Innehållsförteckning för February 2017 från Storytime

“A treasure island’s what we seek. We’ll sail for a day, we’ll sail for a week! We’ll dig and dig to find that chest, Because my pirate crew is best! Yo, ho, ho and a yo, ho, hey, A pirate’s life is the only way!” The day I became a pirate, Rufus the Wretched ate my eye patch. By the time I’d prised it from his extra-strong grip, there was a hole in the middle, and the skull and crossbones bit was missing. “Avast!” I cried, as I wiggled my little finger through the hole. But Rufus just snarled at me menacingly and flashed his sharp teeth. How was I supposed to be a professional pirate with a holey eye patch? Then, to make matters worse, Rufus high-tailed it with…

“I never can do it,” the little kite said, As he looked at the others high over his head; “I know I should fall if I tried to fly.” “Try,” said the big kite. “Only try, Or I fear you never will learn at all.” But the little kite said, “I’m afraid I’ll fall!” The big kite nodded. “Ah, well, goodbye.I’m off.” And he rose towards the sky.Then the little kite’s paper stirred at the sight, And trembling he shook himself free for flight.First whirling and frightened, then braver grown, Up, up, he rose through the air alone, Till the big kite looking down could seeThe little one rising steadily. Then how the little kite thrilled with pride, As he sailed with the big kite, side by side. While far…

In the green mountains of Wales, there once lived a young lad called Elidor. His parents wanted him to have an important job when he grew up, but Elidor had other ideas. He preferred to play. All day long, his teacher’s words went in one ear and straight out of the other, as Elidor dreamt of running around outside. Before long, his teacher lost patience with him and started to scold him. School became so joyless that Elidor dreaded going there and, one day, after his tenth telling-off, he got up, ran out of the school gates, across the town and into the forest. Elidor ran and ran, and the further he was from school, the happier he felt. “If I run away,” he thought, “I’ll never have to go…

Once upon a time, there was an Emperor who loved clothes so much, he spent all his money on them – and how he loved to show them off to everybody! The only reason he ever left his palace was to parade his latest outfit. When he wasn’t flaunting the newest fashions, he was in his dressing room, admiring his collection of clothes. It’s said that he had a coat for every hour of the day. One day, two tricksters arrived in the royal city and decided to try their luck. They began to spread a rumour that they were weavers of extraordinary talent. They told anyone who would listen that they could weave patterns and colours the likes of which had never been seen before. Better still, their woven…

Long ago, on the island of Cyprus, there lived a sculptor called Pygmalion. He was very quiet and shy, especially around women, but when he was sculpting, he was confident and happy. As Pygmalion grew older, he watched his friends fall in love and get married. They always invited him to their parties in the hope of introducing him to someone, but Pygmalion was embarrassed by their clumsy matchmaking, so he made excuses and told his friends he was busy. And it was true – Pygmalion was always in his workshop, creating sculptures. He had real talent. One day, he took delivery of a huge hunk of marble – it was as white as snow and as smooth as silk. It was the most stunning stone Pygmalion had ever seen…

King Hobu was a fussy king with a wicked temper. He always wanted everything to be just perfect. Not a crease in his robes, not a speck of dust on his throne – everything had to be spick and span all the time. But there was one thing that bothered him more than anything – the moment he stepped out of his palace in Calcutta, his bare feet would get dirty. One day, the king cried, “Don’t I rule over the soil that I walk on? How dare it make my feet dirty!” So his servants followed him around, trying to brush and clean the soles of his feet with every step he took. But the king kept tripping over and by the time he reached his destination, his feet…

How to Play You need two to four players, four counters each and a dice to play this game. You can print off our piratey game counters from storytimemagazine.com/free .Each pirate chooses an island base to start from. Put your four counters on your base before you start. .You must roll a 6 to move a counter out of your base and onto the board. If you don’t roll a 6, your counter stays put. You must do this each time you want to get a new counter out. .Pirate players take it in turns to roll. The aim of the game is to get all four of your counters to Treasure Island first, following your own colour-coded route. .If you roll a higher number than you need to…