THIRD STORY BOOK
The blue pelican and other stories
By
Theo Tammes
Contents
I The snake and the baby Page 3
II Troubles in the kingdom of the seahorses Page 9
III The horses and the grasshoppers Page 13
IV The blue pelican Page 17
V The magic clothes
VI The green rabbit and the purple hare Page 23
VIII The mouse and the candles Page 27
IX The wolves and the red caribou Page 29X The blind man Page 31
XI The orange and the donkey Page 33
XII The elf and the elephant Page 35
Written in Glasgow, March 1995
Edited and revised in Howmore, March 2003
©
Copyright
Theo Tammes
Casa Azul
Porto do Paul
Pernes
Portugal
2000-500
I The Snake and the Baby
Once upon a time there was a snake. Quite a big one as well, you know. This snake lived in the jungle in a nice big country, on a wonderful blue planet, quite far away from here.
The jungle was of course full of life. Between all the great trees, all the different plants and flowers there lived an amazing amount of animals.
One day, as it happened, the snake found a baby. That is to say, a human baby, not a baby-snake.
The baby was very small, it looked almost like newly born, at the most it could be some weeks old. And the baby was crying. Something stirred in the snake. He thought how strange it was to find a baby in the jungle. That had certainly not happened before and neither had the snake ever heard of others finding a baby in the jungle. Actually, the snake normally avoided humans as good as it could because they were very dangerous.
The baby kept on crying and the snake became aware he should do something. So he went closer to the baby, looked at it and sniffed.
I am sure you all know that snakes don’t see that well. For them scent is much more important. And of course they feel the vibrations in the ground and that s how they know someone is coming or passing.
Anyway all felt safe, and the snake just wondered what to do about the baby. He couldn’t just leave the baby lying there all on it’s own. So he curled up around the baby very careful and gently and started to rock the baby slowly, in a long, steady rhythm.
Now the baby calmed down, the nearness of another body and the soft rocking was all it needed for the moment to feel safe. The baby felt warm and comforted and fell asleep.
For a while the big green snake just rocked the baby gently and sat there thinking what to do next.
Gosh, there was so little the snake knew about babies. What do they need, and how do you care for them?
Then the snake thought of some of his friends, he just wondered if any of them would know anything about human babies. So he called out to a passing bird to see if it could take a message to the baboon, who was a good friend of his.
The bird promised to tell the baboon and flew of again. The snake waited, slowly rocking the baby. After a while the baby woke up and stretched out it’s tiny hands, to feel this body next to its own. The tiny hands grasped the snake and held on quite firmly, what a strange sensation that was for the snake! Nothing like that had ever happened before.
The snake was moved, pleased in a way, and felt more and more he should look after the baby, and care for it.
So, when his friend the baboon came after a while, the snake told the baboon about the human baby, showed it to her end asked his friend if she could give some advice about how to care for babies. And of course the baboon knew a lot. First of all she told the snake that human babies are not so different from baboon babies. They need food and shelter, be cleaned regularly, to be kept warm and safe as long as they are small. The snake was very pleased with all this information, he thought that maybe between himself and the help of his friends and other animals they might be able to look after the little baby.
First of all, the baboon said we need someone to feed the baby, “Human babies need to be breast-fed, they need the milk until they get their teeth and can start to eat other food. So let us think who could feed the baby.
The snake called a passing bird again and asked it to find the parrot, and ask it to come and see them.
When the parrot arrived the snake and the baboon told him about the baby and asked the parrot for help and advice.
Now, this parrot was not only very helpful, as you can imagine, it had been around in the world had even lived with humans and could speak a little of their language, and it knew a lot of strange things. Things that weren’t of great use in the jungle most of the time, but now this knowledge became very important. Both the snake and the baboon were very pleased with the parrot.
Of course the parrot knew at once who could feed the baby and told them. Gosh they hadn’t thought of it themselves. Yes there was a wild goat, who lived in the jungle and just had had young ones herself.
So the baboon went out to find her because she was hiding again with her kids in a well-covered, safe place. The baboon asked some passing birds and of course some of them knew where the wild goat was. After she had found the goat and talked to her, they went to see the human baby. The goat took her two kids along and soon they arrived at the place where the snake had found the baby.
Without much ado, the goat lay down beside the baby and directed the snake so as to hold the baby in such a way she could reach her teats and they waited to see if the baby would start drinking.
Of course you know what happened? Yes, the baby immediately started to suck and drink the goat’s milk. It made some funny faces, stopped drinking once but soon sucked steadily away.
My, it must have been really hungry, because she just drank and drank and drank. The goat was pleased to be able to feed the baby and help her in that way.
Meanwhile the parrot had been very busy. He had been flying around, telling every animal he could find to come to a meeting to talk about the human baby.
And sure they came. They started to arrive no sooner than the baby stopped drinking and had fallen asleep. One after the other they came. It was a big crowd of all different kinds of animals. Some the snake knew, others the baboon knew, but there were lots of strangers too. Between the two of them the snake and the baboon explained to the other animals what had happened and what needed to be done to care for the baby as far as they knew and asked them all for help and advice. You wouldn’t believe how much response they got. Almost every animal knew
something or wanted to do something to help look after the baby!
It was amazing and very touching. The tiger got her some blankets from the nearest village; the monkeys build a shelter, the elephants promised to wash and bath the baby every day, lots of animals offered to bring food as soon as the baby could eat.
The birds promised to sing songs for the baby and almost all of them wanted to hold her and cuddle her.
So, from now on, all the animals in the area together helped to look after the baby. The snake stayed with her all the time since he had found her and had started to love the baby straight away. The baby grew and grew under the care of all the animals; there was hardly anything she lacked. It was just amazing!
Of course, she didn’t have a real human family, but since she grew up without knowing what that was, she didn’t really miss it. She was loved and cared for by so many animals. The birds sang her songs, the parrot sang human tunes that he could remember, the goat fed her and the little kids played with her as soon as she was big enough.
