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Once upon a time there was a
huge blue and green dinosaur. His name was Dadalius Dinosaur but
everybody called him Dino.
One day when Dino went for a
walk he saw a little boy and his mother sitting on a bench at the
side of the woods. The boy was holding a lead.
"Hello." said Dino.
"Hello," replied
the boy.
"Good morning."
said his mother.
The boy looked at Dadalius
curiously. He had never seen a real dinosaur before and thought how
fantastic it was to meet one today.
"What are you
called?" the boy asked quickly, curiosity getting the better of
him. "Where did you come from?"
The boys mother pulled on
his sleeve. "Fred, Fred," she said. "Don't ask so many questions?"
"It's alright."
Dino said cheerfully. "I don't mind."
The boy grinned. "See
mum, it's okay. He looks like a nice Dinosaur. Are you a nice
Dinosaur?" He questioned swiftly looking up at Dino."
"You bet. Nicest
Dinosaur in the world."
What's your name then?"
"Dadalius Dinosaur"
But my friends call me Dino. You can call me Dino too if you like."
"Wow that's a great name."
"I'm Fred," the
boy replied. "and this is my mum, he said proudly clutching at
his mother's sleeve.
"Short for Frederic
I'll bet. What a great name."
Fred looked chuffed. Nobody
had ever told him he had a great name before. Fred's mum smiled.
"Where is your
dog?" Dino asked looking directly at the lead that Fred dangled
from his hand.
"Dunno. We're waiting
for him to come back. I threw a stick into the woods and he's not
come back yet."
"How long has he been
gone then?" Dino queried.
Fred looked up at his mum.
"How long mum?"
She didn't looked at her
wristwatch, just fiddled with it with her fingers."About half an
hour," she replied.
"Do you want me to go
into the woods to look for him?" Dino asked realizing that
Fred's mum was blind.
"That would be very
kind." His mother replied quickly. "You see I can't go in
the woods with Fred because I can't see."
"No problem. I'll go
look for him."
"Can I come?" Fred
asked getting off the bench. His mother clutched his arm about to protest.
"No sir!" Dino
said flatly. He looked extremely serious.
"We've only just met
and you don't know me at all. Haven't they told you at school that
you are never to go off with a stranger?"
Fred's cheeks went
pink."Yes, he mumbled. "But ...but you said you are a nice Dinosaur"
"Anybody can say
that." Dino said raising one eyebrow. "Anybody. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Fred
replied faintly.
Fred's mum looked up in the
direction of Dino and smiled. "Thank you." she said.
"Tell you what,"
said Dino I'll go and find your dog then one day when you know me
better and only if your mum says it's okay you and your mum can have
a ride on my back and we'll whizz around the sky. And maybe ... just
maybe, I'll take you to my castle far far away."
"Wow!" Fred
exclaimed. "Can we mum, can we?"
Fred's mum smiled and
without further words being spoken Dino scuttled off into the woods
to look for Fred's dog. After what seemed no more than a minute Dino
came back huffing and puffing.
"Forgot to ask you your
dog's name."
"Jumpy," Fred
replied. "we call him Jumpy."
"Funny name. Why is he
called Jumpy?" Dino asked frowning.
"Because he can jump
really high in the air."
"High as a tree?"
"Higher than a
tree." Fred said.
"My goodness. What an
amazing dog." he said hurrying off back into the woods.
Once in the woods he stood
very very still for a full minute and pricked up his big ears. Then
he heard the faint sound of a dog barking. It sounded as though it
was a long way off in the distance. It was a long way off sure
enough, but not in the distance. Dino's ears moved like radar
antennae until he pinpointed the direction of the sound. His ears
were pointing upwards. Dino looked up high into the trees and there
way up high was a little dog.
"Is your name
Jumpy?" Dino asked in the best friendly voice he could manage so
as not to scare the poor animal. He thought that if he scared him he
might drop straight out of the tree with fright.
Jumpy looked down at the
Dinosaur. He saw Dino and began to tremble.
"No need to be scared.
I'm only a Dinosaur - a friendly one." Dadalius said smiling the
best way he knew how. "Is your name Jumpy?"
Jumpy calmed down a little.
"Woof," he replied, which meant yes to Dino.
"What on earth are you
doing at the top of this tree. Did you jump too high?"
"Woof, woof,"
Jumpy barked. Of course this meant yes, yes.
"Hmmph. Thought as
much." Dino mumbled trying not to giggle. "Well just hold
on tight and I'll get you down. I'm a magic Dinosaur and I can fly so
I'll come up and get you. Just jump onto my back when I fly past okay!"
"Woof," Jumpy replied.
Dino shook his body and huge
transparent wings unfurled from his back. As they stretched out wider
and wider they took on the colours of the rainbow. Dino began to flap
his wings, slowly he rose in the air and before long he was circling
miles and miles high above the forest. Here I come he said to nobody
in particular as he dived towards the forest and Jumpy. He hovered
above the tree Jumpy was stuck in. "Are you ready?"
"Woof." "
When I say jump, jump. Okay?"
"Woof, woof."
"Here I come."
Dino hovered at the side of
Jumpy. "Jump." he commanded.
"Woof." Jumpy
jumped and landed straight on Dino's back.
"Just lie still on my
by back and you'll be fine, okay? We'll be on the ground in a
minute." Jumpy, trembling slightly did as Dino said and he lay
down on the dinosaur's back. Then there was a thump and he bounced up
slightly. "Okay you can get down now," Dino said.
Jumpy stood on all fours.
They were on the ground. Quick as a flash he jumped off Dino's back
and woofed and woofed with pleasure and started licking Dino's toes.
"Okay, okay, stop that
... please...stop ... stop ... it tickles." Dino started
giggling and this set Jumpy off on another fervor of excitement and
more licking until Dino's squeals of laughter could be heard for
miles around. At length Jumpy stopped fussing and Dino stopped
laughing. "Better get back to Fred and his mum don't you think?"
"Woof, woof."
And don't jump so high in future."
"Woof." Jumpy was
wagging his tail and bouncing up and down as high as a Dino's shoulders.
"Yes, no higher than
that or you'll be back up a tree and I don't want to have to get you
down again ... not today anyway!"
"Woof."
Fred was thrilled to see
Jumpy again and scooped him up and hugged and hugged him while his
mum gave Dino a big thank you for being so kind. She stood up and
reached out towards where she though Dino was standing. Dino
understood her blindness, he had a young nephew who was blind and
leaned towards her lowering his head so that it was level with hers.
She reached out and touched him then gave him a big kiss and thanked
him again. Dino went a bit pink and said it was no trouble at all.
At length they all agreed to
meet again on the following Tuesday. Fred's mum said she'd make some
butterfly cakes and some egg and cheese sandwiches and biscuits and
orange juice and they could all have a picnic. Dino thought
this was a great idea but he was a bit worried about eating butterfly
cakes until Fred explained that they weren't made out of butterflies
at all!
THE END FOR NOW
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