Storytime may 2021

Adapted from the Old English poem ‘Beowulf’ B a 3 Myths and Le The twelve peasant girls all spoke at once and this s what they said “My queen!. Queen Balanice was amazed and agreed to ra

HOOK’S ISLAND: A pirate captain makes a reptile friend!

The Raspberry Worm, The Bone-Hunter,

FULL OF INCREDIBLE ANIMALS!

It wasn ’t a very nice place to grow

up –

the buildings were falling down, farm animals pooped

in the street, and nobody wanted

to visit because of

the dirt and the smell!

rpenterHe made

ot doingwell

AwesomeAdventures

Beowulf and Grendel

King Hrothgar was the ruler

of the Danes, and he loved

to party!

Every night he held a great banquet

in his grand wooden hall of Heorot,

and his lords and warriors would

feast and sing until daybreak.

Adapted from the Old English

poem ‘Beowulf’

B a

3

Myths and Le The twelve peasant girls all spoke

at once and this s what they said

“My queen! We are sad to hear of your loss but we have twelve babies for you to care for n Rosanella’s place!”

With that they took the covers off the cradles to reveal a dozen healthy baby girls Each one had a pink rose birthmark on her throat!

Queen Balanice was amazed and agreed to raise them all as her own colour so she could tell them apart

The girls soon grew up and they were all k nd and intelligent But the queen realised that each one had a different nature She gave them names that reflected this One was Happy one was Wise another Grave and so on Over the years the palace became famous for its lovely princesses Many of the handsome lords and princes who visited fell in love with them but the pr ncesses refused any offers of marriage

he Wasps and the bees

Throughout the woods, all the insects were gossiping about a honeycomb that had been found in an old tree It was filled with delicious golden honey, and many creatures wanted to claim it for themselves.

The wasps and the bees agreed because they trusted the hornet and knew that he was both wise and fair The next day all the insects and creepy crawlies in the forest gathered

in a clearing to see the case be tried The hornet watched over them all from his place high up on a toadstool

He wore a big white wig that made him look very important First the bees brought a snail as a witness The slimy little fellow blinked his stalked eyes and said “Last year

I remember seeing some flying insects buzzing around the tree Though I cannot see well I remember that they were black and yellow!”

“Aha!” said the bee lawyer “We bees are coloured black and yellow so the honey must be ours!”

“Objection!” buzzed the wasp lawyer

“We are also black and yellow so that proves nothing!”

The next witness was a ladybird “I saw many insects buzzing around that tree!”

she said “They definitely had stingers!”

“That is all the proof you need!” said the wasp confidently “We wasps are famous for our stingers!”

“Not so!” replied the bee lawyer

“We bees also have stingers which are just as impressive as yours!”

The bees said that the honeycomb was their property but the wasps disagreed

“We are quite certain that the honey is ours!”

one of them buzzed “I almost certainly remember making it!”

Now the bees and the wasps argued for a long time and became angry at each other Their argument might have led to fighting and stinging but a wise hornet stepped in

“We do not need to fight over honey!” he said

“Both sides shoul and I will be the ju

How many toadstools can you spot? Write the total here:

r family

ke dowithold cl othesand som e h!

who willharness

the wind!

plastic free!

LION IN LOVE!The King

of the Jungle gets a makeover

JOIN US ON

A JOURNEY NEXT MONTH!

It’s full of wonders waiting

to be discovered – on land and under the water!

This issue was inspired by YOUR amazing letters to Planet Earth!

ILLUSTRATORS:

Matteo Gaggia The Wasps and the Bees

Miriam Serafin The Bone-Hunter

Valeria Abatzoglu Rosanella

Giorgia Broseghini Hook’s Island

Dyru (Julia Körner) The Big Green Kraken

Beatriz Mayumi The Raspberry Worm

Rogério Coelho The King of Crocodiles

Rowena Aitken Beowulf and Grendel

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certified in accordance with the rules of the FSC® (Forest

asps and the bees

nging insects have an

ent about who owns a

larly tasty honeycomb!

