7,19 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016
A heart-warming treasury of Christmas animal stories, perfect for sharing when the nights draw in. As the snow falls and children sleep, a young reindeer witness the magic of the Northern Lights for the first time, a lonely owl searches for someone to share christmas with, and Santa is in for a surprise when he encounters a playful puppy on Christmas Eve...
Das E-Book können Sie in Legimi-Apps oder einer beliebigen App lesen, die das folgende Format unterstützen:
Seitenzahl: 98
Ähnliche
CONTENTS
THE NIGHT WATCH
My name is Harry, and I’m a puppy with a mystery to solve.
I should start by telling you that my family is made up of two big people called Mum and Dad, and two small people called Holly and Jacob. When I first arrived, they taught me how to chase balls and to wee outside and to offer my paw for treats. My new family were very pleased with how quickly I learned everything, but lately they have been acting strangely and I am determined to find out why.
It all started when it snowed during the night, which made Holly and Jacob shriek as they ran downstairs the following morning. I hurried to their rescue to find them dashing around the garden throwing snowballs at each other. Snow is like rain, but colder and fluffier, and snowballs are fun to catch and eat. But the children suddenly stopped the game to build a man out of snow, giving him a carrot nose and pebbles for eyes, which was odd.
A few days later, Dad brought a tree into the living room. I had only ever seen trees outside before, mostly in the woods where my family take me for long walks. But when I tried to have a wee against the indoor tree, like I do with the trees in the woods, Mum hurried me outside into the garden.
Later on, the whole family decorated the indoor tree with twinkling lights and shiny, brightly-coloured balls. But when I chased the balls and tried to chew them, Holly told me that these balls were just for looking at and fetched my old one to play with. Unfortunately, my old ball is not very good any more because I’ve chewed it to bits.
The next strange thing involved my favourite thing of all. Food!
I was snoozing in my basket while my family were out shopping, and when they returned, Mum staggered into the kitchen with a giant turkey and needed Dad’s help to get it into the fridge. Afterwards, they filled the cupboards with more delicious food than I’d ever seen and left snacks around the house that they kept forgetting to eat. There were nuts in bowls and chocolates in tins, and after Holly and Jacob each hung a red sock on the mantelpiece – that were much too high for me to chew – they put a mince pie and a turnip on a plate above the fireplace!
I didn’t care for the turnip, but the mince pie smelled very nice, so I sat looking up at it and held out my paw, as I usually do when I see something good to eat. But instead of giving me the pie, Holly gave me a doggy treat and Jacob gave me a pat on the head, then they both hurried off to bed much earlier than usual.
No one ate the mince pie, because I kept an eye on it until Mum and Dad went to bed, too. And as they tucked me into my basket and said goodnight, I was given an unusual command.
“Don’t bark at Santa, Harry,” said Dad.
I love my family very much, but as I returned to the fireplace to continue gazing at the delicious mince pie, I knew something very strange was going on and I was determined to get to the bottom of the mystery.
I decided that it must have something to do with the person they called Santa. Holly and Jacob had mentioned him a few times and were very excited about his visit, and after Dad told me not to bark at Santa, I worked out that he must be arriving soon. So I waited by the front door, listening out for footsteps on the path, but no one came near the house and after a while I dozed off.
At this point you might be thinking that things couldn’t get any stranger, but in the middle of the night I was woken up by the sound of hooves trotting along the roof!
My doggy instincts told me to bark and warn my family that there was livestock wandering around on top of the house, but as they had all gone to bed so early, I thought they must be very tired. So I decided to investigate the disturbance myself before raising the alarm.
Tilting my head and pricking up my ears, I soon heard a person stomping across the roof and clambering down the chimney. I quickly bounded over to the fireplace, sneezing as a cloud of soot tickled my nose, and when I looked up there was a pair of black boots standing on the logs!
Dogs know all about burglars, and when a man in red clambered out of the fireplace carrying a big brown sack, I forgot all about Santa because I was certain this other man had come to rob the house.
“Ho! Ho! Ho!” The burglar laughed, crouching down to pet me.
“GRRR!” I growled, and pounced on him.
Being a puppy, I am not very big, but I am quick and can leap quite high. So I leaped on the burglar’s big, round belly and managed to grab his bushy white beard. He chuckled as I dangled from his beard, and when he tickled my belly, I couldn’t help letting go.
