An A-Z Collection of Behaviour Tales: From Angry Ant to Zestless Zebra
198
An A-Z Collection of Behaviour Tales: From Angry Ant to Zestless Zebra
198Paperback(New edition)
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Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781907359866 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Hawthorn Press |
| Publication date: | 11/01/2018 |
| Series: | Storytelling |
| Edition description: | New edition |
| Pages: | 198 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.40(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
A
Angry Ant
4+
Once again the safari ants were on the move! The short rains had started, and their ant home was no longer warm and dry – in fact it was fast filling up with water. The safari ants were now in search of higher and drier ground.
Little Siafu was at the end of all the ants, struggling to keep up. Ahead of her, the others were stretched out, marching one by one. The line seemed to go on for ever and ever!
'Come on,' called her friends, 'or you will be left behind.'
To help her keep step, they started to sing:
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah! hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah! hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one, the little one stopped to play on her drum,
And they all went marching, up and around, to get out of the rain,
Boom, boom, boom.
Little Siafu was trying to keep step with the song, but it seemed such a boring thing to do! Finally she decided she didn't want to stay in line any longer. 'I don't want to stay in line one more minute,' she said angrily to herself. 'I just want to stop, and sit, and play on a drum – just like the little ant in the song!'
Little Siafu sat down and started to beat time on one of the shining stones at the edge of the track. It felt so good to bang out her anger! As she played she sang a different song from the one her friends were singing:
I'm tired of having to walk in line. I'm sick of having to keep in time.
I just want to sit in the sun, sit in the sun and play on my drum!
And as she sang and played, the ants kept marching on ahead of her, one by one, until they disappeared over the hills and out of sight.
Now Little Siafu was all alone. But not for long!
A brown cricket flew into a bush nearby. 'Play and dance with me,' called out Little Siafu, and the cricket started to make music through the leaves in the bush. But it was far too LOUD!
Little Siafu cried out angrily:
Go away and leave me be! You are far too LOUD to play music with me.
Once again Little Siafu was all alone. But not for long!
A tortoise came plodding through the grass by the track. 'Play and dance with me,' called out Little Siafu, and the tortoise lifted his head and started to slowly sway from side to side. But it was far too SLOW!
Little Siafu cried out angrily:
Go away and leave me be! You are far too SLOW to play music with me.
Once again Little Siafu was all alone. But not for long!
A golden weaverbird landed on a tree nearby. 'Play and dance with me,' called out Little Siafu, and the weaver bird started to flit and dance from branch to branch. But it was far too FAST!
Little Siafu cried out angrily:
Go away and leave me be! You are far too FAST to play music with me.
Once again Little Siafu was all alone. But not for long!
An elephant came tramping down the track. 'Play and dance with me,' called out Little Siafu, and the elephant started to tramp and dance and make music. But the elephant was far too BIG!
In fact Little Siafu was very lucky she didn't get trampled on. She cried out angrily:
Go away and leave me be! You are far too BIG to play music with me.
Once again Little Siafu was all alone, sitting by the track and playing on her drum. The more she played, the more she realized how much she missed her ant friends.
Soon she found herself singing a different tune:
I wish I could walk with my friends in line. I wish my friends and I could keep in time. I don't want to sit in the sun. I want to walk with my friends and play on my drum!
Suddenly she stood up and picked up her shiny stone drum and started to walk along the path, playing as she went. Faster and faster she walked, along the path, and over the hill ...
And over another hill ... And over another hill ... And over another hill ...
UNTIL THERE WERE HER FRIENDS, WALKING IN LINE, THERE WERE HER FRIENDS KEEPING IN TIME!
Little Siafu was so happy! She caught up with her friends and proudly walked at the end of the long ant line, playing her shiny stone drum. It no longer seemed boring as she went along.
And as she played her drum she taught her friends a new ant song: The ants go marching one by one, hurrah! hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah! hurrah! The ants go marching one by one, the little one playing her shiny stone drum, And they all went marching, up and around, to get out of the rain, Boom, boom, boom.
A
Anxious Roo and Anything New
4+
Baby Roo didn't like anything new! His home was inside his mother's warm furry pouch and this is where he wanted to stay. It was so comfortable here – why should he want to move anywhere else?
Sometimes Baby Roo would hop out to have a drink at the waterhole or nibble some sweet grass, but he never stayed very long out in the world. If the wind blew around him and ruffled his fur, back into his mother's pouch he would jump.