Read the runner-up in our letter contest, check out three new book reviews, and enter a competition! 50

What will you find?

Tales from Today

big green kraken

an underwater and makes

ort Stories, Big Dreams

Hook’s island

When Captain Hook is trapped

on a tropical island, he decides

to go surfing with an old foe! 20

The king of Crocodiles

The story of a girl who marries a crocodile – and finds out there is more to him than meets the eye!

Around the World Tales

Myths and Legends

Beowulf and grendel

The classic tale of a brave hero who battles a terrifying swamp- monster – and his mum! 39

Read the winning letter to planet Earth!

Storyteller’s Corner

The raspberry Worm

A kind deed leads to a happy ending for two little girls lost

in the forest

SEE PAGE 27

A magical story about true

love – and twelve

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Reading and roaring are two of

my favourite things!

The Wasps and the bees

T hroughout the woods, all the insects were

gossiping about a honeycomb that had

been found in an old tree It was filled with

delicious golden honey, and many creatures

wanted to claim it for themselves.

The bees said that the honeycomb was their

property, but the wasps disagreed

“We are quite certain that the honey is ours!”

one of them buzzed “I almost certainly

remember making it!”

Now, the bees and the wasps argued for a

long time, and became angry at each other

Their argument might have led to fighting

and stinging, but a wise hornet stepped in

“We do not need to fight over honey!” he said

“Both sides should present their case in court –

and I will be the judge!”

How many toadstools can you spot? W rite the total here:

COUNT IT!

Famous Fables

The wasps and the bees agreed,

because they trusted the hornet and

knew that he was both wise and fair

The next day, all the insects and

creepy-crawlies in the forest gathered

in a clearing to see the case be tried

The hornet watched over them all from

his place high up on a toadstool

He wore a big white wig that

made him look very important

First, the bees brought a snail as a

witness The slimy little fellow blinked

his stalked eyes and said, “Last year,

I remember seeing some flying insects

buzzing around the tree I cannot see

well, but I am sure that they were

black and yellow!”

“Aha!” said the bee-lawyer “We bees are coloured black and yellow, so the honey must be ours!”

“Objection!” buzzed the wasp-lawyer

“We are also black and yellow, so that proves nothing!”

The next witness was a ladybird “I saw many insects buzzing around that tree!” she said “They definitely had stingers!”

“That is all the proof you need!” said the wasp confidently “We wasps are famous for our stingers!”

“Not so!” replied the bee-lawyer

“We bees also have stingers, which are just as impressive as yours!”

After hearing all the evidence, the

hornet-judge was not sure what to say

It seemed that the honey could belong

to the bees or the wasps! However,

there was a buzz as the elderly queen

bee entered the court She walked

slowly towards the hornet’s toadstool

and said, “Your honour, I know how we

can prove who the honey belongs to!”

“Oh yes?” said the hornet, twitching

his antennae “What do you suggest?”

“Simple!” said the queen “Let the

bees and the wasps each build

a honeycomb Then we can see

whose honeycomb looks like

the one in the tree!”

The bees were proud of their honeycomb-building skills, and buzzed with excitement “Yes! We will make the biggest and waxiest honeycomb you have ever seen!”

The wasps, however, were less keen They built nests of paper, but making

a honeycomb was quite beyond them They didn’t say anything

The hornet declared, “Wasps! If you can’t make a honeycomb, then this honeycomb must have been built by the bees After all, a person’s ability

is proved by what they can do!”

8

THE BONE-HUNTER

M ary was born in 1799, in a little English village called

Lyme Regis It wasn’t a very nice place to grow up – the buildings were falling down, farm animals pooped

in the streets, and nobody wanted to visit because of

the dirt and the smell!

9

Her dad Richard was a carpenter He made

furniture, but his business was not doing well

in the poor village Mary and her family had

to make do with old clothes and sometimes

went hungry

There was one good thing about Lyme

Regis, though: it was right by the beach!

