In my uncle's house

One day I went to my uncle's house.
My sister went with me.
"Hello, Tariq!" my uncle said to me.
"Hello, Alila!" my uncle said to my sister.
"Hello, Uncle!" we answered together.

My uncle is a tall man.
He has big brown eyes,
He has a beard, and a moustache,
He has a friendly smile.
"Come into the sitting room," he said.

We went into the sitting room.
We saw a carpet on the floor.
It was an old carpet.

"Look at this carpet!" said my uncle.
"Don't you think it's interesting?
It's very old.
I bought it at the market.
It cost me two hundred dollars."

"Two hundred dollars!" we both said.
"For that old thing?"

"Well, it's an interesting old thing," my uncle said.

Alila and I looked at it carefully.
It was interesting.
We could see many things on it.

"Look," said Alila, "There is a bird."

"And here are some trees," I said.

"And I can see some flowers," said Alila.

"But what's this?" I asked.

"It's a fountain," said my uncle.
"It has water coming out of it."

"Oh, a fountain," I said.

"I must go out to the shop," said my uncle.
"I will come back in ten minutes.
Why don't you sit on the carpet
and count the birds and flowers."

"All right, Uncle," we said.

Uncle went out of the room.
Alila and I sat down on the carpet.
Alila began to count birds -
"One, two, three, four, five . . "
I looked at the fountain.


The angry old man

Was that really water I could see?
I looked and looked.
The water came out of the fountain.
It went high into the air.
It fell back down, and splashed into a pool.
It was beautiful.

I looked into the pool.
I could see something in the water.
Oh, fish! Lovely fish!
Gold and silver, red and black.
The pool was full of fish.

"Get away from that pool!" someone shouted.

I looked round.
Where was I?
The carpet had gone.
Alila had gone.
Uncle's sitting room had gone.
Uncle's house had gone!

I was in a large garden.
An angry old man was in the garden, too.
He was hurrying towards me.
"Get away from that pool!" he shouted again.

I thought I knew the old man.
He looked like my uncle's gardener.

The old man took hold of my arm.
"What do you think you are doing here?" he asked.
"Don't you know where you are?"

"I am in my uncle's house," I said.
"At least, I was just now."

"Uncle? What uncle?" the old man shouted.
"This garden belongs to the Prince:
the Great Prince Sala of Azra Kadam.
He never lets boys in here.
You come with me, now! I shall take you to him."

I was quite frightened.
"What have I done?" I asked.
"I was just looking at a carpet
in my uncle's house."

"Uncle? Carpet?" said the gardener;
and he pulled my arm very hard.

A tiger in the garden

"What's this, gardener?" said a voice I knew.

I looked up. It was my uncle.
My sister was with him.

"Oh, hello Uncle," I said.
"Hello Alila."

"How dare you call me 'uncle',"
my uncle shouted angrily.
"I am the Great Prince Sala of Azra Kadam!"

I was quite surprised.
I looked at Alila.
She did not look at me.
She was too busy counting birds.

"Oh dear," I thought.
"No one wants to know me here!"

Then Alila screamed!

We all looked round.
An animal was walking across the lawn.

"Just an old cat," said the gardener.

"No, I think it's a rather large sheep," said the Prince.

"But it has black and yellow stripes." I said.
"It must be . . . "

". . . a tiger!" we all shouted together.

Everyone decided to move.

The gardener ran down the path,
and jumped into the pool.

The Prince ran to a tall tree,
and climbed up into it.

Alila ran into the palace.

All the birds in the garden flew into the air.

I did not know which way to go.

The tiger came closer to me.
I stood there, looking at it.

"I don't remember seeing you on that carpet," I said.

The tiger smiled.
"I was hiding behind that bush over there," he said.

That gave me an idea.

"I am hungry," said the tiger.
"You look quite tasty."

"Why don't you go and eat the gardener." I said.
"He's bigger than me.
You'll find him in the pool."

The tiger looked round towards the pool.
"All right," he said. "I'll try the gardener, first.
But don't you go away," he added.
"I might like a snack, later!"

The gardener saw the tiger coming.
He screamed and jumped out of the pool.
He ran across the lawn.
He climbed into a tree beside the prince.

"Help!" shouted the Great Prince.

"Help!" shouted the angry old gardener.

"Help!" shouted Alila from a palace window.


Don't tread on the elephant!

I ran to the other side of the garden.
I ran to the biggest tree.
"If a tiger can hide behind a bush," I thought,
"something bigger might hide behind a tree."

I was right.
Behind the biggest tree
I found a very large elephant.
It let me get on its back.
"Come on, elephant," I said.
"There is something we must do."

We ran out onto the lawn, making a great noise.

The tiger was very surprised.
"I didn't know there was an elephant here," he said.

"I was hiding behind that tree over there,"
the elephant said.

Then we chased that old tiger right out of the garden.

The Prince climbed down. He came to talk to me.
"Thank you, Tariq," he said.

"There," I said. "You do know my name.
You must be my uncle."

Alila came out of the palace.
She began to count the birds again.
"One, two, three, four, five . .
Look!" she said. "There are five birds here."

"Where?" I asked. "Where?"

"Here! They are all together on the lawn
in this part of the carpet."

The carpet?

The garden had changed back into a carpet.
I was in my uncle's house again!

"Hello, children," said my uncle.
"Did you count all the birds and flowers?"

He stepped on to the carpet.

"Mind where you put your foot, Uncle," I said.
"You might tread on an elephant - or a tiger!"

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This text is copyright David Foulds 1997. It may be copied and used completely free of charge by students and teachers for bona-fide learning and teaching purposes. Publishers and others who wish to use this text in materials for sale or for promotional purposes should please contact David Foulds by e-mail at:

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