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TEACH READING & WRITING
Reading
PieCorbett’s
portalstoryandthenwriting
yourownwillopenthedoortofantasticaladventures,
andallsortsofliteracyskills...
ELFROAD
Amazed, he opened the door and inside
was a golden apple sitting on a silver plate.
It smelt so sweet and hismouth was so dry
that he picked it up and took a bite. The
glistening apple tasted of sunlight!
At that verymoment, Billy gasped
because he had rememberedwhat he had
been told.
Instantly, he could hear a thousandmocking
voices ringing in his ears like sharp, clanging
bells. Billy shuddered and ran fromthe
echoing sound. Clutching the apple, he dashed
through the dark hall, past the great table
with the tiny people running behind him. Just
in time, he found thewooden door that led
himback to his ownworld.
Amazingly, two very strange things
happened after Billy reached home. First,
Billy planted the apple pips. One grew into
a beautiful treewith blossoms of silver and
apples of gold that glowed like tiny suns. His
mother said that the fruit tasted sweeter
than starlight itself. Second, poor Billy
never saw the door again, even though he
walked up and down Elf Roadmany times. At
school, they said that Billywas always lost
in his daydreams. He dreamed of dark halls,
fantastic feasts and golden cupboards. Sadly,
that other world had disappeared. Well, at
least, Billy never found hisway back…
B
illy had always been curious.
One sunny afternoon, hewas
walking down Elf Roadwhen he
sawan unusual wooden door in
the brickwall. Themetal handle
was shaped like a dragon’smouth. Gently, he
turned it and the door creaked open.
Inside, there was a huge, dark hall.
On an enormous table, someone had set out
a great feast with slices of chicken, bowls
of salad, jars of fruit and plates of sweet
puddings. Hundreds of tiny people were
serving steaming pies, fresh strawberries
like gleaming embers and glasses full of
creamy drinks. They were dressed
in rainbow coloured clothes with scarlet
cloaks, pointed mustard yellow shoes
and crimson caps. Billy tried to talk
to the tiny people but they did not
say a word!
In themiddle of the tablewas a glittering
dragon carved out of ice and in its beak there
was a folded piece of paper.
‘Lookwhere youwish,
but don’t touch a dish.’
So, Billy wandered further into
the hall, walked past a great fireplace and,
at the end, he found a golden cupboard.
PIE CORBETT
is an educationalist and author
