FOURTH STORY BOOK

THE PEARL PARROT AND OTHER STORIES

BY

THEO  TAMMES

CONTENTS

I SERPENTINE ROAD PAGE 3
II THE GREEN CAT AND THE BUTTERFLY PAGE 6
III THE FROG AND THE TURTLE PAGE 10
IV THE STATUE PAGE 13
V THE DREAMGARDEN PAGE 16
VI SUNSET BOULEVARD PAGE 18
VII THE WHALE AND THE PRINCESS PAGE 20
VIII THE ODYSSEY DOG PAGE 23
IX THE NUTCRACKER TREE PAGE 25
X THE REVERSE TIME COYOTE AND THE HUNTER PAGE 27
XI THE PEARL PARROT PAGE 28
XII THE CLOUD PAGE 29

©

COPYRIGHT BY

TAO TAMMES

CASA AZUL

PORTO DO PAUL

PERNES

2000-500

PORTUGAL

I SERPENTINE ROAD

Once upon a time in a far away country, on another continent, where neither you nor I have ever been, on this beautiful little blue planet of ours, a road was built. Of course it was a special road, and much more special than the people who built it knew. I’ll tell you, just sit down and relax.

You see, the government of this country, that was very beautiful, but very poor as well, had decided that in the name of progress a road had to be built to link the to main cities of the country. That was fine of course, but there was a little problem with the planning.

The engineers, you see, planned to build the road over a holy mountain because that was the easiest and best way for the road. As soon as these plans became public, a storm of protest came up. You see, the people living in that area loved their mountain, and they wanted to keep it just as it was. Most of them were poor people, living simple and often quite hard lives, but they knew about their holy mountain and they were sure the gods wouldn’t be pleased if the road was built.

Of course they could understand the wish of the government for progress as well, but they wanted the road to go around the holy mountain as well as it could.

But after much arguing and debating, all their protest was ignored and the road was built. On the other hand, the engineers promised to follow the natural flow as well as they could and change as little as possible.

So the road was built and it stretched up and down the holy mountain in endless curves, like a serpent. That’s why the road was called serpentine road. It took quite a while to build the road, and the local people refused to have anything to do with it, although they could have earned a lot of money working as road builders and helpers.

They believed the whole project was doomed and wrong. After the road was finished, there was a lot more traffic going through the area and some people opened shops and cafes near the road. In that way they had some profit from the road and the standard of living in the area slowly increased.

For a while the road behaved as any road, it was just there and served the purpose it was built for. But you see, this road was as much alive as you or me and it wasn’t very happy being where it was. So one day the serpentine road changed it’s route over the holy mountain. Just a little bit, mind you, but change it did.

Next day the people passing the road noticed of course and the news spread around. People couldn’t believe it. Some walked over the mountain, some drove in their cars, others their horse wagons and they all could see with their own eyes that the road had changed. Now I tell you, they sure had something to talk about.

The road building engineers came, a plane came to take aerial photographs and there was no doubt about it, the road had changed its route. There was no sign of labour or any work; it looked like it had always been like that.

Some time later the road changed again! And again it happened in the dark of night, no one heard or saw a thing, but the route the road took over the holy mountain was sure different. Believe it or not!

Well the amount of people talking about this road increased enormously. From far and wide people came to see the road, to hear about the changes of the route the serpentine road had made all by itself.

Everyone agreed it was one of the greatest mysteries they had ever come across. The local people blamed the government, saying they had warned them not to build the road over the holy mountain. The government felt utterly helpless, all they could think of was putting up signs saying, “Road on the move, drive carefully.”

They were the only road signs of this kind on the whole planet and many people laughed about them. Still, mind you, there was nothing wrong with the road; you could pass it safe and sound.

The road kept changing every so often, always without anybody noticing how it happened. More and more people came to see it for themselves and even foreigners came just to see the serpentine road and tell their folks back home they had actually driven this road.

The local people were very upset and demanded that the government tear down the road, as the gods had clearly shown their disapproval. All the same, the enormous increase of people using the road increased their income a lot and soon the whole area wasn’t poor any more.

So, if they wanted or not, everybody benefited from the road. The priests held special prayer meetings and services to try to appease the serpentine road. Processions were held, incense was burned and lots of prayers were said.

The engineers who had built the road were devastated. They didn’t know what to do at all. I’m sure you can understand that. This had never ever happened before. Imagine, a road that moves, unheard, unseen, but that moved every so often. The government ordered the engineers to do something about it, to fix the road in its position and keep it like that.

So, the engineers made a big plan to tie the road down in its place. At all the curves big holes were drilled and the road was fixed down with iron plates and long stakes, put deep down into the ground and fixed with concrete.

This work took quite a while and it sure cost a lot of money. And do you think it worked? Not really, do you?

Because it didn’t. Neither the prayers of the priests nor the measures of the engineers altered a thing.

Every so often the road just changed again and that was it. In the end the government was in a crisis and had to go. There was an uproar in the country, all about the road and what was to be done.

International organisations came to help, but no one could come up with a solution. I mean neither a spiritual one or a physical one. Everyone was just amazed and helpless. Then one day the blue raven came. Of course you remember the blue raven?

Yes, it is the messenger of the gods. The blue raven flew to the capital, landed in the courtyard of the government’s palace and talked to the prime minister who was just having a little walk on his own.

The blue raven warned him that there would be an earth quake and urged him to get the people out of the area and close the serpentine road for the time being. But long before the warning from the government came the people in the area knew something was up. The animals behaved strangely, you see!

The free and wild animals all stared to move away to leave the area. The tame ones didn’t want to be in their pens and stables and they were all extremely nervous and wanted to get away.

The dogs kept barking and running about like mad, the cats took to the fields and all the birds stopped singing and moved away. So when finally the message of a possible earthquake came, it wasn’t a big surprise to the local people.

Readily they moved away from the holy mountain, praying and hoping their homes and fields wouldn’t be destroyed. Then the morning came and everyone knew this was the day something big would happen. And it sure did.

