The Grumpy

Chameleon

by Daniel and Joshua

Winterstein

This is a story of the far-off forest.

Where the tiger lives, ever-hungry ever-prowling, and the river tidy-fish swims, and  the gibbon monkeys swing through the trees. But this is not a story about monkeys, oh best beloved, but about the grumpy chameleon.

Can you see the chameleons? There are 4.

There were many chameleons in the far-off forest, but you would not know it, for they were so good at hiding. Some would disguise themselves as leaves, and some as sticks, and some as flowers.

"Sorry" said the monkey. The monkey couldn't hold onto a chameleon, and it fell down. It grabbed another branch as it fell. But that was also a chameleon! "Sorry" said the monkey again, and he bounced down through more chameleons -- nothing but chameleons! Until he landed on the ground with a sore bottom.

Once, a monkey swung through the trees, and he grabbed hold of a branch. Except it was not a branch, it was a chameleon.

He guarded the pool selfishly. When another animal came to the pool, he would say:

"Go away! This is my pool!"

But they would see nothing but stones. He'd wait until their back was turned, then zap the visitor with his tongue. When they looked round, all they saw were stones.

So he had the pool to himself, apart from a tidy fish who lived in the pool.

The grumpy chameleon lived by a pool, and he looked like a grey stone.

Until one day a 2nd chameleon came to the pool. He also looked like a stone.

"This is my pool!" said the 1st chameleon. 

"No, it's my pool!" said the 2nd chameleon

"Can't you share the pool?" asked the tidy fish

"My pool! My pool!" said the chameleons.

As they got angrier and angrier, they changed colour.

One became red with yellow spots, and the other became yellow with red stripes.

"My pond! My pond!" they said.

"I think this pool is for everyone" a deep voice growled out across the pool.
It was the ever-hungry tiger, who had come to the pool for a drink. They were scared, because the tiger could see them, now they were yellow and red, and he might eat them up.  
 

"What I'd like is a drink of water and a nap. A quiet nap" said the tiger.

He looked meaningfully at the chameleons.

The chameleons decided (quietly) that perhaps they could share the pool. Soon they became friends.

And now if you go to the pool, you'll get your bottom zapped from 2 directions. And you'll look round, but all you'll see are two stones.
 

The End