Richard would take Mary and her big brother

Joseph to explore the shore under the tall

cliffs overlooking the sea – but always told

them to watch out for falling rocks!

Mary would find strange fossil bones and

shells on the sand and in the cliffs, and

was fascinated by them “What strange

creatures did these come from, and what

did they look like when they were alive?”

she wondered

Things were about to change in the little

seaside village A new road to London was

built, so it was easier for people to visit

Awesome Adventures

A new holiday craze also hit Britain:

going to the beach! City folk heard

that swimming in the sea was good

for you, and suddenly the poor and

smelly village became a trendy place

to visit! Fancy hotels and restaurants

were built, and rich lords and ladies

came to holiday there

Mary and her family couldn’t afford

to go to the posh new places in town,

but the wealthy visitors had money

– and they bought Richard’s furniture!

Her dad started thinking about other

things he could sell He looked at

the shells and bones his daughter

liked to collect on the beach and

got an idea: he could sell fossils

to tourists as souvenirs!

Richard started going on expeditions

to collect fossils from the cliffs, and five-year-old Mary was his assistant and helper She was very clever, and was great at spotting interesting things

to dig up He gave her a little pick that she could use to chip fossils out of the rocks It was cooler than any toy!

These fossils were the remains of creatures that had died millions of years ago – but at this time, nobody knew that People thought were from creatures drowned in the Great Flood,

as mentioned in the Bible They called the fossils ‘snake-stones’, ‘devil’s

fingers’ and ‘verteberries’, and liked

to buy them because they looked cool and interesting

10

Unfortunately, when Mary was just ten,

her dad fell off a cliff while walking to

another village He was badly hurt,

and later passed away Richard had

been the family’s breadwinner, and

without him, they had a hard time

getting enough money to pay the

bills and buy food

Mary was determined to help her

family! Early one morning, before

anyone else was awake, she put

on her little backpack, got the pick

her father had given her, and went

to the beach

A storm the night before had caused

large chunks of clay to fall from the

cliff – could they hold exciting new

fossils? Mary started tap-tap-tapping

at them with her little pick, and heard

a clink! She quickly dug out an

ammonite – a big fossil shell with a beautiful swirling pattern

As Mary looked at it in wonder, she heard a voice behind her “What a beautiful shell! I will give you half

a crown for it!”

It was a well-dressed lady, who was taking a walk on the beach

Mary handed her the ammonite without saying a word and received

a big shiny coin in return It was enough to feed her family for a week! She was so proud

From that day on, Mary and her brother Joseph went down to the beach to hunt for fossils together

They then took their treasures home

to be cleaned up and polished

11

When the coach was due to bring

visitors to the town, Joseph and Mary

would set up a little table outside the

village inn, holding all the wonderful

fossils they had for sale!

Mary may have looked poor and

ragged in her old dress and wooden

clogs, but she was very clever and

good at selling her wares!

That summer, Joseph found a big skull

with huge eye sockets and over 200

teeth in its long jaw With help from

the men of the town, he dug it out

The men all agreed that it must belong

to a crocodile Mary was not so sure,

though, and decided to keep digging

She spent months looking for the rest

of the creature’s skeleton, and finally found it after some of its bones were revealed by a rockfall As she had suspected all along, they did not belong to a crocodile She had found the skeleton of an enormous fishlike reptile, and it matched the head her brother had found perfectly! It was certainly not like any sea-creature alive at that time

She sold the giant skeleton to the local lord for £23, which was enough

to feed her family for a very long time The lord later sold it for twice as much!

It was put on show in a London museum, where many of England’s greatest scientists marvelled at it

12

Scientists eventually worked out that the

reptile had existed more than 175 million

years ago, and called it an ichthyosaur

This find, and many others, made Mary

very famous She took over her father’s

shop, which became a great success when

scientists from all over Europe came there

to buy the wonderful things that she dug up

The smart, determined girl who knew the

dangerous cliffs well would become one

of the greatest and most successful

fossil-hunters of all time!

