The Magpie's Nest

by Joseph Jacobs
English Fairy Tales
All the birds of the air came to the
magpie and asked her to teach them
how to build nests. For the magpie is
the cleverest bird of all at building
nests. So she put all the birds round
her and began to show them how to
do it. First of all she took some mud
and made a sort of round cake with
it.
"Oh, that's how it's done!" said the
thrush, and away it flew - and so
that's how thrushes build their
nests.
Then the magpie took some twigs
and arranged them round in the
mud.
"Now I know all about it!" said the
blackbird, and off it flew - and that's
how the blackbirds make their nests
to this very day.
Then the magpie put another layer
of mud over the twigs.
"Oh, that 's quite obvious!" said the
wise owl, and away it flew - and
owls have never made better nests
since.
After this the magpie took some
twigs and twined them round the
outside.
"The very thing!" said the sparrow,
and off he went - so sparrows make
rather slovenly nests to this day.
Well, then Madge magpie took some
feathers and stuff, and lined the nest
very comfortably with it.
"That suits me!" cried the starling,
and off it flew - and very
comfortable nests have starlings.
So it went on, every bird taking away
some knowledge of how to build
nests, but none of them waiting to
the end.
Meanwhile Madge magpie went on
working and working without
looking up, till the only bird that
remained was the turtle-dove, and
that hadn't paid any attention all
along, but only kept on saying its
silly cry, "Take two, Taffy, take two-o-
o-o!"
At last the magpie heard this just as
she was putting a twig across, so she
said, "One's enough."
But the turtle-dove kept on saying,
"Take two, Taffy, take two-o-o-o!"
Then the magpie got angry and said,
"One's enough, I tell you!"
Still the turtle-dove cried, "Take two,
Taffy, take two-o-o-o!"
At last, and at last, the magpie
looked up and saw nobody near her
but the silly turtle-dove, and then
she got rarely angry and flew away
and refused to tell the birds how to
build nests again.
And that is why different birds build
their nests differently.


The Unfruitful Tree
by Friedrich Adolph Krummacher
Parables
A farmer had a brother in town who
was a gardener, and who possessed
a magnificent orchard full of the
finest fruit trees, so that his skill and
his beautiful trees were famous
everywhere.
One day the farmer went into town
to visit his brother, and was
astonished at the rows of trees that
grew slender and smooth as wax
tapers.
"Look, my brother," said the
gardener. "I will give you an apple
tree, the best from my garden, and
you, and your children, and your
children's children shall enjoy it."
Then the gardener called his
workmen and ordered them to take
up the tree and carry it to his
brother's farm. They did so, and the
next morning the farmer began to
wonder where he should plant it.
"If I plant it on the hill," said he to
himself, "the wind might catch it and
shake down the delicious fruit
before it is ripe, if I plant it close to
the road, passers-by will see it and
rob me of its luscious apples - but if I
plant it too near the door of my
house, my servants or the children
may pick the fruit."
So, after he had thought the matter
over, he planted the tree behind his
barn, saying to himself, "Prying
thieves will not think to look for it
here."
But behold, the tree bore neither
fruit nor blossoms the first year nor
the second - then the farmer sent
for his brother the gardener, and
reproached him angrily, saying:
"You have deceived me, and given
me a barren tree instead of a fruitful
one. For, behold, this is the third
year and still it brings forth nothing
but leaves!"
The gardener, when he saw where
the tree was planted, laughed and
said:
"You have planted the tree where it
is exposed to cold winds, and has
neither sun nor warmth. How, then,
could you expect flowers and fruit?
You have planted the tree with a
greedy and suspicious heart - how,
then, could you expect to reap a rich
and generous harvest?"
Short stories: Science stories for
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5of 6
by Theresa Mchatton
Created on: January 15, 2008 Last
Updated: January 16, 2008
I Scream You Scream We All Scream
For Ice Cream
Hi, my name is Chocolate Syrup. I
had a fun but somewhat scary day
with my friends Hood Milk, Ice Cube,
and Crystal O'Salt yesterday. Hood
was a fun friend to hang out with.
Though he did not have as much
energy as Vapor the gas, he always
had more energy than the solids. My
friend, Ice, is usually a solid with not
much energy. Crystal was also a solid
with even less energy. Her particle
never did anything but vibrate. At
least Ice had a chance to know what
it is like to flow as water and fly
through the air as a gas. Crystal had
never known those fun things.
When they were in the solid form,
they were not much fun. They had
very little energy to do anything.
That morning a human came over to
the table took Hood, and poured
him into a bag. Then she grabbed
me and squeezed me until my
insides came out. I was now in the
bag with Hood. He was not having a
boring or exciting day. His atoms
were going at a moderate speed. He
was still a liquid. Ouch! We were
roughly thrown in another bag with
Ice and Crystal on the other side of
this clear, plastic wall. "Hi, guys.
What's uuuu", was all I could get
out. The savage human was shaking
us roughly.
Brrrr! It was getting cold. This rough
time was bringing Hood and I very
close. In fact, we were now a
mixture. "Hood don't you get boring
and sleepy on me!" I screamed.
Hood was losing his energy fast. It
was too late. He was freezing with
me into chocolate ice cream. He was
now a boring solid. My fun time was
over. I started talking with Ice and
Crystal. Ice was gaining energy. His
particles were flowing around us but
Crystal was trying to keep him solid
for as long as she could. I did not
mind Ice melting, although he no
longer fit his name. It was more fun
to talk to him when he had more
energy and more pizzazz.
Now Hood and I had a new problem.
Another human started to take us
out of the bag and away from our
friends. She was holding a spoon
ready to eat us. We were now solid.
I did not have enough energy to flow
right off the spoon with Hood. I did
not know what to do. Hood was
losing more energy. He could not
think straight and I could not either.
We had to think of a way of saving
ourselves but how? After what
seemed like eternity, I thought of an
idea. The human was still looking for
something to put us in. I had a
chance to jump into action. I knew I
could make Hood and I taste bad if
Crystal could get into the bag. The
human would take a bite and get rid
of us. My plan was perfect. Only a
little of Hood and I would be
missing. I yelled to Crystal, "Do you
think you could jump into the bag
with us? It would save Hood and me
from being eaten. Please we need
your help." She responded without
words. She jumped quickly into the
bag. She was just in time. The
human had a found a cup to put us
in. She took a small bite, spat us out
quickly, and threw the rest of us
away. Crystal saved us. Now the only
problem was how to get out of this
barrel.