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Covertory

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Long, long time ago there lived a poor boy called Dick Whit-tington. He had no mother and no father, and often nothing to eat. One day he heard of the great city of London, where, said everyone, even the streets were paved with gold. Dick de-cided to go to London to seek his fortune.London was a big and busy city, full of people both rich and poor. But Dick could not find any streets that were paved with gold. Tired, cold and hun-gry he fell asleep on the steps of a great house. This house be-longed to Mr. Fitzwarren, a rich merchant, who was also a good and generous man. He took Dick into his house, and gave him work as a scullery boy.Dick had a little room of his own where he could have been very happy if it had not been for the rats. They would run all over him as he lay on his bed at night and would not let him sleep. One day Dick earned a penny shining shoes for a gen-tleman, and with it he bought a cat. After that Dick’s life be-came easier - the cat fright-ened away all the rats, and Dick could sleep in peace at night.One day Mr. Fitzwarren called all the servants of the house together. One of his ships was leaving for a far-off land with goods to trade. Mr. Fitzwarren asked his servants to send something of their own in the ship if they so de-sired, something which could perhaps be traded for a bit of gold or money. Dick had only his cat to send - which he did

with a sad heart.Dick continued to work as a scullery boy for Mr. Fitzwarren, who was very kind to him. So was everyone else except the Cook who made Dick’s life so miserable that one day Dick decided to run away. He had reached almost the end of the city when he heard the Bow Bells ring out. ‘Turn again Whit-tington, thrice Lord Mayor of London’ chimed the bells. Dick was astonished - but he did as the bells said and went back to Mr. Fitzwarren.When he returned he found that Mr. Fitzwar-ren’s ship had re-

turned, and that his cat had been sold for a great fortune to the King of Barbary whose pal-ace had been overrun with mice. Dick had become a rich man.He soon learnt the business from Mr. Fitzwarren, married his daughter Alice, and in time became the Lord Mayor of Lon-don three times, just as the bells had said.

Storytime

The Talktive Turtle

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Once, in a certain lake, there lived a turtle and a pair of swans. The turtle and the swans were friends. They would spend all their free time together tell-ing each other stories, and ex-changing news and gossip. The turtle especially loved to talk and chatter, and always had something to say.One year, the rains did not come, and the lake began to dry up. The swans became wor-ried. Supposing it did not rain at all, and the lake dried up completely? Where would they live in that case? But the turtle had a plan. She suggested that the swans fly in search of a lake that still had plenty of water.

Once they found such a lake, all three of them could move there.The swans agreed and flew off. After flying for several hours they the perfect lake. They re-turned to the turtle with the good news. But now another problem arose: the new lake was too far for the turtle to walk. How was the turtle to get there? The swans did not want to leave their friend behind.The turtle thought for a while and came up with another plan. She asked the swans to find a strong stick that they could hold in their beaks. The turtle would then hang on to the stick with her mouth, and the swans could

fly with her to the new lake.The swans liked the idea, though they were worried that the tur-tle might begin talking and fall off the stick. ‘You must be careful not to open your mouth while we are flying with you,’ they warned her. ‘Do you think you will be able to be quiet for such a long time?’‘Of course,’ said the turtle. ‘I will be careful - I know when to stop talking.’So the swans did as she asked. They found a strong stick and each swan held one end of it in its beak. The turtle held on to the middle with her mouth, and away they flew, all three of them.

The Talktive TurtleThe Talktive Turtle

Storytime

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