Ali and the caterpillars

Hello, everyone.

    The story that I am going to tell you today is a real story! Yes, a real story. It is the story of a butterfly. Ali finds some eggs on a leaf and follows the progress until the last stage when they are turned into beautiful butterflies.

    Read on and find out about its life.

Ali and the Caterpillars

    Ali stood looking at something. His mother came out in the garden just then to cut some fresh flowers. She saw Ali looking curiously at something and came over to see what it was.

    “What are you staring at, Ali?” she asked him.

    “Look, Mommy, there is something on this leaf,” replied Ali pointing at a leaf.

     His mother looked and sure enough there were some white beadlike things on it. His mother laughed.

    “These are butterfly eggs,” she explained.

    “Will tiny little butterflies come out of it?” Ali asked and added, “I would like to see tiny little butterflies very much.”

    “No, dear,” his mother shook her head and explained, “tiny butterflies don’t come out of the eggs. Caterpillars come out of them.”

     Ali looked confused.

    “Why don’t you watch these eggs everyday and then see what happens, alright?” his mother said and added, “Don’t touch them. Just look at them.”

    Ali nodded his head.

    Everyday Ali came to check the eggs just like his mother had told him.

    One day, he saw that the eggs were gone and instead there were tiny little caterpillars there. They looked so cute and beautiful that he stood there for a long time looking at them. They were green with black and yellow markings on it. They were busy eating away at the leaf on which they were. Soon he got tired of looking and went inside to report to his mother about the caterpillars.

    “Mommy, there are caterpillars there now instead of the eggs,” he reported to his mother.

    “Oh, so the eggs have hatched, is it?” she asked. “Now watch them. They will eat and get fatter every day.”

    “Alright, I will do that,” said little Ali and asked, “then what will happen, Mommy?”

    “You watch them every day and then you will see,” his mother said, mysteriously.

    Ali watched them every day. They grew fatter and fatter. They had to shed their skin because it was getting too small for them and another had developed beneath it. They still kept on eating. Whenever Ali went to look they were always busy eating the leaves.

    After a few days he was surprised to see the caterpillars spinning sort of a thread around themselves. Curious, he ran inside to ask his mother about it.

    “Mommy, the caterpillars are taking out threads from their mouths and winding them round themselves,” he told his mother.

    “Well, darling, they are turning themselves into chrysalis or pupae,” his mother explained. “One is called pupa and many is called pupae. It is also called cocoon.”

    “Oh, then what will happen?” asked little Ali.

    “They will turn into butterflies, of course,” said his mother. “You just watch them and see.”

    And so Ali watched every day, sure enough they had turned into tiny container like things and hung on the branches of the bushes.

    After a few days, Ali was just in time to see one of the butterflies emerge from the chrysalis or pupa. It came out from the pupa looking all wet and weak. It just clung to the pupa remains and then slowly opened its wings as they grew stronger and when it was strong enough it flew away. It looked beautiful. Ali watched it go sadly. He hung his head and went inside feeling very downcast.

    “What’s the matter, Ali?” she asked him, concerned, seeing his sad face.

    “The butterflies are gone,” he said in a small voice.

    His mother laughed.

    “Is that all?” she asked, still laughing. “I wondered what disaster had befallen. You looked so downcast. Don’t worry the butterflies are always laying eggs and the story of the caterpillar is always repeating itself. So you don’t have to worry about that too much, ok? Now, why don’t you have some orange juice and some cookies? That will cheer you up I’m sure.”

    Ali brightened up a little at that. Soon he was himself again and chattering away nineteen to a dozen!

   I hope you liked this story. If so please like and leave a comment in the comment section below. I will appreciate it. Thank you.

Sally's Money

Hello, everyone.

    The story that I am going to tell you is my own creation. It is the story of a little girl who lost her hard earned money.

    Read on and find out how she found her money.