The holy mountain began to tremble, the earth shook and then the top of the mountain opened and ashes and smoke came out.

The smoke and the ashes were so thick in the air that no one could exactly see what was going on.

But next morning they could, for the holy mountain was quiet again. The whole mountain was covered with little steep peaks of lava, the road had completely disappeared, was covered in lava and you could hardly believe there had been a road over this mountain. It would sure be impossible to ever build a road again over this holy mountain.

Well, as you know, the mountain is still there and it is still a holy mountain.

Another road has been built around it and people have moved back. For none of the fields or houses had been damaged.

And yes, you sure can go and visit the mountain yourself if you like.

And they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

II THE GREEN CAT AND THE BUTTERFLY

Once upon a time, on a far away planet, somewhere in our wonderful galaxy, there was a green cat.

Now, I must tell you this was not a cat like you and I know them. The animals on this planet, you see, looked quite a lot like the ones you and I know but they were different. Most of them were a lot bigger than the similar animals on planet earth, some were smaller and apart from that their colours were completely different. But since a lot of them resemble our animals, I will just call them by the names we use since no one would know what I’m talking about when I would call them by their real names. And what’s in a name?

So there was this green cat. It was quite enormous, more the size of a tiger, but it had the shape and build of a cat and it was green. I know, I know, that is strange. Very strange indeed, but it was the way it was. A beautiful, deep shining green.

A lovely cat you would say, and she could purr so loud when she was happy that you and I would have to protect our ears to prevent them from bursting.

At this moment in time it was spring on the planet. Nice and light and warm and everything was growing and blooming. But since different planets have different circumstances, I have to tell you their seasons were quite different from ours. To start with they had seven seasons. And don’t ask me why because I don’t know. A year on this planet lasted only maybe just over half a year on our planet.

Imagine, such a short year and then having seven seasons! So you can see now, life was really different there than it is here on our planet. But then again, life on that planet was used to it, and since they didn’t know anything else, it was as normal to them as anything.

This green cat had a lot of friends and one of them was a special one. You remember the blue raven? Well see, on this planet the messengers for the gods were the butterflies. Believe it or not, that’s the way it was.

This big green pussycat had one of them for a friend. How lucky she was! The butterfly was truly enormous. How about the size of a small plane, just to give you an idea? Of course it wasn’t a real butterfly, but it resembled one.

So, this spring the butterfly and the green cat had become friends. The green cat had been hunting for some mice amongst the flowers, when the butterfly came by and stopped to have a look how this green cat went about catching mice.

The green cat sniffed the air to see if it could locate something edible, it found a mouse hole and laid down pretending to be asleep. Very softly it started to make some noises, sounds that resembled a mother mouse calling her children. You couldn’t see her do it, she appeared to be asleep, but you could clearly hear her.

The mice came. That was a pity for them, for in a split second the green cat was up and had caught a couple of them. She swallowed them and the giant butterfly clapped his hands, delighted with the cleverness and speed of the green cat. So they started talking and became good friends. From now on they would meet almost every day and before long the butterfly allowed the green cat to sit on his back and took her for short trips through the air.

As you can imagine, the green cat was delighted. To fly, what a dream! And of course the green cat helped the butterfly in her turn by telling him where lots of his favourite flowers were, where the nicest sweet honey wells were and such things.

They got on very well, these two. The butterfly was still very young, he had only seen two seasons so far and was curious and had a lot to learn. The green cat was quite old and had a lot of experience and could tell the butterfly a lot.

They never got tired of talking about the seasons. The green cat knew, of course, that the butterfly soon would have to fly down south to survive the after winter in the warmer regions of their planet.

You know of course that on our planet the butterflies don’t live very long, but on this planet that was different as well. They could live seven times seven seasons, but they had to move all the time. For every season they had to live in different regions and so they had a lot to learn just to be able to survive these different conditions.

The green cat had an easier life. In the after-winter, which followed spring, she would just go to sleep deep down in her safe burrow and wake up well and hungry at the start of the next season. Because the butterfly was the messenger from the gods, he had special qualities and special gifts. He could fly enormous distances, talk to all the animals on this planet and needed almost no sleep at all.

After winter passed the butterfly came back from the south. It should not have been in the region at this time of year but he wanted to see his friend. The green cat woke up very hungry indeed. The first thing she saw as she came out of her burrow was a little red bear. The red bears were small, a lot smaller than bears on our planet. In fact they were about the size of our cats.

For some reason they didn’t taste good at all, otherwise they might have been eaten by the cats. So our green cat just let the red bear pass by and she was just about to go hunting when she spotted her friend. An enormous joy filled her heart; she leapt in the air and landed on the butterfly’s back. Then they took oft.

As you know, the green pussycat could live anywhere on this planet, so they went to the region the butterfly should live in at this time of year.

The green cat had been there before and she knew lots of animals there. She knew the good feeding places, and she knew the sweet wells for the butterflies.

This season the butterfly was busy; there were lots of messages she had to bring to different animals, big ones and small ones. At night he received the messages in his dreams and in the daytime he went around with the green cat on his back.

She told the butterfly where he could find the animals he had to talk to and so they helped each other.

On midsummer’s night a thunderstorm came up, an enormous, wild storm and all the animals had to find shelter. The wings of a butterfly can easily be damaged in a severe storm, you know.

They found shelter in a cave. But then, in the middle of the storm, the butterfly had to deliver an urgent message to the gold lion. He couldn’t go out, so the green cat offered to go and went out in the storm. She found the gold lion and delivered the message. On her way back home she found the rivers so high and swollen that she couldn’t cross and had to wait.

She waited patiently, hoping that her friend might come and look for her. And so he did. They resumed their life together and did many things together.

Then the season changed again and they flew up north. More-summer as it is called on this planet, was short, but enormously hot. Life was almost impossible anywhere, apart from the high mountains in the north.

