Lazy plays Football

Here is one more fantastic 'Lazy, the Pig' story from Daksh Prasad, 7, India.

One day Lazy, the pig, decided to watch TV.

He put on the AFFI World Cup Surisa 2018. It was Anjapa vs Degland.

Lazy was waiting for someone to score. Finally Anjapa scored. Anjapa’s coach ran with full excitement. Anjapa’s substitute players all came and rushed toward the coach and made him fall down. Lazy was laughing out loud.

Then Anjapa scored again and then it was a penalty for Anjapa. Anjapa scored. When it was Degland’s penalty, they did not score. The guy shouted scores in the match - it was 3 points for Anjapa and 0 points for Degland.

Lazy jumped with full excitement and got stuck on the roof and went into the TV.

When he opened his eyes he was in the stadium in Surisa.

He was very happy to watch the players cheer: “Ooooh, yaaaaaa, coooool”.

“Goal”, shouted the crowd.

Suddenly Lazy rolled down and fell into the pitch. One of the players picked up Lazy thinking that it was a football. The match started and Lazy was kicked here and there.

 Lazy realised that he could make more goals for Anjapa as he was a ball. Lazy made more and more goals for Anjapa and Anjapa won the AFFI World Cup 2018.

Lazy smiled as he was sitting on the AFFI trophy and he blinked.

Then Lazy and the crowd went to his house and had a party and played football all day.

Baddog

This story with illustrations is from Lisa D'Cruz, 8, India.

Nick saw a puppy on his way to school. 

Every day after that Nick started giving him his tiffin to eat and instructed his mother to put more food in the tiffin. In this way Nick and the puppy became friends. 

When his mother came to know she said,

“Why have you become friends with a street dog? They are very bad dogs.”

From that day Nick named the puppy 'Baddog’. But actually Baddog was a very good and smart dog. 

Soon Baddog was no longer a puppy. He followed Nick to school every day.

One rainy morning when Nick was walking to school, he looked behind and found that Baddog was missing. He thought Baddog must be hiding somewhere to avoid the rain.

After school, the rain had stopped. Nick waited for Baddog but he never came. So Nick was worried and started searching for him.

Just then he saw a dog van. Some people in uniform were carrying dogs in nets and putting them in the van. 

Nick peeped through the window of the van and screamed,

 “Baddog, where are you?"

Baddog stood up and looked here and there. To his surprise Nick had found him. Nick talked to the people who were catching the dogs and Baddog hopped out. 

The people told Nick to put a collar around his dog’s neck.

 Nick took Baddog home and made a collar with his old bag belt. He also wrote his name 'Baddog' on the belt. And Nick’s mother allowed him to keep Baddog!

Nick made a doghouse with an old wooden box in their garden. He painted it with his favourite violet colour . Baddog chased away the cats and the rats every day and guarded Nick on his way to school.

One day his mother said,

“He is not a bad dog after all. We have to change his name”. 

Nick said to himself,

“A name is just a name”.

Astro Shows the Way

It was a day that everything went wrong for Amanda and Gabriel. 

Astro, their new dog, had jumped on Gabriel's bed and yanked away his blanket even before the alarm clock rang. 

"Woof!" he barked. 

He wanted to go for a walk. His fur fell into his eyes and he seemed so adorable that Gabriel did not want to scold him. 

Astro then went to Amanda's room and upset her schoolbag that she had carefully packed the night before. 

Mum burned the pasta that she had made for their lunchboxes. So she had to make them ham sandwiches. 

Astro jumped on Dad's lap and the coffee spilled all over his white shirt. Mum had to find another shirt from the laundry.

Since they had moved to their new house, Amanda and Gabriel were late for school on most days. 

Every day they saw traffic jams, construction on roads, annoyed teachers, and an upset Mum. 

They had decided to leave early today to reach on time. 

But...

On the way to school, Gabriel realised that he had forgotten his PE kit at home. And Amanda had forgotten to take her water bottle which had fallen out of her bag when Astro upset it. 
 
There was no way they could turn back because they were stuck in a heavy traffic jam.

Amanda and Gabriel wondered whether it was called a 'jam' because it was sticky. 
They sang about the traffic jam. They argued about the rhyming for a while and came up with this:
 
"Traffic jam, traffic jam,
What can be worse than this?
For lunch we are having bread and ham
That we will surely not miss."


