A CAPE FOR ALEXANDER

A long, long time ago, in a little village near the sea, a nine-year old boy named Alexander lived happily with his family, his father, mother and sister Roxanne, who was two years younger than him. In those days, they celebrated the end of spring and the beginning of summer with a big party. Alexander asked his mother to make him a beautiful red cape, because everyone in the village wore the most beautiful and colorful clothing they owned. His mother agreed and told him to go for the cloth to make it, “before you go to the shop to buy the cloth” she said, “come here, I have to measure you.” Using her hand she counted: “one, two, three, four, five, and…six, oh my goodness, you have grown so fast. Okay Alexander, go with your sister to the shop and tell Mr. Patrick you need 6 hand spans of red cloth. Tell him I will pay for it tomorrow, because I have to go to the village in the morning.”

Alexander and Roxanne went to the village, when they came into the shop the boy said, “Mr. Patrick, I want 6 hand spans of red cloth, my mother is going to make a cape for me, I need it for the big party next week.” Mr. Patrick was huge, he was 2.10 meters tall and 2 meters wide, his hands were like two big frying pans, he took the cloth and he started counting: “One, tow three,...and six.” He did it very slowly as he couldn’t move very quickly because of his size. He folded the cloth carefully and gave it to Alexander. Roxanne said, “Good bye, have a wonderful afternoon.” She wanted to go home fast because she was a little afraid of the “giant”.

When they came back home, Alexander gave the red cloth to his mother, she had a look at it and said angrily: “What have you bought, Alexander? I told you 6 hand spans and you’ve brought cloth for the whole family.” Alexander said, “Mum, I’ve bought just what you said, six hand spans, no more. Roxanne, am I right?” The girl said “yes, mum, Alexander is right” then a few seconds later their mother realized, “Oh no! It’s not your fault, I should have told you before, my hands are much smaller than Mr. Patrick’s. What a terrible mistake!”

Next day she went to the shop to give Mr. Patrick all the cloth she didn’t use to make the red cape and she paid for the rest she used. Later she went to the Council of the Elderly Men in the village and she told them what had happened. They decided to invent a new way to measure things, THE SAME FOR EVERYONE.

Traducido por Bernabé Pérez

UNA CAPA PARA ALEXANDER

Hace mucho, mucho tiempo, en un pueblecito junto al mar, vivía un niño de nueve años que se llamaba Alexander. Alexander vivía feliz con su familia, tenía una hermana que se llamaba Roxana y que era dos años menor que él. En esos días se celebraba en el pueblo el final de la primavera y el comienza del verano con una gran fiesta, todos los habitantes del pueblo se ponían las mejores ropas que tenían y Alexander pensó que su madre podría hacerle este año una bonita capa roja, fue a buscarla y le comentó su idea, su madre estaba de acuerdo y le dijo que fuera a comprar la tela roja que necesitaba para coser la capa, “antes de que te vayas a la tienda”- le dijo- “ven aquí que voy a medirte” usando su mano , empezó a contar “ uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco y …seis, dios mío, ¿cómo has crecido tan rápido? Muy bien Alexander, ve con tu hermana a la tienda y dile al señor Patrick que necesitas seis palmos de tela roja y que yo se la pagaré mañana que tengo que bajar al pueblo para hacer unos recados”.


Alexander y Roxana se fueron al pueblo llegaron al tienda, entraron y el chico dijo: “ buenas tardes señor Patrick, mi madre me ha dicho que necesita seis palmos de tela roja porque me va a hacer una capa para la fiesta de la semana que viene y que mañana vendrá a pagar la tela” El señor Patrick era enorme, medía por lo menos 2,10 metros y 2 metros de ancho, sus manos eran gigantescas, eran como dos sartenes de las grandes; cogió la tela y lentamente empezó a contar: “ uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco y …seis” lo hizo tan despacio porque parecía que le costaba moverse a causa del gran tamaño que tenía, la verdad es que todo lo hacía muy lentamente, dobló la tela con cuidado y se la dio a Alexander, Roxana dijo “ adiós y buenas tardes” lo dijo con prisa porque en realidad sentía miedo cada vez que entraba el la tienda de aquel “gigante”.

Cuando Alexander y Roxana llegaron a casa entregaron a su madre la tela que tan cuidadosamente había doblado el señor Patrick, su madre la desdobló y miró enfadada a su hijo, “¿pero qué has comprado? Aquí tenemos tela para hacer una capa a cada uno de la familia, te dije que compraras seis sólo palmos no sesenta” Alexander dijo: “mamá he comprado lo que tu me dijiste, ¿verdad que sí Roxana?” Roxana asintió, entonces después de unos segundos de silencio que a Alexander le parecieron horas, su madre se dio cuenta, “claro, tenía que haberlo pensado antes, tú no tienes la culpa, ha sido fallo mío, tenía que haber tenido en cuenta que mis manos son muchísimo más pequeñas que las del señor Patrick, ¡qué tremendo error!

A la mañana siguiente la madre de Alexander bajó al pueblo y pasó por la tienda del señor Patrick, le explicó lo que había sucedido, le devolvió toda la tela que no había utilizado y pagó por el resto, los dos estuvieron riéndose durante largo rato por lo que había sucedido. Más tarde se dirigió a hablar con el Consejo de los Sabios del pueblo y les contó lo que había pasado y el terrible error que había cometido, entre todos decidieron inventar un nuevo sistema de medir las cosas, EL MISMO PARA TODOS.

Autora Raquel Izaguirre

Spider's stories

LITTLE EIGHT SPIDER

ello, I’m a spider, my name is Little Eight.

My body is like the number 8, that’s the reason I have my name: Little Eight.

I have got 8 legs.

I have 4 legs on my right side and 4 on my left side.

Having 8 legs is fantastic; you can do a lot of things with them.

I have a shop, when I’m working I can stand on my 4 back legs and use my 4 front ones to pick the things I need.

I can stand on my 4 right legs and say hello with my 4 left ones, it’s great!!

LITTLE EIGHT SPIDER AND SIXTEEN FEET WORM

Hello, do you remember me? It’s me Little Eight spider, my body is like the number 8 and I have 8 legs too, 4 on my right side and 4 more on my left side.

I have a shop. One day Sixteen Feet worm came to my shop because he had to buy some socks.

Sixteen Feet is very funny, he has got 8 feet each side of his body.

The reason he has a name like this, Sixteen Feet, is because if you add 8 feet one side plus 8 feet on the other side, the total is 16 feet.

When Sixteen Feet is walking down the street he looks like dancing, he moves 8 feet on the right side first and then the 8 ones on the left side.

Sixteen Feet wanted to buy orange socks, but in my shop I haven’t got enough socks in the same colour, so I told him to buy 8 orange socks and 8 yellow socks.

Sixteen Feet thought it wasn’t a good idea, how can he wear 8 socks one colour and 8 different ones? It has no sense; people will laugh at him for sure.

Then I told him: “why don’t you try it? You have nothing to lose” he accepted so he put the socks on and then when he moved, it was really funny because he moved the 8 orange ones on his right side first and the 8 yellow ones on his left side later.

Everybody in the street got surprised, and everybody wanted to wear the socks like Sixteen Feet. Since then wearing socks different colours is in fashion in our village.

Traducido por: Bernabé Pérez