Instalment One Hundred and One

200 Word Stories for Children
A bird flew into the Opera House
Illustration by Alex Douglas click to embiggen

A bird flew into the Opera House,
to hear the orchestra rehearsing Strauss.

Out of the pit, on to their toes,
sprung the string section using cellos as bows.

Bows became arrows shot into the air,
missing the poor bird’s feathers by a hair.

Up jumped flutes, oboes, clarinets and a bassoon,
they blew and they blew until they did swoon.

The sight of that failure sent the brass section to their homes,
taking with them trumpets, tubas, a flugelhorn and trombones.

“We’re useless,” they muttered, while their hands they did wring,
when in walked the cleaning girl, Melody, who they wouldn’t let sing.

“Don’t be so foul, this in no common fowl,”
“What you have spotted,” she trilled, “Is a spotted barn owl.”

She started to coo, she started to hum,
sprung from her lips, a beautiful song was soon sung.

Hoot, hoot, she sung, hoot, hoot, hoot,
while bird song was added by a girl on the flute.

The orchestra soon realised they had been wrong,
as they and the owl were won over by Melody’s song.

“Please join us,” they cried to the owl and Melody,
“Please joins us and make an opera out of our symphony.”

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