Since for the moment there weren’t many messages to deliver, the green cat and the butterfly spent much time together. They were very happy. As things happen, the green cat fell in love one day with a beautiful strong tomcat, and they decided to have some young ones. The butterfly congratulated, but was sad; for he knew that for a while the green cat wouldn’t have much time for him. The season changed again, and for the short middle- winter the butterfly went to the desert regions, which were the best place to be in this season

Night came upon him, but he flew on. Alone and tired he arrived in the new place and waited for the dreams to tell him what messages to bring and where. He was busy but he missed the help of his friend in spotting the animals he was looking for.

One night the butterfly had a strange dream. He dreamed the green cat had a litter of five young cats and they all had wings! Well, you and I know that in dreams anything can happen, but imagine the surprise of the butterfly when he flew back to the green cat and found she had five kittens, all in different colours and they all had wings! This was unheard of, even on this strange planet. The green cat was happy to see her friend, to show him all her lovely kittens and full of awe she showed their wings. Now, she couldn’t teach them how to fly, since she didn’t have wings but the butterfly could show them and he was pleased he could do so to help them.

Soon all the five kittens could not only walk run and swim, but fly as well. It was a marvellous sight to see all these different coloured cats flying through the air, making quick turns and somersaults, doing anything they liked. Many, many animals came to watch them and their fame spread over the whole planet.

The gods were so pleased with the flying cats that they sent a special message to tell them of their joy, and each of the five cats was granted a special wish.

Of course you have heard of all the amazing things that have happened ever since! Actually that is another story, or better still that’s five different stories. But I’m sure you’ll hear them one day, somewhere. For now I can only tell you what one of those amazing wishes was, that one of the flying cats wanted to have kittens one day that could fly through space and travel anywhere.

And that’s why, if you are very, very lucky, you may, one day see a flying cat, the size of a tiger somewhere around our planet. They love to visit our planet for some unknown reason.

And of course they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

III THE FROG AND THE TURTLE

Once upon a time, on an island on the other side of our beautiful little planet, there lived a frog and a turtle.

Of course they were both very special, but the most amazing thing was they were friends. I know, I know, it’s not every day you can meet a turtle and a frog who are friends. That’s rather rare and they both knew it as well.

The island they, and others, lived on was in the Pacific Ocean. I’m sure you all have heard about that. Anyway, that’s far away and apart from knowing a little bit about the climate there, I couldn’t tell you much.

The frog was normal size; he would have fitted in your hand. He was bluish green with gold stripes and very pretty. The turtle was big, and quite old. But you know, of course, that turtles can grow very old, as old or older than humans. You all know of course, that frogs need water to live and they prefer ponds and lochs and such places. If they can avoid rivers they do, they like their waters calm and quiet. The water they live in is plain, normal water, fresh water. But this frog, for whatever reason, could live in salt water too. Yes very strange indeed.

This frog’s life was different indeed from that of other frogs for he could go and visit places others could not. And he did. You know frogs love to travel a bit, have a good look around.

Our frog discovered the coast of his island, the pools of seawater at low tide, the complete different maritime animals and insects. He was fascinated by the sea and all it’s different aspects of life.

And, being as nice as he was, he went back to the other frogs in their fresh water pools and lakes regularly and told them all about the sea and sea life. So they knew a lot about sea life as well, and that was good for them. I’m sure you understand that frogs on this island were some of the brightest and cleverest on our whole planet.

One day as it happened, our frog watched with his big eyes how a turtle came out of the sea and started to dig a hole in the sand on the beach. One after the other she laid dozens of eggs and the frog was fascinated. When she was done and started covering up the eggs, our frog went down to the turtle and introduced himself. He told her how impressed he was, told her about the ways frogs produce their eggs and soon they were talking hundreds and thousands. The turtle was very interested in all that the frog had to say, since she knew little about the life on land or fresh water animals. In her turn she told the frog about her journeys, far away islands and countries, different climates and the vastness of the ocean.

She told him about all the strange fishes and other animals she had met in the sea and they became good friends. They loved to talk to each other and once in a while the frog would go a ride on the turtle’s back. Over the years they kept meeting each other, every time the turtle returned to the island the frog was there to meet her. They exchanged the latest news and enjoyed being together. Sometimes they even sent each other messages, asking the sea gulls to carry them and pass them on until they reached either the frog or the turtle.

Now I have to tell you the frog was getting older and wouldn’t live much longer. The turtle was very sad about this; she didn’t want to miss her friend. She thought about what she could do about it. She had heard some talk about the well of eternal youth but she didn’t know much about it. So she inquired. She asked other turtles, she asked the birds and she spread the word around that she was looking for this well, not for herself but for her friend the frog.

Since this turtle was a special animal as well, I should tell you one of her talents. She could taste the water and tell where every drop had come from. I mean, she could tell from which river, in which country it had come. A very strange gift and it may seem useless to you, but I can assure you, in the end it was extremely helpful.

Slowly she got some information together about the spring of eternal youth. And in the end she was sure it must exist somewhere in the world. But how to find it? She thought and concentrated long and deep but the only thing she could came up with was that if she knew how this special water tasted she could find it, with the help of her special talents.

When the frog became really fragile and could hardly move, the turtle sent out a message to the gods for help and of course her message was answered.

The blue raven came to the island and landed in a palm tree on the beach and spoke with the turtle. The turtle told him the problem and how she hoped she could give her friend the frog a longer life, for she would miss him so much and he was such a nice and good frog. At the moment the blue raven started to give her an answer a strange thing happened.

Believe it or not, but out of the blue sky came a mouse with a parachute, slowly floating down. It passed the blue raven in the palm tree, and I can assure you, for a while even the blue raven was speechless! No one had heard or seen anything the like.

A mouse with a parachute! The mouse landed on the turtle’s back with a soft thump and smiled happily, “Whoa, brilliant, don’t you think so turtle?” she said.

But the turtle was too surprised to answer and just nodded her head. The blue raven told the mouse why he was there and told the turtle he could give her one drop of water from the well of eternal youth. If she could locate the well everything was fine.

