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Speaker 1: Yo, Hello everyone, and welcome to the Animal Tales podcast,

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where you suggest the animal for us to write a

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story about. My name's Josephine and I've got a brand

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new animal story here just for you. There are now

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over one hundred extra stories on the Animal Tale's premium service.

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Find out how to join in the text that accompanies

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this episode, and remember, for a tiny fee, they're all

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advert free. Stella is from Montreal in Canada, and she

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would like a story with a hog nosed snake, a griffin,

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a puffer fish, and the Lockness Monster. You can learn

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more about these creatures in the Animal Facts after the story.

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Now relax and I'll begin The Snakes and the bean

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stalk Stella Stella jumped at the sound of banging on

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her front door. She had been expecting her friend to

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call round, but Maggie's urgent knocking had surprised her. Closing

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her book, she opened the door to her best friend.

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What's up, Maggie, Stella asked when she opened the door,

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is something wrong? The two hog nosed snakes had been

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inseparable ever since they hatched, spending every Saturday together watching films, baking,

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or reading fairy tales. Maggie was shaking with excitement. It worked,

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she said, last night the beans grew. Do you mean

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the magic beans? Grinned Stella. Maggie nodded. You need to

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see them, she urged. The two snakes had bonded over

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their love of fairy tales. Stella liked stories about magical

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animals and secret places and far away lands. Maggie liked

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stories about huge monsters and magic swords and great battles.

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But Maggie's favorite of all was Jack and the bean Stalk.

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For fun, Stella had given Maggie some magic beans she'd

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found at the market. She didn't really think they were magic.

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The beans just looked the part, but Maggie had planted

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them all the same, watering them every day in the

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hopes that they might grow, and now it appeared they had.

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Stella wasn't expecting much. They had only pretended that the

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beans were magic. And yet, as they rushed to Maggie's house,

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Stella could see the enormous beanstalk disappearing into the sky

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almost immediately. It's humongous, Stella gulped as they gazed up

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at it. The bean stalk had taken root in Maggie's

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garden and was so thick that it was pushing her

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fence and garden furniture to one side. It's perfect, said

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Maggie excitedly. Let's go. Wait, what do you mean? Stella asked,

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you're not suggesting what I think you are, are you?

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Of course, I didn't just want to grow a bean stalk,

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Maggie laughed. I want to climb it, just like the story.

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I want to meet a giant. But giants are dangerous,

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exclaimed Stella, and also really cool. Maggie said. They're huge

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and they live in massive castles in the clouds. Please

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come with me, Stella, I don't want to go on

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my own. Stella didn't really want to meet a giant.

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In stories, they were loud and liked to eat trespassers

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between two pieces of bread. But even so, how often

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did anyone get a chance to climb a giant bean stalk? Ok?

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She smiled, Let's go. Stella tried very hard not to

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look down as they slithered up amongst the tendrils. Already

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Maggie's home looked like a doll's house. In truth, it

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was a relief when they reached the clouds and the

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white fluffiness hid the world from sight. The giant's castle

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must be on top of this cloud, Maggie said with excitement.

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But when the two hog nosed snakes emerged above the cloud,

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there was no castle there, nor a huge giant waiting

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for them. It's empty, said Maggie disappointment. At that moment,

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a dark shape swept overhead, landing on the cloud top

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a short distance away. It was a strange creature, with

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the body of a lion and the head and wings

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of an eagle. It's a griffin, Stella cried. Snakes in

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the sky, said the griffin. How bizarre seeing you up here.

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We're trying to find a giant, Maggie said, as the

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pair of them dared to climb onto the cloud. Are

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there any around here? Not this far down, said the griffin.

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Giants like to live much higher. But your beanstalk looks tall,

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so you might get lucky. Do you live up here,

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Stella asked, No, I'm just meeting some friends, the griffin said,

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a hippogriff, a pegasus, and a wig join me up

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here once a week for a picnic. Would you like

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to join us? A picnic with magical flying animals, grinned Stella.