Because she was surrounded by so much care, nothing bad ever happened to her. Soon she started to crawl around, to laugh and utter sounds. She grew and grew, and in time learned to understand the animal’s language.
In due time she learned to sit, to stand and to walk. The tiger brought some fitting clothes from the nearest village and the baboon helped to dress her and everything went fine.
The baby became a little girl end then an even bigger girl. She was completely at ease in the jungle, she knew every animal and learned to know all the plants and flowers and trees. She knew the paths, the rivers and ponds end could easily find her way anywhere. Specially the parrot was very helpful in teaching her.
She learned to climb the trees, to swing like the monkeys through the jungle and she learned to swim.
And when she was old enough the parrot and the baboon together taught her how to make a fire and prepare different meals for herself.
The animals were all very happy that all went so smoothly.
In the beginning they had worried a lot about their capacities to bring up a human child, but in the end thanks to the never ending help and goodwill of all, they had succeeded and the girl grew up in a nice warm climate, full of care and attention. There would always be an animal she could talk to, p1ay with, go for walks in the forest with or ask for anything she might like.
Of course the animals had told her about humans, that there were a lot more of them mainly on the banks of the rivers, but fewer in the jungle. And, as things happen, one day when she was quite grown up, maybe around fifteen or so, the gir1 uttered the wish to see some other humans by herself.
The animals had known for a long time that this day would come and agreed with her wish, although they weren‘t too pleased or happy about it. Most of them had had some bad experience in the past with one human or another, you know. But they showed her the way, and a lot of her friends went with her to the village as near as they dared.
The girl found a strange sensation in her heart when she saw the huts and the people. There were some children playing around, people were cooking and preparing food for a meal, and after the quiet of the jungle she found the amount of noise quite distracting. But she just walked on and went into the village. She had learned some of the human language, and so she was able to talk to the people she met and answered their questions.
When the news of her arrival spread through the village, followed by the news that she was raised by animals and not by humans, a big gathering of people started. They all wanted to meet her and talk to her. The girl became shy and quiet, and would dearly have loved to return to the jungle and her friends, but the people wouldn’t let her. They started to prepare a big feast, and to the utmost horror of the girl she saw them kill a pig, some chickens and start to cut them up and cook them.
She was horrified, never had she seen an animal killed so far; to her they were all friends. She saw the people killing ants and other insects, she saw children throwing stones at the dogs and she became utterly terrified. When someone offered her a fried fish, it was too much. She shrieked and jumped up, started to run and managed to escape from the village. In the jungle her friends at once surrounded her and looked after her safety. The tiger remained on the trail, in case she should be followed and that was well done for he had to chase away dozens of people. Her friends took the girl deep back into the jungle and in a nice safe place, she finally could sit down and tell them of the horrors she had seen.
Gosh, of course most of the animals knew about humans, but again they were shocked, From now on the girl stayed in the jungle with her friends, and I don’t think she ever went back to the humans And maybe she is still alive somewhere in that jungle and if you were an animal you could go and visit her, but if you are a human, you might look in vain, for she would hide away with the help of her friends, and be as safe as anything.
The end
II Troubles in the kingdom of the seahorses
Oh I need tell you this story for it is so strange and in a way
wonderful and sad if you know what I mean.
Once upon a time there was trouble, big trouble in the kingdom of the seahorses.
You know, seahorses are commonly quite nice and relaxed; they just do what they feel like, never harm anybody and live a good life. Of course they had a king. Sometimes there was a queen, just depending whose turn it was to take the throne.
There was not much to it. The seahorses respected their kings and queens of course, and normally they would just be like the other seahorses, nice and peaceful. On many days the king or queen would go out like any seahorse and mingle with the rest, talk to each other like friends. There wasn’t really much function in being a queen or king. It was just more useful to have a king or queen in case other royals front different kingdoms came to visit and of course on special days, festivals like, or openings of new dwellings, it was nice to have a queen or king that could open the day with some special words.
For a long time the seahorses were used to this kind of kings and queens, they loved and respected them, and every seahorse in turn would work one day a year to help the royal family.
You know there was some cleaning to be done, the gathering of food, sometimes repairs needed to be done to the castle.
Other times there might he message to be sent or the king or queen might want company. So that was fine and so far there had never been any trouble as long as the seahorses could remember.
But as things happen, one day a new king was installed on the throne, and slowly things chanced. You should maybe know that this king was born under a bad star, as they say.
This new king slowly started to introduce new rules. The seahorses didn’t notice so much at first, but they found it strange that the king appointed personal helpers that should be there for him all the time. The ones he chose were promised wages, a free living in the castle and power and respect. At least, that’s what the new king told them.
In the beginning he could only find a few seahorses willing to be his helpers and advisers, and most of the other seahorses tried to ignore them, for they thought those were sickly.
But the king never stopped changing things. He introduced one rule after another. First of all he created schools for the seahorse’s children. This was unheard of, for so far the seahorses had always looked after their own children and had taught them themselves what they had needed to learn.
Only few children were sent to the new schools. Because he wanted to have schools, the king needed teachers. So he appointed some of his advisers as teachers and he chose some others as well. The king created lists with the names of all the seahorses and their offspring. Now he and his advisers could check and keep records of the behaviour of the seahorses. Of course ever more servants were needed.
For the ones that didn’t obey his orders, he doubled the amount of work they had to do for the king, and when that didn’t work out, he ordered all the offenders to work half of their time for him. A wave of upset went through the kingdom, nothing like this had ever happened before. The seahorses felt trapped between their loyalty to the king, and the freedom of life they had had so far.
The king introduced a control force, mainly made up by those who had to work so much more for him. In turn they were promised they could work less again if they performed well. Oh how can you imagine the turmoil in the hearts of our sea horses? The more rules the king made, the more resistance grew.