The mouse nicked to the whole story and said, “I could bring the frog to the well you know, once you know where it is. We can go in my aeroplane and jump out with our parachutes again. Big fun, you know, I tell you, nicest thing I know in life!” The turtle laughed, the mouse was so funny!

The blue raven said goodbye flew off and returned much, much later with one drop of water from the well of eternal youth. Our turtle tasted it and started sniffing the sea. Actually it became a race against time, for every day the frog deteriorated and the turtle had to taste an immense amount of sea water before she finally found the exact taste of that one special drop of well water. The day she did, she rejoiced. Immediately she sent for the frog and the mouse and told them where the well of eternal youth was. Now the parachute mouse took over, took the frog to her plane and they were off and away. It was a far journey and they had to make quite a couple of stopovers before they came to the right place.

They found the well and jumped down with their parachutes.

Thump, the frog landed in the well.

Thump, the parachute mouse landed in the well.

Ach well, I’m sure you know the rest of the story. Yes, they lived happily ever after and if you ever meet an animal that’s incredibly old, you can be sure it has found it’s way to the well of eternal youth.

And no, I’m not going to tell you where it is. But I know even people that have been looking for this well and some might have found it. Anyway, you can just go and ask the frog or the mouse, don’t you think so?

THE END

IV THE STATUE

Once upon a time a woman found a statue.

She was walking through the streets of this wonderful city she lived in and she was deep in thought. Lot’s of things crossed her mind and actually she didn’t watch her steps at all. The guardian angels were sure with her because no accident happened even when she crossed roads without looking, even without noticing what she did. The weather was nice, it was late winter and still chilly but the sun was out and the birds sang.

She walked past a junkyard and came to an area of the city, which wasn’t really too nice, you, know. Lots of abandoned houses, empty old factory buildings, piles of rubbish and a few people. Suddenly something caught her attention. So she retraced her last steps and came to a huge, neglected garden in front of a big old mansion. Then she found what had caught her eye. It was a statue, bigger then she herself was, old, obviously repaired and repainted many times. It really looked quite bad, you know, but something in that statue fascinated the young woman. She went nearer and took a closer look. She was drawn to this statue as if by magic force and she sat down beside it, touched it and stroked it.

Without much ado, she knew she wanted to take this statue home with her, she wanted to have it. And so she got up, memorized the house and the street and walked away. She went as far as the nearest phone box she could find, and called a friend of hers.

She knew very well she needed help to carry this statue and she would need some one with a big enough car to come and pick it up. She was so completely determined to get this statue back to her room that she forgot everything else she was going to do that day. She forgot to attend lessons and lectures at the art school where she was a student. She forgot she was supposed to meet a friend for lunch, the only thing she could think of was the statue and how to get it home. And of course she managed. A couple of phone calls, friends who phoned other friends and within the hour four of her friends arrived with a van. Carefully they lifted the statue into the van and brought it to her home. Very carefully they carried the heavy statue up the stairs to her room and placed it in front of the fire. Everyone agreed it had something special. Yes, it looked dirty and there were ugly repairs but they could all feel why she was so much attracted to this statue. The rest of the day went by in a dream. She sat down most of the time and stared at the statue.

Now and then she got up and paced around. Apart from the statue, her mind was blank. Oh, you know, this young woman was so lucky! Because another friend came by and made her some dinner, bought a bottle of wine and looked after her. Without her friend she would plainly have forgotten to eat or drink anything at all. In the night she couldn’t sleep. She turned around and around in her bed but her mind wouldn’t come to a rest, not until she got up, took some blankets and went to sleep on the floor next to the statue. Then she slept deep and dreamless.

When this young woman woke up next morning to a beautiful clear day, she felt great. Full of energy and very determined. Still she didn’t have a clue what she was so sure about.

She got on some old clothes and started to clean the statue as good as she could. Clearly there were layers and layers of paint, cement and plaster put over the statue and she wondered what to do with them. In her head she wanted to take them all away and reveal the statue underneath. Some how she knew it must be beautiful. But for the moment she wasn’t sure. So apart from cleaning the statue, she did nothing for a while, just watched it and studied it. Friends dropped by, the telephone rang a couple of times but she hardly took any notice. She was totally fascinated by the statue and there was no space for anything else. A week or more went by like this until one morning she got her tools out and slowly and very carefully she started to take off the layers of paint and plaster. It was a hard job; she didn’t want any possible damage to the real statue that must be hidden underneath all this, so she had to take her time. She brushed and chipped away slowly for weeks on end.

This woman was blessed with good friends and as they saw and understood what was going on, they organised her life for her so that she could work on the statue. They brought her food and drink, kept the art school informed and helped in every possible way. Layer after layer came off the statue. The form changed and it became clear it must be the statue of a man. Parts were broken off and badly replaced.

The woman forgot the world around her, worked and lived only for the statue. Sometimes she would allow some of her friends to help her with removing some paint from the statue, but mostly she worked all by herself.

Weeks passed into months, she missed exams, forgot her own birthday, and didn’t realize she’d run out of money, she just worked away. And every day the statue revealed it’s true beauty more and more. She replaced the broken parts and pieces very carefully making sure this time the whole statue was as it should be. One day the work was done.

She sat down and stared in wonder. For she saw the most beautiful statue of a man she had ever seen. He was fully seized, stretched out; one knee slightly raised, one hand supporting the head, as it was lifted up so that he could look over his own body.

All her friends came, one by one, and they were stunned. They fell silent before this absolute marvellous statue.

Now the woman could rest and slowly her mind turned back to those parts of her life she’d neglected so long. But still she knew the statue wasn’t completely finished. She didn’t know why, she just knew it. But she needn’t have worried at all.

One morning when she woke up, the statue was all aglow with a soft golden light. She cried with delight for now the statue was perfect. It was the golden man. The woman went away for a short holiday, but her heart was full of the golden man and he appeared in all her dreams. She couldn’t stay away for long; she just had to be with her golden man. In her dreams the golden man was always alive, talked to her. One day, as things happen, the statue came to life.

