Fairy tales, Legends, Heroines and Fables – An ode to Year 7 English

Once upon a time there were eighty new girls,

Who found themselves in a wondrous new world.

Dressed in their blue ribbons, ready and able,

They entered the dream world of myths, fairy tales and fables.

They devoured these stories like vegemite toast,

Exploring the genres finding one they liked the most.

As they plundered plotlines and attacked the new jargon

They realised their English lessons were a bit of a bargain.

They discovered that heroes are rarely the bloke

Revising old legends of men with fleece coats.

Championing the princess who faced uphill battles

And pondered moral questions about females as chattels.

Using words as their paintbrush they enchanted new realms

Into parallel dimensions they were never overwhelmed.

There were checklists to stick to like rules of their school,

Ensuring they played by those literary rules.

From inside their minds they discovered new skills,

Gems of language they perfected with classroom drills.

They had delved into their souls and found pots of gold

Stories of monsters and goblins did gracefully unfold.

Now the world of the myth, legend and fable

Have gone the way of a lunch time cheese bagel.

They must switch their brain into a persuasive mode

Learning to manipulate language into a code.

Good bye fairy tale, good bye ancient myth,

The girls must move on already therewith

For term two is here, full of mountains to climb

If only school was like English all the time.

Sky and Jax

Written and illustrated by Emma Gregory, Year 7

(Fable)

In a swamp reserve adjacent to nearby farmland, a group of brown ducks lived harmoniously and peacefully. The swamp provided all the requirements for a good life for the ducks. Each spring saw a new batch of ducklings hatch and grow. Seasons passed and life was good for the ducks.

One of the ducks, Sky, carried scars from a run in with a dog. When she was a young duckling, Sky had been curious as to what lay beyond the swamp and had set out to explore. Not far from the boundary, she had encountered a dog, which had pursued her and grabbed her by the wing before she could take off. Sky had managed to wriggle free from the dog’s jaws, and pecked the dog in the eye, allowing her to escape. The dog incident had left Sky with a mangled wing, which meant that she could no longer fly. Since then, Sky had been quiet, so quiet that the ducks had almost forgotten her existence.

One day a brash, exotic and shiny green duck arrived in the swamp. All the ducks were captivated by the stranger’s exotic plumage and loud personality. The new duck’s name was Jax and he quickly assumed leadership of the ducks. The ducks thought he was the most beautiful, sophisticated and amusing duck they had ever encountered and fell instantly under his spell. Jax spent the days telling stories of his exploits, and admiring his reflection in puddles in the swamp. Under Jax’s leadership, it was party time all the time and the swamp was filled with raucous quacking from dawn to dusk.

A fox family lived not far from the swamp. They had not previously bothered to chase the ducks, as there were chickens to be had with little effort at the nearby farm. However, the nonstop quacking greatly vexed the nocturnal foxes who had been unable to sleep during the day since Jax’s arrival. The foxes, fed up with the endless quacking, turned their attention to the ducks.  Slipping into the swamp each evening, the foxes picked off a duckling or two each night.

The ducks were distraught. ‘Jax, what do we do?’ they cried.  Jax who, truth be told, was not the smartest duck in the world had no idea what to do. Instead of solutions, Jax muttered platitudes about how it was the law of the jungle, and that there would be new ducklings next year. The duckling carnage continued unabated.

Sky realised that the ducks could not rely on their flashy leader if they were to survive. She had an idea. If she could entice the dog that attacked her to follow her to the foxes’ lair, it might chase the foxes away, thus saving the ducks. Her plan was risky.

Early the next morning Sky, flapped her way to the edge of the swamp and slowly made her way on foot to where she had encountered the dog that time. She was terrified as she made her way towards where the dog lived. Memories of the attack flooded her mind. Yet she carried on, knowing that her plan was the only hope to save the ducks.

Cresting a hill, she saw the dog sleeping in the sun outside its kennel in the farmyard. She went closer, approaching from downwind so that the dog would not smell her. When she judged she was close enough, she took a big breath and squawked ‘QUACK’ as loud as she could, then turned and ran. Behind her, she heard the dog jump up and begin to chase after her barking fiercely.  No time to look back she ran, as her life depended upon it, hearing the dog getting closer.

Sky could hear the dog snapping at her heals. A second later, she was pulled back and found herself in the grip of the dog’s powerful jaws. Everything suddenly became blurry and she could hardly breathe. However, in that moment she could imagine all the ducklings that had been killed by the foxes and all those who would be, and knew that she could not give up now. Using the last of her strength, she wriggled around, scratched the dog on its cheek with her beak, and kept on running.

Just as she felt she could run no more, she reached the foxes’ lair, and dodged left. The dog, smelling foxes nearby, stopped. It forgot about Sky and started digging at the entry to the foxes’ lair.  The foxes sprang from another entry to their lair and were chased far away into the distance by the dog, never to return.

The ducks were safe once again. The ducks realised that the flashy newcomer Jax had taken them in by his spell, and that he had been a failure as a leader. He was soon consequently ordered to leave. The ducks also realised that a far smarter and more courageous leader had been living amongst them all along, Sky.

Moral:  The finest feathers do not make the finest bird.