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That's a dream come true. But what about looking for

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the giant, asked Maggie. Oh okay, you're right, agreed Stella,

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before addressing the griffin, thank you for the invite, but

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we're going to keep climbing. The griffin waved a wing

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in goodbye. As the two hog nosed snakes returned to

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the bean stalk. I can't believe we met a griffin,

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Stella said. How cool was that? But a giant will

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be even cooler, Maggie replied. As they slithered up between

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the vines. It was hard work, and at one point

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they rested on an enormous bean leaf. Stella could see

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even further now, including the village and the river beyond.

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They looked like tiny toy houses down there. We've reached

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another cloud, Maggie called down shortly after they began climbing again.

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Maybe this'll be the one. This time, the top of

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the cloud was very different. They were in a cloud

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top garden. Pretty trees sculpted from wisps of cloud carried

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fluffy leaves overhead, while flowers that looked like snowflakes dotted

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the ground in the center of it all. Was a

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wide pond shimmering like starlight. They both wanted to get

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a closer look, but as they peered over the pond's edge,

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they were surprised to see a pair of eyes gazing

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back at them. It was a yellow puffer fish. Friends,

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smiled the puffer fish happily. How wonderful do puff fish

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usually live up in the sky? Stella asked, Oh, that

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it's a rather embarrassing story. I'm afraid, said the puffer fish.

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Once I wished upon a star to be able to fly,

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and I did. I grew wings and soared through the

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air like a bird. But my wish ran out at midnight,

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and my wings disappeared. Luckily, I fell into this pond.

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But now I'm stuck here. Oh, dear, said Stella, that's

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quite a conundrum. It can be lonely, the puffer fish admitted, Oh,

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though the birds visit me sometimes. Oh, I wish I

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could fly again, so I could return to the ocean.

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But at least I got to see some amazing things,

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like rainbows and cloud mountains and a castle in the sky.

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A castle in the sky, Maggie heated, Where was this

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castle exactly higher than here? The puffer fish said, it

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was so high that I could see the stars. That's

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where we need to go, Maggie beamed, Are you ready, Stella.

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Stella would have preferred to stay awhile. She'd read so

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many stories about secret gardens and now here she was

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standing in one, But Maggie still wanted to find her giant,

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and that's what they had set out to do. After all.

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I hope you find a way to get home soon,

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Stella said to the puffer fish. Thanks for stopping by.

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The fish called after them as they returned to the beanstalk.

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That secret garden was beautiful, Stella puffed. Even after that

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short rest, climbing was tiring work, and hearing about wishing

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upon a star and it coming true was pretty amazing,

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it was, agreed Maggie. But I'm still determined to find

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a giant. We must be close by now. After a while,

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Stella risked another looked down. She could see distant forests

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and far off hills. It was so far down that

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it made her stomach churn. We're at another cloud, Maggie called,

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as they disappeared into fluffiness. Emerging at the top, the

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two hog nosed snakes found themselves before the door step

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to a large log cabin. Surely this can't be a

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giant's castle, said Maggie, doubtfully, castle called a voice, No,

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this is my holiday home. A large reptile like head

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on a long neck was looking around the cabin's corner.

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The two snakes slithered round to find the owner of

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the head, sat in an impressive hot tub. So you

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don't live here all the time, asked Maggie. Oh no,

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laughed the creature. Just when I need a break from

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lock ness. You're NeSSI, the lock Ness Monster, laughed Stella delightedly.

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I would never have dreamed that we'd meet you all

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the way up here. You're welcome to stay, insisted NeSSI.

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There's room in this hot tub for two skinny snakes

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like you. Shall we Maggie asked Stella, But what about

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my giant and the castle in the sky, replied Maggie.

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I think there's a castle on the next cloud up,

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said NeSSI. You're almost there. Yeay, cheered Maggie, turning for

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the bean stalk. Stella, though really wanted to stay. It

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was the lock Ness Monster after all, But Maggie had

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got them climbing this bean stalk for a reason. Thank

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you for the offer, she said to NeSSI, but we'd

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better get going. More climbing to do, and off she went.

