¿Conoces a Morty?
English short stories
Dear friends, on these pages you will find funny and exciting stories about me and my adventures. Accompany us on our journeys around Ivybridge or the sea, or into the past… The magical ideas of my great uncle Godfrey know no limits and he always finds new locations for us to visit!
¡Aprender inglés es divertido con nosotros!
At the Ivybridge market
At the Ivybridge market
Today Mortimer wants to tell you a story:
Last week Malcolm, Betty and I visited the medieval market. There is always a lot to do and see. You can buy many things such as fish, eggs, cheese, meat, ironmongery, pottery, spices and even real animals such as sheep, pigs or hens.
Malcolm saw something that caught his attention: the blacksmith. He wondered what the blacksmith does and asked Betty and me if we knew. But since neither of us really had an idea, we decided to simply ask the blacksmith himself. No sooner said than done, we walked up to him to ask him about his job. His answer confused all of us a bit: “I make shoes for horses,” the blacksmith said.
Shoes for horses? Well, that sounded more than strange to us. “You mean like making real shoes for horses? I’ve never seen a horse with shoes before…,” Malcolm wondered.
“Well, it’s not exactly making real shoes… it’s a horseshoe made of iron,” the blacksmith explained.
“Ok and how do you get this iron shoe on the horse?” I wondered.
“Let me explain it to you a bit more detailed: First of all I have to trim the hoof with a hoof-knife and prepare it for the shoe. Then, I take a preformed horseshoe and place it into the forge until the iron gets very hot and therefore flexible. This way, I can bend the iron to the right size in order to match the hoof. After bending, I place the shoe into cold water to cool it off. Then, I nail the shoe to the hoof.”
“Oh, that sounds painful,” Malcom said a little worried now.
“Don’t worry! The horse doesn’t feel any pain. The hooves are a bit like fingernails – simply much larger. Therefore, the whole procedure is totally painless for the horse, if you do it right – and I am an expert!” the blacksmith said.
“What is the whole point of it? What are the horseshoes good for?” I wondered.
“Well, if the horse doesn’t wear shoes the hoof will wear itself off more quickly. Horses often travel very long distances and sometimes also carry heavy goods or pull a cart. The shoes simply prevent injuries from the hooves,” the blacksmith explained once more.
“Yes, that makes a lot of sense,” Betty said. “Now we have to go.” We all said good bye to the blacksmith and wished him a good day.
“Maybe I’ll really come back later and get me some horseshoes, too,” Malcolm said quietly. That made Betty and me laugh – can you imagine a dragon wearing horseshoes?!
Morty’s Birthday Party
Morty’s Birthday Party
Everybody at the castle is very excited. It’s Mortimer’s birthday! His family and friends are
preparing a surprise party for Morty. Malcolm the dragon has asked Morty to go and play with
him outside. So Morty’s family and the castle servants can prepare the party in the great hall.
Morty’s mother helps the cook in the kitchen. They are preparing a lot of food for all the guests. They have roast chicken, apple pie, pumpkins and vegetables, salad and freshly baked bread.
Morty’s father and Uncle Godfrey help set the big table for dinner. There will be many guests this evening. Of course Morty’s grandparents will be there and all of his friends from the town of Ivybridge. Rachel and her brother Harry have come from the future. They came with the help of the magic chest. They have brought presents for Mortimer and some things for the party: straws, balloons and Christmas crackers as it’s the first of December and Christmas is not far away.
When Malcolm and Mortimer return from playing, the dragon leads Morty to the great hall. Morty doesn’t know that there is a party waiting for him. He is very surprised when Malcolm opens the big doors and all of Morty’s family and friends shout: “Surprise! Happy birthday, Morty!”
Morty is very happy about his party and even more so because his friends from the future came along too! “Oh, how wonderful! I’m so happy to see you all!” he exclaims.
He is very excited about his presents. He gets a new wooden sword and a shield from his parents for his training as a knight. From Rachel and Harry, he gets a snowsuit and a snowboard. The next morning, after breakfast, he goes outside and tries out his new snowboard.
Happy birthday, Morty!
Uncle Godfrey’s jungle adventure
Uncle Godfrey’s jungle adventure
Hello children, last month I went to Africa to take some photos of wild animals. I tell you, that was very dangerous.
P.S. We have hidden one mistake in the story, can you spot it? You can find the solution under the story.
While I was walking through an African jungle, a poisonous snake nearly bit me.
When I wanted to photograph the bats, a panicked zebra suddenly appeared and knocked me down.
The poor zebra was hunted by a lion. I’m happy that the lion didn’t eat me.
I found some sleeping bats hanging upside down from a branch. In Africa, you also find flying foxes.
When I wanted to photograph the bats, a panicked zebra suddenly appeared and knocked me down.
The poor zebra was hunted by a lion. I’m happy that the lion didn’t eat me.
Then I wanted to photograph some funny monkeys. They were very naughty and played with my equipment.
And then it happened. As I was trying to take the photo my flashlight exploded.
I was black all over. My camera, my hair, my beard and my clothes were burned. And the naughty monkeys laughed at me. That was the end of my photo safari. I had to go home to fix the camera.
Did you find the mistake in Uncle Godfrey’s story?
Here’s a hint: One of the animals in this story does not live in Africa. Do you know which one?
