The Jaguar's Trickery

Thiago and Carlito were twin brothers.  They lived in a small hut in the middle of a forest village with their mother and father.  One day, their family ran out of food, so their father went out to hunt for deer.  The boys were never allowed to go because it was too dangerous.  There were a lot of wild animals and insects that lurked in the forest and some of them even had the power of transformation.  These animals and insects were able to make themselves walk and talk. 

Their father always told them about his hunting trips when he came home.  One time, he told about a jaguar, who failed to catch him, even though jaguars are very fast.  The jaguar had other tricks to use though.  It stood and began talking in a friendly voice to their father. 

"You must be thirsty," the jaguar said.  "Come follow me and I will show you a stream that has the most refreshing water you will have ever tasted.  It is an enchanted stream, which is how all of the forest animals and insects are able to walk and talk.  If you drink from the stream, you will never be hungry again."

Their father was indeed very thirsty, but instead of following the jaguar, he asked, "How do I know you will not eat me before we get to the stream?"


The jaguar said it would go first and leave a trail of paw prints in the dirt for their father to follow.  He could count to 100 before he started to follow the paw prints.  So, Thiago and Carlito's father had counted to 100 and started to follow the paw prints.  When he got to the tenth paw print though, he stopped following and climbed up a tree to see where the jaguar was.  From the top of the tree, he could see the stream and the jaguar walking toward it.  So he quickly climbed down and ran back home.  He had managed to trick the jaguar, but had not caught any food for the family. 

Thiago and Carlito were very smart and after listening to this story, they came up with a plan to get some of the water from the stream, so that their family would never be hungry again.  They each held a small jug and assured their mother and father they would be okay.  Then, they headed into the forest.  Before they got to a point where they might meet the jaguar, they each climbed a tree.  Carlito climbed a tree closer to the path that a lot of hunters and animals went down.  Thiago climbed a tree that was deeper in the forest and hidden among other trees. 

Carlito swung on vines from tree to tree.  Suddenly, the jaguar noticed him.  It stood up and began to talk, just like it had with his father.  The jaguar told Carlito that it could show him the enchanted stream.  Carlito agreed to follow from the tree tops.  The jaguar began to run toward the stream, when Carlito had reached the final tree top before the stream, he stopped and told the jaguar he didn't know how to get down.  While the jaguar was trying to coax him into climbing down, Thiago ran down from a tree on the other side of them and scooped water from the stream into his jug.  As soon as he was safely back on top of the other tree, Carlito pretended to climb down behind the tree he was on.  He hid between some thick leaves on one of the branches and waited for a few minutes.  The jaguar was circling the tree looking for him. 

Suddenly, Thiago called out from the other side.  "Hey, I got the water, thank you Jaguar."  He began swinging from tree to tree.  The jaguar ran over, thinking it was Carlito and began following him from the ground.  Meanwhile, Carlito jumped down and scooped up water from the stream into his jug.  He climbed back up the tree and hurried home.

Thiago led the jaguar deep into the forest, where has father had been working to set up a trap.  The deep hole was hidden underneath a pile of thick leaves.  The jaguar fell into the hole.  Thiago jumped down and ran home with his father, who had been hiding on top of a nearby tree.  When they got home, the whole family drank from the water in the two jugs.  They were never hungry again.