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The bean stalk was much thinner now, suggesting that they

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were near the top. Stella could feel it swaying and

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tried desperately not to look down. There's another cloud, Maggie cried, Suddenly,

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it's darker than the others this time. When the hog

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nosed snakes climbed out on top, they were greeted by

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the sight of a ginormous stone castle looming over them.

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It's just what I imagined, Maggie said, happily, wasting no time

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in slithering towards the great stone steps. Stella followed nervously,

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following Maggie through the gap beneath the door. The castle

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truly was massive. The ceilings arched high overhead, the furniture

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was as tall as trees, and some of the rooms

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they saw appeared to stretch on forever. But where's the giant,

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asked Maggie in frustration. They passed doorways and staircases, saw

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a library and a kitchen, and a great hall, but

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the giant was nowhere to be seen. There's nobody, Maggie sighed,

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full of disappointment. It was beginning to look as if

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they'd climbed all that way for nothing, until a thunderous

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voice boomed, Fee five foe fake, I smelled a blood

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of two hog nose snakes. The voice echoed through the castle,

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appearing to come from the top of a mountain. A staircase.

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A humongous shadow appeared on the stairs, accompanied by thudding footsteps.

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I've changed my mind, squeaked Maggie. I don't want to

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meet a giant. The two snakes slithered faster than they'd

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ever slithered, before squeezing back under the door and racing

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for the bean stalk. Down they slid, swirling through the tendrils,

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and never once looking back. They passed the lock Ness

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monster in her hot tub, the puffer fish in his pond,

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And it was only when they reached the gryffin, now

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enjoying the picnic with his friends, that they paused for breath.

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Everything all right, asked the griffin. Can't stop panted, Stella,

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But if you'd be so kind, there's a pufferfish stuck

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on the cloud above you. Is there any chance you

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could give him a lift back to the ocean, is there, really,

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said the startled griffin, I'd been most happy to help. Satisfied,

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Stella and Maggie set off again, and this time they

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didn't stop until they reached the grass in Maggie's garden.

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They lay there for a moment, breathing heavily as they

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enjoyed the feel of the ground beneath them. Beside her.

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Stella could hear Maggie sniffling. Are you crying? Asked Stella,

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worried that their encounter with the giant had ended in disaster.

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We didn't hang around long enough to even see the giant.

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But Maggie wasn't crying at all. She was laughing. But

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wasn't it amazing? Maggie said, We got chaste, just like

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in the story. And what a gigantic castle that was.

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I've never seen a place so big, Stella smiled. As

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Maggie jabbered on and on about their bean stalk adventure. Well,

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one thing's for sure, smiled Stella. I wasn't expecting that

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i'd meet a griffin when I woke up this morning,

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or a puffer fish in the sky, said Maggie, or

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the lock Ness monster in a hot tub, added Stella,

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do you know what we should write this all down?

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Nobody's going to believe us unless we do. And so

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they did, and now you're the first to hear it.

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Animals fat. There are many different species of hog noose snake,

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all named after their upturned snouts that somewhat resemble a pig's.

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As they don't have limbs, they use their strangely shaped

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noses for burrowing. Pufferfish are able to suck in sea

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water to enlarge their bodies. They are also known as balloonfish, blowfish, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, toadfish,

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and sea squabs, amongst many other names. There is no

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evidence that griffins or the Lockness monster have ever existed

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anywhere but in stories. Lockness has been studied and searched

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for decades, but sadly, no monster has ever been found, unless,

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of course, it was taking a break elsewhere in a

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hot tub. Thank you for your suggestion, Stella. We hope

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that you all enjoyed the story. Wherever you're listening in

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the world, don't forget to look at our Animal Tails

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books over on Amazon. Great bedtime reading, especially if you've

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discovered the joy of reading for yourself, make sure you

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join us next time for another great animal tail. Goodbye,