First you must learn to count

Rory's Stories
First you must learn to count in a small amount

One day I went with my family to play in the park.
It was in the daytime and not at nighttime when it is dark.
The park is located in a small town named Stephenville,
In the province of Labrador and Newfoundland,
In the beautiful Canadian Nation,
Where learning provides every Gnomette and Gnome inspiration

As we wobbled along my family and
I met a dwarf man who was easy to understand.
He said this to everybody including me
“Hi, my name is Joe Gnomian, a real happy Stephenville citizen.
I am a boy dwarf known as a Gnome.
You are at learning station number one. Did you know?
My shirt is yellow. The same colour as the sun.
Oh yeah! Ritaette is a lovely Gnomette.”

We continued to walk along my family and I heard a voice humming a nice song.
Then suddenly she spoke to my family, saying,
“Hello. I am Ritaette. A girl dwarf called a Gnomette.
Now you are at learning station number two.
It is good to know our sky’s colour is blue.”
Ritaette is secretly saying she loves Joe the Gnome too.

Our tribe strolled down the path a little further
With my best friends including my father,
I just happened to see another dwarf that started speaking directly to me.
He said, “Good morning and greetings.
In every forest, baby trees grow from seedlings.
My name is Billy. Now you are visiting me at learning station number three.
You should also know, green is the colour of a sharp prickly,
Not tickly leaves of a pine tree.”

When everyone finished hiking through the trees my mother asked,
“Can everybody feel a nice cool breeze?”
Then we approached Joycette, another nature loving Gnomette.
Tee hee hee hee!
She is saying, “I hope today you also get a chance to see the sea.
Welcome to station number four.
In the ocean when white capped wave’s splash up against rocks on the shore,
It sounds like a loud roar.

We followed the path once again into the trees walking and talking.
I knew my sister was thinking about jogging.
Suddenly, we saw another male dwarf who said quickly,
“Hello my name is Peter Gnomian and you just did arrive
To my learning station number five.
In some trees working bees collect honey for their gray home called a beehive.”

So my brother and I gave each other a high five,
Then we walked at a fast pace to our next resting place.
I waved to a Gnomette who said, “Greetings, I am Saraette.
My hair is black and that is no secret.
Everyone is now at learning station six.
Did you know?
When branches fall down from the trees they become sticks?”

After our short break my family once again had lots of energy.
We were all having fun learning curiously.
As our group moved along the footpath a little bit farther we met Kevin,
Then he said, “Hi. Now you are all at learning station number seven.
The colour brown is often found in the forest dirt, which is also called ground.”

My dad proceeded on singing a song.
It sounded like this; I owe, I owe. So off to work I must go.
My mom quickly said, “Oh! Oh! What did you secretly buy you great guy?”
He swiftly did reply’ “Why a new car so we can travel on this island really far.”
Then we approached Bevette. She was a really happy flower picking Gnomette.
She said, “Hello. Quite mellow, and I know and think
That I love this flower’s colour which is pink.
Oh yeah! We are at station number eight.
I realized walking is good exercise that makes my husband Randy feel great.”

My family started picking up the pace so I looked at the time.
Then we saw a friend of mine.
He proudly and loudly spoke saying, “How are all of you? My name is Hermine.
You have now reached my location, station number nine.
My wife the spice of my life,
Loves strolling and talking with me and we both love to see
Wild purple flowers that blossom in the summer after spring showers.”

We continued to hike and our dad said, “I think it is time for lunch.
Because! We all need food to be a healthy and positive bunch.”
Then I saw my sister’s friend Tammyette. She is a red haired Gnomette.
Who quickly and swiftly mentioned,
“This is learning station number ten, my friend.
I hope everybody enjoyed learning on our Dwarves nature trail.
Did anyone notice any wildlife like birds, chipmunks or even the odd little snail?”

My mom gave Tammyette a nice smile, saying, “I like your style.
Would you like to come to our house for dinner?
It is good to teach dwarfs new things that makes you a winner.
So we all did roam back to our home for lunch.
We ate nutritious food discussing the numbers,
Colours and comparisons to nature that made us all a happy bunch.
The end! Thank you and each and every one of you is my friend.

Copyright 2004 Rory Gaudon
Written by Rory Gaudon
Published in Calgary Street Talk Newspaper June and July 1999
Rewrite published in Street Feat Newspaper,
Halifax, Nova Scotia October 2004

Sean’s Wisdom about the
Irish Kingdom

Hello, I’m Sean the Leprechaun. I was born in Ireland and raised in its capital city called Dublin in the province of Leinster.

Did you know my kinfolk called the Leprechauns’ were once called the wee one’s and they say were no bigger than the size of a humans thumbs’.

Everybody should also beware of the other wee ones; called the fairies, they live in both Northern and Southern Ireland and are always up to their shenanigans, why they’ll even try to steal your lucky charms.

There is also another clan that lives on Emerald Isle, called the Banshees with horrible, ear piercing screams that will even haunt you in your dreams. The Banshees sang about the coming of death for the five powerful clans The O’Malley’s, O’Grady’s O’Conner’s, O’Rielly’s and Kavanah’s. They live in all 4 provinces in Ireland. Our 4 provincial territories are called Connaught, Munster, Leinster and Ulster.

In 1937 our constitution voted and we officially changed the name of Erin’s land to Ireland and adopted the tricolor flag to represent our beautiful country. Now our Irish Flag has three colors. Green represents a clan that lived in the north; Orange represents a tribe from the south, because these two groups always fought. The Law abiding citizens added white to the center of the flag as a symbol of hope for peace. Now Ireland has changed for the better."

Now Ireland has changed for the better. We have magnificent festivals, with traditional pipers, fiddlers and harpist.

Including singers and dancers.

I am so proud of all the Irish citizens they are extremely competitive and love playing, sports of sorts like football, hurling and darts.

A favorite meal of the Irish is corn beef and cabbage and I know if a Leprechaun does not get his treat, they say he’ll go a little bit savage

All Leprechauns are famous for being shoe cobblers. Even I use to fix the little ferries, boots and shoes, so they could dance the night away. After each job was done, they would pay us with gold coins.

It didn’t take us Leprechauns long, to save enough shillings, to have a pot of gold and so the story is told, that if you catch the Leprechaun, at the end of the rainbow, he will lead you to his pot of gold, but if you take your eyes off of him or blink he’ll disappear in a wink.

Written by Rory Gaudon, revisions in 2009/2011