Storynory

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.

A rich woman sat up late carding wool while her children and servants slept. A knock came at the door and a voice said: “Open! Open!” “Who’s there?” said the woman of the house. “I am the witch of the one horn,” came the answer. Against her better judgement, the mistress felt compelled to get up and open the door. A woman entered - but Mary! What a strange woman she was, for a horn grew out of her forehead! She sat down in silence by the fire and began to card thread with violent haste. Eventually she said: “Where are the others?

Once upon a time there was an old man, an old woman, and a little boy. One morning the old woman made some gingerbread in the shape of a man. She added icing for his hair and clothes, and little blobs of dough for his nose and eyes. When she put him in the oven to bake, she said to the little boy, "You watch the gingerbread man while your grandfather and I go out to work in the garden." So the old man and the old woman went out and began to dig potatoes, and left the little boy to tend the oven. And he started to day dream, and didn’t watch it all of the time.

A certain man had a donkey, which had carried the corn sacks to the mill loyally for many a long year; but his strength was going, and he was growing more and more unfit for work. His master began to wonder if it was worth his while by keeping this old donkey much longer. The donkey, seeing that no good wind was blowing, ran away and set out on the road to Bremen. “There,” he thought, “I can surely be a town musician.” When he had walked some distance, he found a dog lying on the road, gasping like one who had run until he was tired.