The Story Frieze

 

The Pre-readers and accompanying games are designed to teach children very simple reading skills, to build up a ‘sight vocabulary’ of words they will meet frequently in later books, and to give them the confidence which comes from early success in learning a skill. From Pre-Reader 5 onwards, there is a story theme which can be developed into a fuller story by the teacher. This is where the frieze can be a particularly useful introduction, because it is a story about the Village With Three Corners. The teacher can read the story which follows to the children, unfolding the frieze as she goes along, so that the children see the story told in the pictures on the frieze.

 

 

SOMEWHERE TO BUILD A NEST

 

Once upon a time, there were two jackdaws, (or, if the children don’t know jackdaws, two black birds, called jackdaws). It was a lovely spring morning, and they were looking for somewhere to build a nest.

 

Jackdaws like to build their nests in holes. As the birds flew over the hills and over the fields, they couldn’t see just the right kind of hole to build a nest in, until at last they flew over a river, and looked down and saw a little village below them.

 

It was the Village With Three Corners. The jackdaws saw a white house with a red roof and two red chimneys.

 

They flew down on to the roof, and inspected everything very carefully. The chimney was just the kind of hole they were looking for.

 

They flew off to look for some sticks to build a nest.

 

They were just flying back to the house, when Roger Red-hat ran out of the front door. As soon as he saw the jackdaws fly on to the chimney, carrying sticks, he called out: ‘Come and look! There are some birds building a nest in our chimney!’

 

Mr Red-hat ran out and looked up at the roof. One of the jackdaws was just going down into the chimney with a stick.

 

‘We can’t have that!’ said Mr Red-hat. ‘If those birds block up the chimney with their nest, the smoke from the fire won’t be able to get out.’

 

Mr Red-hat fetched a very long ladder, and climbed up to the roof. He took two pieces of wire-netting with him, and he put one over each chimney.

 

The jackdaws flew away when they saw him, and when they flew back with some more sticks, they found that they couldn’t get into either of the chimneys.

 

They tried to pull the wire-netting off, but Mr Red-hat had fastened it too tight.

 

So after a time they flew off to a house with a blue roof, and began to build their nest in a chimney there.

 

Mr and Mrs Blue-hat and Billy, who lived in the house with the blue roof, were all away shopping in Market Sleeping. (Market Sleeping was the name of the next town.) And when they got back it was dark. By the time Mr Blue-hat got up next morning, and went to light the fire, the jackdaws had finished building their nest.

 

Mr Blue-hat struck a match, and lit the fire. The smoke all streamed up the chimney. But the chimney was blocked by the jackdaws’ nest, so the smoke all poured down again, and out into the room in a great, thick, blue cloud.

 

‘Stop it! Stop it!’ cried Mrs Blue-hat, coughing and choking.

 

Mr Blue-hat staggered across to the window and flung it open. Then he poured some water on the fire, to put it out. But that only made the smoke worse than ever.

 

Mrs Blue-hat seized a long brush, which she kept for sweeping the chimneys.

 

Billy Blue-hat ran outside, to watch what would happen.

 

Mrs Blue-hat pushed the brush up the chimney as hard as she could, in one big PUSH!

 

The brush shot out of the top of the chimney, carrying the jackdaw and the nest with it.

 

The poor jackdaws were very frightened, and for a time they flew around the house, calling to each other.

 

But then they saw a little white house with a yellow roof. They flew over to it, and began to build their nest all over again in the chimney there.

 

Johnny and Jennifer Yellow-hat, who lived in the little white house, saw the jackdaws building their nest, and they called to their grandmother and grandfather to come and look.

 

Grandmother Yellow-hat shook her head, when she saw what the birds were doing. ‘We can’t have that,’ she said. ‘That nest will block the chimney. But if they don’t nest there, where can they go?’ asked Johnny. ‘I should like to see baby jackdaws,’ said Jennifer.

 

‘We can’t have them nesting in our chimney,’ said Grandfather Yellow-hat. ‘But I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll give them somewhere else to nest instead.’

 

Grandfather Yellow-hat got some wire netting and a big, square flower-pot. He fetched his ladder and climbed up to the roof. (The jackdaws had flown away to look for some more sticks.) Grandfather Yellow-hat put the wire netting over the chimney. Then he fastened the flower-pot to the chimney with a rope.

 

Johnny and Jennifer picked up some sticks, and Grandfather put them in the flower-pot.

 

When the jackdaws flew back to the chimney and found everything ready for them, they were very surprised, and they had a lot to say about it. But in the end, they decided that the flower-pot was just what they needed. And there were a lot of sticks in it, too, which would make a good nest.

 

They built the nest carefully, and Mrs Jackdaw settled down to lay some eggs.

 

One day some weeks later, when summer had come, Johnny and Jennifer were out in the road with Billy and Roger. Jennifer suddenly cried: ‘Look!’

 

They all looked up at the chimney.

 

Four young jackdaws were sitting on the roof of the Yellow-hats’ house, waiting to be fed, and Mr and Mrs Jackdaw were just flying down with something for them to eat.

So the jackdaws stayed in their nest on the yellow roof, until the young ones were ready to fly away. But the fire burnt brightly in the house below, because the chimney could let out the smoke.