Baby Roo didn't like anything new!
If raindrops started to fall on his head, back into his mother's pouch he would jump.
Baby Roo didn't like anything new!
If other kangaroos came too close to him, back into his mother's pouch he would jump.
Baby Roo didn't like anything new!
His mother's pouch was his home, the only home he had ever had. But Baby Roo was growing and his mother's pouch was staying the same size!
One day, when Baby Roo had finished drinking an unusually large amount of water at the water hole and nibbling an unusually large amount of sweet grass, he tried to jump back inside his furry home. But this time only his head seemed to fit into the pouch and his body stayed outside. He tried again, putting his feet in first, but still his body stayed outside. He tried again, putting his tail in first, but still his body stayed outside.
What was Baby Roo to do? Suddenly he found himself out in the big wide world, where everything was new. And Baby Roo didn't like anything new!
Looking around, Baby Roo saw a large bush. He crawled underneath and made a hole in the sand and curled up inside. It wasn't the same as his mother's pouch but it was warm and it was all he had. He tried to sleep but everything was too new!
Suddenly, from somewhere in the bush, came the loudest strangest sound Baby Roo had ever heard: 'OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH, OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH!'
Baby Roo looked up and on a branch right above his head was a large brown and white bird.
'Who are you?' said Baby Roo, 'and why are you making such a loud noise?'
'I am Mr Kookaburra and this is my laugh. And I am laughing at you, Baby Roo! OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH, OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH!'
'What is so funny?' asked Baby Roo.
'OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH! You are so funny, Baby Roo. It is so funny that you don't like anything new! Don't you know that "new" can be FUN?'
Baby Roo was very surprised to hear this. 'But it is not much fun lying here in a sandy hole,' he said.
'Then follow me,' said Mr Kookaburra, and he flew out of the bush and along the track, laughing as he went: 'OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH, OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH!'
Baby Roo stood up and cautiously followed Mr Kookaburra. The sun was shining warmly overhead. The wildflowers along the track were nodding their pretty heads towards him, and it seemed as if they were saying, 'Welcome to the world.' Butterflies were flittering from bush to bush, and birds were singing happily in the trees high above. Baby Roo was surprised to find how beautiful the outside world could be!
The track led down to a waterhole, a new waterhole, a waterhole his mother had not yet taken him to. Around the edge, nibbling the sweet grasses and playing in the shallow water, were many other little kangaroos, just about his size. They looked up when they saw Baby Roo and called out to him, 'Come and play with us, Baby Roo.'
So Baby Roo joined the many other little kangaroos and played all day. That evening the mother and father kangaroos arrived at the waterhole. They joined up with their little ones to sleep together on the soft grasses by the edge. It was a warm cosy feeling for Baby Roo to be surrounded by his kangaroo family all through the night.
When he woke up he couldn't wait to play again with his friends. It was such FUN! Every day, Baby Roo's friends helped him to do something new and to learn something new. And to his surprise Baby Roo began to like things that were new!
He would often hear Mr Kookaburra laughing from the tall tree tops: 'OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH, OO,OO,OO,OO, AH,AH,AH,AH!'
But Baby Roo knew he wasn't laughing at him anymore. Mr Kookaburra was just having FUN!
CHAPTER 2B
Billy-Bully Wind
5+
Billy-Bully Wind was a cowboy kind of wind – he only seemed to know about blowing wild and rattling hard. All day long he would race across the land like a rider on a crazy horse. Bashing into trees, blowing stones off hilltops, ripping bushes out of gardens, whipping sand into whirligigs – there was no limit to what damage Billy-Bully Wind could do. And to make matters worse, damaging things was what seemed to make him happy.
Billy-Bully Wind had no friends. Who wanted to be friends with a rider on a crazy horse! Billy-Bully Wind spent all his time blowing wild and rattling hard. Nothing or no one escaped his crazy cowboy doings. The strongest tallest tree would brace itself if Billy-Bully Wind was passing by.
The strongest tallest tree knew the damage that Billy-Bully Wind could do. Even the flowers growing in the cracks in the rocks would shake with fear if Billy-Bully Wind was passing by. The flowers knew that if they wanted to keep their petals on they needed to stay hidden from Billy-Bully Wind.