Mary Anning soon found

even more incredible fossils – including a

plesiosaur (another huge marine creature) and a pterosaur (a flying reptile) Her discoveries made some scientists realise that the Earth was millions

of years old, and that many species had evolved and then become extinct in that time Her finds helped to inspire Charles Darwin, who came up with his famous Theory of Evolution (Find out more about

Charles in ‘The Boy who Ate Bugs’ in Storytime 74!)

Mary taught herself geology (the study of rocks) and

anatomy (how bodies are put together) Many famous scientists came to ask her questions and buy her fossils – and then claimed her discoveries as their own! However, people now realise how great Mary’s achievements were As the writer Charles Dickens put

it, “The carpenter’s daughter has won a name for herself, and has deserved to win it.”

WHAT HAPPENED

NEXT

O nce upon a time, the queen of Fairyland passed on and

went to live in the land above the clouds Her daughters quarrelled about which of them should rule in her place

Surcantine was certain that she would be the best queen, but her sister Paridamie disagreed!

Favourite Fairy Tales

14

In the end, a council of the oldest and wisest fairies decided

that each of the fairy princesses must complete a difficult task

– and the one that succeeded would be crowned queen

Surcantine was told to raise a human boy who

was charming but would never fall in love with

anyone Paridamie was instructed to raise a

human girl so lovely that nobody could resist

falling in love with her

Paridamie went to a nearby human

kingdom, for she knew that its rulers

had a happy and healthy baby girl

King Bardondon and Queen Balanice

loved their new child very much

She had a pink birthmark in the shape

of a rose on her throat, and so they

named her Rosanella

One night, the castle was awakened by a scream from the queen The servants ran to her chamber to see what was wrong, and she told them, “I had a terrible dream! In it, my little daughter was

turned into a bouquet of roses – and then a bird snatched it away ”

The servants ran to Rosanella’s room to see if she was safe, but they discovered that her bed was empty! They searched high and low for her, but they could not find the princess anywhere

The king and queen were most upset at losing their beloved daughter In the end, they decided to go to a castle in the country, where they could grieve their loss

The queen was walking in the castle’s gardens, thinking of her lost daughter, when she came to a place where twelve paths met As she stood there, twelve peasant girls came down the paths towards her – and each carried a cradle!

15

The twelve peasant girls all spoke

at once, and this is what they said:

“My queen! We are sad to hear of your

loss – but we have twelve babies for

you to care for in Rosanella’s place!”

With that, they took the covers off

the cradles to reveal a dozen healthy

baby girls Each one had a pink rose

birthmark on her throat!

Queen Balanice was amazed, and

agreed to raise them all as her own

She dressed each one in a different

colour so she could tell them apart

The girls soon grew up, and they were all kind and intelligent But the queen realised that each one had a different nature She gave them names that reflected this One was Happy, one was Wise, another Grave, and so on

Over the years, the palace became famous for its lovely princesses, each

of whom wore a different colour

Many of the handsome lords and princes who visited fell in love with them, but the princesses refused any offers of marriage

16

For her part, Paridamie’s sister

Surcantine went to a neighbouring

kingdom, where the rulers had a baby

boy named Prince Mirliflor Surcantine

blessed him with good looks and

charm When he became a teenager,

the lad would talk charmingly with

any lady he met, but gave his heart

to none of them

When he was eighteen, Mirliflor’s

father sent him to visit the court of

King Bardondon and Queen Balanice

The young man was excited to go, for

he had heard about the twelve wise

and clever princesses that lived there, all different from one another

Prince Mirliflor was enchanted by the multi-coloured princesses, and loved spending time with them – listening to Sweet while sharing a joke with Joy,

or holding hands with Loving while talking of serious things with Grave

Mirliflor no longer looked at other ladies He would always be found with the twelve wonderful princesses – though he could not decide which among them he loved best The fairy Surcantine watched all this happily, for this seemed to prove that the prince could not give his heart to one of them

COLOUrING FUN!

