Children’s story “BIG MAGIC a story for inquisitive, adventurous minds”

copyright © 2011

Available in print http://firex21.com/detalles.aspx?id=9788415248538 English/Catalan Available in print  http://firex21.com/detalles.aspx?id=9788415248583 English/Spanish

Click here for first half of the story AUDIO in English (in 6 parts):

BM part 1  BM part 2  BM part 3  BM part 4  BM part 5  BM part 6

Anna was a little different.

She didn’t fit in; at least not like everybody else seemed to fit in.

She never felt hot. She never felt cold.

And, perhaps surprisingly, she NEVER said a word.

She lived in a cave inside a mountain, near the sea.

She only went outside at night, to look at the STARS in the sky.

Anna liked to wander along the beach in the moonlight

looking for wonderful things and she often found something

that no one else knew was wonderful.

Six years ago, a treasure hunt produced:

[1] half a ginger biscuit

[2] one shark’s tooth (extra large)

[3] three peppercorns

She mixed them all together, had a good long think, and a sea snail appeared with the hottest temper on earth.

Anna’s ‘hobby’ was thinking.

Every time she thought, as she mixed her treasure, a new creature was born.

Her favourite creation was a fish that she coloured in aquamarine.

She made it from helium gas and a piece of flipper.

The aquamarine fish lived in a special tapestry she had woven

and attached to the ceiling of her cave.

It swam around the tapestry with other sea creatures

and occasionally came to the surface of the water

to let out a high-pitched scream.

To tell you the truth, Anna found it a little scary.

But despite sharing her cave with fish, crustaceans and molluscs,

Anna was lonely (and bored).

She didn’t have any friends and she didn’t like to go near people…

…because they said ‘You’re different’.

REALLY different.

She was twice as TALL as anyone else.

She couldn’t speak.

And her skin was made of paper, with a nice lacquered finish.

All in all, it tended to put people off.

So she went for walks at night on the beach

when most people had gone home,

and if anyone said anything to her, she walked away.

At least that’s what she did until she met Albert.

She heard Albert before she saw him.

He was whistling tunes from musicals like ‘Mamma Mia’,

softly at first, but he grew louder and louder.

Then he burst into song, lit a fire on the beach,

and threw a string of sausages into the flames.

Anna turned to walk away, which was just when everything changed.

Although she never ate anything, she suddenly liked the smell of sausages.

Right at the same time, Albert shouted:

‘Hello! Yes, you! Come and have a sausage, or four. I’ve got millions.’

[Above is the first half of the story]