But one day everything changed. Billy-Bully Wind was racing up and down the valleys, having a wonderful time ripping and whipping things inside out and upside down. Then Billy-Bully Wind blew into a rocky valley that didn't have a way out. It was a dead-end valley. Instead of coming out the other side after blowing wild and rattling hard, Billy-Bully Wind banged straight into a rock wall. He bounced backwards straight into the rocky cliff on one side of the valley, then bounced off this into the rocky cliff on the other side of the valley.
After bouncing backwards and forwards many times, into one rocky cliff and then another, Billy-Bully Wind had completely exhausted all his wind energy. He was now like a rider thrown off a crazy horse – going absolutely nowhere! He lay around in the bottom of the valley, waiting to get back some strength to do Billy-Bully Wind things once again.
And this is how Billy-Bully Wind began to hear new sounds – sounds other than the loud noises he was used to making. Billy-Bully Wind began to hear different sounds ... interesting sounds ... pleasant sounds ... like tinkling water falling off the cliffs and into a pool below ... like little birds calling to each other across the valley ... like busy bees buzzing in and around the flowers.
Billy-Bully Wind was filled with wonder and amazement. How was it that he hadn't heard such things before? He lay at the bottom of the valley for a long time – and the longer he was there the more sounds he heard. Finally his energy came back and he was able to lift himself up and blow around. But Billy-Bully Wind discovered something very exciting that day: if he blew carefully and softly, he could still hear the new and different sounds. He blew slowly out of the valley and across the land, and as he travelled along he found that everywhere he travelled there were more sounds to discover.
Of course, we know that winds can't always blow carefully and softly. Sometimes Billy-Bully Wind needed to be that cowboy kind of wind – blowing wild and rattling hard! But Billy-Bully Wind had learnt something new – he had become a rider who was in charge of his crazy horse! He could make it ride wild when he was blowing up high, and ride carefully and softly when he was blowing down low, close to the ground.
This is how Billy-Bully Wind began to make new friends, and how his friends helped to change his name to Billy Wind. He made friends with the birds. He made friends with the bees. He made friends with the butterflies. He even made friends with the children who in the past had run to hide from him when he was always blowing wild and rattling hard.
And what fun it was to be friends with children! These were his favourite friends of all – they loved to play chasing with him, and dance with him, and sing to him. They loved to twirl with him and roll with him and run with him. And most of all, they loved to fly their colourful kites with him.
What a different life it now was for Billy Wind!
B
Bored Baboon
6+
Mtoto Baboon was bored. She didn't want to play with her friends. 'That's BORING.' She didn't want to climb trees. 'That's BORING.' She didn't want to go and splash in the river. 'That's BORING.' Mtoto Baboon seemed to just want to hang around being bored and she was driving her mother crazy with her boredom.
So Mother Baboon decided to call in old wise Grandfather Baboon to talk to Mtoto and sort out the BORING problem. Grandfather Baboon sat down with Mtoto and made some suggestions. But Mtoto was bored with her grandfather's ideas. She didn't want to throw pebbles off the cliffs. 'That's BORING.' She didn't want to swing on the long vines. 'That's BORING.' She didn't want to roll through the tall grass. 'That's BORING.'
Then Grandfather Baboon asked her what she really wanted to do. This was a very difficult question for Mtoto, for, you see, she didn't really know the answer. But, of course, she didn't want to admit this, so she said, 'I just want to sit by myself and do nothing.' And then she ran off from her grandfather, and followed a path into the thick bushes, looking for a comfortable place to sit by herself and do nothing.
As she was running through the bushes she noticed a box-kind-of-thing next to a tall tree on the edge of the path. It had a smooth floor and a flat roof, and shiny bars all around the sides. And in the front there was a little door, just large enough for her to fit through. And best of all, on the floor at the back there was a ripe golden banana. Mtoto Baboon's favourite food!
'This looks like a comfortable house to sit in by myself and do nothing,' thought Mtoto. And without hesitating she stepped inside, sat down on the floor and started to eat the banana. As she took her first bite the door of the little house slammed shut. At first this didn't worry Mtoto Baboon, as she was so happy enjoying her golden banana.
By the time she had finished eating, Mtoto was feeling tired. So she curled up on the smooth floor and fell fast asleep. She slept for a long time, and when she woke up she was quite stiff and sore. She tried to stretch her long baboon arms and legs, but there was not enough room in this little house for moving and stretching. Next she tried to push open the door so she could go outside to stretch. It was then that she realized that the little house was not a house, but a trap. And the door was locked tight!