Have a lovely time colouring in your very own rose garden – download the sheet from storytimemagazine.com/free.

However, one day, while Mirliflor and

the dozen princesses were walking

in the garden, they heard a great

buzzing sound Twelve giant bees

flew over the horizon!

The princesses scattered in terror

and the prince vainly tried to fight

them off, but each of the insects

snatched up a princess with their

legs and flew away!

The king, the queen and Prince

Mirliflor were shocked about losing

their twelve lovely princesses, and

barely slept that night

The next morning, they were awakened by a loud knocking

at the palace gate

It was the fairy Paridamie, and with her was a lovely princess

in a rainbow-coloured gown

She looked very much like the missing princesses, and the queen noticed that she had a birthmark in the shape

of a pink rose on her throat

The king and queen invited the fairy and the mysterious girl inside They and Prince Mirliflor listened in wonder to what the fairy told them

18

Paridamie said, “May I introduce your

lovely daughter – Rosanella!”

The king and queen stared at her

in wonder Prince Mirliflor exclaimed,

“But what has become of the twelve

wonderful ladies I have lost my heart

to? Where are they?”

Paridamie gave a tinkling laugh and

said, “Many years ago I used a magic

spell to turn Rosanella into a dozen

girls Each of them possessed one

of the things that made her special –

but now I have brought them back

together into one person – Rosanella!”

Mirliflor saw that Rosanella had all

of the qualities that he had loved in his dozen princesses, and realised that he was truly in love with her

The fairy Surcantine, who was watching from the stairs, knew that she had failed to make the prince into someone who could not fall in love She admitted that her sister Paridamie had won their contest, and crowned her as Queen of Fairyland

And Mirliflor and Rosanella? They were married and lived happily ever after, until the end of their days

HOOK’s

ISLAND

C aptain Hook felt like he had been

swimming forever! Peter Pan had

pushed him overboard during their

last battle, and Hook had swum away – pursued by a giant crocodile!

The crocodile had been chasing Hook for a long timThe pirate could hear the ‘tick-tick-tick’ sound made

by the alarm clock the big reptile had once swall

The captain was getting very tired, but knew h

keep going, or he would be eaten!

“Wait a minute! What is that ahead?” he ex

It was a small tropical island covered wit

He scrambled ashore and quickly cli

tree The crocodile crawled onto the

but luckily it could not climb!

The pirate was wet and the tree

very uncomfortable However, h

by his long swim and soon fe

He awoke in the morning t

crocodile’s alarm clock ri

and the reptile was still

Short Stories, Big Dreams

me.ellowed

to the sound of theinging The sun was rising –

ll underneath his tree

Hook looked around and saw that the

tree was laden with big orange fruit

that smelled like flowers His nose

twitched – they were papayas!

He had eaten them on a tropical

island many years ago

He quickly picked one of the ripe fruits

and split it open It was deliciously

juicy, and he ate it for breakfast

Down below, he could see the

crocodile looking at him hungrily

“Hello, Mister Croc!” he said

“Would you like to try a lovely

papaya? They taste much better

than a tough old pirate!”

He threw a juicy fruit down to the

animal – which caught it in its jaws

and gulped it down The crocodile’s

eyes brightened, and Hook could

swear it smiled It must like it!

He fed it two more, just to be sure

Hook then climbed down from

his tree, as the happy croc did

not seem hungry anymore

He took off his heavy pirate’s

boots and began weaving

a sun-hat and hammock out

“Mister Croc, have you tried surfing?”

Hook and his new friend paddled out

to where the waves were breaking Then, Hook pulled himself up onto the crocodile and surfed all the way

in to the beach

“This is the life for me!” thought Hook

“It’s much better than being a pirate!”

The Big Green Kraken

“H ey, kid! Time to get up!” Pippa awoke to the

sound of her father shouting down the hallway

Tales from Today

22

She sat up, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes,

and looked at the brightly coloured fish

swimming by outside her bedroom window

Sometimes she felt like the luckiest kid

in the world!

