Larry the Lizard’s Beautiful House

Larry the Lizard was a very smart fellow.  He had green scales with red and blue dots.  When he was in a very good mood, he could even change the colour, and become purple with yellow squiggles.  Larry lived in Australia, and he was a very rare kind of lizard – you won’t find him in any nature books, because no human being had ever seen him.  He lived deep in the Nullarbor Plain, a dry desert land (look it up on a map!) and he had a lovely house.  He had found it one very hot day when the sky was white and the sand shimmered.  He was walking along, holding each of his feet up one after the other for as long as he could, as the sand was burning them.  Then he saw it – a little cave, just the right size for him.  There were two black stones and across the top of them was a third one – a beautiful white stone that glittered in the sun.  Larry forgot about his feet and ran in.  It was cool, it was dark, it was safe – and at once he decided it was home!  And so ever after that he lived there.  Until one terrible day. 

Occasionally, human beings would come into the desert, in large, dusty vans which roared and rocked from side to side.  Larry hated the noise, the smell, and the rumblings , and so he hid in his stone house until it was gone, and the desert was quiet again, apart from the gentle whistle of the wind.  Well, on this day, Larry heard the roaring and rumbling and ran to his house.  But this time, the van came just too close and it caught the side of the beautiful white stone with the edge of its big black tyre, and threw it into the distance.  Larry ran out, but the van was long gone, a cloud of yellow dust behind it.  Larry didn’t know what to do. The sun was beating down on his head, the sand was hot, and he had no house!  He saw the beautiful white stone and ran over to it.  But it was much too heavy for him to lift, and much too far away from the other two stones.  What could he do?  Larry was broken hearted.

As he was worrying about this, along came Kenny the Kangaroo.  Beyoing, beyoing, he bounced along. 

“Help me, Kenny!” cried Larry.  “My house is broken!”  But Kenny, who was enjoying his morning bounce, just ignored him and bounced on, singing a bouncing song. (What do you think his song might have sounded like?)

Next, Karen the Koala came strolling along.  She was grey and furry and looked very cuddly, but as lizards don’t like cuddles, this didn’t impress Larry.

“Help me, Karen!” cried Larry.  “My house is broken!”  But Karen only yawned and said “I really need to find a gum tree and go to sleep.  I’ve only had 21 hours sleep today, and I’m just exhausted!!” And off she went.  (Can you find out how long Koalas like to sleep every day?)

Poor Larry.  He waited and watched, hoping someone else would come by.  The sky grew red and the sun set over the horizon in a big, red ball.  The sky became very black, and the stars glittered like diamonds.  The moon was huge and silvery white.  Suddenly, Larry heard a sound.  It was Willie the Wombat, waddling slowly through the sand. (can you find out what sort of animal a wombat is?)  Now Larry didn’t really like Willie very much.  He thought he was rather stupid and slow, and not very good looking.  He had a dark brown furry coat, four short legs and a snubby nose, tiny eyes and ears.  So he didn’t say anything. 

But Willie stopped beside him and said “Hallo, Larry.  You out admiring this lovely night too?”

Larry said huffily “No.  I’d rather be at home but I haven’t got a home anymore!  The roof is over there and I can’t move it.  So there”.

Willie looked over and saw the beautiful white stone glistening in the moonlight.  He waddled over, turned round, and put his bottom against the stone and pushed. You see, wombats have very, very strong bottoms!  Slowly, the stone rolled over and Willie pushed some more.  Soon the stone was rolling quite fast.  When Willie got it back to the two other stones, he gave one final push, grunting, and the stone plopped back into place!  Larry was delighted!  His home was mended! 

From that day onwards, Larry and Willie were the best of friends and often talked and laughed during the long desert nights, as the moon shone brightly down, making the beautiful white stone shine like a star.

How The Crocodile Was Turned To Stone

Once upon a time there was a crocodile.  He was huge, he was green and he looked very, very fierce.  He lived in the sea, down in the dark blue waters, deep in Millport Bay.

No-one would come near him, because they were afraid of his big white teeth and his huge blood red tongue.  Children screamed and ran away from the beach when he swam in, and their parents shouted and waved their arms at him to get him to go away.  And so he swam all alone round the red and grey rocks. And he was lonely - so, so lonely.  But when he cried, no-one took him seriously, because he was a crocodile, and could only cry crocodile tears.

One day, he met a huge, green octopus who lived under the pier.  The octopus spoke to him, which was a surprise.  In his deep, gurgling voice, he said ‘Why are you so sad, Mr. Crocodile?’

‘No-one likes me, no-one talks to me, I have no friends!’ said the crocodile.  ‘The children think I am fierce and angry, but I’m not.  I can’t help having big white teeth and a huge blood red tongue!’

‘There is just one thing you can do’ said the green octopus, ‘but there is no going back.  If you decide to do this, you can never again swim in the deep, dark blue water’.

‘I don’t care!!’ said the crocodile. ‘All I want is friends, and then I shall be happy.  I want children to love me, to climb on my back and play with me!’

‘OK then. I’ll tell you what to do,’ said the green octopus ‘You must wait until midnight.  When the moon comes up and makes a silver path on the sea, you must go to the beach and crawl out just beside the jetty.  Then say three times ‘I want children to love me’, and wait and see what happens’.

So the crocodile did this.  When the moon was huge and silver in the sky, he swam quickly to the jetty and climbed out onto the rocks.  There was no-one to see him, as everyone was in bed.

He took a deep breath and said, as loudly as he could ‘I want children to love me! I want children to love me!! I want children to love me!!!’  Immediately, a glittering glow came from the moon, and, starting with his long tail, it shone all over him, making him gleam and tingle from tail to teeth.  Then it faded away, and the crocodile suddenly realised that he could no longer move.  He had been turned to grey stone!  Before he could think what to do, the sun came up, all red and gold, and soon children were running onto the beach.

‘Look! A stone crocodile!! Let’s climb on his back!’ they shouted, and soon the crocodile was covered in children, laughing and shouting.  He was so happy he could hardly think.  At last children were his friends, and he was able to give them so much fun!

And he is still there.  Sometimes the grey waves break over him, sometimes the water glitters blue in the sunlight, but always children come, climb on him and play.  Thousands upon thousands of photos have been taken of him, and he is proud of every one of them, especially when they show children sitting on him, smiling. 

When you see him, remember to say ‘Hallo’ to him, and now you can tell him that you know the secret of how he came to be made of stone!

Teddy's Exciting Day

Teddy got out of bed and stretched his arms.  It was a cold and sunny winter's day and he decided to go for a walk.  He put on his scarf to keep himself warm, and opened the door.  But there was someone standing on the doorstep!  It was his best friend, Dolly.  'Hallo, Teddy!' she said.  'Guess what!' there is a party and you are invited!'

Teddy was very excited.  They set off together up the hills to the find their other friends, Alex and Raff, so that they could take them to the party as well.  The hill was very steep and Teddy wondered if they would be too tired to climb it.  But just as they were getting really out of breath, along came a lovely blue train to take them the rest of the way.  It chuffed off and soon they could see Raff and Alex waiting for them.

So off they went, rattle chuff chuff, down the hill to the party.

'By the way', said Teddy.  'What is the party for?' 
'Why don't you know?' said Alex. 'It's for your best friend Molly!  It's her birthday and she's two today!' 
Teddy was delighted.  Soon they were at the party and Teddy was so happy to see Molly and play with her and her daddy.  He was so excited he even forgot to take his hat off!!!