The mysterious hat
One day, Christopher bear looked out of the window. A storm was brewing. Lightning slashed the sky and rain came down in torrents. The river flooded and water was up to one's knees out there. Trees swayed in the wind and a nest came flying through the window and nailed Christopher right on his face. He caught hold of it before it flew away again. He would return it to the owner after the storm was over.
Trees fell, creating a barricade on the lane leading to Christopher's house. Parts of his roof fell on to the floor and Christopher ran around, trying to save himself and his precious jars of honey.
A very old banyan tree smashed onto the ground right in front of Christopher's house, and it blocked the door. A mass of destruction swirled around him. When it finally stopped, Jack rabbit chopped down the banyan with his axe.
Christopher examined the damage. Two of his pots were slightly cracked but honey wasn't spilling out. Even though, Christopher drank the honey and threw away the pots.
His door was split and two of his windows broken. One of his bed's legs was buried and broken under the debris of his roof. The pillow had been busted and there were feathers all over the place.
After repairing the damage, he went to see Jennifer mynah. Her nest had been the one that had hit Christopher as it was blown away. She said "Now that my nest has been restored, I will throw away that hat."She pointed at the one she used to collect her eggs.
Then they heard a commotion. Roberta bitch's house had caught fire. Luckily, the wood was damp, so it didn't spread fast. "I would have died, because I was taking a nap. But this hat came and settled on my face. I woke up and doused the fire quick," admitted Roberta. And it was the same one which had been used by Jennifer to keep her eggs in. Christopher told Roberta about this strange coincidence and said "Let us throw it away and see where it goes and what it does next."
At noon, the whole jungle was warned that there was a dangerous leopard on the prowl. Jack rabbit told everyone that he had seen the leopard. “It hadn't seen me, so I nipped over to a hat with speed. Hid inside it. Must have had heard me move, that one. Turned and ran. Thought I had gone into the forest. He leapt to cross some spiky nettle, tripped over this hat and landed face first in the nettle." said Jack. And it was the same hat!
In the evening, David the stag had a tale to tell. "That leopard was chasing me and I was getting tired. He was gaining on me when a hat flew in from nowhere. It hit the leopard and he stopped for a while, trying to get it out of his face. Then those shikaris came and shot him dead. The leopard couldn't see a thing. The shikaris tossed the hat away. I managed to retrieve it." said David. Christopher took the hat and pressed it. It squawked. "Hello, Mr. Hat, can you talk?" asked Christopher. And to everyone surprise, it was said, "Yes, I can, Christopher. You are wondering why I did so many nice things. One day, as I was faded and dirty, my previous owner threw me out of the window. Since then I have been doing nice things, waiting for you all to pick me up and keep me. I was searching for a new owner. But all of you used me and threw me away." All of them suddenly felt very ashamed. Christopher said "I will take you home, Mr. Hat. And will repaint you in your previous pattern."
"Really? Thank you so much!"cried the hat.
And thus, the hat found a nice owner and continued to do wonderful deeds forever.
This story is for the illustration that accompanied the short story Wily's Straw Hat published on July 22,2008, with the byline ‘Everyone laughed at Wily because his straw hat was so old and shapeless. Then one day there was a storm.....’
Sagnik Anupam, III F, Delhi Public School, Vasant Vihar , New Delhi
River valley
There is a village near a river. The villagers were all happy with the good climate and the lush greenery. The village is near tea plantations, so most of the people work in the plantations. All facilities were there in the village. A health center, government school, and some shops owned by the people of the village.
A five minutes walk will take you to a small waterfall in the hill. During evenings, children use to play games in the hills near the waterfall. Some times the ball may go to the river. By that time someone would go down and wait for the ball to come along with thewater.
When the summer vacation was over children started going to school. After some days there was strong wind and rain and the water level in the river increased. The schools were given leave because of the flood. Some of the students made rafts and enjoyed the ride. The road was completely covered by water and there was no electricity too. Rescuers carried many peoples by helicopters to relief camps . The farm lands were destroyed by the flood and many cattle's and houses were washed away.
After the water level came down, the government built the reservoir and irrigated the tea plantations using it. Electricity and transportation facilities were replaced. After that government introduced windmills in the hills and many people got work there and they lead a happy life .
This story is based on the drawing by R Priyanka, VII,The High Range School published on 12 October, 2010 .
Muhammed Abdul Bari N , IX ,Mahlara Public School, Parammal, Mavoor, Calicut Kerala.