It was no longer a statue, it was a golden man.

I think the gods must have read this woman’s heart, they must have seen the love in her for this statue and granted her this wish.

Of course the golden man stayed with her and they became unspeakably happy. His golden colour went inside and he looked like any other man only much, much more beautiful.

But for the ones that can see the real nature of things, this man always remained the golden man.

And yes, they lived happily ever after.

THE END

V THE DREAM GARDEN

Once upon a time there was a couple.

A very strange couple indeed. They loved each other so much, you wouldn’t believe it. None of them had ever known love would be like this at all. It didn’t only fill their heads and whole beings, every atom of it; it expanded around them and filled the world and the universe. It filled the air and it filled their dreams. It filled the rivers and the oceans and it filled every space in both worlds it could find. This love was so overwhelming, it was unbelievable. Of course the gods had hoped for their love to grow like this and had made their preparations for a long time. Both of them were sent to the town they now lived in and that they loved, when they finally met and became the happiest people who ever lived on this planet. These two people were the strangest and most wonderful people that I know on this beautiful planet. The man was a fallen god and the woman was a goddess who had volunteered to go back to earth. They had an amazing amount of skills and talents between them. These two had lived very different lives, but they had so much in common, it was uncanny. What bound them most was the deepest and sincerest love of life, of the gifts of beauty and fulfilment that are part of the gifts to mankind. The man did all he could to show his love for his woman, he tried to fulfil her every little wish, to show her how much he cared for her and loved her. And the woman brought the man and endless stream of presents and he, who had never received many presents in his life, he was so grateful and pleased, he couldn’t tell it any more and was lost for words. Everyday his woman surprised him and filled his lie with joy and happiness. The woman became slightly overwhelmed by the amount of care and attention and love from her man and withdrew at times, telling him she wanted to be on her own. The man was hurt by this, for his only wish was to be with her, she just made him feel wonderful. But of course, they were always in each other’s heads and that’s what counts in the end. One day this man had an excellent idea. He had shown and given all his love to this woman and when she told him she didn’t want all this love and attention, he felt rejected and could not understand. But then he thought he would give her something different and he started to make his dream garden. He made it in his mind, he filled this garden with every beauty he could imagine and that was a lot. He put all his love in this garden and sent this dream garden up in the heavens. It was a place where his woman could go in her dreams and enjoy this garden. The man did his utmost best to create a garden that was unsurpassed in splendour and beauty, both on earth and in the heavens. And when the work was done, the angels and the gods and all the souls in heaven also came to have a look and enjoy this garden. The man asked them to help him, to put signs everywhere so his woman could easily find her way in her dreams to his garden. Of course they helped the man, since they were so pleased with his garden in their heavens.

There were enormous old trees, wells and rivers. The leaves of the trees all tingled in the wind, the air was filled with the sound of nature’s music, stars shone everywhere. Wells and ponds and streams were abundant, paths went up and down, winding over hills and bridges, masterpieces of craftsmanship. There was no detail that wasn’t absolutely perfect and the whole garden was full of harmony and happiness. The most beautiful birds and butterflies, all the flowers you have ever seen were there and the most wonderful scents lingered in the air.

Indeed, one night this woman found her way to this dream garden in a dream and she was speechless. No one had created so much beauty in both worlds for anyone else and all this beauty was freely given to her as a sign of his love for her.

To show her man how pleased she was and how much she appreciated all he did for her, she took away all his worries, freed her man of all his pains and burdens and made him the most wonderful and strongest man on planet earth.

And they lived happily ever after.

THE END

VI SUNSET BOULEVARD

Once upon a time three camels appeared out of the desert and entered the city. They strode on to sunset-boulevard, carrying their heads high up. They were very tired and very proud of themselves. They walked the sunset boulevard just at the right time, for the sun was sinking down and in a few minutes it would touch the sea and another marvellous day would be over.

As always, every single person in the city had come out onto Sunset Boulevard to see the sun set. A lot of them actually lived in the city just for that reason. For the sunset seen from Sunset- Boulevard was one of the most wonderful views you can ever behold. Sunset-boulevard had been built for the people to watch the sun set. Ft was wide lined with huge trees and marvellous houses at each side.

There were benches all over, lots of bars and restaurants. The whole boulevard was situated between soft rising hills and each sunset sent out the colours in extreme glory. The moment the sun touched the sea, the light turned red and purple in all their shades and variations. A golden under-glow illuminated Sunset- Boulevard as if by magic and the sight was breath taking.

No one spoke or moved during the sunset. This was the time of the day they had all been waiting for. And the nicest thing about watching the sun set from Sunset Boulevard was that it made people extremely happy

It filled their hearts with happiness and left no space for anything else. As long as sunset-boulevard had existed there had never been a crime in the city.

The camels walked on, slowly but steadily. They had come a long way, all on their own. Their master had last seen them in a town far away and it would have taken any normal team of camels seventeen days or more to cover the distance. They had done it in seven days only, without stopping for food or drink.

Of course they were very special camels. They were not only extremely wise and fit, they understood their master perfectly and he understood them equally well.

In their saddlebags they carried a secret and their master had thought it safer for them to bring it to the city than to take it himself. It was a statue and a series of small items that came along with the statue. The statue was of the goddess Neatha, Isis, Mouran, just to tell you some of her holy names.

This man, their master had all his life tried to obtain this holy statue and now he wanted to place it in his temple. It should remain there unseen and unknown, for there were many who would have taken the statue by any means. But he needed the statue of the goddess for his temple. He had bought the very first house on sunset-boulevard and he had turned it into a centre for spiritual enlightenment. That’s why he now called the house a temple. This had all only happened recently.

For long years this he had sailed the seven seas, had been a sailor, a trader and for equally long years he had lived in the desert and had become one of the most renowned camel traders in all the eight deserts. Finally he had made enough money to buy this house on sunset-boulevard, in the holy city and he started to realize his lifelong dreams and wishes.

After the sun had set he stepped out on Sunset Boulevard and liked down the road. He knew exactly when his camels were coming and patiently awaited them.

