This Time Stories by Donald Bisset. P.1

Дата публикации: Aug 01, 2021 1:5:40 PM

St. Pancras and King’s Cross1

Once upon a time there were two railway stations who lived right next door to each other. One was called St. Pancras and the other King’s Cross. They were always quarreling as to which w'as the better station.

I have diesel-engines as well as steam-engines at my station,” said St. Pancras.

‘‘Humph! So have I!” said King’s Cross.

“And I’ve got a cafeteria,” said St. Pancras.

“So have 1!”

“Open on Sundays?”

“Yes, open on Sundays!”

“Humph!”

There was silence for a few minutes, then King’s Cross said, “Well, I’ve got ten platforms and you’ve only got seven.”

“I’m twice as tall as you are!” replied St. Pancras. “And, anyway, your clock is slow.”

The King’s Cross clock was furious and ticked away as fast as it could to catch up. It ticked so fast that soon the St. Pancras clock was away behind, and it ticked as fast as it could too, so as not to be outdone. They both got faster and faster; and the trains had to go faster too so as not to be late. Quicker and quicker went the clocks and faster and faster went the trains, till at last they had no time even to set down their passengers but started back again as soon as they had entered the station.

The passengers were furious and waved their umbrellas out of the windows.

“Hi, stop!” they called. But the engines wouldn’t.

“No!” they said. “We can’t stop or we’ll be late. Can’t you see the time!”

By now? the clocks were going so fast that almost as soon as it was morning it was evening again.

The sun was very surprised. “I must be going too slow!” it thought. So it hurried up and set almost аз soon as it had risen1 apd then rose again. The people

all over London were in such a state: they got up and

went to bed, and then got up again with hardly any sleep at all and ran to school and hardly had time to say twice two were four and then ran home again.

Finally the Lord Mayor of London said to the Queen, “Your Majesty, this won’t do.2 I think we ought to go3 and give a medal to Euston Station,4 then the other two will be so jealous they may stop quarrelling.” 5

“That’s a good idea!” said the Queen. So she set out from Buckingham Palace with the Lord Mayor and

the Horse Guards,1 and in front of her walked the

Prime Minister carrying a gold medal on a red velvet cushion.

When they got to King’s Cross the two stations stopped quarrelling and looked at them.

“Do you see what I see, St. Pancras?” asked King’s

Cross.

“I do indeed!” said St. Pancras. “A medal to Eustojj Station, just because it’s2 got fifteen platforms. It’s not fair. Why, you’re a better station than Euston!”

“And so are you, St. Pancras,” said King’s Cross,

St. Pancras was surprised, but it thought it would be nice to be friends after all the quarrelling, so it Said, “Let’s be friends.”

“Yes, let’s!” said King’s Cross.

So they became friends and stopped quarrelling, and their clocks stopped going too fast and their trains stopped having to hurry.3 Everyone was very pleased.

“You are clever, Lord Mayor!” said the Queen.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!” said the Lord Mayor,

Hide-and-Seek

Once upon a time the dark was playing hide-and-seek with the moon.

Sometimes it hid behind houses or chimneys and kept very still while the moonlight crept round to find it.

Sometimes it would dart about, hiding behind a pussy cat or a little dog crossing4 the road. It was very clever at hiding5 from the moon.

But when the sun rose that was different.

“Just you wait!” said the moon. “When the sun shines where will you hide then?”

“I’ll hide behind the children going to school,” said the dark, “and be their shadows.”

“That’s all very well,” said the moon, “but when

the children go into school then where will you hide? Really, my dear, you had better go and hide round

the other side of the world or the sun will be sure to

catch you.” 1

“No, it won’t!” said the dark. “You wait and see.” Well, presently the sun rose and most of the dark went and hid round at the other side of the world and made it night there, but some little bits of dark stayed to play with the sun.

They had a lovely time and some pieces were people’s shadows and some were pussy cats’ shadows and

dogs’ shadows and cows’ shadows and some were little birds’ shadows and flitted across the lawn, but the sun nearly always caught them in the end till there was only one little piece of dark left.2

“I’ll catch you!” said the sun. “No matter where you

hide!”

“No, you won’t!” said the dark. “I’ve thought of a lovely .place where you’ll never find me. Now don’t look! And count ten while I go and hide.”

So the sun hid behind a cloud and counted ten. Then it came out to look.

“I expect it’s hiding behind someone and being their shadow!” said the sun. But though it looked everywhere it couldn’t find the dark.

It looked all day and all the next day but couldn’t find it, and indeed it never found it at all because the dark had found such a wonderful place to hide — in the cupboard under the stairs.

“It is nice here!” thought the dark. “I think I’ll stay here all the time.” And it did.

And that’s why it’s always dark in the cupboard under

the stairs.

Annabelle1

Once upon a time there was a cow with a poorly tummy.2 Her name was Annabelle. And one day she saved a big ship from being wrecked.3

One foggy day, on the coast of Cornwall,4 Annabelle was in her field eating some grass for breakfast. The fog was so

thick that she couldn’t see the end of her nose, and suddenly she swallowed a thistle.

Oh dear! It was in her tummy and prickled and hurt like anything. Annabelle stopped eating and mooed as loudly as she could.

Just then a big ship was sailing by on her way to America. The Captain looked through his telescope but he could see only fog.

“Do you know where we are?” he said to his first officer.

“No, Sir! But we’re somewhere off the coast of Cornwall.”

“Well, sound the hooter,” said the Captain. So the first officer sounded the hooter — “Moo-o-o!”

Annabelle heard it, and thought, “There’s another cow who has swallowed a thistle. I must get the doctor,” §nd she mooed to let the other cow know she had heard.

“Listen!” said the Captain. The first officer stopped sounding the hooter and listened. Then, from across the water, through the fog, they heard it again: “Moo!”

“That’s Annabelle Cow,” said the Captain. “We

must be near her field.” And he started giving lots of orders.

“Stip the shop! I mean— Stop the ship!”

“Reverse the enginesl” 1 “Drop the anchor!”

“Sound the hooter!”

The ship stopped, the anchor chain rattled down and the ship’s siren sounded again: “Moo-o-o!”

“Oh, what a poorly tummy that cow has got,” thought Annabelle, and she mooed again, “Moo-o-o!”

The Captain looked over the side. Soon the sun came out and the Captain saw that he had stopped the ship from hitting a big rock.2

He had saved his ship, all because he had heard Annabelle’s moos.

Just then, he heard the mooing again: “Moo-o-o! Moo-o-o!”

“That’s funny,” he thought. “She’s still mooing, perhaps she’s got a poorly tummy!” So he sent the ship’s doctor ashore to make Annabelle’s tummy better.

“And give her this too!” he said and handed the doctor a little box with a,big label tied to it.

When the doctor reached the shore, Annabelle was still feeling poorly but he gave her some pills and she soon began to feel all right.

“The Captain asked me to give you this,” said the doctor. He took the little box the Captain had given him and showed it to her. On the label was written:

“To Annabelle — the Cow that saved our Ship — From the Captain

Inside was a lovely silver medal. The doctor tied it round Annabelle’s neck and the medal hung on her chest. She was proud.

“That’s because by mooing you saved the ship. Now I must hurry because we are going to America,” said the doctor.

He hurried to the ship. The sun shone brightly and the fog had gone.

Annabelle looked out to sea.

“Moo!” she said.

“Moo!” replied the ship.

As the ship sailed on, the moos became fainter. But the Captain, looking through his telescope, could see Annabelle eating grass with the medal round her neck. “Moo!” said Annabelle, looking out to sea. “Moo!” And from the big ship, far across the water, she thought she heard a faint “Moo!”