The Tale of the Flower Headband

Illustration by Eliana  Age:  6
Ms. Missy Blount's Kindergarten class

           Summer the butterfly admired her handiwork.  All morning she had worked on a headband made out of small purple flowers she had found in the tall grass.  It was the most beautiful headband she had ever had.  She couldn’t wait to show it to her friends.

            Her twin sister flew up just as she finished.  “Wow,” Madison exclaimed.  “That is really pretty, Summer.  Do you think you can show me how to make one?”

            “Sure,” said Summer.  “Maybe we can go find some more purple flowers later.  Want to come with me to show it to everyone else?”

            Madison nodded and the twins set out for the clearing to find the rest of their friends.  They found Emerson the dragonfly and Xavier the frog playing chase.  When the twins flew up, they landed on some tall grass and watched for a few minutes.

            Then Madison yelled, “Hey guys!”

Illustration by Mason  Age:  5
Ms. Anna Eaton's Kindergarten class

            “Oh, hello,” said Emerson.  “We didn’t even see you fly up.”

            “We wanted to show you Summer’s new headband she made herself,” stated Madison as she pointed to the headband.

            The boys looked up and Xavier said in a lackluster way, “It’s nice.”

            Emerson said with a tiny bit more enthusiasm, “It’s very pretty.”

            Then the boys went right back to chasing each other ignoring the twins almost completely.  Summer frowned and looked at Madison.

            “Oh, just ignore them,” said Madison.  “They’re just boys.  Unless it shoots out fireworks or explodes, they are not impressed with anything.  Let’s go find Audra.  She’ll really like it.”

            The twins set out for Polliwog Pond in search of their friend, Audra the duck.   When they arrived at the pond, they saw her tail feathers sticking out of the water.  Audra was hunting for waterbugs for a morning snack.  Madison flew over to her and landed on her tail.  Then she tickled her tail feathers.  Audra’s head shot up out of the water, spraying Madison as she flew to a nearby cattail.

Illustration by Aaron  Age:  6
Ms. Missy Blount's Kindergarten class

            “Hey,” exclaimed Audra as she came to the surface.  “What’s the big idea?’

            Then she spotted the twins on the cattails and said, “Oh, hello, Summer and Madison.”

            “Good morning, Audra,” said Summer.  Then Madison said, “Look at the headband Summer made all by herself.”

            Now Audra was a little miffed about being tickled on the tail feathers.  She also was sort of jealous of Summer and Madison because they were already naturally pretty.  Beside them, she often felt rather clumsy and awkward even though they were her friends.  Audra had never had a headband at all.  Even though she thought Summer’s headband was absolutely gorgeous, she let jealousy win out and said in a very bored voice, “Oh, it’s okay.”

            Summer was crushed and flew away with tears in her eyes.  Madison looked at Audra in disbelief and said, “Why did you do that?  Summer worked hard all morning on that headband and was so excited to show everyone.  I can understand why the boys weren’t exactly thrilled about it, but she was sure you would like it.  I thought Summer was one of your best friends.”

Illustration by Byron  Age:  5
Ms. Anna Eaton's Kindergarten class

            With that Madison flew away to find and console Summer.  Audra swam around in the pond feeling really bad about what she had done, but too proud to admit it.

            Madison found Summer in the tall grass.  Summer was trying to dry her eyes even though it was obvious she had been crying.  She looked up at Madison and said, “Why was Audra so mean to me back there?”

            “Summer, I think she was just jealous,” replied Madison.  “That headband is absolutely gorgeous, and I still want you to show me how to make one.”

            Summer smiled at Madison and they set out to try and find more purple flowers in the tall grass.  Suddenly they heard Audra waddling through the grass calling their names.

            “Hey, Summer, Madison,” called Audra.  “Where are you?”

            At first, Summer didn’t want to answer her, but then she thought better of it and answered, “Here we are.”

Illustration by Broay  Age:  5
Ms. Anna Eaton's Kindergarten class

            Audra came to where they were and saw the pile of purple flowers they were gathering.  For a moment she wanted to say something else nasty, but stopped herself.  Instead she looked at Summer and said, “I’m sorry I was snippy back there.  I actually think your headband is gorgeous.  I was just jealous because I don’t have any headbands.”

