The Race!
By Bella D., Age 11, California, USA
The moral of my fable: Do not speak up about things that you do not know are true.
Once upon a time there was an incredibly kind Bear and a terribly sassy mountain goat who became friends. One day, Bear was walking along, smelling the flowers — for it was spring after all. The roses, daisies, lavender, petunias, and all the other plants were blooming. Bear thought this was the most beautiful time of the year.
While he was daydreaming, he accidentally bumped into the mountain goat whose name was Billy. He was no ordinary mountain goat, but the meanest of them all, which is a pity indeed because Bear wanted to be friends with Billy.
The ornery goat got so mad that he butted Bear, which would have hurt us terribly bad but Bear didn’t feel a thing.
Bear asked Billy, “What are you doing down here?”
Billy answered in an icy tone, “That is none of your business.” And with a snort he walked away with his nose up in the air.
Bear followed a distance behind until they got to the mountain. Thankfully, Bear could climb. So then he asked the goat again, “Why did you come down the mountain?”
That mountain goat, startled, replied, “I went down the mountain to get something for my best friend.”
Then the caring creature asked, “What is your best friend like?”
“Well, he is really pleasant and he can climb all the way up the mountain and all the way down in just one hour,” bragged Billy with a smile on his face. But Billy had only met his friend that day so he had no idea of what he was saying.
Whistling a cheerful song that was the sweetest song you have ever heard, came Billy’s friend, Benjamin. When he saw Bear he asked Billy,
“Who are you talking to?”
The mountain goat replied, “Oh, I’m just talking to this bear who followed me up the mountain. In fact, we were just discussing you.” Then Billy bent down and ripped a big bunch of sweet juicy grass and chewed it slowly.
“All good things, I hope,” replied Benjamin.
“Oh, yes. Perfectly fine things,” responded the goat.
“Yes,” said Bear. “As a matter of fact, he was just telling me that you can climb up the ….”
Billy quickly covered his mouth and shushed him, but it was too late.
Benjamin asked, “What are you talking about? I said, what are you talking about?”
There was a long silence and then Bear finally spoke.
“I was going to tell you that Billy told me that you could climb up and down the mountain in one hour flat!”
“That is not true. I cannot do that!” Benjamin said, but Bear was already running down the mountain to tell his friends that there was going to be a race at Blackberry Mountain. Everyone wanted to come and see. They invited their friends, and their friends invited their friends, etc., until there were quite a lot of animals coming (rushing to be there). I’d say there were probably 500 at the most, and some of them were even in the race.
Finally, the day of the race came and everybody was so excited. Everybody (all the animals) from the forest and the mountain were there when the announcer called out among the crowd, “The race will begin in exactly four minutes.” He continued, “The race course track will be up and down Blackberry Mountain three times. The winner will receive the Golden Blackberry Trophy.”
A cheer of excitement rang throughout the whole crowd. Then somebody called out,
“On your mark,
Get set,
Go!” and the racers were off.
First they went through the Twisty Track, then they went into the Wide Way, and soon they arrived at the Rainy Road which was followed by Criss-Cross Cavern. Next up, the animals would be face to face with the Funny Forest and then they would be back where they started and were going around again.
Who was in the back? You guessed it! Billy’s friend, Benjamin. In fact, he was about 30 minutes behind everyone else.
After the race had finished, Benjamin had not won a single medal and Billy was very embarrassed when everyone came to him with cross faces because they had bet that his friend would win.
From that day forward the kind mountain goat has learned, applied his lesson, and never told a single tall tale again.
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I Want More!
Hazel D., Age 9, California
The moral of my fable: Be happy with what you have for you have more than you deserve.
Once upon a time there was an incredibly sad pig who was eager for more and complained, “I want more,” to a snooty cat with a snicker on his face. This spotted swine was outside telling a black sheep about his problems when all of a sudden, Cat strutted out with his mice servants. Annoyed Pig rolled his eyes. The dark, sleek creature chuckled to himself and said to the messy, barnyard hog, “Hello, Pig. Are you having fun in your mud?”
Pig said, “Go away, Cat!”
A few days passed and someone had left a window open. Pig thought a bit and said to himself, “I should not go in.” Then his shoulder demon popped up and said, “Go in and have some fun.”
So, the surprised animal started to pensively creep toward the chance when all of a sudden, his shoulder angel came and said, “Do not do this. Be happy with what you have.”
But then his shoulder demon began to argue with Pig’s encouraging ally, so he dismissed them with a sigh and decided it would not hurt to have a peek. He went in and there, just as you would probably think, Cat was standing with his mice servants.
The high and mighty hunter was just about to eat one mouse who hadn’t come right when he commanded, but then he eyed the intruder and put the small squeaking creature down and said, “Well, well, look who’s here! It’s Pig.”
Shortly after, Cat stomped angrily away to the living room dressed up as Pig and started to say things like, “Oh! I am Pig and I got inside,” etc.
Unfortunately, Mom came in and detected the costumed Cat and put him in the Pig’s sty with squishy brown mud. The fuming animal hissed and Mom thought it was a funny sound for a pig to make, but she left. Meanwhile, the discontented invader heard of Cat’s unfortunate dislocation, dressed up in his place, and relaxed on the sofa all day.
One day, when the kids were playing tag outside, Pig noticed that the door was open and decided to get some fresh air. Once outside, Pig saw the smelly, bored Cat and strolled over to see how he liked the pigpen. Cat was happy to have someone to talk to, instead of the sheep, but then he saw Pig wearing his cape and winced.
Being brave, he said, “Hello Pig. How are you?”
Pig replied “Fine. Just fine. I wanted to get some fresh air and decided to see how you are.”
Just then, Cat burst into tears and said, “I miss playing with the kids, eating my bacon in the morning, and putting on my cape.”
Pig burst into tears, too, and said, “I miss playing in my mud, eating my slop, and sleeping in my straw bed, and I don’t like the bacon in the morning.”
Then Cat said, “Can I take off this suit and go back inside, and you take off that suit and go back outside?”
“Of course,” said Pig, tickled with delight.
So Cat got out of the messy sty, took off the pig suit, grabbed the cape from Pig, and ran inside. Pig tore off the cat suit, jumped eagerly into the mud, and gulped down the stinky slop.
From then on, Cat came outside five times each day to talk to Pig but when he was inside, the sheep were always nearby keeping him company.
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