About
Story Title: Sammy’s Party
Authors: Surya Partap, Rupali, Nayantara, Swapnil Gaikwad
Storytellers: Surya Partap, Rupali, Nayantara, Swapnil Gaikwad
Language: English
Description
Not so long ago when snails had not become extinct from the world, there lived a not so common snail named Sammy. Sammy lived in a cozy and beautiful bungalow whose owners had been living abroad since a long-long time. The only person Sammy had seen in the bungalow was Mr. Wilson, the gardener who used to keep the garden and the bungalow in the absence of his owners.
This had been a good year for Sammy. You know why? He had won the Pune marathon and it called for celebration. It was a month since Sammy had been planning a party for all his friends in the neighbourhood. Considering Sammy was the fastest in the group, a month was just good enough for him to jazz up the venue and also for his friends to make it to the party. And so, the party was on!
However, just two days before the party, Sammy’s world came crashing down when he saw Mr. Wilson returning from his vacation.
Mr. Wilson, a very meticulous and perfectionist gardener, looked at the state of the bungalow and said to himself, “Oh, my god! My garden needs cleaning.” And so began the clean-up mission. Hardly did Mr. Wilson know that his dirty unkempt garden was the venue for Sammy’s grand party.
Next Morning – Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh – and in no time the the entire party venue had been razed down. Sammy was lost. A month’s preparation had gone down the drain. He now needed to find another venue quickly and inform his friends too. Thankfully it is not so difficult for a snail to leave a trail for his friends to follow and the old fountain behind the barn was just perfect for the party. But he knew he couldn’t do it alone. It was time to call for help from his old buddies in the bungalow. Richard-the dog, Felix-the cat, Rio-the parrot and Tim-the tortoise came with their offer to help and in no time, the fountain was ready to host the party.
All the snails, in the best of their shells, arrived at the venue and the party began. You wouldn’t believe the spread – alovera juice, kikuyi shushis, berry burgers, three leaf pizza, minty moonlight – what else could a snail ask for?
It was midnight and also time for Mr. Wilson’s round of the garden. “Where is this sound of crushed leaves coming from?” wondered Mr. Wilson.
Mr. Wilson crawled up behind the barn and guess what he saw? Sammy’s party! And he heard them sing.
We are the snails, we leave lovely trails
We breathe like all and we cry pails
Yo! We are slow but we love to race
The world, so what if we are late?
We crawl at night, we save energy
We have in-built moisturiser, it makes our skin soft and tingly
We carry our homes, we are not fussy
We are fun, we love to party
Hey! We are fun and we love to party
He could not believe his eyes for once. “Those slimy, sluggish, sticky creatures can have such a gala time!” he wondered. “And what I thought of snails earlier. These useless, boring things and such a nuisance to my garden, I never cared for them. As a matter of fact, I used to kill them. I never thought that even snails could have a life like us – full of fun, families and frolic.”
“Maybe I saw, maybe I never tried.”
Then the unthinkable happened. Mr. Wilson wore his large snail shell costume and joined the snail party!
Ajay Dasgupta
On a mission to make stories more accessible to every child. Founder of The Kahani Project and Skills Cafe' (http://www.skills.cafe)
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