 |
|
Mannie the Gorilla
Once upon a time, I dreamt that my family was playing tug of war with a gorilla family. The gorilla was humongous. The mother gorilla, Mannie, was playing with two of her children, They were much smaller than the mother gorilla, but they were still so huge! I told the mother gorilla that since they were all so big, to have a fair game that it will be enough if she alone played tug of war with our family. Mannie agreed to that and told her children to sit near a tree and watch the fun. My father, mother, my brother, and myself held on to one end of a rope really hard and Mannie took the other end of the rope. She was so strong and she was only using one hand. We could not pull the rope even a tiny bit. Mannie then put the rope down and held it down with one of her leg. She then kept scratching her head and looking at her children and smiling every now and then. Our family kept pulling the rope harder and got nowhere. We then decided to take a short break and held onto the rope lightly. Mannie wasn't even watching any of this, but the minute we slackened out grip she tugged the rope so hard and won! Mannie and her two babies laughed and giggled at us. We did not know until then that gorillas had such a good sense of humor. They are so amazing.
~ Lisa, Age 9, USA ~ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cheeky dog
One day I was playing with my dog Rover in our backyard. It was summer and very hot. It looked like he was thirsty. I decided to turn on the hose and let him have a drink right off the hose. I turned the hose on and held it up in the air so Rover could grab a drink. Instead, he kept circling me and was goofing off. I decided to shut off the water. The minute I put the hose down and walked to shut off the tap, Rover grabbed the hose by his mouth and started spraying me with water. I ran towards him to grab the hose, but he carefully ran around making sure he could spray me continuously. In not time, I was completely soaking wet. I stood still and waited for Rover to calm down. He stood still as well, but made sure the hose was pointing to me. He didn't show any signs of being thirsty or tired anymore. I guess he was pretending to be thirsty to get me to turn the hose on. Cheeky...
~ Liz, Age 13, USA ~
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
How much?
A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups. And set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of little boy.
"Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."
"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck,
"These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."
The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.
"I've got thirty - nine cents. Is that enough to take a look?"
"Sure," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle.
"Here, Dolly!" he called.
Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the doghouse.
Slowly another little ball appeared, this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up...
"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt. The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."
With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need someone who understands."
With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully handed it to the little boy.
"How much?" asked the little boy. "No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."
The world is full of people who need someone who understands.
~ Said, Age 17, Iraq ~ |
|
|
|
|
|
Printed on the bottom
My mother took my little brother, four years old, to get a kitten. My brother, Mike, was so excited to see me and he said that the litter had three boy kittens and one girl kitten and we were going to get a boy kitten. I asked him how he knew there were three boy kittens and only one girl kitten. He said to me that our mom had picked up the kittens and looked underneath each one; he said, each kitten had a label printed that said whether it was a boy or a girl : ~ )
~ Jack, Age 14, Australia ~
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I love spicy food!
We have a two year old yellow labrador. She will eat just about anything you can give her. One day, we had Mexican dinner and had some spicy sauce on the side. It was too spicy for me, so I tried to eat as much as I could without the sauce. I left my plate on the table to get a drink. My dog quickly climbed onto the chair and tried to get a taste of what was on my plate. The spicy sauce! I am not sure about what happened next, but I vividly remember her panting and running to the front door and barking loudly. This was her sign asking to be let out. I opened the door and she bolted out the door faster than I could ever remember! I saw her chewing up some grass, very fast, and then she ran back in and took another lick of the same spicy sauce and bolted out the door again. I am not sure whether it means she likes spicy or not...because she has never had an appetite for any sauce of the same color since. ~ Paulina, Age 13, Mexico ~
(Original story in Spanish; translated into English by Ms. Borges) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Having "Coco" in the Bathtub
I have a little Jack Russell terrier mixed ~ breed dog named Coco. She just turned a year old and is a very feisty little girl. I had just let her out of the kitchen and she started running up and down the stairs for exercise. When she is confined in the kitchen she gets hungry for exercise. I was in my room and I heard her barking. I thought she wanted to come in, so I opened the door and there was no Coco. When I called for her, she didn't come running as she usually does. I thought 'that's funny;' she's always comes when she hears her name. I went downstairs and asked my dad if she was down there. He said no. Now I started to get nervous. I started looking under beds and other furniture. Because she is so small, she can fit under things. Well, she was nowhere to be found. I'm thinking where could she have gone? How could she have gotten lost in the house. Something told me to look in the bathroom. When I did and I called her name, I heard a whimper. I peeked in the tub and there she was. Coco was so happy to see someone that it made me laugh. Somehow she was able to jump into the tub, but she couldn't get out. That's pretty unusual since she can jump off very high places. When my father asked what I was laughing about, I told him I had just had "Coco" in the bathtub. I don't think she'll go in there for awhile.
~ Lauren J, USA ~ |
|
|
|
|
|
Spin Dry Has New Meaning!!
This story was emailed to me by a friend in the Birmingham area. Last month there were viscious tornados in the Birmingham area that killed many humans and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. One house had a little dog that had a habit of crawling into the open clothes dryer and napping on the warm clothes. During the tornado, the dog couldn't be found and the house was totally destroyed. The family assumed their dog was lost when their clothes dryer was found hundreds of feet away. AND.... inside was a warm, unhurt but scared little dog that survived the ride of his life!!!
~ Beth G, Northwood, NH ~
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Warm my feet...
Natasha is a Siberian Husky. She is four years old, but a very independent and stubborn dog. We got a Siberian Husky because we were told that they are easy to train. Natasha is too stubborn to listen to anything we have to say. She is very good, though, if you ever want your feet warmed. We have tried teaching her to sit, wait, stay, etc. The only thing she will do is respond to sit, but on her own terms. She will sit facing away from you, and on your feet. In the winter months, if I come home and I am cold I ask Natasha to sit and she promptly warms my feet. ~ Mandy, Age 15, USA ~ |
|
|
|
|
|
