Author Archives: Patricia Smith

Stories for Another Day Two children were playing in a big, dark, old house one day when they found something. They were playing with a ball, which you know you should never do inside, but they were playing very quietly, rolling it and not throwing it, because the old lady who lived in the houseContinue reading “The Dragon’s Head Key”

Stories for Another Day If one day you happen to find yourself at the mudflats where the three great rivers meet, and you should happen to hear a low chuckling coming from somewhere near but out of sight, don’t be afraid, for it’s only the fisher cat. He won’t do you any harm at all,Continue reading “The Fisher Cat”

Stories for Another Day Once there was a boy called Jessamy, but that wasn’t his real name. His real name was James, but from the time he was born, his grandmother called him Jessamy and she did it so often and so firmly that in no time everyone thought it was his real name. ButContinue reading “Jane and Jessamy”

Stories for Another Day From the time that Currie was a little girl, what she wanted most of all in the world was to travel and see different places and different people. The best way to do this, she thought, was to go to sea. So she went down to the harbour, where a shipContinue reading “The Captain of the Flying Jenny”

Stories for Another Day In a family of girls, Bry was the only boy, and he felt it very deeply. Through a series of events that there is no need to go into here, Bry had a gold coin, all of his own, to do whatever he wanted with. He kept it with him allContinue reading “Bry’s Dream”

Stories for Another Day Into a small town one day walked a young woman named Liana, whom you may already have heard of in another story. She was very beautiful, with long, wavy, fair hair, long enough for her to sit on if she wanted to. As she walked along, she seemed to be lookingContinue reading “The Walnut and the Toad”

Stories for Another Day Once there were two brothers, Zan and Denny, who loved each other very much. Zan was older than Denny and he looked after him as the best older brothers do. They were both very musical. Denny played the trumpet, but Zan, who liked things a little quieter, was a music teacher.Continue reading “The Last Trumpeter”

Stories for Another Day One hot, sunny day, a black-tailed godwit was bobbing his head in and out of the water near a muddy bank when he saw a fat, curly worm just coming out of its hole in the side of the bank. The godwit gave a flap of his wings and flew upContinue reading “The Hot-Footed Godwit”

Stories for Another Day Because of things that had happened in his early life which you may have heard about, Prince Opie loved water. He loved being in the water and on the water and over the water. His best friend was a giant named Timber, who besides being a carpenter and captain of theContinue reading “The Sailing Prince”

Stories for Another Day In the third kingdom there was a village where everyone who lived there was a giant, and the most ordinary of them all was a giant named Timber. He wasn’t particularly big or strong, and he certainly wasn’t the smartest of the giants – that would be Wezel, who was veryContinue reading “The Ordinary Giant”

Stories for Another Day One morning Mim got up as she usually did, ate her breakfast and cleaned her teeth, and then she made a cheese sandwich. But when she went to the cupboard, there was no mustard. “No mustard!” she cried. “Too bad.” And she went back to bed. Down by the docks, theContinue reading “No Mustard!”

Stories for Another Day When you are used to living in peace and safety, danger and peril are more terrifying than if you have met with difficulties and hardships all your life. This was the case for the people who lived in Rustum’s town, when the Dark Army came. To begin with, it was onlyContinue reading “The Broomstick Army”

Stories for Another Day Once there was a young fisherman named Ross who, like his father and grandfather before him, lived in a cottage by the sea and made his living by fishing. One day he was walking along the shore when he met a young girl as sweet as she was beautiful. They spentContinue reading “The Silver Hairpin”

Stories for Another Day Parfitt, his father, his uncles and aunts, even his grandparents, were sheep farmers. His father, Renown, had the best flock in the country. Their wool was known for its exceptional softness and fineness, and it always brought the highest prices. As soon as Parfitt was tall enough to see over aContinue reading “Parfitt and the Thieving Neighbour”

Stories for Another Day In an ordinary town, there was a shop in a back street with an old, worn sign that said, ‘Antiques’. It was a small, dark shop that most people overlooked, and it didn’t actually sell antiques. It sold things of power. What made them things of power was that they hadContinue reading “Annabelle and the Antique Rose”

Stories for Another Day There was once a man who had one son, but his wife died, so he married again and had six more children. The youngest was a girl that he named Septima. But then his second wife died too. The man could not manage all of these children by himself, so heContinue reading “The Singing Spring”

Stories for Another Day Three travellers came riding with all speed, over mountains and plains, across rivers and through valleys. Long known for their wisdom and their great wealth, they had left their homes to follow a great star that they had seen rising in the East, that told them a new King had beenContinue reading “The Three Travellers”

Stories for Another Day In a group of trees on the edges of a broad wetland there lived a flock of ibises, birds with long legs and even longer beaks in the shape of a reaching hook. Their feathers were a kind of dirty white, with straggling grey and black tail feathers. They were busyContinue reading “The Superior Ibis”

