Oban's Myths & Legends
Why Jaguars have Spots
By Katie - Aged 9
Minooka - Illinois, USA
A long time ago there lived two jaguars called Sam and Rose. They were just plain old tan colored.
"Why Why WHY!" cried Sam. "I would do anything to look like those leopards with their golden spotted pelts." "Me too," said Rose. So they looked around and thought about what would make great spots.
Meanwhile the clouds turned dark gray and a cold shower of rain came down right where the two jaguars were. "AHH !" screamed Sam. "Stop overacting. It’s just rain," said Rose. "Ohh" said Sam.
The rain poured down and the jaguars were forced to leave and go back to their dens. The rain storm turned into a thunder storm and the lightning came down faster than you could say “Ahh,” and the thunder was louder than the flames of a forest fire!
After a while the storm eased down, but there was mud, mud, MUD everywhere! “Sam," said Rose. "Ya?" said Sam. "Do you remember how the bunny turned brown when it went in the great brown lake?" said Rose. "Great idea! Let’s go!” Exclaimed Sam.
The mud was still everywhere when they were about to step outside. They were not afraid to get muddy, so off they went. The strangest thing happened. Their paws turned brown where their golden fur had been! They had spots on their paws! Then it started raining again, but it rained brown droplets of water! They had brown spots from ear to claw. And that is how the jaguar got its spots! The End!
Why Spiders have Eight Legs
By Alfred - Aged 10
Joliet - Illinois, USA
Once upon a time spiders only had four legs. And their legs were very hairy.
One spider was called Bob. He always worked the hardest and he was the most popular kid in high school. But the school bullies never liked Bob.
Carlos was one of the bullies. He was a big rhino and he hated Bob. Every time he saw Bob he screamed at him. Bob’s mum said “Watch out for yourself, Bob.” And Bob said “Yes, mum!”
One day Carlos stepped on Bob and broke his best leg. Bob couldn’t walk on it. The next day when Carlos saw Bob he didn’t bully him. He acted like a science geek and asked Bob to come into the science room. When Bob came in, Carlos put poison on Bob’s body and his legs.
Bob screamed. His body grew four more legs, so he had eight now.
When Bob came home his mom said “holy moly! What happened to you?” “I don’t know,” said Bob.
The poison had given him a disease, and every spider gets it now.
That’s why spiders have eight legs.
