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How the Bear Turned Brown
by A.J.
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a bear named
Bear. He was Yogi Bear’s great great grandfather. If you know
Yogi, he loves to steal picnic baskets, and so did his great great
grandfather Bear.
Once upon a time Bear was in the woods. He saw a candlelight in
the window of a little cabin and thought, "Sweet! I am gonna
score a picnic basket for a snack!" So Bear went into the cabin
and saw his sworn enemies, The Little Caterpillars! But Bear thought,
"I can take them!"
The Caterpillars got flame throwers out and started to shoot, and
one Caterpillar got some gas and poured it all over Bear. WHOOSH!
Bear was a big ball of fire. The Caterpillars yelled, "Let’s
get outta here!" So Bear was left to burn.
In the morning Bear was as crispy as my mom's hamburgers! Bear
took a dip in the Amazon River and little piranas started to nibble
on him. They ate all the crispy stuff off of him. When he got out,
all sore and burnt, he said, "Wow, I am brown!"
And the bear has been brown like that ever since.
Why the Snake Has No Legs
by Nick C.
About two hundred years ago in the middle of a rainy jungle lived
a snake named Brandon. He had short, stubby legs. He participated
in a lot of jungle races and always lost. He whined about it, saying,
"I’m tired of losing!" He got tired of losing races.
He overheard his best friend, Tony the Tiger, talking about a wizard.
He asked his friend, Tony, if he could take him to see a wizard.
He went to the wizard's house and told him he didn’t want any
legs. The wizard said he would take away his legs only if he stopped
whining. So Brandon the snake stopped whining when he lost, and
became a good sport.
The next day Brandon didn't have his short stubby legs. He tried
a race and slithered as fast as he could. He got second place because
he couldn't beat his friend Tony. He started to brag and brag and
brag.
One day the wizard appeared and said he was going to give him one
more chance to stop bragging. Brandon stopped bragging and then
one day Brandon died from old age. Then snakes throughout the jungle
had no legs. They also had to obey the rules of having no legs.
That’s the story of how snakes lived with no legs.
How Chameleons Change Colors
by Jimmy
A long time ago when the world had just begun the creator gave
all animals bright vivid colors, stripes, fur, or feathers... except
the chameleons.
One hot steamy day in the Amazon Rain Forest all the animals huddled
around the lake for water. The chameleon was small so he could squeeze
through and get the first drink. When he looked at the water he
realized that he had no colors! All the other animals did, so he
ran home and asked his dad. His dad said, "I don't know. Ask
your grandpa." So he asked his grandpa and his grandpa said,
"I don't know, but there's only one person that can give us
color and that is the Color God."
So one day the little chameleon snuck out to find the Color God.
He traveled for days and days until he came to a bunch of trees,
and a bird was in one of them. The chameleon asked the bird, "
Do you know where the Color God is?”
The bird said, "He’s behind those trees."
So the chameleon asked the Color God, "Can we have some color?"
And that is how the chameleon now can change his color.
How the Cheetah Got its Spots
by C.J.
Ten million years ago a cheetah lived in the Amazon rainforest.
All the animals laughed at him because he looked plain. No spots
or stripes. He liked the bears' dark, fluffy fur. So he painted
himself stripes. But then it rained and washed it off. He said,
"I want spots." So he decided to go to the creator. But
the creator was 5,000,000,000 miles away. Over mountains and lakes
he had to fight big animals. He decided he would do it.
So when he was going there, he had to run and fight animals, but
he did it. He ran through big, tall, gigantic trees, over the mountains,
swam through the clear blue lakes. He was tired. He ran so much
that now he is so fast.
Then finally one hot, humid afternoon he saw Creator's hill. He
ran with all his might. Then, when he got there, the nice, kind
Creator said, "Why do you want spots?"
The cheetah said, "Because I want to stand out, but still
have my beautiful orange skin and have beautiful brown furry spots."
Creator said, "OK, but only if you run back and be nice to
your animal friends.
Then the cheetah ran through the rainforest. Through the trees,
over the mountains, he ran. He fought the animals. There his animal
friends were. He was kind to them and then magically he had spots.
That's how the cheetah got its spots.
How the White Tiger Got his Stripes
by Mary
Long ago there was a white tiger whose fur looked as bright as
fresh snow. He was very proud of his fur. Yet he wanted something
more, but he didn’t know what.