Stories for Another Day There was a carpenter whose name was Bastani, who had a donkey called My that he took very great care of, for reasons that you may have heard about in another story. Bastani was known to everyone as an excellent workman and a hard worker, but as he got older, heContinue reading “The Donkey and the Carpenter’s Wife”

Stories for Another Day Bastani was a carpenter, skilful and honest. He had a donkey that he called My, that he loaded up with his tools whenever he had to travel to another part of the town to work. He loved his work, fixing roofs, repairing doors and furniture, even building new houses and barns.Continue reading “The Carpenter and the Donkey”

Stories for Another Day There was a turtle-master named Gregory who had twelve turtles. He took good care of them, and even trained them to walk in a straight line behind him, in order from largest to smallest. After a lot of practice, they could also make a neat circle with Gregory in the middle.Continue reading “Twelve Turtles and Seven Doors”

Stories for Another Day Sometimes from a broken heart can come great love and self-sacrifice, that can bring about great healing. Garth was married to a sweet, quiet woman named Aila, and they had many happy, healthy children. The two youngest, a boy and a girl, were very close in age. The older child theyContinue reading “The Jealous Wife”

Stories for Another Day Gavin was what his mother would call a fussy eater. He thought spinach tasted like dirt, and there was no way his mother could ever get him to eat fish. “It tastes… fishy,” he would say, and refuse to eat it. When the milk was just beginning to go sour, GavinContinue reading “The Taste of Roses”

Stories for Another Day Rosabel was born blind, but she didn’t know it for many years. She saw with her hands, and with her hearing, and did not know of anything lacking in her, until one day a visitor to the village said, “Oh, look at the poor blind girl!” Rosabel went to her mother,Continue reading “The Blind Harpist”

Stories for Another Day Once there lived a man named Jesper who was a calligrapher. With his pens, he did flowing, beautiful writing on documents and papers, in blue and green and red inks. When people needed special certificates, birth certificates or marriage certificates, or if they needed a sign which they could display inContinue reading “The Calligrapher and the Silver Pen”

Stories for Another Day There was a man who could find anything in the world if he had a forked stick and enough time. People used to pay him to find things for them, like water and buried treasure, but then he lost the stick and that was the end of that. The stick wasContinue reading “The Forked Stick”

Stories for Another Day In those days, the second kingdom was blessed with an excellent king, King Rupe. He took good care of his people and his lands, and he made sure that he kept on good terms with the neighbouring lands. He paid them visits from time to time, and occasionally sent them gifts.Continue reading “The Greedy King”

Stories for Another Day A farmer had two sons. Together they worked on their farm, growing crops and tending the cattle and the chickens and ducks. The farm was very prosperous and all was well, until one day the farmer, Dreck, said to his younger son, Raymond, “When you are out in the fields today,Continue reading “The Unforgiving Father”

Stories for Another Day Spor the enchanter, was in the habit of turning any of his servants who displeased him into pickles. And since he himself had been very lazy when he was a young man learning to be an enchanter, and he had never learned the spell for changing them back into servants, theContinue reading “Spor the Enchanter and the Lazy Pickle”

Stories for Another Day Cody never thought he would be a hero. Even when he was a small boy and he had rescued his mother from a spider by picking it up by one leg and carrying it outside, he was so frightened that the spider shook between his fingers. Still, he was always happyContinue reading “The Dancing Swordsman”

Stories for Another Day Long before Dharab became known as the greatest dragon-slayer in all of the fourteen islands, a terrible blight came upon the country where Dharab lived. One afternoon while Dharab was away on the other side of the mountains, battling a young dragon that was harassing a village, his wife Eva wasContinue reading “Tarn”

Stories for Another Day Once there was a boy who was very, very rude. When he was a baby he was the sweetest little thing, and everyone who saw him smiled and said, “What a darling!” and wanted to kiss him all over. When he was a toddler, just learning to walk, he was soContinue reading “The Rude Boy”

Stories for Another Day Once a boy was playing around in the bushes when he disturbed a snake. The snake leapt up and wrapped itself around his arm. At the very last minute, the boy grabbed hold of the snake’s tail. “I’ve got you!” the boy shouted. “Let go of my arm!” “No, I’ve gotContinue reading “The Boy and the Snake”

Stories for Another Day Just after Bede turned seventeen, her mother said to her, “Bede, now that you’re old enough, I have something extraordinary to show you. It’s this.” She took a piece of dirty, ragged cloth out of her pocket, and laid it in front of Bede. “What is it?” Bede asked, unimpressed. HerContinue reading “Bede and the Fancy Mouse”

Stories for Another Day Once there was a rich nobleman who lived in a great house and had everything his heart could desire. All around him lived poor people in cold, cramped houses with little enough to eat in spite of working hard from dawn till dusk every day, but Valerian never gave any thoughtContinue reading “The Tears of the Moon”