AUTUMN TALES

 

THE DRAGONS

Dragons are romantic and affectionate with their family.

Mothers give bottles to their babies with a lot of love.

Lovers give flowers to their dragons and like to laugh until tears come out of their eyes and fire comes out of their mouths.

Dragons love to play pranks with the gnomes, but the gnomes don't like to play as toys so much.

So sometimes, tired of being mobile kites, they defend themselves with their shield and spear and their judo skills.

When a dragon sees a lady in danger, he rescues her without hesitation and flies her through the sky to safety.

And if the wicked invaders attack them with their fearsome thunderbolts, they drive them off with their catapults into the clouds.

They will do anything to annoy the trolls:

------------------------------------------ they like to attack their unicorns.

------------------------------------------provoke great fires in the forests that some dragon blows out with his wind.

-----------------------------------------destroy walls that are hard for men to build.

Dragons keep large chests of gold coins in a cave under a large volcano.

The snakes help them keep watch in case the ogres come to steal, and when they find out, the ogres run away scared and empty-handed.

 Dragon Mummy is very flirtatious: she uses perfume, creams and nail polish.

 Dragon Dad flies to work, and when he comes home he sits by the fireplace reading the newspaper with his son, who reads storybooks.

And dragons also like to play sports, such as playing football with a fireball or swimming under the sea to watch the fish and look for oysters with pearls inside.

They like to play the guitar when they feel happy.

                               

THE FOREST

Squirrels love to jump from tree to tree. We have a tail that we bend over our heads. Our front paws have toes that we use to pick up nuts, acorns and other fruits and put them in our mouths. We live in tree trunks and are very playful and light.

The head of an owl is shaped like a heart. Our eyes are big, but I can't move them from side to side like you can. I sleep during the day and go hunting at night.

I can stay on a tree branch for a very long time. I eat mice, frogs, lizards....

I am a brown bear and I have a sweet tooth. I like honey so much that I don't mind the painful stings of bees when I break a hive with my claws.  When the first snow falls, I go into a cave and sleep on a bed of leaves for six months.

I am a deer and when I grow up like my dad I will have long horns and strong hooves. We deer live in herds and eat stalks, grasses, leaves... We live in the forest and thanks to our long, strong legs we can run away from hunters.

The wolves are the best mothers in the animal kingdom because we don't separate from our cubs for several weeks. When they grow up, I will continue to take good care of them, bring them food and protect them from hunters. The wolves have a strong jaw, with very sharp fangs.

Hummingbirds are the smallest birds in the world. We have beautiful, brightly colored feathers. We move our wings at high speed. Our beak is thin and we can suck the nectar from flowers with ease.

I am the fox and I am known to be cunning. I live in the forest and sleep on a fallen log. I eat rabbits and from time to time I go to a hen house and take a chicken with me, so the shepherds can't even see me. I am very fast and thanks to that I can escape from my biggest enemy, the dog. 

THE WITCHES

When night falls and we all sleep, the hour of the dreaded witches begins. When they wake up, to see if they are uglier, they look in the mirror and then they fly away on their brooms, not forgetting to take their pet snake with them. On full moon nights they usually travel on their brooms. There are many different types: the most modern ones use hoovers and others use a hang glider. Some witches drive like real monsters, poor bats.

They wear a different dress every night, choose a pair of shoes, and a witch's hat. They decorate their skin with cactus fruits, as if they were polka dots. To finish, they put a little rat in their pocket and go out.

The witches come out of their castles to chase the dragons on stormy nights. They defend themselves by flapping their wings and spitting fire.  Their most faithful allies are the inseparable gnomes, who accompany them in the fight.

The witches' favourite food is live worms with rotten tomato sauce, mouse bones and toad's eyes, all with a lot of salt. They organize big parties and toast with spider juice when they are very young and tender.

 

Little witches love to draw monsters and scare each other.  They feed on scorpions because their witch mums are afraid of being poisoned by the ice-cream makers.  When they go to sleep, they tell them sweet bedtime stories that scare them to death. It's great!