But the king and his advisors were clever and changed the whole society of the seahorses slowly but steadily. As a reaction to all this, the seahorses began to form groups and discuss all the changes that were imposed upon them. They talked about how they hated the new rules and what they could do about it.
You see, so far there had been no need to oppose anything for the seahorses. They just didn’t know how to do it! Slowly they got themselves organized however and when they found that they didn’t know how to change the rules again, or how to influence their king, they started to look for help. Secret meetings with other sea animals took place, with the crabs, with the tuna fish and even the sharks.
The whole of the animal sea live became involved in the trouble of the seahorses. Most of these other animals found it all really upsetting, but again, they felt a strong loyalty to their own queens and kings as well. It was hard for them to go against these feelings.
Meanwhile the king had more and more seahorses working for him all the time, and his power grew. Then one day there came a new rule about the times that seahorses could go out or should be at home. It was strange, and it was disgusting!
Things went so bad, that one day it looked like a revolution might brake out! None of the seahorses were happy anymore. All of them were caught in a net of duties that collided with their wishes. The mood of the seahorses had changed so much that they hardly knew themselves anymore.
Of course the other animals noticed it, and were worried. The crabs made secret deal with the opposition, and promised to come to the aid of the seahorses in case of emergency.
Imagine, fighting between those peaceful seahorses! It is almost too much to believe, but the tension rose and soon conflicts broke out everywhere the king’s servants appeared.
Then, just as everything seemed ready to explode, the king disappeared.
Oh yes, I know, kings normally don’t disappear, but this one did. Most of the seahorses were relieved, but the ones that served he king were afraid. They tried to keep up the new rules for fear the king might return and punish them.
Oh yes, you and I know how silly that was! But it was just the way they behaved. Of course they tried to find the king, but he was completely gone, without any trace. You think he could have been eaten by a big fish or something? Very well possible. I dare say.
But he was not, for one day a messenger came to the king’s advisers and told them the king had been kidnapped. In exchange for his freedom, the red clippers wanted all the jewels, gold and silver from the kingdom of the seahorses.
Ach well, you all know things turn out all right in the end most of the time. And so it did this time as well.
You see first the kings advisors wanted to agree to the demands of the red clippers, but then such a real storm of protest broke out, that everything was over and done with before they knew what happened.
All the king’s servants where chased away order was restored in the kingdom and a new queen put on the throne. They managed to send a message to the red clippers to keep the old king possibly forever.
Life went back to normal and if nowadays sometimes seahorses tell their children of their time of ordeal, they just can’t believe it. And if you ever come across a lone seahorse, guarded by red clippers, well, then you found that king.
And please, please, just leave him there.
The end
III The horses and the grasshoppers
Once upon a time a foal was born. It was a black foal, with a perfect white star on it s forehead, and nice white socks. The mother belonged to a big herd of wild horses who roamed the prairie as they wished.
At the moment the foal was born, the horses lived on the edge of the prairie, just where the first hills begin, and where there are plenty nice valleys with little rivers and streams coming down from the mountains farther away. And with plenty of nice soft grass. The foal’s mother had separated herself from the others to give birth, and she had chosen a small, almost closed valley, a little of the main track of the horses.
The stars shone so bright the night this foal was born; you could have read this story by their light. Soon after she was born the foal stood up and drank. Her mammy stayed for some days in the same place, then she took her young slowly to join the herd again. Of course, the other horses came to have a look at the newly born foal. They sniffed and rubbed their noses carefully all over the tiny foal. Most of them were very pleased with such a nice healthy foal.
As you all know, sooner or later all the young foals get together and form their own group within the herd. They need to go exploring for themselves, play with each other and discover the world. It was no different with the foal of this herd, and soon they were roaming about on their own. Of course they would go back to their mums every so often for a drink, but in between they were busy on their own. When the games became too wild, the leader of the herd would tell them off, but normally everything was fine.
One fine spring morning, very early, our dark foal set out on her own. She followed the creek for a while, crossing a patch of forest and walked on. She was not only very beautiful, she was also very curious and her curiosity almost led to disaster.
She came upon swamp ground a little bit further up the river, and she started to sink in. The more she tried to get out of the swamp, the more her legs sunk in and it became more and more difficult for her to get them out.
Older and more experienced horses could have warned her but remember, she had set out all on her own. In the end she was trapped. She sank onto her belly in the swamp and couldn’t move her legs anymore at all. She felt horrible and started to cry and whinny. Ach, she got so desperate, she wanted to get out and go to her mum, and she couldn’t.
Big tears rolled down her cheeks and she had an attack of sheer panic. Then she heard this tiny voice in her ear. She lifted her head to look around and see who had spoken to her. It took her a while to see to whom the voice belonged, but then she saw it. It was a grasshopper.
Well, of course you and I know that grasshoppers share the prairie with the wild horses as with many other animals, but the foal didn’t know that yet, she was too young.
The grasshopper spoke to her again, “Be quiet flow, horse,” it said. “Struggling wont help you now. You need help from others to get out of here.” The grasshopper took its time to calm down the foal and to reassure it. It told her that help would sure come; she would be freed soon enough.
The grasshopper went to work. It is really amazing how fast grasshoppers can do things! How quick they can get messages across a long distance! You see, for them it is easy. They can talk to each other over long distances. One grasshopper tells the next and since they live everywhere where there is grass in abundance, they can send messages across the prairie almost as quick as by telephone. This grasshopper sent out a message for help, telling what had happened. It knew they would need some exceptional help, probably by a human, since they can do things a lot of animals can’t do on their own.
Somewhere on this prairie lived a settler. He was a hunter too, but not a bad man. He only killed animals when he really needed to, and for the rest he was friendly and harmed no one. The grasshopper thought he would be the right one to come and save the foal. So the message went out, and reached the settler’s cabin in no time. Also the message went out to the wild horses and so they knew of the disaster, which had befallen the black foal. Some came to the spot where the black foal was trapped straight away; others went to the settlers cabin.
