Barking Worms

One night, on a farm near Flagstone Creek, the branches of a tall gum tree stirred.

Down on the ground a silly chicken was still awake, scratching in the ground for one last worm and going 'Broaak, broaak, broaak.'

 cc licensed ( BY NC SD ) flickr photo by ~Squil~:
http://flickr.com/photos/mwhitehead/4420948629/

Connor looked up at the tree and back down at the chicken and said, "Go to sleep you silly chicken. There are owls around. I can hear one barking."

 At that moment, on silent wings, a Barking Owl flew down. The chicken ran squawking into its coop to roost.

The rooster came out and said, "Cock-a-doodle-doo, you silly chicken. Don't you know it's a Barking Owl?"

The Barking Owl said, "Woof, woof. Do you know where there are any grubs around here?"

The chicken said, "Broaak, broaak. I think I saw some worms over there."

So the Owl grabbed some worms in its talons and flew back to its perch in the tree. "Woof, woof. Thank you silly chicken."

The rooster and the chicken perched on their perches as far inside the chicken roost as they could and thanked their lucky feathers that the Barking Owl liked eating the worms.

Connor watched the Barking Owl until it was too dark to see it in amongst the gum tree leaves.

(This story was created by Connor, and Daryll Bellingham
at the Creating Wildlife Adventures in the Fordsdale Hall on Saturday the 28th May, 2010.)