The camels weren’t surprised to see him waiting there. They knew just as well that he would just be there. He took them in the courtyard, unloaded their bags and fed and watered them.

After all this, the miracles started to happen and soon the city was only known as the holy city for the peace that was there in and the miracles that happened. The statue was hidden in the temple but it’s influence, its radiations went through any walls and the statue worked and spread its miracles.

Sick and disabled people were healed, confused minds became clear and even the climate around the city improved, the heat became less extreme and more rain fell.

Of course you have heard about this holy city and sunset- boulevard and now you know a little about how all this came to happen.

And yes they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

VII THE WHALE AND THE PRINCESS

Once upon a time, three children were playing on the beach.

It was a nice warm day and the children ran around collecting shells, building sand castles and ever again going into the sea for a short swim. They were nice children to look at, two brown haired boys with dark eyes and a little girl with long reddish hair and greenish eyes. She was the eldest.

They lived on a very nice, big island on the south coast where the climate was mild. Lots of rain, yes, but also enough sunshine for a good life. The island was so big that you could live your whole life there without noticing you were on an island. The cottage they lived in was the last house of a little fishing village, right behind the beach.

A bunch of happy, healthy children they were and no one would have believed that their parents, who looked after them with utmost care and love, were really their foster parents.

As with so many others, the foster mother couldn’t have children of her own and when one day there came a knock on the door for help in saving and hiding the children and looking after them she took them in her house and heart without any hesitation. The children were completely unaware of this, for them she was their mum and her man was their father.

Whilst they were enjoying their day on the beach, a family of whales had entered the bay. You know of course that whales are very special animals? They were once worshipped in many places almost as gods, the whale was the symbol of the all- mother and they were highly respected and deeply loved,

Amongst the whales was a baby whale. You wouldn’t be able to tell she was a baby though since she was so big, so enormous. By no means would she have fitted in your living room, just to give you an idea.

This baby whale watched the children play with utmost delight. She was so impressed by them that she swam nearer to the shore, started to do some funny jumps until the children noticed her. The little lassie was the first and immediately she was drawn to the whale. Without any hesitation she swam out to the whale and the baby whale swam as close to her as she could.

As they met, one of those magic moments happened. They knew both, without words, that they were friends, that they loved each other and they were both extremely happy about it.

I suppose you know that whales sing? They don’t talk in our ways, but they have their own language and part of it we can hear as singing. Our little lassie was still young and open enough to start to learn and understand what her fiend was trying to say. From now on the wee lassie and the baby whale met every day. They swam together and before long the whale

took her on her big back for long rides across the bay and even out in the open sea. Sometimes her brothers were allowed come too and they had great fun, I can tell you.

Now you should know, whales have a lot of ways to know things that we don’t normally know and this baby whale knew very well that this girl wasn’t just a normal girl, but a princess. She knew the whole history of the children and why they were living with the fisherman and his woman. And the whale knew too, that one day the children would go back to live with their real parents, but that time hadn’t come yet.

For long years the whale and the wee lassie were good friends, very good friends. The winters were always a time for parting, for the whales travelled away form the cold seas for a while and came back in spring. The girl and her brothers couldn’t go out to the beach and swim around either in winter, so they had to stay indoors most of the time, attend school and learn their lessons.

They had lots to learn of course. Just like all of us you know. Because of their friendship with the whale, the three children learned lots of things that other children didn’t get a chance to learn. And that was good. Their real father, who was the king, had married a second time after his first wife had died. She had born him only one child, a boy, but this boy was a sickly, unhealthy child, and although the best doctors tried their luck and he was looked after with the utmost care, no one was sure he would live to grow up and become king in his turn.

His granny, who had come to live with her daughter when she was married to the king, was not a very nice person. After her daughter had died, she became bitter and resentful. When the king married again and had three more children with his second wife, she had started to hate them. She wanted her grandson to become the next king and she was afraid the king and his new wife might prefer one of their children to inherit the throne.

So, she looked for ways to get rid of the children, to even kill them. Believe it or not, some people become very wicked.

But the gods were there with the three children and as soon as it became clear to them the children were in danger, they had sent the blue raven to the queen, to save the children and send them to a safe place.

For as long as her step mother in law was alive, her children were in danger. The queen sent them away with a heavy heart. The king didn’t know anything about this, he was only told they had disappeared and although search parties were sent out all over the kingdom, no one could find a trace of them. For long years now it had been like this. The children grew up with their foster parents; the queen and king missed them enormously and concentrated their love on the king’s first son. The boy’s granny fell into completely bad ways and studied black magic, to try to find the three children she hated so much and kill them in any possible way.

But the gods protected them and nothing bad could happen to them. Then one day the old woman died, and the time had come for things to change again. Of course the whale knew too and the time had come for her to help her friends. She took the children on her back and swam out to sea with them. On the way she told the three children all that had happened and that now she was going to bring them to their real parents. The blue raven had come to the queen and told her the good news. The three children were received with the utmost delight and were united with their real parents.

Such wonder and joy! I tell you, you should have been there! The fisherman and his woman, who had looked after them and loved them for so long, were invited to come and live in the palace as well, or somewhere nearby and they came.

The children had two mothers and fathers from now on and they were extremely happy. Some day the girl, yes the princess became the new queen.

And yes, they all lived happily ever after

THE END

VIII THE ODYSSEY DOG

Once upon a time, on a continent that is now called Europe, on this wonderful blue planet of ours, a dog was walking down the road. Rain was gently dripping down and darkness was slowly spreading over the land.

By his side walked a girl, maybe ten or twelve years old. They had come a long way and they were tired. And yes, wet as well.

The dog was beautiful. A little bit smaller than an Alsatian, quite dark. His fur was brown and black. Reddish patches matched white patches. He had a lovely, bushy black tail and his long ears dangled down his head. One white, one black.