Sally’s Money

    Sally was a ten year old little girl. One thing she loved to do was to make necklaces, earrings and bracelets out of beads. She had a lot different kind of beads and in many different colours. She would just sit on the doorstep of their house and make them.

    She was having summer holidays. As always she sat down on the doorstep with her beads and threads and started to make a necklace. It was half done and already it was looking very beautiful. She was using pearl like beads in white pink and grey. She made simple and yet very attractive looking necklace.

    Now, as it happened a lady was passing by and she saw Sally working away on her necklace. She was curious and stopped to look at what Sally was doing. When she saw the necklace she was very impressed.

    “Wow! What a beautiful necklace!” she exclaimed. “Do you make earrings and bracelets to go with it?”

    “Yes, Ma’am,” Sally replied, “I make the whole sets.”

    “Can you make a set for me?” she asked. “I will pay you.”

    Sally got excited. Here was someone who wanted her to make the bead sets for her and she was ready to pay for it! But she had never done it for people so she did not know how to go about it and besides she would have to ask her mother’s permission.

    “I have never done it for people before,” Sally replied, “I will have to ask my mother about it.”

    “That’s alright,” the lady said. “You can ask your mother. I will come to see you tomorrow and then you can tell me.”

    The lady went away and Sally ran inside to ask her mother at once.

    “Mother, Mother,” she shouted excitedly before she had reached the kitchen. “You won’t believe what just happened.”

    “Whoa, what’s all the hurry?” her mother asked.

    “A lady wants me to make a bead set for her,” she said, her eyes shining. “I said I would let her know after I have asked your permission. Can I make it for her?”

    “Well, you can,” said her mother, “but we will have to calculate and see what price to tell her. I will do the calculations and then tell you, alright?”

    “Alright, Mother,” replied Sally.

    So, that day Sally’s mother calculated everything and then told her the price.

    Next day, that lady came again to see Sally. Sally told her the price and she agreed and told her to make a set for her.

    Now slowly, Sally’s customers started to grow. All the money she made she put it in an envelope and kept it in her cupboard. One day, when she counted her money she saw that some of it was missing, about one hundred dollars. She started searching here, there and everywhere but just could not find it. She really got frustrated and went to her mother.

    “Mother, some of my money is missing,” she told her. “I have looked everywhere but cannot find it.”

    “How much is it?” her mother asked her.

    “One hundred dollars,” she said in a very distressed voice. “What shall I do?”

    “You must have misplaced it,” her mother suggested.

    “No, Mum,” she said. “I never leave it anywhere so how can I misplace it.”

    So her mother joined in the search. They looked everywhere but they were nowhere to be seen.

    “Look, Sally,” her mother said, “sometimes it’s better to get away from what you are doing if you get stuck. When you come back with a fresh mind the problem gets solved very easily.”

    “Alright, Mother,” Sally said in a small voice.

   “Go and do something else,” her mother advised. “Forget about it for a while. Believe me you will find your money.”

    Sally nodded her head and went away to work on her order for a bead necklace set. Soon she got absorbed in her and forgot her lost money for a while.

    The next day, she had to work indoors as it was raining outside. She sat down in a sofa chair and started doing her work. When she was tired she stretched her arms and then put her one of her hands in the side of the sofa and she felt something like paper there. She dug her hand deeper and fished out the paper. And when she looked at the paper she almost jumped for joy! It was her missing hundred dollar bill!

    She took it and ran to show her mother.

    “Mother, Mother,” she shouted, “look what I found!”

    “Well, well, well,” her mother said, smiling. “Wherever did you find it?”

    “It was in side of the sofa,” Sally said.

    “See, I told you to quit looking for it for a while” her mother said, “because you were so frustrated you were not able to think properly. So now you have found it.”

    “But, Mother, I wonder how it got there.”

    She sat down and tried to figure out how it got there and then she remembered. She had been counting her money in that chair and so maybe one note must have slipped in the side.

    From that day onwards, Sally was very careful with her money.

Benny is Bored

Hello, everyone.