Missing pearls
Gunshots whistled through the cold miserable night. This was when Jack woke up from sleep. Three immediate questions appeared in his mind.
What was this sound? Where was it coming from? What was happening?
If he had known these things he would have caught the thief who had just stolen the valuable pearls in the a palace two meters away. Jack didn’t know what to do. This was when his parents ran into his room. “Jack don’t move from this room”, said his father. “Dad what’s happening”, asked Jack. “Will tell you later”, said his mom. Then his parents went out of the room locking him in.
Next morning Jack woke up and thought about last night’s experience. Wondering whether this was true he asked his parents.
“Yes, it is true Jack”, said his father. “Yesterday night the pearls were stolen and the robbers were caught but they have hidden it somewhere.”
“Which pearls?” asked Jack.
“You know the pearls in the palace”, asked his father.
“Yes”
“Those”
After Jack had had his breakfast he went up to the palace.
Actually it wasn’t a palace but a huge manor. But everyone called it the palace. There was a 15 year old boy in the manor. Jack was 16.
They were friends and knew each other. Jack went up to the boy’s room. His name was Martin.
“Hay Jack”, said Martin.
“Are you all right”, asked Jack.
“Yeah”, said Martin. “Have you heard about it?”
“Yes’
“Let’s have some fun”, said Martin.
“ok… but what are we goin to do?”, replied Jack surprised. Wasn’t Martin worried about the robbery? He asked Martin.
“No I am not!” said Martin. ‘We have got enough money.”
Jack wondered whether Martin was boasting.They went down to the ground and decided to play cricket.
Martin was the batsmen. Jack bowled the first ball and it went up into the air. Jack made a desperate dive for it. It fell on his arms and rolled away. Jack had hurt himself. His knee was wounded.
“Better wash it Jack”, said Martin.
Jack went up to the bathroom. He opened the tap but there was no water. . He looked at the pipe and saw a hole in it. And then suddenly a thought struck him. “It can’t be”, he muttered to himself and put his arm into the hole. And there it was! The pearls!
He shouted loudly, ‘the pearls, i have found it!’.
Martin came running and so did his mother and father. “It can’t be”, shouted
Martin unbelievingly. But it was!
Two days passed.
“Hey Jack!”
Jack was walking through the road when somebody called him. He looked around and saw Martin.
“What Martin?”
“Did you use the money we gave you as reward?’” asked Martin.
“No”, said Jack. “Why?”
“Because the pearls were not real”, said Martin.
Jack was stunned.
“Kidding”, said Martin. Then they both laughed out aloud and went away.
Akhil Joseph, V C, St.Thomas Central School, Mukkolakkal, Trivandrum
Queen of fools
Tara was a excellent student. She was good in everything, from sports to extra curricular activities.
One day she met an old student Rose, of her school.
“Hey Rose,I did'nt meet you for a long time. Where have you been all these years ?”Tara asked.
“Oh,I had gone to Dubai for my higher studies, Rose said. Hey can I borrow your science notes Tara ?”
“Sure, but please return it to me at least two weeks before the exams.”
“All right.”
Weeks and months passed but Rose never showed up in college. So Tara planned to go to her house. On the way she saw Rose. She got out of her car and asked her "Rose I need my notes back.”
“Oops!!! I left them at home. Why don't you come home and take it ?” Rose asked.
“No,I really have to go home.”
“I said come home.”, she screamed.
“Fine”, I said “I'll come home.”
So Tara went to Rose's house. “Ok, now you can give me back my book,” Tara said.
“Please come inside.”
“No, I can't sorry. Come in side she screamed again. “Ok,” I said.
“Please sit while I get you something to drink”, Rose said. “Here” she said, “have some red cofee.”
“No I don't need any.”
“I said have some red coffee”, she screamed again.
“Fine ! i'll have some. Saying so she drank the weird cofee.
“Hey,it did'nt taste like coffee, it tasted more like Grape juice !!!
“Nice?” Rose asked looking at the confusion on her face. “I think you figured out what it actually is.”
“Why did you fool me ?”Tara asked.
Well you see, there was a competition. So I thought I would participate and you did'nt even know you were being taped on video.I can,t believe I'm going to win !!!Soon i'll be the queen of fools.I I could'nt believe what I was hearing. For her this was all a game, but for me this was definitely a shock. Two words for you…….
Not fair !!!
Riya A Benny, VI A , Lourdes Central School,Mangalore