By the time I was back on my paws, he was creeping towards the indoor tree. The tree didn’t matter much to me because I was not allowed to use it for its proper purpose, but my family seemed to like it, so I sprang into action to protect it. I bounded across the room and grabbed the heel of his shiny black boot, and this time I refused to let go. But the clever burglar simply slipped his foot out. He tiptoed over to the tree wearing one boot and a stripy sock. I was about to go for his ankle when he did something odd.
Instead of taking things from the tree, the man opened his sack, pulled out several colourful parcels and placed them under the branches. This was my first encounter with a real life burglar, but I was pretty sure they were meant to take things away instead of bringing them, so I halted my attack while I tried to figure him out.
It was only when the man in red crept over to the fireplace to fill the socks on the mantelpiece with sweets, that I suddenly realized I had seen him somewhere before!
Around the room there were lots of cards with pictures on that the postman had been pushing through the letter box every morning. I hadn’t taken much notice of them before because the first one that came didn’t taste very nice and I got told off for chewing it. Now, when I looked closer, I noticed that while some had pictures of indoor trees and others had pictures of snowmen with carrot noses, most of them had pictures of the mysterious man in red!
This must be Santa! I thought, remembering what Dad had said.
I suddenly felt very bad for swinging from Santa’s beard and stealing his boot and planning to bite his ankle, so I grabbed the boot and hurried over to him, wagging my tail so he would know I was friendly.
“Ho! Ho! Ho!” said Santa, slipping his foot back into the boot.
“YAP!” I went quietly, so I wouldn’t wake my family.
As Santa turned back towards the chimney, he spotted the mince pie and the turnip on the plate. He slipped the turnip into his pocket and took a small bite from the mince pie. Then he looked back at me and gave a hearty chuckle.
I didn’t know what Santa was chuckling at, until he stooped down and shook my paw. I’d offered it without even thinking because that’s what I always do when food is around. But Santa was happy to share the mince pie. He gave me the rest of it and patted me on the head.
“Merry Christmas, Harry,” he said, and climbed back up the chimney.
I bounded over to the window and caught a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh as it soared through the sky pulled by seven reindeer – which explained the hooves on the roof and the turnip. Then I thought about what he had said and realized that as well as knowing my name, Santa had given my mystery a name, too.
It was called Christmas!
I was so tired after working everything out that I fell asleep with my nose still pressed against the window, and I didn’t wake up until Holly and Jacob charged into the living room early in the morning.
The children gasped with joy at the parcels under the tree, and when they unwrapped their gifts they were delighted with the toys and games and sweets that Santa had brought for them. I was equally happy chasing scraps of colourful wrapping paper around the room, but then Holly called me over.
I thought she might tell me off for chewing the paper and making such a mess, but instead she took one last parcel from under the tree and placed it in front of me.
“Santa left this one for you, Harry!” Holly said.
I held the parcel down with my paws and ripped the paper with my teeth to find the thing I wanted most in the whole world. A brand new ball to chase and chew!
Christmas is brilliant – especially for a puppy!
Later on, Mum managed to wrestle that giant turkey into the oven and there were so many leftovers I didn’t even have to offer my paw. Holly and Jacob took me out into the snow to play with my new ball, and in the evening, by the light of the indoor tree, I heard Dad saying that Christmas happens every year!
I’m already looking forward to next year when my family start acting strangely again, because next time I’ll know what’s happening. I’ll be sure to give Santa lots of wagging tail and wet licks, which will be my own special way of saying, “Merry Christmas, Santa!”
MOUSE MAGIC
Molly held Granny’s hand tight. Together they watched Dad drive off down the road and disappear round the corner. Molly’s lip wobbled a bit. Usually she loved going to Granny’s house, especially so close to Christmas. But today was different. Her baby brother Charlie was having an operation, and Mum and Dad needed to stay at the hospital with him.
“It’s only for one day and one night,” Granny told Molly. “We have lots of things to do. The time will fly by!”
Molly shivered. It was a grey, cold day. The wind made the trees sway. It began to rain.
Inside, Granny’s house was warm and cosy. Granny made herself a cup of tea and heated up milk for Molly’s chocolate drink. They sat down together at the kitchen table. “I’ve made us a Christmas Things-to-do list,” Granny said.
Molly looked at the list. It read:
“What shall we do first?” Granny asked.
“Number one, of course!” Molly said. “The gingerbread house.”
