Story one
These stories have been created for you to listen to and read along. Click the ‘play’ button below. You can also click on any of the images to enlarge them.
Hello, my name is Sebastian but my mum and my friends call me Sassy so you can call me Sassy as well.
I have just had my first birthday. Not sure what a birthday is but I was made a real fuss of and I liked that a lot. I got lots of cuddles and kisses and was given a long orange thing to eat. Didn’t know what to do with it but mum said it was a carrot. I think I like carrots but mum always cuts them up into small bits. I eat those but this long thin thing was different. Anyway if this is what birthdays are all about then I want more.
Thank you for my present - yum!
This is our home.
I have been told that I am a donkey. Not sure about that because I think I am exactly like my mum and my friends. My two friends who live with me are Angela and Bentley. I love Angela. She is my very best friend and she is very beautiful. She has beautiful eyes. Mum says Angela has the best eye make-up and mum should know because she told me she used to put eye make-up on famous faces. I asked mum what is famous and she said that it was someone whom everyone knew. Gee wizz how exciting it would be to meet famous. I get to meet a lot of people who come to my home but I don’t know if famous has been one of them.
Before I came to live with mum and dad, Angela and me lived on a high mountain with lots of others just like us. This is where I first saw Angela and boy was she beautiful. I just couldn’t stop looking at her and then I was allowed to be her friend. Isn’t it great when you can live with your friend. Angela and me did everything together. One day mum and dad arrived on this high mountain to meet us. They made a lot of fuss of Angela and me which was wonderful. Then I was told that Angela and me were going to live with mum and dad. I thought that meant that mum and dad were coming to live on the high mountain with us. But one day Angela and me were put into this thing what moved and made lots of noise. I was told that we were going to a new home. I was sad because I thought that I would not be seeing mum and dad again. But guess what, after a lot of movement and a lot of noise we arrived at a new place and mum and dad were waiting for us. Fantastic.
Our new home has everything that Angela and me could want. We don’t have to share food with others and mum is always cleaning up our poo. I like watching her do that. I play a trick on her. I wait until she has cleaned up all the poo before I do more poo. She then has to come back and clean up again. Isn’t that a fun trick to play.
Angela and I think everyday life is great.
And then Bentley shows up …
Angela and me were having the best time running free in all of the green grassy paddocks, getting brushed, cuddled and kissed every day and having mum all to ourselves then one day this little squirt called Bentley arrived.
Now before Bentley arrived life was bliss. I had Angela, my princess, all to myself and I was the boy king of our kingdom. Bentley just didn’t fit in. He upset everyone. He was pushy, always trying to get all the food and trying to have mum all to himself.
Angela was really cranky at mum for bringing Bentley into our home. She refused to talk or look at mum. She would stand with her back to mum and wouldn’t let mum cuddle her. It was very sad to see mum and Angela not happy.
At first I tried to be the good boy because mum asked me to show Bentley how to behave. Bentley was trying to take Angela away from me. He kept pushing me away, getting in-between Angela and me. Angela got really cranky at Bentley and told him to stop but he wouldn’t.
This had been going on for ages until mum sat down with Bentley and had a really long talk while Angela and I were having dinner one night. After that talk Bentley began to behave a little better. He began by not trying to take all the yummy dinners mum gives us. We all began to eat out of our own bins. He was still trying to take Angela away from me but true love cannot be separated.
By this time I’d had enough. I told mum that I had to stand up for my rights after all I was boy king of our kingdom. I then began to sort things out. I made it very clear to Bentley to watch out because I was there first and he could not have my girl.
The three of us.
Everyone began to find their own place in our home but still Angela would not talk to mum. I knew mum was becoming very sad. One morning mum had a long talk with me and asked me to tell Angela that she was very sorry that she had caused her so much sadness. Mum said that Bentley had come to live with us because he had lost his little girlfriend, whom he had lived with high on the mountain. She had been taken away to live somewhere else. Mum told me that Bentley was sad just like I would be if Angela could not live with me. Mum said Bentley’s heart was hurting. I didn’t know what a heart was but I guess it was very important by the way mum said it. Mum asked for me and Angela to be kind to Bentley and to let him become part of our family.
I did what mum asked and told Angela what mum had said.
The next morning when mum came out to say good morning and give us our breakfast Angela went up to mum and gave her a little cuddle. Mum was so happy. She just held Angela’s head, kissing her and telling her how much she loved her. Mum thanked Angela for forgiving her for bringing Bentley into our lives.
Everyone was happy again.