But what they enjoy the most is making their potions. They hide from the sun and weave their plans. Their favourite spells are turning kings into frogs and princesses into spiders.  Sometimes the gnomes put a mirror on them and return the charm.

The incredible Unicorns.

Unicorns are amazing animals. They look like horses but have a beautiful twisted horn on their forehead. They are as beautiful as mermaids and as magical as fairies. Some of them can even fly, but not like birds, because they don't have wings!

Unicorns are all over the world. Most live in forests, but they can also live on the top of a mountain or in the desert.

Some even live under the sea, but if you want to see one of these unicorns, you'll have to travel by submarine...

Unicorns that live in the forest like to eat grass. Some of them decorate their manes with pretty flowers, because they love nature. When it is sunny and warm, they bathe in the cool water of the rivers; other animals like deer also go there to drink.

In the mountains, unicorns are friends with eagles and mountain goats. They go to bed late at night to look at the stars and the moon. They don't like rain at all, so if it rains they take shelter in a cave because they are very afraid of lightning and black clouds.

At the poles, unicorns are very friendly with polar bears. Some unicorns there are as white as milk. If a lot of snow falls, they huddle on the icy ground until it passes. They like to be by the sea, because they can watch the seals and penguins swim, which they find very amusing.

Desert unicorns live surrounded by cacti.  Their best friends are dromedaries and camels. Although it is very hot, they always know where there is an oasis. There they have water to drink and can lie in the shade of a palm tree.  And they are safe from scorpion stings.

In the sea there are also unicorns. They are very similar to seahorses but with a horn. They live among seaweed and have a great time playing hide and seek with fish, crabs and jellyfish. Sometimes they find incredible treasures that were sunk by a pirate ship.

When unicorns do magic, they close their eyes, bow their heads, concentrate hard and their horn starts to light up like a light bulb. There is the sound of bells and the smell of strawberries. Then everyone nearby feels happy. It is a very special moment.

THE AGES OF HISTORY

 

Prehistory began with the appearance of human beings and is the longest period in the past. It is divided into three periods: Palaeolithic, Neolithic and Metal Age.

The first humans were nomadic, and they hunted, fished and gathered plants to survive.

Over the years they discovered agriculture and animal husbandry became sedentary and built houses and villages to live in.

They began to make tools from stones and animal bones.

They also created pottery and learned to work metals.

                                                                       

The Ancient Age began about 5000 years ago, when writing was invented.

The first civilizations emerged: Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.

The Romans conquered the Iberian Peninsula between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC, 

and called it Hispania.

The Romans organized Hispania into provinces. They imposed their customs,

 Roman laws, and the use of Latin, founded cities, and introduced Christianity.

The Middle Ages began with the end of the Roman Empire, in AD 476. C.
The Visigoths, one of the Germanic peoples from northern Europe, invaded Hispania and 
founded a kingdom on the Peninsula.
In the year 711 the Muslims conquered the Visigothic kingdom and created al-Andalus. 
The Christian kingdoms organized to expel them and expand their borders. 
This period was called La Reconquista. 
This period of the Middle Ages ended when the Catholic Monarchs conquered the kingdom of Granada.
During this stage the cities grew and castles and monasteries were built. 
Two artistic styles stood out: Romanesque and Gothic.




The Modern Age began in 1492 with the discovery of
America. This period saw important discoveries and inventions, 
such as the  printing press.



In the 16th and 17th centuries, Spain was ruled by the
Habsburg dynasty. The first kings, Charles I and Philip II, 
created a great empire, which weakened in the 17th century. 


In the 18th century a new dynasty, THE BORBONS, began
to reign.


During this period two artistic styles developed:
RENAISSANCE and BAROQUE.


In Spain it was called the GOLDEN CENTURY because of
its cultural and artistic splendor.


In the 18th century, the ideas of the Enlightenment
arrived in Spain.