One day he was wandering around in a hot, steamy, humid jungle
at sunrise, when suddenly he was captured by cave men! The cave
men took him to their cave and locked him in a cage of rocks turned
into metal. After a few hours he got tired of being locked up so
he roared loudly. The cavemen heard this and were furious.
The next day he roared again, this time the cavemen were even more
furious. They whipped him until he had scar marks. That is how the
white tiger got its stripes.
How the Monkey Got its Tail
by Christina
One day a monkey was climbing a tree. He wanted to get his favorite
bananas. Every time he tried, he would fall. So he went to the owl
with the spirit. The spirit owl said that he would have to find
three rainforest butterflies.
The monkey set off to find the butterflies. Each day the monkey
would find one butterfly. At the end of three days he went to the
spirit owl. The owl give him the tail.
From that day on, monkeys have tails.
Why Monkeys Eat Bananas
by Audrey
Once upon a time, a long time ago in the Congo rain forest, on
a sunny humid day, there were two monkeys named Peter and Mary.
They were sitting in a tree sharing a coconut and talking to each
other, having a friendly conversation. Then Peter decided to climb
down the tree and eat the coconut on the ground. Mary got very aggravated
and threw a coconut at his head.
When the coconut hit him, it messed up his vision. He couldn’t
find the coconut, so he went to get another coconut, but took a
banana. From that day on, every time he went to get a coconut, he
got a banana.
That's why monkeys eat bananas.
Why the Snake has No Legs
by Kaitlyn
One sunny day a Boa Constrictor with scaly green skin was sunning
by a steamy stream. When he was done it was time for his daily brag.
All of the animals adored his legs, all six of them!
He was very picky about them and if they were ever lost he would
die, but the animals were becoming annoyed by how much he loved
them. So one night they held a council, unable to see that the snake
was slumbering above.The snake heard them talking and was frightened.
Frightened by what they said, he ran away. While running away he
tripped and fell into some mud. He was stuck! He tried and tried
but he couldn't get out. So with his last ounce of strength, he
CUT off his legs!
When he slithered back all of the animals were happy to see that
he had made the choice himself! He was mad, but he couldn’t
do anything about it.
So from now on snakes have no legs.
How Spiders Got the Ability to Build Webs
by Andy
Six billion years ago in Africa, there was a spider named "Spider."
Spider was as big as my hand. He was black and brown. Every day
Spider went out to catch food. He couldn't catch food with just
his legs.
One night he went up Creator Hill and called for the Creator. The
Creator popped his head through the clouds and said, "What
do you want?"
The spider said, "It's hard to catch food with just my legs.
Could you give me something so that I can catch things better?"
The Creator said, "Let's give you longer legs."
The Creator zapped the longer legs onto Spider. Spider left the
hill and went home to sleep.
Spider woke up the next morning and tried catching flies with his
new legs. It didn't improve. The flies could see him coming. That
night Spider climbed Creator Hill again. He shouted for the Creator.
Once again, the Creator said, "What do you want?"
Spider said, "These longer legs haven’t helped a bit!
Flies can see them coming a mile away! Can you give me something
less noticeable that will also keep the flies from getting away?"
Then the Creator said, "OK, I will give you the knowledge
and materials to build a web. This will not fail."
Spider got what he wanted and went home to sleep. That night he
kept thinking of all the flies he would eat. The next morning he
got up out of bed and started building webs. He made many webs.
Spider caught tons of flies that day. He ate a good meal and climbed
Creator Hill again, and called for the Creator. The Creator asked
Spider what he wanted. Spider said, "I don't want anything.
I just wanted to thank you for the wonderful gift." He climbed
back down the hill and lived happily ever after, eating flies.
And that's how spiders got the ability to build webs.
Why do Monkeys Climb Trees
by Allyssa
Once upon a time there was a leopard and two monkeys. There was
also a royal king. The royal king had special powers. If somebody
wanted a certain power, he would lend the powers they wanted.
One day there was a pepper-eating contest between the monkeys and
the leopard. At first the animals thought it was a pile or dirt.
The king told the animals what the pile was. The time limit was
twenty minutes. The contest began. The monkeys were in the lead.
The contest was over and the monkeys won the pepper-eating contest.
The next day came and there was a bug-eating contest. The king
participated in the contest, too. They each had to go find a certain
number of bugs. The king was the first to bring back the most bugs.
The monkeys were second, then the leopard. The monkeys were the
winners of the contest again. Because the leopard lost, he was angry
at the monkeys for winning. The leopard chased the monkeys up the
tree. That’s why monkeys climb trees. |
