New+Story

You have one period to create a brief story taching some sort of life lesson.

The Frog on the Bridge - Harrison Steen

In a small, isolated town deep within the Jungle sat a small village. The settlement sat top a tall mountain, and the only way in or out of the town was by crossing a foggy abyss on a small rope bridge. The village elder said that the chasm stretched down many meters before reaching a cold granite floor. The small collection of huts and cottages housed a small number of people, and amongst them, was Frog. He was a relatively young frog, and was known for his impulsive personality and his ability to not listen to warnings. One day as he crossed the long rope bridge alongside his friend on his way back from a day of farming, he looked down into the light grey smoke below him. "How high up is this bridge?" Frog asked as he looked down into a foggy abyss. "I don't know. Maybe really high." His mate replied. "Why?" "Do you reckon I could jump down and reach the bottom?" Frog asked. "Don't you remember what the elder said? The chasm stretches down a long way." His friend replied, trying to coax him out of it. "Oh, what does the elder know? And besides, how do you know that it stretches down that far anyway if no-one has jumped down there before?" He said as he climbed up onto the railing. "Well, maybe we should throw a rock down first and listen for when it hits the ground." "Nah. Alright, let's do this." He jumped down, sailing through the air through the grey smokescreen. He landed *SPLAT!* on the granite slab below. Morale: Don't jump off bridges. Other morals: Find out about things before you try them out. Take heed to warnings and advice. Listen to your friends ideas

Bill and Ben, Actions speak louder than words

12:26 PM

There was once an beautiful enchantress who was adored all over the land and she was looking for a husband. In the lower corner of her realm lived two brothers named Bill and Ben. Bill, the firstborn son was strong, brave and handsome and liked to brag about what he could do. Ben, the second son was handsome enough but he was mute and could not speak. He and his brother communicated together through sign language and liked to have competitions. As the enchantress was looking for a husband, they decided that they would present themselves to her and ask for her hand in marriage.

Upon arriving at the castle, the enchantress was astonished and could not choose between the two brothers. She told them that they had till midnight and whoever could persuade her the best would have her hand and whoever didn’t would be turned into a pigeon. Bill spent 3 hours telling her all about what he would do for her and how. Eventually she sent him away. Ben couldn’t speak so instead he made her dinner and looked after her. The next day the enchantress made up her mind. I choose Ben she said. Actions speak louder than words and promptly turned Bill in to a pigeon. Ben and the enchantress lived happily forever.

Christina Lu-

There was once a sparrow who hated the way he looked. He had dusty brown coat of feathers, complete with stumpy short legs and a sharp beak. He hated his little black eyes and always looked at the other birds in the sky, so beautiful and mighty, and wanted what they had. But his parents always told him he was beautiful the way he was. One day, he'd decided he'd had enough. He wanted to be beautiful. He flew far, far away, looking for ways to have beautiful coloured feathers. He saw a family of parrots, and admired their gleaming red feathers. He stooped into their nest, and asked them if he could have some feathers. The father parrot, feeling sorry for this young bird, donated a few feathers to the young sparrow. The young sparrow smiled, thanked the father, and went along with his journey. He soon saw a beautiful white swan, drifting in the lake with her feathers drifting behind her. The sparrow took some of those feathers too and headed home. Back in his nest, he stuck the coloured feathers to his own and looked into the mirror. What he say horrified him. Who was this person, covered in red and white feathers, who stared back at him? It wasn't himself. He didn't feel confident like he once did. He took off all the feathers and looked at himself again. He looked normal now. He looked like himself. Moral Of The Story- Don't want to look like someone else, just be yourself.

Bop was a puppy that had grown up in the outer skirts of Campbelltown. He had been raised as a much beloved puppy whose family had grown up with him for many years. Suddenly they had moved out of town quickly while he had gone and they were in a hurry and had to go so they had left him not knowing when he would have been back. He had gone from a beloved puppy who had to fend for himself in a dark world. Bop didn't know what to do as if he had no friends in the world except for his family. He wondered the streets wanting food but not knowing what to do since he had never been on the streets before. The puppy was wandering, his head hanging low when a old wise dog came to him and gave him a place to stay. One day, Bop and the wise old dog was going around trying to find food when Bop and the wise old dog got into an argument with him. Bop was angry so he ran off while the wise old dog ran after him, knowing that Bop would get lost. Bop ran across the road and the old wise dog followed. Suddenly, a car appeared from somewhere and was heading down the road. He froze remembering an incident that had killed his best friend. Bop noticed that there was no one panting after him and turned. He saw the car and raced towards the wise old dog and pushed him aside from the road so that he wouldn't get injured. That was how much that Bop loved him. The lesson learnt; Never take time for granted - Rebekah Kim

The Realist
====There once were two little boys who lived directly across the road from each other. The boys were nearing the completion of their primary school experience and were soon going to high school. One was a pessimist who saw life in a very obscure and dark way and the other was an optimist who was overly kind and friendly. One day the boys were arguing with each other over their personality traits. The optimist couldn’t understand why the other boy was so mean. The pessimist was infuriated at the fact that the optimist was annoyingly sympathetic. They each thought that the other would find no friends when they went to high school, so the boys put a $10 bet on it.==== ====The first day finally arrived and as they both walked through the school gates they winked at each other remembering the bet that they placed. Lunch time approached and neither boy had found a single friend. Both of the boys embarrassingly informed the other that they hadn’t found any one and that no one seemed to enjoy their company. The boys slumped on the seats in the playground, sitting together solely because they knew no one else. The boys began to talk to each other and before no time they gradually became friends. As the boys talked their voices began to sound similar, their faces moulded to become identical and then their bodies morphed forming one boy.==== ====This newly formed boy was a combination of the two personality traits, both optimistic and pessimistic. This meant that the boy was a realist. After lunch the boy made five new friends. The next day he made 12 more and before a week he knew nearly everyone in his year.====

- Hugo Bottrell
Long ago there lived three baby sparrows in a tall, oak tree. They were all best friends and loved to fly around in the sky together all day. They went on many great adventures, and always had heaps of fun. However, one day one of the sparrows fell out of his nest when he jumped up to fly. He landed on the hard bare ground, and broke one of his beautiful blue wings. The sparrow laid there for hours and hours, waiting for one of his friends to find him. He was terribly scared and felt very alone. Eventually, the other sparrows noticed that he had been gone for a very long time. They searched high and low, finally finding him at the base of the big tree they called home.

From that point on, the sparrow was too scared to fly again. He watched silently from his nest and his friends flew away to faraway lands, exploring the world without him. Every day his friends would come back to visit him, and tell him the amazing things he was missing out on from by being too frightened to fly.

Many years later, when the baby sparrow was now a big sparrow alone in his nest, he saw a small sparrow fall off the tree just like he did. He was very afraid of flying, but he knew that he needed to save the poor, helpless baby lying at the bottom of the tree. He summoned up all of his courage and swooped down, picking up the baby sparrow in his beak. Suddenly, the big sparrow realised how much he loved flying, and couldn’t believe he had spent so many years without it. He re-joined his two best friends on their big adventures, and explored the world for himself.

By Emma Kench