    The story that I am going to tell you today is my own creation. It is the story of a little boy who was very bored. What happens to clear his boredom? Read on and find out.

Benny is Bored

    Benny was a five year old little boy. He was bored right now because he did not have anything to do. It was a Saturday and so it was a holiday. He could not even go out to play in the garden because it was raining so hard outside. He sat there on the windowsill and wished he had something to do. He got down from the windowsill and went in the kitchen to see if his mother could give him something to do. There was a very nice aroma of baking cake coming from there.

    When Benny entered the kitchen his mother laughed at his long face.

    “Why don’t you read a book or do something?” she asked.

    “I have read all the books and I don’t know what to do,” he replied, dolefully.

   His mother had already put a cake to bake in the oven and was kneading cookie dough.

    Benny came and sat down on a chair of the dining room near his mother. He put his chin in his little hands as he did when he had nothing to do.

    “Would you like to help me cut the cookies in different shapes?” she asked him and added, “You can choose any shapes you would like to cut.”

    Benny got excited. There were so many shapes to choose from. There was a star, a bunny, a Christmas tree, teddy bear, flower and there was also a plain round and many other shapes.

    His mother rolled out the dough and then she told him to wash his hands. Then she showed him how to cut out with the cookie shapes. Benny did what his mother told him to do. Once they were cut she laid them on the greased cookie tray to bake.

    The cake was baked now and she put the cookie tray in the oven. Benny was observing his mother doing that intently.

    Benny’s mother rolled out the rest of the dough and told him to cut the shapes he wanted. Benny did so. When the cookies in the oven were ready she took them out. She was about to arrange the other batch on the tray when the doorbell rang and she had to go and answer it.

    “Don’t touch anything, Benny,” she said before she went to see who was at the door.

    Whilst she was gone Benny decided to arrange the cookies on the tray himself as he had seen his mother do. He arranged all the cookies on the tray. Then, he decided to put it in the oven just like his mother had done. After all what could happen, he had seen his mother do it. It seemed easy enough. He put out his hand to take the tray and screamed! He had touched a hot tray. It was still hot although it had cooled a little his tender hands could not bear the heat.

    His mother came running to see what had happened. She was horrified to see Benny standing there crying. His fingers were red from getting burnt. But it was a good thing that the tray had cooled down a bit so he was not burnt badly. His mother immediately put some cream on his fingers. She kissed him on the head and took him on his lap to calm him down.

    “You see Benny,” she told him, “when I tell you not to touch anything there is a reason for me to tell you that. You will listen to me from now onwards won’t you?”

    Benny nodded his head.

    “I just wanted to help you,” he said in a small voice.

    She smiled at him. Then she set him down and went to put the last batch of cookies in the oven.

    From that day onwards Benny always listened to his mother.

The Two Little Detectives and the Cake Thief

Hello, everyone.

    Today, I am going to tell you another story of the two little detectives. I hope you remember them. They are Jack and Susan. This time they help their neighbour to catch a cake thief.

    Read on and find out how they did it.

The Two Little Detectives and the Cake Thief

    Once Jack and Susan were playing catch in the garden. As they were running around trying to catch each other they noticed that their neighbour Mrs. Bentley was searching for something on the ground. The children stopped playing and looked at her. She looked all hot and bothered.

     “I wonder what Mrs. Bentley is searching for?” wondered Susan.

    “Let’s go and ask her,” replied Jack.

    And so they went near their fence and asked Mrs. Bentley what the matter was.

    “Well, I had baked a cake and had kept it on the windowsill to cool,” she said in a puzzled voice, “and now it’s gone. I thought maybe a bird must have come and thrown it on the ground but there is not sign of it. I have guests coming this afternoon that is why I had made it for tea.”

    The children looked at another with one thought in their mind. Here was a chance to use their detective sets again.

    “Don’t worry, Mrs. Bentley,” said Jack. “We will try to get to the bottom of this mystery. Do not touch anything. We will be right back.”