Now the grasshoppers did have a problem. You see, they couldn’t talk the human language. But being as clever as they are they soon found the solution. They told the wild coyotes living near by the settler’s cabin. They, in their turn told the settler’s dog. And finally the dog told the settler as well as he could. His human didn’t understand the dog’s language, but he understood gestures. So, when the dog became all excited and upset and started to drag his boots next to his feet, as well as some ends of rope, the settler knew something was up, and that the dog wanted him to do something and go somewhere.
After putting his boots on he followed the dog outside. Then he stood in wonder for a while, for waiting outside were a group of wild horses. And you know as well as I that they normally never come near humans at all.
The settler was still wondering about this, when a big wild horse came towards him and stood in front of him as if inviting him to come and sit on it’s back. Before he knew what he was doing he had mounted the horse, carrying the ropes in one hand. All the time the dog kept barking at him, as if to urge him on. Without much ado the horse went of with the settler on its back. The other horses followed and the dog came running along as well.
Straight away the horse brought the man to the swamp where the foal was trapped. Many other horses had gathered already, waiting for them to arrive. Well, I think you know what happened next, don’t you? Yes, the settler saw the foal, got of the wild horse’s back immediately. With some branches and the ropes and the help of the wild horses he freed the foal within minutes. Oh, you should have seen how glad all those wild horses were! How grateful and happy! From this day on the friendship between horses and grasshoppers was established and they helped each other from now on in every possible way.
The black foal grew up and became one of the most beautiful horses you have ever seen. She always remembered the man who had saved her, and payed him many visits. He could always ride on her back, anytime he wanted to or needed a horse.
And they all lived happily ever after.
The end
IV The blue pelican
Once upon a time, on a wonderful island, in the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, on this lovely little blue planet, there lived a pelican, a blue pelican.
Ach I can hear you say, pelicans aren’t blue. That’s fine, you know it, I know it, but this pelican was blue. A marvelous blue as well. Not too dark, not too light, not the colour of the sea, but more the blue the evening sky. And it was a shiny blue,
Of course this pelican had something special. He lived with a fisherman, one of those nice, warmhearted, friendly Greek people that you can find all over the place. As so often the blue pelican helped the fisherman catching fish. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard about that, but it used to be quite common for fishermen to have a pelican.
Mostly before setting out to sea, these fishermen would put a ring over the pelican’s neck so they couldn’t swallow the fish they caught. After the fishing was done the ring would be removed, and the pelicans could go and find their own meal.
Not so with the blue pelican. He knew always exactly how many fishes his fisherman wanted, went out to catch them and dropped them in the boat. Only after his friend had enough fish the blue pelican would go and catch his own meal. The blue pelican and the fisherman were good friends. You see, they both were special. They had a great relationship. The fisherman’s little daughter loved the pelican. Most of the time he actually slept on her bed.
In the early mornings at daybreak the blue pelican would wake up, jump of the bed, and fly out of the window to get himself some exercise and a breakfast. On good days he would return with some freshly caught fish, so his friend and his family could have a nice breakfast too. Because this fisherman was nice and clever, and he had the help of the blue pelican, he was doing quite well. In fact, he prospered. He had a nice little house with a big garden with olive trees and vegetables. He owned his own boat had no debts and a little money at the side as well. As things happen, one day the blue pelican came back with a red fish, I couldn’t tell you the name of the fish since it was a strange one that no one had seen before. It did look a little bit like a goldfish, but it was not. He dropped the red fish in a bucket full of water, for it was still alive.
He had caught it only minutes before. The fisherman and his wife came to have a look at the fish, and clasped their hands.
What a strange fish! They had never seen anything the like.
You see, it had a strange mouth, bigger than most fishes, with delicate lips. Instantly they decided not to eat or sell this fish but to keep it and see what would happen. And that was well done for their part, as they soon found out. Like most evenings, after dinner the whole family sat on the front steps. The blue pelican sat on the little girl’s lap, and everything was nice and quiet.
See, that is so wonderful on those Greek islands, when evening slowly arrives, the heat of the day is gone, people sit outside their front doors. Children play in the streets and there is this feeling of calm and quietness in the air. The day’s work is done, people can relax and sit and talk together. Neighbours exchange the latest news, men and woman gossip or talk about the things they need to do next day. This time of the day is so wonderful, I can only wish you can all experience it one day.
And then the melody started. They looked around to see who was whistling or singing, for in the beginning they couldn’t tell what the sound was. It was rather soft, very melodious. There were no words in it and it certainly sounded most like a bird’s song. The blue pelican lifted his head, jumped of the lap of his beloved little girl and went into the house. He was the first one to know who make the sound. And yes of course he was right. The strange red fish was swimming around, its head over the surface of the water, and it was singing. Well, you know singing? That’s the closest I can tell.
The fisherman’s family followed the blue pelican inside. They were so amazed at the sight of the red fish swimming around and singing, that-they couldn’t speak or move for a while. Never ever had they heard a fish sing! Well I’m pretty sure you haven’t either, but I can assure you, lots of fishes sing. But since they live in the water and we live on the land, it is not a big wonder if you never hear them sing. All evening long the fish kept singing, and the fisherman and his family sat and listened. The melodies were so wonderful, soft but extremely clear, that they were captured as if by magic. Yes, of course you know what happened next? Yes, they told their neighbours and friends and the next evening there was quite a crowd of people who came to listen to the red fish. And they all loved this soft singing. They all fell silent and sat there for hours just drinking in the music.
It was just as well that there was a taverna nearby, where the people could get a drink, and that taverna did a lot of business that night and the following nights. The news spread over the whole island and soon people came from farther away to see and listen to the red fish. Being an honest man, the owner of the taverna gave the fisherman a fair share of his profits, since his red fish made the business expand and flourish.
