The Paper Plane and the Moon
Sam asked for this one at breakfast when he was playing with a paper aeroplane.
Once upon a time, there was a paper aeroplane lying on a table. It was a good paper aeroplane, very well made and very patient, but it dreamed of flying to the moon.
“I've no idea how to get there,” it thought to itself, “but I may as well make a start.” So it launched itself off the table and landed on the floor half way across the room.
It lay there patiently until a little girl came in. “This looks like a good paper aeroplane,” she thought to herself. “I bet it would like to fly to the moon.”
She did not know how to get it to the moon, but she decided to make a start. She wrote “To the moon” on its wings with a pencil and went upstairs to the highest room in the house. She threw it out of the window as hard as she could and it disappeared off down the street.
It came to rest on the pavement. “I'm doing well,” it thought to itself. “I must be getting quite close to the moon now.” It was only a paper aeroplane, so it did not realise just how far away the moon is.
It lay there patiently until some time later when a postman came along and found it. He picked it up and peered closely at the writing on its wings.
“Hmm,” thought the postman, “this looks like a good paper aeroplane, waiting patiently to get to the moon. Maybe I can help.”
The postman knew that most moon rockets were launched from the Space Centre in America. So he wrote “Space Centre, USA” on the plane's wings and dropped it in the bag of post destined for America.
Soon, the paper aeroplane found itself in a real aeroplane with all the other post. Unfortunately, the cargo bay door was not properly closed. Half way across the Atlantic Ocean, the plane flew through some turbulence, which made the post bags tip over. The paper aeroplane fell out through the open gap at the edge of the cargo bay door.
“Oh dear!” it though. “I'm never going to get to the moon now!” But it was a good aeroplane, well-made and patient, and it floated down through the sky all the way to the space centre in America. There it landed on the car park, just next to where an astronaut was getting out of her car. She picked up the paper aeroplane and looked closely at the writing on its wings.
“I bet some kid has made this,” she said to herself. “Well, we're not planning any moon missions at the moment, but I'll see if I can take it up to the space station. That'll get it a little bit closer.”
Sure enough, a few weeks later when the astronaut was preparing to go up to the space station in a rocket, she remembered to put the paper plane in her luggage.
Now, when a rocket reaches the space station, the astronauts have to crawl through a short connecting tunnel. It is quite a tight squeeze, and this time the astronaut's luggage burst open as she struggled through. She picked most of it up, but somehow missed the paper aeroplane.
“Oh, dear!” it though. “I won't reach the moon now, but at least I'm up in space!”
It lay there patiently until it was time for the rocket to leave. As it disconnected from the space station, the paper aeroplane tumbled out of the connecting tunnel and out into open space.
“Wow!” it thought. As it tumbled
over and over, it could see the Earth in one direction and the Moon in the
other. But each time it tumbled, it
seemed that the Earth was a tiny bit smaller, and the Moon was a tiny bit bigger.
“I must be heading towards the moon after all!”
It still did not realise just how far away the moon was, but it was a very patient paper aeroplane and it will get there eventually. Maybe if you look into the sky one night, you'll be able to see how far it has got.
The Boy Who Ate Slowly
Inspired by Sam, who often eats very slowly.
Once upon a time, there was a little boy who ate his dinner very slowly. Sometimes it would take him an hour just to eat the peas on his plate (and there were not very many peas to begin with).
He would talk for a while, then choose a single pea, then carefully push it onto the prongs of his fork, then put it back because it was too wrinkled, then choose a better one, then eventually put it into his mouth, then chew it for a while, then maybe swallow it, maybe not.
His parents would say to him, “If you eat any more slowly, you'll turn to stone!”
But the boy did not listen. He began to eat more and more slowly. Soon it took nearly two hours to eat his peas because, on top of everything else, he had taken to polishing each pea carefully with a napkin and trying it on each prong of his fork to see where it fitted best.
His parents said to him, “We mean it, if you get any slower, the world will come to an end before you finish!”
But he still did not listen.
Instead, he started to day dream while he was chewing each pea. As he was eating his third pea, a strange
thing happened. His mum and dad started
to move faster and faster. He thought
this was a bit strange, but he carried on chewing his peas.
When he got to his fifth pea, he hardly seemed to be able to see his parents at all, just some strange blurry things whizzing around. He could see the clock clearly, but the hands were spinning round faster and faster.
He kept eating his peas, while stranger and stranger things happened around him. First the house started to disappear, crumbling away into dust. He did not mind, because he was still enjoying his peas.
Then a great thick forest began to grow around him. Eventually he finished his peas and looked at what had happened. He could not see any people around him, nor any buildings, nor any sign of his house or parents.
He wondered what had happened and thought about his parents' warnings. He did not seem to have turned to stone, nor had the world ended, but things were definitely not right.
“Maybe,” he thought, “I should eat my peas faster next time.”
He was starting to feel hungry by now, so he looked around. Some of the nearby trees were giant pea plants.
“They must have grown where I dropped peas on the floor and they rolled away,” he said to himself.
He pulled off a few pods and picked out the peas. He ate one, chewing quickly. As he did so, the forest around him started to grow thinner and smaller.
He popped another pea into his mouth (without even bothering to check how wrinkled it was). He chewed quicker. The forest disappeared completely. He ate another, and his house started to reappear around him.
Then, without even stopping to polish them or fit them onto the prongs of his fork, he ate three peas at once. All at once, his house was completely back, and so were his parents. Even the clock seemed to be moving at the right speed.
His parents looked at him, with an empty plate and a mouthful of peas.
“Wow,” they said, “you've finished those peas quickly!”