            “Oh, we can fix that!” exclaimed Summer and began to furiously work on another headband.  “Madison, you and Audra go find some more purple flowers and I will make Audra the prettiest headband she has ever seen.”

            For the rest of the afternoon the girls worked to make Audra a headband.  Summer showed Madison how to do it so she could help.  Audra found some little white flowers to go with the purple flowers, and Summer braided them together until Audra had her very first headband.  Then they made Madison one, too.  All was forgiven, and all three girls thought their headbands were the most beautiful headbands ever.

The Tale of the Big Mess

Illustration by Bailey  Age:  7
Ms. Amanda Cook's 2nd grade class

          Hayden the turtle looked over the huge mess that had once been his back yard.  At the edge of the yard stood the empty grape vine that had been full earlier this morning.  The ground was covered with grape skins, grape seeds, and grapevine leaves.  This morning while he had been eating the grapes, it had been so much fun.  Now that he looked at his mess, he wanted to cry. 

When his parents found the mess, they said, “Pick up this mess before you do anything else and we mean ANYTHING!”

Hayden picked up one leaf, and then just sat down staring at the mess.  He wanted to be anywhere doing anything else except picking up this mess.

Suddenly, the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison, flew up and landed on the grape vine.  “What are you doing?” asked Summer.

“I have to pick up my mess before I can do anything else,” mumbled Hayden miserably.

“Wow! That’s a big mess!” exclaimed Madison.

“I don’t even know where to begin or what I do with it when I do pick it up,” stated Hayden as he picked up another leaf.

Illustration by Tyler  Age:  8
Ms. Amanda Cook's 2nd grade class

“Maybe we can help,” said Summer.  “Make a pile of leaves, and then Madison and I can take them to the tall grass to dump them.”

Hayden perked up.  He liked that idea.  At least it gave him a place to start.  He set out at once moving all the leaves into a pile next to the grapevine.  Madison and Summer grabbed handfuls of leaves and flew over the tall grass letting the leaves fall.  The girls had great fun watching the leaves fall into the grass.

“This makes me think of autumn,” said Summer as she released a stream of leaves behind her.

“Yes, it does,” agreed Madison as she chased the leaves Summer had just released.

When the twins had deposited the last of the leaves, they waved goodbye to Hayden and set off to play in the tall grass.  Hayden was once again left alone with his huge mess.  However, now it wasn’t as big as it was before.  He decided that he would tackle the seeds next and started stacking seeds in a pile next to the grapevine.

When the pile was nearly finished, Audra the duck waddled up to Hayden.  “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I have to pick up my mess before I can do anything else,” said Hayden not quite as miserable as before.  “But I don’t know what I am going to do with these grape seeds.”

“Oohh!!  I love grape seeds!” exclaimed Audra as she waddled over to the pile of grape seeds.  Soon the pile of grape seeds was in Audra’s tummy.

“Well, that takes care of those,” said Hayden.  “I don’t guess you like grape skins, do you?”

Audra made a face at him and shook her head.  “Here comes Emerson,” said Audra.  “Maybe he will know what to do with the grape skins.”

Audra waved goodbye to Hayden and waddled off as Emerson the dragonfly flew up and landed on the grapevine.  “What are you doing?” asked Emerson.

“I have to pick up this mess before I can do anything else,” replied Hayden.  “But I don’t know what to do with the grape skins.”

Emerson thought hard.  “Maybe we could dump them in the tall grass.  I bet that will help the grass grow.  The farmer in the big house beyond the tall grass often puts stuff like that in his garden,” he said.

Hayden liked that idea.  Emerson quickly made a little basket out of grass while Hayden started making a pile of grape skins.  When the basket was finished, Emerson took load after load of grape skins to the tall grass making sure to dump each load in a different place.  Soon all the grape skins were gone.

“I’m done!” exclaimed Hayden.  “Before I started I thought it would take me days to pick up all this mess.  I probably would still be working on it if I hadn’t gotten help from my friends.  Thanks!”

“Your welcome,” said Emerson.  “Now lets go find everyone else so you can tell them thanks, too.”

Emerson and Hayden set off for the clearing to find the rest of their friends.  They found Audra, Summer, and Madison playing with leaves the twins had brought from the tall grass.  Soon all five friends romped and played in the leaves just as if autumn had come in the middle of summer.