Uncle Godfrey’s Magic Pancake Machine
Uncle Godfrey’s Magic Pancake Machine
One of Morty’s favourite events is Pancake Day. Every year on Shrove Tuesday, people in many countries eat pancakes and so they do in Ivybridge – they eat lots of pancakes. Morty likes his pancakes best with a bit of honey. This year, Uncle Godfrey has a surprise for the people in the Great Hall of Ivybridge Castle: His very own magic pancake machine! It has two frying pans on top and two hands to flip the pancakes. He switches it on and immediately magic dust sparkles in the air. Batter magically fills the frying pans and the machine bakes the pancakes. When the first pancake is done, one arm of the machine flips it up into the air and it lands right on Morty‘s plate. The next pancake is for Malcolm and he catches it with his big mouth while it is still flying. With a broad grin, he happily eats it – yummy!
Uncle Godfrey is very glad that the machine works so well because when he first tested it in his laboratory, it would not stop throwing pancakes in all directions. After ten minutes, the whole laboratory was covered with pancakes and it took Uncle Godfrey a long time to clean up the mess. Betty had to help him get the pancakes off the chandelier and the tall shelves. One pancake had even landed on top of his telescope! He only became aware of it a couple of days later when he wanted to look at the night sky and wondered why the moon had turned to such a yellowish brown colour…
Now Uncle Godfrey is extremely happy. He holds out his plate and the machine flips a freshly baked pancake on it. Then he joins his family and friends at the table and enjoys the hot
and tasty pancake.
Have a very happy Pancake Day!
Morty and the musketeers
Morty and the musketeers
Morty is truly lucky, he can travel into the past and the future and experience things firsthand – he learns a lot more than he would by only reading about it in a history book!
Uncle Godfrey already summoned the Sky Express and packs a couple of multi-coloured bottles on the backseat while mumbling magic spells under his breath. “Those are protective charms, just to be safe in case of an emergency,” he explains to Betty who observes him from up high on a cupboard. “Today we will have a closer look at the musketeers – they lived in dangerous times. But not to worry, we are well protected. The charms can make us invisible or create a protective wall around us.”
Betty flutters down from her perch and lands in front of one of the coloured bottles. She giggles as she sees her own reflection in the bulging glass – she looks very fat! In this moment Morty and Malcolm come through the door and Morty cheers loudly when he sees the Sky Express. “Hooray! We’re going on a trip!” With a huge leap he bounces onto the passenger seat. „Where are we going to?“ Smiling, Uncle Godfrey takes place on the driver’s seat. “We’re flying back to the year 1625, to France. At that time there were no knights around, but instead there were musketeers who were very similar to knights!”
The engine starts and with a loud “poof” the Sky Express vanishes in a colourful cloud of glittering magic dust. While they are traveling through a whirling maelstrom of time and space, Uncle Godfrey tells Morty, Malcolm and Betty of the musketeers.
When the magic swirl dissolves around the Sky Express, our friends are very impressed – they have landed in the inner courtyard of the royal palace! Quickly, Uncle Godfrey opens one of the magic bottles and a blue mist covers the Sky Express before one of the guardmen notices them. “Nobody can see us now.”
Morty, Malcolm and Betty still admire the palace, open-mouthed, as Uncle Godfrey brings up a big chest from the rear end of the Sky-Express. “In here there are clothes for you. Please change so you don’t stand out so much.” Malcolm grins broadly and chuckles – no matter what he wears, a big, green dragon always stands out. Nevertheless he puts on the elegant cape and the fantastic hat with the fluffy feather. “Does that suit me?” he asks his friends and they nod. Morty has finished changing and even Betty is now wearing a tiny hat and a cape. “Well, now you’re looking like real musketeers,” Uncle Godfrey decides. He has swapped his magician‘s coat for the robe of a cardinal. “Follow me!”
When they leave the shelter of the invisbility cloud they sense a strange tingling and Morty giggles. Fortunately no one noticed that four people turned up out of thin air and the friends can examine the king’s court at leisure. They learn many fascinating things and as they return to the Sky Express hours later, they are all quite exhausted but pleased with this adventurous day.
Uncle Godfrey’s Trip to Alaska
Uncle Godfrey’s Trip to Alaska
It’s wintertime but there is no snow. Morty and his friends are very sad because they can’t go sledging or build a snowman. They ask Uncle Godfrey to help them. While being working on a magic snow trick he is telling about the longest sled dog race in Alaska:
This winter I was in Alaska, which is in North America. Winters in Alaska are extremely cold and I had to put on very warm clothes, otherwise I would have frozen to death. However, I visited a famous sled dog race. This annual race is called Iditarod. Many Alaskans and even international competitors took part in the race. From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher covered over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days. The teams often raced through blizzards and the strong winds sometimes caused temperatures of -75 °C. The trail lead them through tundra, forests, over frozen rivers and mountain passes.
There were about 25 checkpoints on the route where the mushers had to sign in and where they could relax. But only 3 rests were obligatory. Airplanes flew the necessary equipment, such as food for mushers and dogs, to each checkpoint. The winner of the race got a lot of money. At the end of the popular sporting event there was a great celebration for all the mushers, helpers and dogs. Of course, there were thousands of spectators, and I was one of them.
At Central Park in New York City you can visit the statue of a famous sled dog. The statue honours about 100 sled dogs and their 20 mushers who were heroes: In 1925, they transported medicine from Nenana to Nome, which is a distance of 1085 km! The dogs raced the route in just 5 days. The medicine arrived just in time to stop a dangerous epidemic.
