Submitted for the school's Poetry Competition in 2025 (12 yrs old)

Be Considerate

Once upon a time, there lived a wise old grasshopper.   His name was Gerald.   He had a grandson called George.   George was a grasshopper too.

One day, George came around his grandfather’s house to pay a visit.   He hopped to his grandfather’s noisily.   Meanwhile, Gerald was peacefully reading a newspaper when he heard an irritating sound continually.   It was of course, his grandson George but Gerald did not know that.   Gerald was frustrated and angry as he did not like that this noise disrupted him from reading peacefully.   He kept looking out of the window to see what was happening but saw nothing as George was still far away.   Gerald put down his newspaper and took ten breaths to calm down, but he only managed to calm down a little bit.    He came out of his house and took a look around.   Suddenly, he saw George strolling towards him.   He realised that George was the one who was making that irritating sound as the sound was coming from him and it was getting louder.   He calmed down a lot more at the sight of his beloved grandson but still was a little angry.   He welcomed his grandson into his house and spoke to him, “Why were you making an irritating sound?”   George said, “Grandpa, I was just humming a little song.”  Gerald told him that it was disturbing him and that was not being considerate as it was too loud.   He also told George that being considerate is very important as when he grows up, other grasshoppers may not like the way he is humming and can harm him.   George understood and promised his grandfather that he will not do that again.   He also said sorry to his grandfather.

 The End

The Underwater Palace

There was once a king and a queen who lived in the palace deep under water.   They had five children.   Four of them were girls and there was one boy.   The children were always playing.   The family were mermaids.   Although they were mermaids, they had lots of friends.   They only had one type of enemy which was the sharks.   All types of sharks were their enemies.   The family had a special magical ring that the sharks wanted to have.   Every chance they have, they would try to steal it.

One day, the five children were playing with all their friends when the hammerhead sharks made a sudden arrival.   The king told them to stay away and hide.   So, they all went into the palace unseen by the hammerhead sharks.   The hammerhead sharks growled at the king and queen saying, “Give us the ring!”   The king and queen answered, ”No we won’t!”   The hammerhead sharks went away angrily to report the news to their leader.

The shark family decided to make some plans on how to get the ring.   After they have come up with a brilliant plan, they went back to the palace and demanded for the ring.   Just as they expected, the king and the queen said, “No!”   The leader of the sharks then gave a special signal to ask the other sharks to try to go in through the side doors and through the windows.   Unfortunately, the king and queen saw it and they, too, expected the sharks to do some type of planning.   They gave a signal to the five children of theirs and the childrens’ friends locked, secured and stood by every window and door that led into the house (for they had lots of friends).   When the sharks tried to swim through every window or side door, they failed.   The sharks realised that there was no way they could get the ring and that the mermaid family, along with all their friends, had overpowered them.

The sharks swam away and never dared to touch or go near the palace or anywhere owned by the royal family again.   From that point on, the family had no more enemies (although they were not friends with the sharks).   The royal family lived happily ever after.

The End