The Tale of the Bad Play

Illustration by Summer  Age:  9

          Emerson the dragonfly was so ready for the rain to stop.  It had been raining for days at Polliwog Pond.  He and his friends had spent the last couple of days taking shelter wherever they could find.  Emerson wanted to stretch his wings and just fly around for hours.  The rain had finally stopped during the night, and Emerson couldn’t wait to get out in the sunshine.

            He met his friends Audra the duck, Hayden the turtle, and Summer and Madison the butterfly twins at the edge of the pond.  It was too muddy to play in the clearing or on the path.  They would have to play in the pond today.  They decided to play tag since both Audra and Hayden were actually faster on the water.

            Emerson volunteered to be “it” the first time.  He was eager to get going.  As his friends scattered around the pond, Emerson zipped this way and that at full speed.  It felt wonderful to be out in the sunshine at last.

            For a while all of the friends managed to stay away from Emerson because he was too busy zipping around to truly chase them.  Then he decided he had better start trying to catch his friends.  First, he set his sights on Audra.  He barreled in her direction going as fast as he could.  Audra yelped in dismay when Emerson caught her by the tail.  Instead of just letting go, however, Emerson held onto her tail causing her to start spinning in the water.  Then he let go, leaving her spinning out of control.  Before she could stop, she became entangled in the stem of a lily pad.

            “Emerson, that wasn’t fair,” called Audra as she tried to get untangled.

            “You’re out,” said Emerson gleefully as he set his sights on Hayden next.

            Now on the water Hayden was almost as fast as Audra.  Emerson set out at top speed, but Hayden made an unexpected quick turn that sent Emerson into the cattails at the edge of the pond.  Emerson grabbed one of the cattails and bent it way back.  When it snapped forward, it hit Hayden on the tail.

            “Ow!!” exclaimed Hayden as he slowed down in order to see what had hit him.

            When Hayden slowed down, Emerson thumped him on the head.  “You’re out,” called Emerson as set off to get the twins.

            “Hey, that wasn’t fair!” exclaimed Hayden as he swam back to shore.

            The twins were the most difficult to catch because they dart in directions that Emerson couldn’t.  However, he was determined that he was going to get them out.  First, he went after Summer.  Summer began to zigzag back and forth trying to lose Emerson, but Emerson plowed into her at top speed knocking her into some cattails.

            Summer landed on a cattail and began to cry.  Madison became furious with Emerson and said, “This game is now over!  Emerson, you hurt Summer.  I don’t think we want to play with you anymore.”

            “Don’t be a sore loser,” called Emerson.

            “We agree with the twins,” said Audra as Hayden shook his head in agreement.  “You are playing too rough and we don’t want to play with you anymore, either.”

            The four friends left a stunned Emerson sitting on a cattail as they swam and flew to a different part of the pond.

            “Hey, wait up!” called Emerson as he tried to catch up with them.  “I’m sorry!”

            The four friends turned around and looked at Emerson as if they didn’t believe him.  “Are you really sorry that you hurt Summer and didn’t play fair?” asked Audra giving him a hard look.

            Emerson suddenly realized that he had really messed up.  His friends truly meant to go off without him unless he apologized.  He looked down in shame and then said, “I’m sorry I hurt you, Summer.  Will you forgive me?”

            Summer looked at him for a moment and then said, “Yes, if you promise to play nicely for the rest of the day.”

            “I promise,” said Emerson quietly.

            For the rest of that day, the four friends played tag in the pond.  They didn’t let Emerson be “it” again until he proved to them that he was really going to play nice.  He had to sit out for a while sometimes so that he could calm himself down, but he did manage to show his friends he could play nice.  All five friends had a wonderful time playing together.

The Tale of the Annoying Tongue

Illustration by Sierra  Age:  8
Ms. Jessica Mathis 3rd grade class

          Xavier the frog sat on a lily pad in the middle of Polliwog Pond.  He was resting.  All morning he had been target practicing with his tongue.  Now he sat taking a short nap while he waited for his friends to arrive. 

            The first to arrive was the butterfly twins, Summer and Madison.  They landed on a cattail next to the pond.  Xavier acted like he was asleep, and then shot out his tongue at the twins startling both of them.

            “Hey!” they shouted together.

            “What do you think you are doing?” Summer said and then Madison finished, “by shooting us with your tongue.  We are not flies!”

