn’t a red hat,” he told them, “it’s the sun,” and they ail laughed at him. “Don’t be silly,” they said, “of course it’s a red hat,” and they swam away to play games.

The Rhino1 and the Fairy

Hundreds and hundreds of years ago when all fathers were little boys, there lived a rhinoceros whose name was

S a m, - . 4 • i i • j. о т jt

He was very, very fat, but he didn’t mind a bn. He

was a happy rhinoceros, and every night before he went to sleep he sang:

The rhinoceroscroseros,

Eats a lot of food becos’ 3 He is so very, very wide And has a lot of space inside.

Then he ate a hundred chocolate biscuits and drank a

glass of milk and went to sleep.

All night long he dreamt, and every night it was the same dream. He dreamt he wras being tickled.4 At first it was a little tickle, then it was not so little a tickle, then it was a big tickle, and, last of all, it was the biggest tickle in the world, and Sam rolled so much that he fell

out of bed. v , . ...

Because he was so large and fat, it made a great big “bump1” when he fell. And the people who lived nearby complained and said he was a very naughty rhinoceros to make such a noise.

Poor Sam didn t know what to do. So he went to where a wise old owl lived in an oak. The owl’s name was Joe, and he could do sums 1 and spelling and reading, and every Friday he polished his claws.

Sam told Joe that he was always falling out of bed and that the neighbours were complaining and asked him what lie could do to stop rolling. 4 '

“Well,” said Joe, “you must ask your good fairy to help you.” ‘

“All right!” said Sam. “I will ”

So^ he wished,2 then he wished again and again. At the third wish there was a little noise in the grass and the fairy appeared. She was as beautiful as a buttercup. In her right hand she held a silver wand.

She stroked Sam’s nose while he told her his troubles. How he went to bed at night and ate a hundred chocolate biscuits and drank a glass of milk and then went to sleep. How he dreamt in his sleep and felt tickly and rolled so much that he fell out of bed and the neighbours complained.

“Well, you are a silly rhinoceros,” said the fairy, “if you eat a hundred chocolate biscuits in bed, think of the crumbs! Of course you feel tickly and roll and fall out of'bed.”

“But what can I do?” said Sam. “If I didn’t eat a big supper I’d get thin.”

“I’ll ^11 you what I’ll do,” said the fairy. “Now, shut your eyes. No peeping.”3

Sam shut his eyes and she waved her wand over Joe.

In a twinkle he had changed from an owl into a canary. “Hey, what’s this!” said Joe. “Don’t be angry,” said the fairy, “think of all the lovely crumbs you’ll have to eat.” “All right, I’ll be a canary,” said Joe.

He fluttered his yellow wings and started to sing:

Fingers and thumbs,

Fingers and thumbs.

Winter is cold,

I’ll eat up yqur crumbs. *

Sam opened his eyes. “Eat up my crumbs!” he said. “Of course! The very thing! 1 Oh, thank you, Good Fairy, thank you very much. Now I shan’t feel tickly and roll and go bump any more.”

“Good-bye!”said the good fairy. She kissed Joe end Sam, and, with the wave of her wand, she disappeared.

Then Joe went home with Sam. They lived happily ever after and Sam didn’t dream any more or roll and fall out of bed. All the neighbours said he was a very good rnino-ceros and very lucky to have such a friend to eat his crumbs.2

And sometimes, in the early morning, when he’s down by the river, Sam sings to himself:

Or Crash! or Bang!

Or Wallop! or Bump! Because of Joe,

Who is yellow and good,

I go to sleep

As a rhinoceros should.

Fingers and thumbs, Fingers and thumbs,

Joe is yellow And eats up my crumbs. So that out of rny bed I never go Thump!

The Story of Zzzzzz

Once upon a time there was a great big whale whose name was Nicky. He was as big as thirty-three girls and boys standing in a row.3

There was one thing that Nicky liked better than anything else in the world and that was honey.

Now Nicky had a friend whose name was Zzzzzz, ano there is a picture of him on page 50. Zzzzzz was a little

fly who lived in Mummy’s kitchen.

One day Zzzzzz was going for a walk on the kitchen ceiling when he saw a note that Mummy had naiied on

the wall. „ , , ... ,

So he flew down and stood on the kitchen table and

read it.

“Well,” he thought, “that’s not very friendly! I’ll go and stay with Nicky. At any rate,1 he loves me.”

So he said good-bye to Marmy,2 the cat, and flew out

of the window. •

As soon as he got out of the window he saw some bees, gathering honey. “I wish I was a bee!”3 he said. Then I could gather honey too.” But he wasn’t, so he couldn t.

He wanted to take some honey to Nicky. So he sat down and thought.

Then a friend of his, Buzzy Bee, came along and sat down beside him. “Why are you so thoughtful,

Zzzzzz?” he said. “Well!” said

Zzzzzz. “I want some honey lor my Iriend Nicky. I’m going to stay with him and I’d like to take him a present. But I don’t know how to get any honey.”

“Well! I’ll tell you what to do,” said Buzzy, and he whispered in Zzzzzz’s ear.

Zzzzzz was ever so pleased and flew away to where Nicky was in the sea.

When he got there Nicky was sound asleep 1 having his afternoon nap.

Zzzzzz tiptoed very quietly so as not to wake him,2 and he got a great big jar and took the top off and. waited.

Presently he heard a buzzing sound which got louder, and louder, and louder, and along came a bee who flew round the jar and then emptied a little bag of honey into it.

Then some more bees came and emptied their honey bags into the jar. There were hundreds of them and they all emptied their honey bags till the jar was quite full.

Then they said good-bye to Zzzzzz and flew back to the garden where they lived.

Presently Nicky woke up and whgn he saw the jar of honey that Zzzzzz had got for him, he opened his mouth as wide as he could and Zzzzzz poured the honey in. .

“Yum! yum! yum!” said Nicky. “That was nice!” And he gave Zzzzzz a great big sticky kiss.3

Then he yawned. “Where’s Zzzzzz?” he said. “Mm!' He must have flown away.4 Oh, well! I think I’ll have another little sleep.”

But Zzzzzz hadn’t flown away, he’d stuck to him. He struggled to get free, pulling first with one leg, then with another and at last he got free and went for a walk on Nicky’s back. Nicky was so long that it took him 1 nearly an hour to reach Nicky’s tail.

When he got back Nicky had woken up and they had a lovely time playing Zzzzzz’s favourite game which was to sit on Nicky’s blowhole and be blown high up in the air. And the captains of all the ships that passed used to watch him through their telescopes. “My, my, what fun that fly has!”2 they said.