A long time ago these two had lived on a farm in a country we call Germany nowadays. As you will understand, this dog was a very special dog. He was not only as clever as any dog you know, his nose was so amazing that you wouldn’t believe it,

His biggest talent was his ability to understand people. He could read their minds like a book and knew exactly who he could trust and rely upon. His master had gone off to one of the wars that swept all over Europe and left the dog in care of the family. After the wars famine and the bubonic plague had spread over the destroyed countries, times were very dark indeed.

As you will sure know, we call these times nowadays the dark ages and for the ones that survived the wars and epidemics, life was tough. Of the farmer’s family only the dog and the girl had survived and one day the dog decided to go and search for his master. He just knew that his master was still alive somewhere. So he took to the roads and the little girl came with him.

Under the hot sun they had travelled the southern countries, ever again finding traces of their farmer. They had crossed the alps under the stars of early spring and they had slept in so many different places always finding nice people who gave them food and shelter.

The dog looked after the girl very well and she looked equally well after our dog. At night they cuddled together and slept safe and secure, where ever they were.

They were great friends and together they felt they could do anything. Our girl grew up travelling with the dog, learning bits and pieces of many languages. She knew the stars, knew all the main roads and rivers in Europe and could name you any town. She was just amazing. Many nights they slept in abandoned houses, sometimes in ruins, always following the dream of their hearts. The dog wanted to find his master, our girl wanted to find her father.

It had been so long ago that the farmer had left them to become a soldier and the track had been cold when they started their search. But now it was becoming warm and both the dog and the girl grew excited. This winter they travelled slowly south across the Balkan and now they were very near on their way to Constantinople or Istanbul as it is called nowadays. They came to the Bosporus, that stretch of water, which divides Asia and Europe, and there our dog got confused for the first time. He had lost the trail and was restless. As they were watching the ships coming and going across the Bosporus, suddenly our girl knew what happened. She explained to the dog that her father must have boarded a ship here and in great relief the dog licked her hands. Of course that was it and now they knew enough.

In the darkness of night they climbed aboard a ship bound for the Palestines and sailed across the Mediterranean Sea.

Our girl suffered from seasickness for a while, but the dog looked after her so well that she soon recovered. They arrived safe and well in the harbour of Jaffa and guided by the dog’s unfailable instinct crossed the land of Palestine until they came one day to a great castle on top of a mountain.

It overlooked the land and it was a famous stronghold. Very old and very well fortified. Many times it had been the centre of long and bitter battles. Our dog knew that his master was held prisoner in there and our girl saw her father in her dreams every so often. He was kept in chains in a deep dungeon. He was in bad shape but there was still hope in his heart.

It was as easy as anything for our dog and our girl to gain entrance to the castle. Between the two of them they knew so many tricks and their combined skills were so great that they could overcome any problem.

It was more difficult to get hold of the keys and slip down in the dungeons without being noticed, but they managed. In the early morning hours they finally found the farmer and went to work to set him free. He was too weak to walk unassisted, so our girl helped her father to climb the stairs.

The dog slipped out of the door first and started to raise a big commotion. He bit soldiers in their legs, jumped over pots and pans in the kitchen, knocked over a candle that set the big hall on fire and in the middle of all this turmoil our dog and his master and his daughter escaped from the castle.

It took them a long time to get home, but yes, in the end they overcame all their problems and arrived one day at the farm. They all helped together to get the farm going as good as they could manage and started to build up their lives again.

And yes, it was towards the end of the dark ages by now and everything got better form day to day.

And they sure lived happily ever after.

THE END

IX THE NUT CRACKER TREE

You remember the green rabbit? And the purple hare?

Well, once upon a time the green rabbit and the purple hare, his best friend, were sitting comfortably together and having a good talk. Suddenly the purple hare had an idea. A splendid idea!

“Why don’t we have a competition amongst ourselves and our friends?” He asked the green rabbit. “See, we could all get together and tell each other the most amazing stories, dreams or ideas we can come up with? I’m sure it’s going to be brilliant!”

And so they went to organize this competition. Invitations were sent out to all their friends, and many of them came. The blue raven and the whale were asked to be jurors and they gladly accepted the invitation. The black horse came along with his grasshopper friend. The giant butterfly came with the green cat. You could meet some sea horses, the frog and the turtle arrived, some of the mice from the giant’s breast came too. The red caribou came, the silver wolf, you name them, they all came.

For a whole day they all gathered under the leaves of the honey tree. The prince and the blind lion were the ones to start off. After them the moon mice had their chance. I tell you, the dreams, ideas and stories that were told on this day sure remain the most amazing and wonderful ones you have ever heard of in both worlds.

The coyote dreamed about a bridge that could walk along with you and become a bridge when ever and where ever you needed one. That was a really remarkable idea and he got a lot of applause. The monkey told of a tree that could walk, and he could sit in the branches and be carried anywhere! The purple hare told about the bed that came to you whenever you wanted a bed, the frog told about the jug that was never empty, never mind how much you drank from it. The green cat talked about the flow of time and how she would like to slow it down or speed it up according to her wishes. A blue chicken told about how she dreamed she could lay eggs in any colour she liked.

The little man from the ant heap told about his wish to be as small or as big as he wanted.

They all had the most amazing dreams and ideas and the poor blue raven and the whale had a hard time noting down all the stories and putting the right names to each one.

The green rabbit was the last one to tell his story. He had waited patiently all day and listened to all the others, of course he had had more time to think about his story and maybe that’s why it was the best one.

He told them about the nutcracker tree. “All of you know there are so many different trees,” he began. “Some carry fruit, some nuts. But I’m sure none of you have ever seen a nut tree that can crack its own nuts and drop them in your mouth any time you’re hungry! Well my dream is about this tree and how there would

always be plenty of food for anyone in all the different worlds.”

The blue raven stood up and declared this the most wonderful story he had heard this day because it was not only a new and practical idea, it presented so much care for the others as well and it was so poetic and fairy like.

The whale spoke next and she could agree with the blue raven. Without showing themselves, the gods had been listening to all the stories as well and they were extremely pleased with the wonderful ideas and the amount of imagination and joy they had encountered that day. Because they were so pleased they turned the green rabbit’s dream into reality.

