A Year in Tales
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March Animals—The Pelican and the Alligator You might not believe it, but pelicans and alligators get along very well. As with most things, there is a very good reason for this. You see a long, long time ago the pelicans and the alligators made a pact. Both animals still keep to this pact and so long as they do they will get along. In the beginning they were not very close friends. In fact, at first alligators would eat pelicans. The alligators themselves did not have an easy life either. Most of them would drown soon after birth or be swallowed up by some bigger animal that thought they were a small lizard. Even some pelicans would eat them as payback for a lost brother or sister. These were difficult times and everyone ate everyone else right up. But, of course, a lot more pelicans were eaten by the alligators than the other way around. Eventually, both sides started to get a bit tired of the whole thing. ‘There must be a better way of doing things’, they both thought. So they decided to meet up and talk it over. The alligators agreed that they would stop eating the pelicans if they could help them look after their eggs. They were worried that if they kept having so much trouble with their babies soon there might not be any of them left! The pelicans thought the problem through and decided to look after the alligators’ eggs. Being birds, they thought that the safest place to keep eggs was up in a tree. So they agreed to take the alligator eggs up into their nests and keep them safe there. That is what happened and what still happens to this day. If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t see any alligator eggs near a lake it’s probably because you’ve been looking down instead of up. This is also why alligators have long snouts, by the way. When they hatch they don’t know how to get down. So most of the time they end up just falling down. When they hit the ground they hit it so hard that it flattens their snout right out. And that is why alligators and pelicans get along and why alligators have long snouts.
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About the Book
‘A Year in Tales’ is based on, mostly, made up stories that the author told his younger sister, Anya, in order to pass the time as they strolled through the local parks. A friend of the author, who is included in the book as ‘That Funny Little Thing’, suggested that he stretch out these loosely tied tall tales into a full-length book. After some time, and a chance encounter with an illustrator, the end product finally came together. The book is a collection of twelve short stories, one for each month of the year. It is divided into four chapters, mirroring the four seasons. The author includes three different ‘types’ of stories in each season so that there is something for everybody to enjoy. The first, ‘Animals’, is centered on….you guessed it: animals, and is based on observations, real and imaginary, that the author has made on different animals. The second, ‘That Funny Little Thing’, describes a set of instances in the life of the first person who suggested this book needed to be written. Inspired by her child-like sense of wonder, ‘A Year in Tales’ intends to bring out the inner child in everyone who turns its pages. The third, ‘Someone I Know’, is based on people close to the author and their unique personalities. Enjoy!
About the Author
AJ Taylor likes playing outside and letting his imagination run wild. He grew up in Argentina where he made frequent weekend trips to a family farm and was first introduced to the outdoors. Since then he has tried to spend as much time outside as possible. After living in England for a few years he moved to the US and he currently resides in Boulder, CO, which he sees as a very big playground. A staunch believer in staying young at heart, he hopes this book will be enjoyed by children and adults alike.