Also the other tavern’s and little shops began to prosper more and more, and soon poverty was gone from the island. Singers and musicians came from far and near, people came to record the fish’s songs, and tapes and records were made. Slowly but steadily our fisherman became rich.
Not that it changed him at all! Luckily not. For he had never been really poor, he had all he and his family needed and they just stayed the same nice warm people they had always been.
The island became famous and an attraction for tourists. These tourists did not only admire the songs of the red fish at night, they also discovered the beauty of the island, the friendliness of the people and word spread about what a fabulous holiday you could have on this island as well as on the others.
And up until today, hundreds of thousands of people go to the Greek islands to admire the beautiful landscape, to swim and to eat the lovely food and talk and relax and be happy.
Of course, the fish died one day, but the melodies it had sung are captured on tape and they are integrated in most of the music of the islanders. And yes, they all lived happily ever after.
The end
V The magic clothes
Once upon a time there was a woman and a man. They loved each other dearly and they were very happy.
The man worked hard, he cared for a part of the king’s forest. He helped at the sawmill, he kept some animals and a big vegetable garden at home, and all that would have kept him busy enough. But he also had to go out with the king as a warrior on many occasions. You see, those times were quite hard, there was a lot of fights and conflicts between neighbouring kings and earls and all that kind of people.
Also, sometimes thieves and robbers took over the land and they had to be chased away or, captured. So, apart from being busy this man was away from home quite a lot. Of course he didn’t like it, but since he was such a brave man and a good fighter, time after time the king send for him.
The woman didn’t’ t like it either. She found it hard enough for her man to do all his heavy work, but at night she wanted to feel safe in his big strong arms, and sleep in the warmth of his embrace.
The woman too was very busy. She looked after the house, cared for the children, cleaned and cooked. In those days that was a lot more work then nowadays, for she had to make her own bread and butter and cheese. She made marmalade with the children’s help. They went out to collect mushrooms and berries and of course there was a lot of washing to do. Water was to be fetched from the well every day, and you might well say she was very busy. Also she spun her own wool and made the clothes for the whole family.
All this work didn’t matter to the man and the woman as long as they could be together at night, sit in front of the fire for a while and feel the warmth and safety of each other’s bodies at night.
The woman loved her man so much that she really wanted to give him a very special present. Since she had hardly any money there was nothing she could buy him. Specially when he was away with the king again, she lay in bed at night and pondered. Then she had a brilliant idea. She would wave a fabric for her man and make him clothes. But no normal clothes as she had made them before oh no, she would weave all her love for this man in them. She would make them so beautiful and strong that nothing could hurt him when he wore her clothes.
And so she went to work. She worked for a long time at them. She took only the best materials she had, and with every thread she wove, she wove her love in the fabric as well. All the power of her love she put in those clothes, and she worked only at them when she was alone.
When the clothes were ready and she gave them to her man. His
eyes jumped, he was so glad. They fitted wonderfully and in his new clothes he looked like a king.
From now on he only wore these clothes, and nothing ever happened to him as long as he wore them; no injuries and no accidents. It was real magic that his woman had worked in these clothes. The man became famous, and after a while no one dared to oppose him in battle.
Not only was he happy about this, his woman was in heaven. For now she knew she would never have to be afraid anymore that she might loose her man in a fight or accident.
Ach, you should have seen these two. They were so happy, their love radiated from them.
After a long time, as things go, they grew older, and one day the woman died. The man grieved for he missed her enormously. But he knew she was in heaven and one day they would be re-united, and that gave him strength. He didn’t have to go to war anymore, and he didn’t have to work so hard anymore either. Now he could sit beside the fire and tell stories to his children and grandchildren.
One day on of his best friends had to go to a dangerous battle, and asked the man to lend him his special clothes. First our man reclined for he had never in his life allowed any one to wear his special clothes. But his friend talked and talked and begged and in the end our man gave in. Next day his friend went to battle and because he trusted the magic clothes too much he was less careful then usual and he was badly injured. During the following night he died. His widow came to our man and cried and shouted, saying his clothes were no good and at last she threw them on the floor.
“There is your plunder back,” she cried. Our man was moved. He had always known these clothes were made for him only, that the love his woman had woven into them, protected only him. He couldn’t help it that others didn’t understand.
When in the end his time came to leave this planet, the souls of this man and woman were united and the light of their love shone so bright that the gods asked them to take a place in the heavens and light up the darkness of the night for the people on this planet.
And so they went and became the brightest star in the heavens, which is now usually called Venus. All of us can see it, either as the evening star, or as the rising morning star.
The end
VI The green rabbit and the purple hare
Once upon a time the green rabbit and his friend, the purple hare, went for a drink, I’m sure you all remember the green rabbit, but I’m not sure if you know that the purple hare is very nice, warm and friendly. Sometimes he has bad luck you know, little accidents like sitting down on a chair, and it collapses. Or dropping a full glass on an ashtray, which just happens to be on top of a glass table. Just ordinary little accidents that happen to all of us. Only, to the purple hare they happen all the time. But he kept his sense of humour, never lost his friendliness and he was a lovely person.
The green rabbit was very fond of him, and loved to go out with his friend, for a pint on a Sunday afternoon, and so they went. Everything was fine, well, you know, the purple hare broke his walking stick when he walked through the door. He bumped his head against a lamppost outside because he didn’t look where he was going, but apart from that they arrived safe and sound at the pub. This pub was a lovely place, and lots of animals came there on a Sunday afternoon, specially on days when a ball game had been held it could be really crowded. In the pub there were lots of different seats and tables to accommodate all kinds of animals. The pub keeper was a big yellow dog, some sort of giant Danish dog, and she was very friendly and efficient. In busy times she was assisted by a monkey and between the two of them they managed fine. Fires were burning at the different fireplaces, candles and flowers were on the tables and the whole place was warm end cosy. The green rabbit got them both a drink and some nice carrots, and they settled down and relaxed. Jokes and stories went around the pub, and many a song was to be heard. They all had a merry time.