Pippa put on her slippers and slouched

down the hallway tube to the kitchen pod

It had a big glass dome that let her see the wonderful

underwater world outside Below were the bright

and colourful corals of the reef, to the left was the

darkness of the deep ocean, and far up above she

could see the underside of the huge ocean waves

as they rolled in towards the nearest island

Pippa’s home was an underwater

laboratory, and her mum and dad’s job

was to measure all kinds of things about

the ocean – its temperature and currents,

and of course its sea life!

Dad was taking a steaming bowl of porridge

out of the microwave when she came in

“Here you go, Pippa!” Her dad put

the bowl in front of her and ruffled

her hair “Take out the recycling pod

when you’re done, OK?”

Pippa made a face at him when he

turned away Even under the sea,

there were chores to do!

She ate the porridge with her favourite

crunchy algae flakes topping as she

watched eels and seahorses drift past

outside She even thought she could

hear echoes of whale song from far

out at sea…

When she was finished, she got the

kitchen recycling pod and sealed

the lid It was her job to take it to

the recycling centre on the beach

She carried the pod down the corridor

to the diving chamber Pippa checked her gear, and put on her wetsuit, mask and flippers She then popped the snorkel in her mouth and dropped into the moon pool in the floor of the chamber, pulling the recycling pod behind her

Pippa found herself in the ocean below the sea-laboratory She went diving every day, but being underwater and seeing the beauty

of the ocean still felt magical to her!

The barrel sponges below were so big she could fit inside them, and above her was a jellyfish floating

of 30 simple things you can

do to help our planet from

storytimemagazine.com/

earth

“OH NO!” she thought That wasn’t

a jellyfish! It was something far worse

– a plastic bag! It could get into the

gills of an innocent fish She grabbed

it quickly and stuffed it into her

diving belt “How can people be

so irresponsible with their rubbish?”

she thought, feeling quite upset

That wasn’t the worst thing, though!

Ahead, she spotted something

struggling in the water It was a baby

turtle, tangled in the plastic rings from

a six-pack of cans She freed the little

fellow, and it looked at her with its big

eyes before paddling away

Pippa was about to put the plastic

rings away when she felt something

pulling at her ankle! She looked down

and saw that a purple tentacle

with suckers all over it had

wrapped itself around her leg

Before she knew what was

happening, she was being pulled

deeper into the ocean!

She tried to kick free, but the suckers were holding her tight…

Pippa twisted around to see where the tentacle was pulling her It was coming out of a cave in the sea bottom… and she was being dragged inside!

The next thing she knew, Pippa was inside the cave and being dangled upside down in front of a pair of great big glowing eyes They were looking

at her curiously

She heard a great booming voice, deeper than the

deepest ocean

“What have we here?

One of those two-legged polluters from up on the land – with even MORE rubbish to dump

into the sea?”

24

Looking down, Pippa noticed she was

still holding the recycling pod!

The creature that had grabbed her

looked a bit like a yellow octopus,

but was far, far bigger Its many

sucker-covered tentacles were purple and

dozens of metres long!

The snorkel fell out of Pippa’s mouth

She realised that the cave was filled

with air that she could breathe For

some reason, it was also full of rubbish

– cans and bottles and plastic bags

and scrap metal

Pippa was surprised and a bit afraid,

but she finally spoke up “I don’t mean

to be rude, but who ARE you?”

The creature replied: “They call me the Big Green Kraken, because I take care of the environment! We krakens are mighty mythical monsters My grumpy great-uncle Olaf has made huge whirlpools off the coast of Norway for centuries, and there are many more of us all over the world!”

The sea-beast made a rumbling noise “But since you humans began dumping your junk in the ocean and heating up the planet, most of my relatives have gone to the deepest, coldest parts of the ocean to sleep!”

Pippa was amazed, but she had another question: “Why do you have

so much RUBBISH here?”