They sang it so loudly that Mum had a headache. She ddidn't tell them a story to while away the time as she usually did. 

"Late again!" complained their teachers as they stood outside classroom doors.

They were taken to the headteacher's office. He wrote a long note for their parents. 

They said, "We could have reached on time today if only Astro had not..." 
The head teacher did not want to hear any explanations. 

On the way back from school, it was the same story - traffic jam, bottlenecks, hunger and tiredness.

When they showed the headteacher's note to their Mum, her headache worsened. 

"Please take Astro out for a walk. He has been barking all day," she said while holding her head with both hands. 

On the walk, Astro loosened his leash and ran towards a clump of tall thorny bushes.

Amanda and Gabriel followed him. 
They called out to him: "Come back, Astro!"

He waited for them to catch up and then skipped away again.  He disappeared in the bushes. 

Wait, what was that? There was an opening through the bushes and a narrow footpath led through it. Cautiously they walked through it and came to the other side.

"Where are we?" they wondered. 

Right ahead of them they saw a white building with familiar, tall glass windows that reflected the evening sun.
 
"That's our school!" they exploded together. 

That was the best thing that had happened to them that day. 
"Well done, Astro! And thank you for showing us the way!" they exclaimed.  

The next day and all the days after that, they reached school in not more than seven minutes. Mum, Dad and Astro walked with them to school.
Their  teachers were very pleased.


(This story by Aashoo is based on the real experience of Amanda and Gabriel from Venezuela and their new dog, Astro. Protected by Copyright, February 2017.)

The Missing Goat

One afternoon, two schoolboys had a crazy idea. 

They rounded up three goats from the neighbourhood and painted the numbers ‘1’, ‘2’, and ’4’ on their sides. 

In the evening, they abandoned the goats inside their school building. 

The next morning, when the headmaster and teachers entered the school, they could smell that something was wrong. Soon, they saw goat droppings on the stairs and near the entrance. They realised that some goats had entered the building. 

After searching, three goats were found. But the teachers were worried.

Where was Goat number 3?

They spent rest of the morning looking for it. There was panic and frustration.

The school declared classes off for the students for the rest of the day. 

The teachers, helpers, guards, and canteen staff were all busy looking for Goat number 3. 

It was never found because it did not exist. 

Art: Irene D'Cruz, 75, India

Note: Some people who have a good life do not feel fulfilled. They are looking for the missing Goat number 3. 

(Retold)

The Poki Porcupines of Pinchpokli

The Poki Porcupines lived in Pinchpokli. 
The winters in that place were becoming fierce year after year.

This year the winter was the coldest ever. 

"Brrr!" said Grandpa Porcupine as he rubbed his hands and snuggled closer to Grandma Porcupine who was dozing on her favourite branch of a tall tree. 

"Ouch!" shrieked Grandma Procupine as one of Grandpa's quills poked her.

 She pushed him away saying, 

"Why don't you keep your quills to yourself?"

"The winter is so cold this year, my dear. Let's come closer and stay warm" explained Grandpa.

"Oh no, no way! Just leave me in peace while I take a nap" grumbled Grandma Porcupine as she pushed him away.  

On every tree in Pinchpokli, it was the same story.  
The  Poki Porcupines saw many animals die because of the harsh weather. So they had a meeting on the tallest tree. 


Grandpa Porcupine's voice boomed over all others. He suggested,

"If we all huddle together, our body heat will keep each other warm and we can protect ourselves."

The other porcupines agreed to follow his advice because he was the oldest porcupine among them and had survived several winters. 

On the first day, as they grouped together, they realised that it was not so easy. There were strong arguments about whose quills were pricking whom. 
As the days passed, they began keeping a little distance between each other. 

The cold wind whistled through Pinchpokli and the winter grew even more colder.

One day, a frozen porcupine fell down from a tree and died.

All the Poki Porcupines came down to see him. They realised that they had no choice but to follow Grandpa Porcupine's advice and stay together to keep themselves warm. So they huddled together on the large branch of a tree. 

They learned to ignore the little wounds caused by the quills of their companions. They realised that it was better to be surrounded by warm pricks of their neighbours than to freeze alone in separation. 

Grandpa Porcupine smiled to himself as he hugged Grandma Porcupine. 
She kept on grumbling and mouthing several 'Ouches!' but the other porcupines chided her to keep quiet. 

Art: Irene D'Cruz, 75, India

 

(Retold)