Then the telephone rang, It was a beautiful telephone, carefully sculptured out of a piece of driftwood, polished until it shone and it was so well constructed that almost every animal could handle it. The phone call was for the green rabbit. He took the phone and listened. Ach my! It was his girlfriend, wanting to know if he had forgotten all about their date? And sure, the green rabbit had. But of course he couldn’t tell her. You see he had promised his wife to be home for dinner, and his girlfriend to take her out for a meal and a drink. Gosh, he was in deep trouble. He told his girlfriend to come over to the pub and sat down, ordering another round of drinks to help him think of an easy way out of this mess.
Being as clever as he was, he should have known that there was no need to worry, for by the time his girlfriend arrived the purple hare became really drunk. He got up to get out for some fresh air, but stumbled and knocked down the table on his way. Shortly after, he was violently sick. Gosh, the mess he made was truly enormous! The dog, the monkey, the green rabbit and his girlfriend, they all helped together, but they needed quite a while to clean everything again. By the time they were ready, the purple hare had fallen asleep on the floor, so the green rabbit put up his hat and borrowed a wheelbarrow to take his friend home. He and his girlfriend managed to lift the purple hare into the wheelbarrow and off they went. As soon as they came out, it started to rain and they got all wet and muddy. And when they had to cross the river somehow, the purple hare managed to turn around just at the wrong moment. The green rabbit lost his balance and both wheelbarrow and purple hare fell into the stream! A cry of panic escaped the greet rabbit. Between him and his girlfriend they managed to rescue the purple hare, but he wheelbarrow was gone.
Somehow they managed to get the purple hare back to his house. They dried him as well as they could, put him to bed and got the fire going. Meanwhile it was long past dinnertime, and the green rabbit phoned his wife to tell her all what had happened. He told his wife he needed to stay and look after his friend and she told him of course he should.
But his girlfriend took him home to her place, and looked after him. She made sure he was warm and dry and made some dinner. After all the green rabbit and his girlfriend spent a nice evening. Next morning the purple hare had a high fever and the green rabbit had to call the doctor. The doctor was, as I am sure you know, a lovely donkey. That was very handsome, because she could come to anyone so fast and quick and she could carry her own medicine chest on her back.
Yes, life can be wonderfully practical. The doctor came and checked the purple hare. She prescribed some herbal teas, some pills to take, a cream for his breast and told the green rabbit to keep him warm and dry. For the next days the green rabbit was very busy with looking after his friend. His girlfriend came along many times, and so they could be together. Of course the purple hare recovered soon enough and could go out again.
But something had changed in the purple hare. No one knew for sure, had it been the river- which was said to have certain magic qualities- or be it the high fever he had had, anyway, from now on the purple hare had lost his bad luck. Suddenly he had no more incidents than you or me!
Can you believe it? After a while he even fell in love and found a wonderful companion to share his life. He became so happy!
and of course they all lived happily ever after.
The end
VII The black tiger
Once upon a time there was a black tiger. I know, I know. Tigers are not supposed to be black, but you see, sometimes things are just different, never mind if you like it or not.
Anyway, this black tiger was enormous. Say about double the size of a normal tiger. And he was beautiful. Ach you know, this kind of soft velvety black. Of course he was the fastest and strongest tiger you’ve ever seen as well.
Because he was so strong and so clever he needed little time for hunting. So he had lots of spare time, and in his spare time he just loved to go and jump over treetops. Strange as that might be, that was his biggest joy and fulfillment.
Any tree that wasn’t too big, he would just take in one big stride. If a tree was too high, he went to the next tree, and chose a branch to jump from. Because he loved jumping treetops so much, he did it more and more and became absolutely the best treetop jumper on this planet. He was fabulous!
As things happen, one day he overdid things. He knew he was near the last tree, the one that stands on the edge of the world. He had been jumping for hours that day, he had managed to jump all the treetops he had wanted to do and he felt great.
Then there was this last beautiful tree. The black tiger looked at it and he just knew he could do it. He concentrated and jumped. Of course he managed. He was just a perfect treetop jumper, and so with one magnificent jump he sprang over the last tree and disappeared from this world.
Now I’m sure you all have heard about black boles, I tell you, there is just one black hole, not a lot of them as some people seen to believe. By jumping of this world into the void this black tiger turned into a black hole.
So, you can understand now as well why a black hole is so strong and powerful.
The end
VII The mouse and the candles
Once upon a time in a beautiful church in a nice town in the wonderful country of Portugal on one of the loveliest planets in this galaxy, there lived a mouse.
As far as she remembered, she had lived in this church forever. She hardly knew anything else. You see, this church was so big, the mouse was so small, she had enough to do with living and looking after the place.
She was the only mouse living in this church as well, since churches are not highly valued by mice because usually there is not much food.
But for our mouse there was plenty. Every day after mass there were enough crumbs for our mouse. If she really was hungry, there were prayer books and wax candles; actually, this mouse liked the candles a lot. In the late afternoons she would nibble on some leftover candles, and she really enjoyed that.
Of course, once in a while she would get visitors. I think you know as well as I do, that mice love to go around and visit new places just to see whet they look like.
After our mouse had lived all on her own in this church for a long time she met some visiting mice from far away places one day. They were having some kind of party, a going out together. She showed her guests around, and in turn they told her about the places they lived in.
Gosh she became all exited!
She planned to cc and see some other places soon. She shared some nice candle bits with her guests and they were all really pleased with this food.
From now on she went to visit her new friends once in a while. On all her journeys through this wonderful country she found lots of other places with nice food and also different candles.