Illustration by Luke  Age:  8
Ms. Jessica Mathis 3rd grade class

            Xavier laughed so hard he fell off the lily pad and into the water.  The twins did not think it was funny.  They flew away to the clearing to look for their other friends.

            Xavier swam to shore and decided he would try his target practicing skills on the rest of his friends.  He quietly crept toward the clearing through the tall grass.  Before he reached the clearing, he saw Hayden the turtle lumbering slowly up the path.  Xavier took up a position in front of Hayden.  Then he shot out his tongue hitting Hayden right on the nose. 

            “Hey!” cried Hayden as he pulled his head back into his shell.  His voice echoed from his shell as he said, “What was that?”

            Xavier laughed so hard he fell over and rolled onto the path.  “You should have seen your face when I hit your nose,” laughed Xavier.

            Hayden stuck his head out of his shell and answered angrily, “You scared the life out of me.  That hurt, Xavier!”

            Xavier kept laughing as Hayden resumed his march toward the clearing.  Hayden didn’t even look back at Xavier as he walked.  He didn’t think it was so funny.

Illustration by Madison Age:  8
Ms. Jessica Mathis 3rd grade class

            Just then Xavier heard Audra the duck coming up the path.  He quickly hid in the grass and waited for her to get to where he was.  Then he shot out his tongue and wrapped it around her leg making her fall down.  She spread her wings trying to keep her balance but fell face first in the dirt.  When she managed to get back on her feet, she saw Xavier laughing hysterically on the edge of the path.

            “Why you little monster!” Audra said with a glare.   “You deliberately tripped me!”

Illustration by Summer  Age:  8
Ms. Jessica Mathis 3rd grade class

            Xavier was laughing so hard he couldn’t even answer her.  Audra waddled off without even glancing back in Xavier’s direction.  She didn’t think it was funny.

            When Xavier caught his breath, he decided to go to the clearing.  When he got there, his friends all turned their back on him and acted like he wasn’t even there.  A wicked thought came into Xavier’s head, and he shot out his tongue in rapid succession hitting each on them on the backside.

            “Why! I never!” exclaimed Audra as she headed back for Polliwog Pond.

            The butterfly twins didn’t even say a thing to Xavier.  They simply flew away back to Polliwog Pond.  Hayden, however, couldn’t go anywhere fast and did not want to be the only target for Xavier.  Therefore, he drew up in his shell.

            “Hey guys!” called Xavier. “Come back.  I was only joking!”

            From inside his shell, Hayden said, “We don’t like the way you joke, Xavier.”

            “You guys don’t have any sense of humor at all,” said Xavier as he started to leave.

            Hayden poked his head out of his shell and said to Xavier as he was leaving, “A true friend does not mistreat his friends and then think it's funny.”

            Xavier acted like he didn’t hear Hayden, but he had.  He hopped back to Polliwog Pond and found that Audra and the twins wouldn’t let him anywhere near them without leaving.  Suddenly he realized that his friends were really mad at him, and he started to worry they might not be his friend anymore.

Illustration by Devin  Age:  8
Ms. Jessica Mathis 3rd grade class

            “Hey guys, I’m sorry!” called Xavier to Audra and the twins as they swam and flew away from him again.  “I promise I won’t shoot my tongue at you anymore.  Just, please, come back.”

            The twins flew back in his direction, but still stayed well out of his range and said, “How do we know that you are not tricking us so you can shoot us again.  We don’t want to play with you today.”

Illustration by Alex  Age:  8
Ms. Jessica Mathis 3rd grade class

            Now Xavier was really starting to worry that he had messed up so bad that his friends would never forgive him.  “Okay, okay,” Xavier said in desperation.  “I’m sorry for shooting you with my tongue.  It wasn’t funny.  Please, don’t keep running away from me.”

            At this point Audra turned back in Xavier’s direction.  “Are you really sorry?” she asked.  “Really and truly?”

            Xavier hung his head and replied, “I’m really and truly sorry.  Please, still be my friends.”

            Audra looked at the twins and nodded.  “We forgive you,” they all said together, “but don’t you ever do that again            !”

            The four friends went back to the clearing to be with Hayden.  For the rest of the afternoon they played tag, but Xavier was forbidden to use his tongue against them for the rest of his life.