    Mrs. Bentley looked at them doubtfully but she nodded her head and went inside.

    The children ran and brought their sets and set to work. They looked on the ground underneath the windowsill to see if there were any footprints there. Sure enough there were some there. Susan took out her notebook and drew the pattern of the footprint and Jack measured it with his measuring tape which Susan wrote it down.

    Next, they took the plate on which the cake had sat and dusted for fingerprints. There they found beautiful sets of fingerprints which Jack lifted it off the plate.

    “These footprints look like from an adult’s shoes,” concluded Jack. “Also these fingerprints are big, which means they must come from a big person.”

    Susan agreed to that. Then they went searching for more clues and found a small cigarette butt not far from the footprints. Susan took this and put it in a small plastic bag. Then they went home.

    They sat down on the steps and began discussing the case.

    “Since it hasn’t been long since the cake has been stolen,” suggested Susan, “maybe the thief must be eating it right now.”

    “Yes, that is true,” said Jack. “We must look for the thief immediately or else we will never find him. First let’s see what clues we have collected.”

    “Well, we have the fingerprints,” she said, “and then we have the footprints. Then we have this cigarette butt.”

    “Let’s look at the butt,” said Jack. “It is so dirty.  Also the fingerprints were so dirty too. This means our thief has dirty hands. Now let’s look at the footprint. It is big and look at the pattern. In some places there is no pattern.”

    “Yes, this means our thief is wearing worn out shoes,” she said in an excited voice.

    “Who would smoke a cigarette with a dirty hand and wears worn out shoes?” asked Jack.

    Both the children sat thinking and then Jack clicked his fingers, his eyes shining.

    “It has to be a homeless person,” he said, excitedly.

    Susan became excited too.

    “What shall we do now?” she asked.

    “Let’s walk down the street and see if there are any homeless persons there with worn out shoes and most probably eating that cake,” suggested Jack.

    And so they went out of their gate and started walking down the street. When they came to the end of the street they turned a corner and a bit further up the street there was a tree and under that tree they saw someone sitting there eating something. When they went a little closer they saw that it was a very dirty homeless man eating a large piece of cake broken by hand.   

    The children looked at one another excitedly. They had found their thief. But the big question was what to do next? They stood there looking for a while and then Jack made a decision.

    “I will stand here and see that he doesn’t go away, Susan,” he said. “You go and tell Mrs. Bentley that we have found her cake thief and to come immediately. Hurry up and go.”

    “Alright,” said Susan. “I will go.”

    With that she ran to tell Mrs. Bentley. She reached her house in no time at all as it was not very far.

    When Mrs. Bentley heard that she quickly came with Susan. When they reached the place where Jack was still standing the homeless man was still there. Mrs. Bentley gave an angry look and went to tackle the thief.

    The man denied it at first that he had not taken any cake but after much arguing he admitted to taking it. He looked down on the ground and when he looked up he had tears in his eyes. He explained that he had not eaten for two days and so when he saw the cake he couldn’t resist it and had taken it and that he was sorry. He said he would do anything to pay Mrs. Bentley back. He did not have a job at the moment that is why he did it.

    Mrs. Bentley felt sorry for him. She thought quickly and then made up her mind.

    “Would you like to have a job?” she asked him.

    “Yes, Ma’am, I would love to have a job,” he said.

    “Very well,” said Mrs. Bentley and asked, “how would you like to work as a gardener for me?”

    The man’s face lit up with hope.

    “That would be very kind of you,” he said, gratefully.

    “Good,” said Mrs. Bentley. “You can start work today. My gardener has retired and I was looking for one. But first let me give you some clothes and get yourself cleaned up before you start work, alright?”

    The man agreed and then he followed her to her house and she gave him some old clothes and old shoes of Mr. Bentley.

    And so the man worked for Mr. and Mrs. Bentley.

    Mrs. Bentley was very grateful to Jack and Susan and bought them a beautiful jigsaw puzzle as a gift.

    That was sweet, wasn’t it?