I mean candles in different colours; and the most amazing thing happened to this mouse. She found she changed colour, according to the bits of different coloured candles she had eaten! She could be a red mouse, a green one, a blue one. You name it; she could turn into that colour.
It was a miracle.
Of course from now on she tried to get hold of as many different coloured candles as she could. She experimented with combinations of coloured candles and found that she could almost choose the colour she liked to be at any given time. She was thrilled!
After a while she became so good at changing her colour that she was almost invisible. Of course she liked that a lot, for it meant an enormous security for her.
The other mice tried to do the same, for they could understand how much safer their lives would be if they became more or less invisible. Word spread around, and ever more mice in this lovely country became experts at changing their colours. They blended in with the background in such a way that they were virtually invisible
And that’s why today you won t see any mice in Portugal at all, and some people even believe there aren’t any mice in this whole country!
But you and I know better. And of course they all lived happily ever after.
The end
IX The wolves and the caribou
Once upon a time a group of wolves lived in the northern tundra’s in the vastness of the beautiful country of Canada, somewhere on this nice little planet called earth.
As usual, in winter the wolves stay close together and hunt as a group, in summer they drift apart and form small families or stay all alone. This special pack of wolves consisted of strong and beautiful animals.
They had a wonderful leader, who was the most successful leader this pack had ever had. She was silver-grey and as cunning and clever as any wolf you have ever seen. There was nothing she didn’t know about hunting, hiding, tracking and strategies.
With a leader like her it was no wonder this pack of wolves was successful and they were all strong and in a splendid condition. Even in times when food was scarce and other animals suffered, she found enough to eat for her group.
I think you know as well as I do, that in spring the cubs, the young wolves are born. Their mothers will move into a safe nest, sometimes a hollow under a tree. Sometimes they would just find a ready hole; sometimes they dug it out themselves. They made it nice and cosy, made sure the entrance was well hidden and when the time came, the young were born.
Our silver-gray leader had found her self a wonderful nest, hidden in a side-valley just off the river, with lots of cover and escape routes, water nearby, and she was well pleased with it.
Just after the first spring moon her cubs were born and there were five of them. Two black ones, a silver-grey one, a brown one and a strange one. The strange one was a red caribou calf but of course the mother didn’t know that in the beginning.
Yes, yes, of course I know as well as you do that wolves don’t give birth to caribou calves, but somehow this wolf did.
The silver-gray wolf didn’t know what the strange young was, but she knew it looked and felt different than the others. She was upset and puzzled. For all her wisdom and knowledge hadn’t prepared her for anything like this. Normally wolves kill any cub that is not completely all right and healthy, for they might hinder and endanger the rest of the family. The big silver-gray, wolf was tempted to do the same with this strange young of hers, but she couldn’t make up her mind somehow. She spoke to the father about the strange youngster, and he too was very surprised and he too was very surprised and upset. While they were still trying to work out what to do about the young, the blue raven came.
Of course you all know the blue raven! Yes, you are right, ravens are messengers. And the blue raven is a very special messenger, the messenger from the Gods.
He landed right between the mother and father wolf and spoke. “Don’t worry at all! This little red caribou calf is going to be a great blessing to you. Keep it, look after it, raise it like your other youngsters and everything will be fine!”
Having spoken, the blue raven jumped in the air, spread its wings and was gone.
The silver-grey wolf and her mate looked at each other and burst out laughing. This was too strange and funny!
But the strange youngster was kept among the rest and grew up with the young wolves. She never learned to eat meat, she preferred to eat grass, but she learned all the games and tricks the young wolves learned, and she was very good at them. When she became older her fur turned into a clear deep red and the wolves wondered how she could be part of their pack and go hunting with them.
They didn’t need to worry, for the red caribou was uncanny in hiding herself, in merging with the background. If anything was to be seen of her, it was her shadow seemingly unmoving and almost impossible to spot. And when in the winter the pack of wolves went out to hunt, she would go far ahead with her mother the silver-gray leader, and lay in hiding, waiting for the others to drive the prey towards her. Just the right time they would jump up and attack the prey, and here the deep red colour of the caribou was very helpful, for it amazed and shocked their prey mostly so much that it would hesitate for a second or two, and that was all the other wolves needed to end the hunt successfully. It was really a very strange relationship between the wolves and the red caribou. For long years things went on like this, and every so often the blue raven would come and have a look from above to see if everything was all right.
Then one day, as it happened, the whole group had to swim over a lake. Of course it was a special lake, and others might have warned them, but the wolves didn’t know.
After swimming through the lake, the colours of all the animals changed! The silver-gray leader turned black, the black ones turned brown, the brown ones turned silver, and the red caribou turned green. They couldn’t believe their eyes, hardly could they recognize each other.
It was very strange. And from then on lots of things changed. The blue raven came to tell them that everything would be fine.
From now on the green caribou left the wolves more and more to themselves. She wanted to be alone and silently started to long to be with other caribous.
One night she disappeared and they only saw her back once. The old black leader died one day and was replaced by a red wolf. They had to leave their hunting grounds, for there were no more animals there. Lucky for them too, because soon thereafter a big flood came. For a while life was hard for the wolves in their new territory, but their new leader was as smart and cunning as the old one, and soon times became better.
One day they met the green caribou again. They had been hunting caribous as she suddenly jumped up in front of them. They were stunned and forgot all about the hunt. The green caribou told them to leave the caribous alone from now on. And they did, and that’s why in a certain area of Canada you still find plenty of caribous, but no wolves.
The end
X The blind man
Once upon a time there was a blind man. He lived in this wonderful city of ours, in Glasgow. You all know that Glasgow is the secret capital of the magic kingdom of Scotland, one of the most wonderful countries on this little blue planet called earth.
This man was a very nice man. He loved to go out and meet people. He was a real Glaswegian at heart.
Now, I don’t know where he came from, or how he happened to be blind that had all happened long ago, before I knew him.