The Golden Frog

Gabriela was a very smart, seven-year old with a great imagination. Her parents were very loving and spoiled her with books, dolls, and board games. She loved playing outdoors though. Especially at a nearby pond, which she was quite certain contained magic. Sometimes she would sneak slices of bread from her kitchen into her small red backpack so that she could feed the ducks that swam around the sunlit water. After they ate the bread, their white feathers always seemed to sparkle. She would also climb the trees near the pond and count the number of times the frogs jumped from lilly pad to lilly pad. She was pretty sure that the frogs were playing some sort of game. She constantly wondered what they would tell her if they could talk. One day after school, she was in the kitchen, writing a letter to put in a bottle, so that she could drop it into the pond. If she received a letter back, she would know that the pond really was magical. In her letter, Gabriela asked three questions. Dear Guardian of the Pond, Please answer these 3 questions: 1. How do the duck's feathers sparkle? 2. What game are the frogs playing? 3. If I drink the water, will I have magic too? Sincerely, Gabriela As she was putting the letter into an empty, plastic bottle, she overheard her parents talking in the next room. "I don't know what we're going to do," she heard her father say. "Things will look up, we have each other," her mother replied. She continued to listen to their conversation and learned that a fire had burnt down the grocery store that her parents owned. The small bodega was her family's only source of income. Even though Gabriela was only seven, she knew that money was important. She called out that she was going outside to play, then quickly ran out the kitchen door, down a dirt path lined by trees, toward the pond. When she got to the pond, she quickly put the plastic bottle into the water and waited for something to happen. She waited for over an hour, but nothing happened. It was starting to get dark, so she ran home. The next day after school, Gabriela grabbed some slices of bread and ran to the pond. As she was crumbling the pieces of bread and feeding the ducks, she looked around for the plastic bottle. It was nowhere to be found. She guessed that the wind must've blown it away. After she was finished with feeding the ducks and watching their feathers sparkle, she climbed the tall, oak tree next to the water. She sat on the branch and watched as the frogs leaped onto the lilly pads. She began counting their jumps, but this time something strange happened. After she said "one" for the first jump, one of the frogs said "star dust." After she said "two" for the second jump, a different frog said "building bridges." Finally, after she said "three" for the third jump, another frog said "drink the water, make a wish." Gabriela beamed with delight. They were answering her questions! She quickly climbed down the tree, cupped her small hands together, and scooped up some of the water from the pond. It tasted so much better than she had thought it would. It tasted like sweet, cherry lemonade. After drinking the water, she yelled across the pond, "I wish for my parents to have enough money to fix the bodega." Then, she grabbed her backpack and ran home. That night, she whispered her wish again before falling asleep. The next morning while the family was eating breakfast, there was a knock on the door. Gabriela's father went to answer it. When he came back, he was holding a small pouch. "That's strange, no one was there, but this was on the doorstep," he said holding up the pouch. Gabriela's mother looked at it cautiously, but eventually took it from him and opened it up. She turned it upsidedown and 12 golden coins spilled onto the table. Gabriela's eyes shone bright. "The pond is magic! The frogs said if I made a wish, it would come true!" Her parents looked at her with surprised expressions. "It's a miracle," her mother whispered. Gabriela's father, however, had other plans. "Go to the pond again after school and wish for more gold coins," he instructed her. She didn't understand why he wanted more, but didn't ask any questions. After school, she went home, grabbed the slices of bread for the ducks and did the same things she had done the day before. The next morning the family received a pouch with twelve more gold coins. Gabriela's father became greedy and instructed her to continue wishing for the gold coins. She wished for gold coins every day, until the tenth day when one of the frogs jumped and said, "stop, before it's too late." She ignored the warning and went about making the wish. The next morning, nothing came. After school, Gabriela went back to the pond, thinking she hadn't said the right words during the wish. When she reached the tall, oak tree, she saw that the pond was all dried up. She fell to her knees and cried. As she cried, something golden reflected off of her tears and created a bright light. She stood up to look for whatever it was. In the middle of the dried up pond, she saw something tiny, golden, and sparkling. She walked over and picked it up. It was a a small, golden frog, the size of a gold coin. She put it in her pocket and as she grew and became older, the golden frog reminded her to always be thankful and never greedy. Greed could consume happiness, just as it had consumed the pond.

The toy maker's pet

The summer that Chen turned nine, he began helping his father cut down and collect bamboo. He lived in a small home with his parents and four younger siblings. In China, there was an abundance of bamboo, and Chen's parents were very good at crafting objects out of it. They made jewelry boxes and small toys. This was how they made a living. This was also how Chen became a toy maker. One day, when Chen was in the rainforest with his father collecting bamboo, he came across a small panda cub. Chen broke off some bamboo leaves from the large stems he had found. He fed them to the panda. He decided to call the panda Jinshu. Every day, he looked forward to going out and collecting the bamboo. He knew he would always see Jinshu waiting for him. Several years went by with Chen taking care of his secret pet, Jinshu. Chen was now an adult and owned his own toy shop. For each toy he made, Chen would carve a tiny bamboo heart and hide it somewhere on or inside the toy. These hearts made the toys special. Sometimes, when a child would play with one, gold coins would suddenly turn up in their backpack for no reason at all. Word spread of Chen's magical toys and soon there was no bamboo left for him to make anymore, so he closed his shop. He spent all of his time in the rainforest taking care of Jinshu. One day, while out in the rainforest, Chen heard a noise. He hid behind a tree and looked around to see what it was. There was a poacher out hunting for pandas. Chen raced over to Jinshu and pulled one of the tiny bamboo hearts from his pocket. He fed it to Jinshu, who became still and quiet. Jinshu also began to shrink and when he had stopped shrinking, he was small enough for a young child to play with. Jinshu had turned into a toy. Chen picked him up and began to walk home. When he was almost there, a little girl stopped him and pointed at the panda with a big smile. Reluctantly, Chen handed Jinshu to her. He knew he was getting old and could no longer take care of him. The little girl was delighted and took very good care of Jinshu. When she grew old, she passed him down to her daughter, then her grandaughter, and so on. At some point, he was given away again. Now, he exists somewhere out in the world and one day when you come across a small toy panda, it might just be Jinshu.