All baboons were told at an early age about hunters and their traps, but in her hurry to run away from her grandfather, Mtoto had completely forgotten this important warning.
Oh how Mtoto Baboon wished she had listened to her elders! Suddenly their ideas of climbing trees and playing by the river and swinging on vines seemed like the best things in the world that a child baboon could hope to do! But now Mtoto could not go anywhere or do anything. Trembling inside the trap, she waited for the dreaded sound of the hunter returning.
Mtoto did not have long to wait. Stamp, stamp, stamp, came the hunter's boots along the path. Louder and louder the stamping grew, until the boots were right outside the bars, and two long arms were bending down to pick up the trap.
Suddenly Mtoto heard a loud barking and, quick as a flash, a large baboon with strong white teeth came swinging down out of the tree next to the trap. The baboon gave the hunter such a fright that he dropped the trap and ran away as fast as his long hunter's legs could carry him. As the trap hit the ground the lock fell apart and the door swung open.
Mtoto quickly jumped out and landed right in the arms of the baboon who had saved her. She looked into his face and saw it was her very own grandfather.
'Grandfather, you are not only wise, but you are strong and brave as well,' cried Mtoto. 'I want to grow up to be just like you.'
'Well,' laughed her grandfather with his deep baboon laugh, 'you had better run off and join your friends in their play, as playing will make you strong and wise and brave too.'
Mtoto gave her grandfather a big baboon hug, and then ran off to join her friends in their game by the river.
And from that day to this, Mtoto Baboon was never bored again.
So if you go into the African bushland you may be lucky enough to see Mtoto with her friends, climbing trees, splashing in the river, throwing pebbles off the cliffs, swinging on the long vines and rolling through the tall grass – having fun from morning to night.
B
Bossy Bulla
7+
There was once a boy called Bulla who loved to walk down to the beach and throw stones into the water. As there were many stones on the beach, Bulla could sit for hours, picking up one stone at a time and throwing it as far as he could out to sea. No matter how many stones he threw, there always seemed to be more on the beach the next day. His friends used to laugh at the way he spent so much time throwing stones in the water.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "An A–Z Collection Behaviour Tales From Angry Ant to Zestless Zebra"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Susan Perrow.
Excerpted by permission of Hawthorn Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Foreword,
Introduction,
The Stories,
A,
Angry Ant 4+,
Anxious Roo and Anything New 4+,
B,
Billy-Bully Wind 5+,
Bored Baboon 6+,
Bossy Bulla 7+,
C,
Clanging Crashing Clock 3+,
Cranky Cockatoo 4+,
D,
Demanding Dodo 3+,
Destructive Dana 8+,
Dishonest Dingo 7+,
E,
Over-eager Elephant 4+,
F,
Fussy Foo Foo 5+,
G,
Greedy Garden Spade 6+,
H,
Hurting Biting Hippo 3+,
I,
Intolerant Irises 5+,
J,
Jealous Jewel 7+,
Jumpity Juju 5+,
K,
Kicking Kanga 4+,
Klingy Koala 4+,
L,
Lazy Lizzie 6+,
Loud Lyrebird 4+,
M,
Messy Mermaid 5+,
N,
Noisy Gnomes 4+,
No-No Nobby 4+,
O,
Obnoxious Octopus 5+,
P,
Perfectionist Pat 6+,
Pesky Pelican 5+,
Procrastinating Pudden 6+,
Q,
Quibbling Queen 5+,
R,
Restless Red Pony 4+,
Reticent Robot 5+,
S,
Scaredy Sun Bar 5+,
Strawberry Shy and Raspberry Wild 5+,
Swickity Snickity Swearing Snake 7+,
T,
Tearful Tida 4+,
U,
Untidy Ursula 5+,
Uncooperative Umbrella 6+,
V,
Vain Velvet 5+,
W,
Whingeing Whistler 6+,
X,
X-tremely Dominant Xylophone 5+,
Y,
Yellow Mellow Yacht 7+,
Z,
Zestless Zebra 5+,
Ways to Use Story Medicine,
Extending the stories,
Drama,
Puppet shows,
Hand-made picture books,
Craft,
Games,
Rhyme and song,
Springboards for your own writing,