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This is Richard, and I am here to introduce the latest instalment in our canine space adventure, Astropup. If you have heard the earlier stories, you will know that Astropup tells them in his own words. So, if you will just hang on for a moment, let me adjust the microphone stand down to dog level. Thank you Richard. As you know, by the standards of the Universe, it’s a little more than a skip and a jump to the moon – a mere 240,000 miles. The humans gave me a special probe to take there.

Astropup and the Revenge of the Parrot Hello, this is Richard. This is a tale of revenge. It took place quite a way from here, on the dark side of the moon. We are very fortunate to have a guest here in the Storynory studio who was an eyewitness of these extraordinary events. And so, without further ado, I will hand you over to our space-travelling friend, Astropup . If I've learned one thing on my space travels, it's that the universe is the strangest of places. You have no doubt heard the old story that the moon is made out of cheese.

The Zoo that Bit Back I told you a story once before called The Monkey Who Loved Chocolate. Bertie has asked me to tell you what happened to Theo the Monkey. You may recall that he escaped to go in search of chocolate, but later returned to the zoo. He had trouble settling down again, but after not too long he slipped back into the old routine of zoo life. Life in the zoo was not as exciting as on the outside, but it had its attractions. The daily menus catered for everyone’s tastes. Some liked berries, others liked bananas. Some hungered for steak, others for fresh termites.

Hello, this is Jana, and I’m here with a love story from ancient times. We’re in a romantic mood, because we are recording this just before St Valentine’s day. First we must set the scene. The Dardanelles is a stretch of seawater that separates the continents of Europe and Asia. In ancient times, this thin, winding sea, that looks something like a broad river, was called the Hellespont. It’s very deep and about three quarters of a mile wide at its narrowest point. Do you think it would be safe to attempt to swim across it?

This is a story about a very unusual boy, and an even more unusual monkey. The boy was out of the ordinary as boys go, because he didn’t like chocolate. No, not at all. Not even one little bit. And I must say, I’ve never met a boy like that. Not in my entire life.

Hello this is Natasha and this is a story about Katie who you may know is a girl who is just a bit different. You see although she goes to school and has friends just like everyone else, she just happens to be a witch. Every Saturday, not far from where Katie lived, there was a market. Farmers came into town and set up their stalls in a car park. They sold the tastiest apples, the freshest eggs, and all sorts of vegetables that still had the mud from the fields on them. Katie liked to go there with her mum who looked for unusual herbs like sorrel, angelica and coltsfoot.

Hello, this is Natasha, and I’m here with a story about Katie, who is an ordinary girl, but there is just one thing that is rather unusual about her. She’s a witch and she can do magic tricks. Katie’s Grandmother had all sorts of beautiful, but rather old fashioned, magical things. Many of them weren’t so useful these days, because science has caught up with magic in so many ways. For instance, before electric kettles were invented, witches had magic cauldrons that boiled the water without any need to put them on the fire.

It was summer. The school year had almost come to an end, and everyone was looking forward to the long holidays. In fact, everyone would have been really, really happy, except for one thing. Before the holidays, they had to do exams. And nobody likes to do exams, unless they are the swottiest of swots. And Katie didn’t think that exams were at all nice. No matter how good you are at magic, you still have to remember things for yourself.

At the dawn of time, Susano-o, the spirit of the sea and storms, was making ready to leave heaven and to gush down to Earth. His sister, the far-shining Sun Goddess, said, “Oh, impetuous brother of mine. Before you go, let us exchange tokens of our love and affection for one another.” Susano-o bowed to his sister, drew his sword from his side, and presented it to her. She accepted the gift, and then chewed off pieces of the metal blade in her mouth, before spitting them out.

Animals of the woods, listen to the Manifesto of Peace. No animal shall eat another. This is Richard, and I’m here with a fable by Aesop, that Bertie has brought up to date for Storynory. Mr. Fox was strolling through the woods when he noticed a plump hen sitting on the branch of a tree. “Ah,” he said to himself. “Lunch.” But he did not say that aloud. No, he was far too cunning to show what he was really thinking. Instead, he said, “Good day to you, my lovely lady. May the angel of peace be upon you.