The Coming of the Unicorn Read Free

until the moon came up and they were still arguing.
    “Well,” said the fox, “seeing you’re being like that, I’ll tell you what to do. They tell me that cats are great singers, and they can sing wonderful songs!” The fox said, “You two cats look up at the moon and start to sing and the one who sings the best song will win the fish. I’ll be the judge. Do you agree to that?”
    Now the old cat, who knew plenty songs because he was very old, thought to himself, I’ll win it and I’ll have it because I know Gaelic songs and I know plenty folk songs and I’ve heard plenty old-fashioned songs around the farm. This young cat’ll never be able to compete with me.
    But the fox said, “Both of you must look up, keep looking at the moon and sing me a song! Then I’ll be the judge.”
    So the two cats, they looked up at the moon and they started to sing, “meow-ow-ow-meow.” And they went on and on for about ten minutes. Meantime Mister Fox had gobbled up the little fish! He went on his way.
    The two cats sat there till their voices got hoarse trying to sing. And then they stopped. They looked round. Gone was the little fish and gone was Mister Fox! Mister Fox went home to hisden and had a good laugh to himself over the trick he had played on the two cats.
    The two cats wandered home tired and weary and very hungry. They cuddled up in straw and went to sleep… and that night the old black cat never told any stories!

The Cobblestone Maker
    Now, boys and girls, I have a lovely story for you. When you walk the streets in big cities there are cobblestones – little stones laid across the streets so that you can walk on them and your feet won’t get wet. There’s many in the big cities, lots in Edinburgh. And these cobblestones are very hard to make, boys and girls; they are made by little people called cobblestone makers. They work in the great big granite mountains, chip away all day long and make all those beautiful cobblestones.
    Now, my story begins a long time ago… for working on a great granite mountain there was a tiny little cobblestone maker. He had a little hammer and a little chisel and would chip away all day long making all those beautiful little cobblestones. And he was so sad. Because whenever he made a little heap of cobblestones someone would come with a horse and cart and take them away, put them on the street. The little cobblestone maker worked all alone.
    He said, “Why am I not a very important person? I work so hard to make stones. And someone comes, takes them away and then they walk on my work!” Oh, the poor little cobblestone maker was very, very sad. He said, “I’m just a poor cobblestone maker. No one ever recognises me and no one appreciates my work.” And every morning before he would start chipping away at the little cobblestones he would look up at the sky and wish that people would look up at him.
    But unknown to him one morning an old wizard was flying home to his home in the mountains and he stopped to rest.The little cobblestone maker never saw him, but he heard the little cobblestone maker saying to himself, “Oh, I wish people wouldn’t walk on my work…”
    And then the old wizard said, “Oh, you want to be important do you, little cobblestone maker? I will make you important, ” and he laughed to himself and flew away. The little cobblestone maker knew nothing of this.
    But next morning when he went to his work, before he started he said yet again, “Oh, I wish I was an important person!” And then there was a great flash and the little cobblestone maker was amazed, for he stood there and felt something heavy on his head. He put his hands up to his head and there on his head was a gold crown . And he looked at his clothes – he had a red cloak trimmed in ermine – and he said, “I am a king! I am a king! Now people will look up at me, now they will worship me, now they will obey me!”
    And he walked through the village. People saw him coming; they bowed and