In his front garden a tree started to grow in the next spring and it grew faster than any other tree you’ve ever seen. In due time the seeds of the nut cracker tree were spread all over this planet and into other worlds and before long you could find nut cracker trees every where.

No one went hungry any more and so the green rabbits dream proved to be of great benefit to both worlds.

And yes, of course they all lived happily ever after

THE END

X THE COYOTE AND THE HUNTER

Once upon a time there was a coyote.

She lived in the prairies, which stretched between the mountains and the sea in the north of a country called America, somewhere on this most wonderful of all planets of ours.

And I tell you, this coyote was really poor. For she lived her life all the wrong way around. She had her winter sleep, hibernated as it’s called, in summer and she was up and about in winter. When life was harsh conditions bad and all the other coyotes slept warm and safe in their burrows, our coyote was awake.

In summer, when food was abundant and life was as pleasant as it can be, she slept and knew naught of the good things in life. Of course she was very lonely too, because in winter she was on her own, no one to play with or go for a good hunt. In the summers she slept while the others were having a good time with each other.

For long years she had lived like this, knowing nothing but hardship, loneliness and hunger. She was as skinny as anything; her fur lacked that sparkling gloss that marks healthy animals.

This last winter especially, had been very severe and she struggled to keep alive. Her ribs were showing and her energy got lower and lower.

Then, as it happened, one day life changed for her, for she met this man who came over the prairie in his snow boots, hunting for snow-chickens and winter-rabbits. He was fairly well prepared for the hard life on the prairie in winter. He carried enough supplies and was such a keen and clever hunter that he never lacked any food.

Our coyote had spotted him a long way off, and contrary to her normal behaviour, she went to meet the man. The moment he spotted our coyote, his head filled with sorrow and the first thing he did was feed her giving her some snow-chickens he had shot earlier that morning.

He could see clearly how starved she was and how near complete exhaustion. They stayed together and before long our coyote recovered and became as strong and healthy as any coyote you have ever seen. She learned to help her friend hunting and proved very helpful indeed.

All winter long they stayed together and when our coyote went to hibernate next summer, she was, for the first time in her life, fat and healthy and well prepared.

From now on her friend came every winter to the prairie and they lived and hunted together. As much as she might miss companions of her own kind, she had something they didn’t have. She had a friend who cared for her and looked after her.

And yes, they lived happily ever after.

THE END

XI THE PEARLPARROT

Once upon a time the pearl parrot was blowing bubbles in his house. Now, you should know this house was brilliant. I don’t know if the parrot was bigger than normal, or the house was smaller, but everything was just so right in size and dimension, it was amazing. The house was so large and beautiful.

There were lots of rooms, for the parrot liked space and different rooms for all the different things he did. Since he was the pearl parrot, he had more than enough funds to buy anything he wanted and he spent a lot of his pearls on his house.

The bubbles he was blowing were not just ordinary bubbles like you and me can blow them. Oh no, they were very special bubbles. First of all he could blow bubbles in any colour he liked. Then he could make them as small or as big as he wanted.

Today he was blowing dream bubbles and I can tell you, they’re amazing. For they become invisible after a while but they drift slowly over the lands and come to just the right people at the right time to give them wonderful dreams. Sometimes he blew gift bubbles and they came to the ones that needed gifts. At other times he blew pearl bubbles and in that way many people found themselves rich when they suddenly found a pearl had come their way. The pearl parrot was indeed a most useful and amazing animal. On special days he liked to blow music bubbles and they just burst open everywhere, filling the air with wondrous melodies. As it happened one day, the blue raven came to visit the pearl parrot and they had a great time together. The blue raven had a shot at blowing bubbles and made the most wonderful gold and silver bubbles you can imagine.

The pearl parrot was so pleased with them that he climbed on to the biggest golden bubble the blue raven had blown and sailed away with it up into the heavens. No one knows what happened to the pearl parrot after that but we all hope he will come back again one day and fill the world again with his bubbles and make people happy.

THE END

XII THE CLOUD

Once upon a time, there was a cloud that was perfectly happy being as it was, that it didn’t want to change. Not one single bit.

The other clouds were alarmed and one after the other they came to talk to this abstinent cloud. “Listen” they said, “we all change all the time, look at us. Clouds just change their shape and form all the time. It is natural.”

But our cloud wasn’t impressed at all. It just told them it was fine as it was and didn’t want to change at all.

The winds came to argue and told our cloud that life is all about changing all the time and going with the flow. That there is a purpose in life for everything and clouds just need to change according to the laws of nature. Our cloud just laughed and stayed as it was. The rain came with a very serious face and talked to our cloud. “Listen, you can’t stay like you are, you know, you need to change!”

Our cloud was as stubborn as anything and told the rain it felt completely all right just as it was and intended to stay that way.

Heaven and earth were upset about this cloud, nothing like this had ever happened before.

The blue raven came to our cloud with a message from the gods, but our cloud just laughed and winked him away. “I am like I am and I’m pleased with the way I am, so forget it. Stop telling me all this nonsense about growing and changing. I’m fine, leave me alone.”

I tell you, the earth and the heavens, all the elements got so upset and confused by our cloud, that they didn’t know what to do anymore. The sun burned down with all its strength upon the cloud to try to change its shape. The winds blew strong and fierce, the rain came down hard and heavy, but our cloud declined to change. And to be honest this cloud was as perfect as any you have ever seen, you know. It had the shape of a woman leaning against a tree, playing the harp.

It was a wonderful gorgeous cloud. As it happened, life had to go on and neither the gods nor the elements had much more time to bother about this cloud, our cloud may still be sailing around in the skies somewhere. But some believe that our cloud one day turned into this woman playing the harp and that she became thus, the first of the great singers of Ireland.

I believe they are right, for sometimes you can meet women playing the harp, that are so light and full of emptiness and space that you can almost feel they are like a cloud, Always changing, always the same.

THE END