Behind the sakura tree

Andrea was a very curious girl, who still believed at the age of ten, that magic was real. It was the only thing that allowed her to occasionally escape the dark world that was ruled by her stepmother. She would constantly daydream about her real mother and wonder what happened to her. In these dreams, she always saw a cherry blossom tree. She had no idea what it meant and whenever she was close to finding out, her stepmother always somehow managed to interrupt these thoughts with demands. Andrea wasn't able to make friends because she was always trapped in the house, by the stove, cooking from a neverending book of unusual recipes. Andrea's stepmother, Claudette, had appeared out of nowhere one day. She had knocked at the door, selling truffles. Andrea and her mother,Julia, loved chocolate and didn't hesitate to buy two boxes. The boxes were beautiful, round packages wrapped in silver paper. Each had a small card and crystal trinket attached. Julia's card read: THE GIFT OF DANCE. Julia had always dreamed of being a dancer. When she was younger, she had attended a play where women,who were dressed as geishas,seemed to float across the stage waving pretty fans. This card made Julia smile as she reminisced about that childhood dream. She walked happily to her room with the box of truffles where she devoured them within seconds. Andrea's card had read: THE GIFT OF FOOD. Her trinket was a small, crystal acorn. This seemed strange to Andrea at the time, but the chocolate looked decadent and so she had eaten it. Shortly after all of the truffles were gone, she had fallen asleep and her mother had disappeared. Three days later, Andrea's father, Victor, had come home from work with Claudette next to him, exclaiming they were engaged. He had been holding a similar round box. His card had read: THE GIFT OF LOVE. His trinket had been a maple leaf. Andrea constantly recalled these visions in her head. The shiny boxes, the taste of the chocolate, the sparkling trinkets. She wished she could remember what her mother's trinket was. If she knew, she felt like she would be able to find her. She had been acting like a spoiled brat before her mother's disappearance and now she longed to have her back so she could make up for it. She missed having her mother braid her hair and sewing her costumes for school plays. Most of all, she missed collecting acorns from the tree at the park and watching her mother paint tiny scenes around each one. Andrea could tell that her father really missed Julia too. Victor seemed like a prisoner to Claudette's beauty and temper. He sometimes got this far away look in his eyes as though he was entranced within a daydream too. He hadn't been very nice to Julia either. He had met a woman, while walking home from work one day. She was selling flowers and suggested he buy some for his wife. He declined and instead could not stop gushing over how beautiful she was. He went home and continued to talk about how the stranger was so much more beautiful than any woman he had ever known. He had dismissed his wife's tears as signs of envy and took delight in having this sort of power over her feelings. Now, here he was on the opposite end of the spectrum. While Andrea created a pasty looking, green concoction made of rose water, lilly pads, and basil leaves, she wished she hadn't forced her mother to spend extra hours in the kitchen because she had turned down the surprise dinner her mother had spent all day preparing especially for her. It had looked delicious (curried chicken and roasted vegetables), but Andrea had been angry with her mother. She was nine at that time. She was too young and spoiled to have any concept of money or bills. Her mother hadn't been able to afford the ruby ring that she had so desperately wanted. Andrea thought about how childish she'd been and felt disgusted with herself. She hated that small jewelry shop and it's creepy looking owner now. Somehow, she felt like it was their fault her mother was gone. As she was waiting for the stew to finish, Andrea took off the necklace she was wearing and twirled it around in her hands. One of the acorns her mother had painted was dangling from the chain. She carefully inspected the tiny picture. There was a miniature forest, river, geisha, and cherry blossom petal. Suddenly, Andrea jumped up and quickly snuck out the kitchen window. She raced down the street toward the realtor office where her father worked. Meanwhile, in his office, Victor was sitting at his desk holding up the crystal maple leaf. He held it to the window and watched as the prismatic colors filled the room. It reminded him of why he'd become a realtor in the first place. He used to walk with Julia around the park that was nearby. It was filled with maple trees. Julia had loved going there, especially during the Fall. There were houses across the street from the park. They were huge brick houses. He and Julia always discussed what it would be like to live in one of those houses. They imagined what the insides must look like and Victor had taken this job to see if what they imagined was true. He wanted to give Julia one of those houses and felt unworthy of her because he couldn't. This was why he'd been acting so hostile toward her. He knew she was happy just dreaming about the houses, but he couldn't help feeling like he was letting her down. Now he wished he wouldn't have let those insecurities get the better of him. Just then, Andrea ran in. She claimed she had finally figured out what the trinkets meant. They needed to go to the park. Victor grabbed his keys and without questioning his daughter, he drove to the park. As soon as they stepped out of the car, Andrea took off running into the forest, along a trail of maple trees. This was the same place where Victor had proposed to Julia. It had been during the Fall and the ground had been covered in maple leaves. It had been perfect. Now, it was spring and the trees were lush and green. Victor followed his daughter through the woods until they came to a cherry blossom tree. It was strange seeing this beautiful, pink tree at the end of the maple trail. He hadn't even known it was there. Andrea motioned him to follow her and they walked behind the tree toward another small trail. At the end of that trail was a glittering river. There, in the middle of the water, wearing a blue, silk kimono and white makeup, was Julia. They watched in awe as she danced around, delicately waving a golden fan. Her hair was pulled up into a bun and there was a sparkling barrette on the side. Andrea looked carefully and realized it was her mother's trinket. It was a cherry blossom. Tears of happiness streamed down her and her father's cheeks. They ran toward Julia and embraced her. During this embrace, Julia seemed to wake up from some sort of enchanted dream. Together, the three of them walked home. When they got there, there was no sign that Claudette had ever been there.