Shapes - Stories for Children

The hummingbirds and the honeybees couldn't decide who had the rights to harvest from a field of flowers, and fought endlessly over it. When winter came, the flowers withered and no one - neither the hummingbirds nor the honeybees - could harvest from them at all! The two groups quickly realized that sharing is a good thing, and that is exactly what they did the following summer.

There were a pair of noisy ducks who loved to quack, quack, quack! They didn't care that they were disturbing the peace of the neighborhood, they just wanted to have fun! But when they got into some trouble and had to be helped out, they realized the value of being considerate to others.

A thoughtful little kangaroo helped the thirsty old wombat get some water on a hot, dry day. Some time later, when the little kangaroo was nearly exhausted from hopping in all that heat, the wombat repaid the favor of help by creating a pouch for the little kangaroo on her mother's belly. And this, they say, is how the kangaroo got its pouch.

There were four friends in the forest who did not quite get along with each other. After one particularly bad argument, the bear morosely left the others, while the remaining three split up and refused to talk to each other. But when winter came, they found themselves all lonely and freezing. So the three friends set off to find Bear, and they all gathered together in a warm, forgiving bear hug.

Once there was a boastful tortoise who lived by a pond. He was always belittling his other friends. When two flashy egrets came to the pond, he made fast friends with them. But when a drought came the egrets wanted to leave. Tortoise persuaded them to take them with him by letting him cling to a twig with his mouth, but when he opened his mouth to boast of flying he fell and got left behind.