He was loved and respected by all who knew him, since he was always cheerful and in a good mood. And he always had time for others. This man loved to drink as well and so you could meet him in the pubs around his neighbourhood. Because he was blind he could never see if his glass was full or empty. Of course he could tell when his glass became empty for them it would be lighter in his hand.
But the people that met this man were always so pleased with him, that they ordered a new drink for him in time, and so he never got an empty glass in his hands.
This blind man got so used to always finding a full glass in front of him that he believed there were no empty glasses! For years every time his hand reached out, there was a full glass, and so both he and all his friends were happy.
If you meet this man one day, say hello and put a full glass in front of him will you? You can sit and talk to him for hours and you can listen as well, for he is full of nice stories, and he has a lot of wisdom.
And yes, he lived happily ever after.
The end
XI The orange and thew donkey
Once upon a time, on the lovely island of Sicily, a donkey stood under an orange tree.
This donkey was of course beautiful as all donkeys are. See, I must tell. I simply love donkeys. They are so sweet and so clever. Their eyes are the softest in the world. They do all the work you want them to do, but they do in at their own pace. Yes, they are simply adorable.
This donkey had been tied with a long rope to an orange tree by his master, earlier in the day.
That is in these regions a fairly normal thing to do, you know. The rope gave her enough room to go around and eat, and it allowed her to get into the shadow of the orange tree when the heat of the day became too intense. I’m sure you all know how hot it can get on a summer’s day on this most beautiful of all islands. So, in the morning this donkey had been grazing, and now, during the hottest hours of the day she stood dreamily in the shadows under the orange tree. She was dazed by the heat and actually almost asleep. You know donkeys sleep while they are standing up, don’t you? Just like horses.
As things happen, suddenly an orange fell down from the tree, and landed with a plop on the poor donkey’s head. Now that can happen many times without big consequences but this time the donkey awoke in a panic. She was so shaken and alarmed that she just ran off. The rope broke with a snap, and our donkey was gone.
By late afternoon her owner came to fetch her. He was a nice man, a small farmer, and he had a wee corner shop.
This day the man had been busy, and he had big plans for the evening. He was going to see his bride, and be officially introduced to her parents. That was really very important to him, and so he had just enough time to go and get his donkey back home. And then she wasn’t there! The man swore silently when he saw the broken rope and went to search for her.
Of course he found his donkey soon enough, but whilst he was looking for her he had fallen down a couple of times and by the time they, got home, he was covered in dust. So he had to take a bath and wash his hair and put on fresh clothes.
By the time he finally came to his bride he was late by almost two hours. Her father had left because he couldn’t wait that long. He had been very displeased and said that a man who came late for an appointment to see his bride, didn’t deserve a bride at all. His bride was in tears, her mother was upset as well, and a whole evening that could have been so nice, turned into a disaster.
It took the man years to win back the confidence of his bride’s father, and all his life changed.
Remember, it started all with one second it took an orange to fall from a tree and land o n a donkey’s head!
And yes in the end they all lived happily ever after.
The end
XII The elf and the elephant
Once upon a time, long before you and I were born in the first era of the world, there was an elf who had an elephant.
I know, pretty strange. You are right!
So maybe I should tell you how these two came together and what happened to them. In those days not only the shape of the world was different also the people were different. Of course you know that the elves still lived in whole regions of the earth in the first era. And there were men as well. And dwarves and goblins and dragons!
Both races of men and elves had their own counties, but there were also countries where both elf and man lived together, and in those days the climate between them was warm and open. Our elf had gone to stay with a huge party of older and more experienced elves. As always they were exploring the world, looking for beauty and new songs and things to trade.
They loved sailing, and the song of the sea was always in their hearts. Our elf had not come back with his companions, but left them in a far away harbour.
He had lived there between men for a long time, had sailed and traveled with them, and in the end had come to the hot lands deep down south, far away from middle earth. And there, one day he had met this elephant. The elephant had actually been a baby at that time, but he was already bigger then the elf. Since the mother of the elephant had died in an accident, our elf cared for and looked after the elephant from now. Soon they became great friends.
As you all know, elves have the gift to bestow speech upon any living thing, and so the elephant had learned to speak the elf language. Of course the elf could speak the elephant’s language, but he enjoyed teaching his friend more and more words, and before long the elephant became a master in the elf language.
You know of course that for elves time is different? They live so much longer than humans, and if they wish they can live forever. And most of them choose to cross the last sea at some point in their lives and go to the last land.
Anyway out elf came home to his own people one day, and brought his friend, the elephant along. By this time the elephant was fully-grown, and an impressive sight! He was a real miracle, for he could not only speak and dance and sing, but he had learned many tricks, and he could work so hard and fast that it seemed to he a bigger miracle than the elf’s magic.
Since he was the first elephant to come to middle earth, everyone wanted to see him. Men and elves, dwarves and goblins, all came to have a look. Our elf settled down and from now on he had a busy life. There was a never-ending stream of visitors.
After a while the elf-king asked him if he could travel around with the elephant so it would be easier for everyone to see his friend and of course our elf agreed. For most of the year he traveled with his friend through the countries of middle earth. They visited schools and market places, went to parties and everywhere. Both people and elves paid them very well because they were so pleased they could see this miraculous animal, and so our elf and his friend never lacked a thing.
Three months of each year they rested together in a valley, in the beautiful forests of Eskadir. I’m sure you have heard about them, since they were the most beautiful and famous forests of the first era.
Our elf also visited the countries of men, and their joy and pleasure at seeing an elephant was enormous. Our two friends met nice people everywhere, they sang and danced together, helped anywhere help was needed and had a wonderful life. After many, many years, as the elephant grew old, our elf did as so many of his race, he went to the last harbour, and together with his friend crossed the last sea, to go to the first and last land.
And of course there they lived happily ever after.
The end