Welcome to Story Quest, a weekly podcast where we bring your stories to life!
In this episode we bring Herbie’s story, The Eight Christmas Elves – to life.
If you have a story idea, you could be like Issac and have it turned into a Story Quest. All you have to do is send us your story idea here. We know you have the best imaginations and together we can create the most brilliant stories!
That’s just what Herbie did. You can watch the story they suggested come to life below, plus they tell us all about the inspiration behind the story at the end.
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Read along to The Eight Christmas Elves
You can read along to the story while you listen. Just follow the text below. Don’t worry if you find a word tricky – you can pause the video
âI HATE SANTA!â was heard echoed across the snow-covered mountains of Lapland!
âwow someoneâs in a bad mood⌠I wonder whatâs heâs done nowâŚâ chuckled Mrs Claus as she raced out of her cottage towards the factory where the elves were busy preparing the Christmas presents.
As she opened the huge golden door of the warehouse she saw all the elves huddled by the noticeboard in the elf staffroom!
âWhatâs wrong now?! You canât go screaming you hate Santa for the whole world to hearâŚâ
But as she pushed her way through the huge crowd of tiny elves she saw what had been pinned to the noticeboard right in the centre.
On a scrap piece of wrapping paper in the biggest red letters read the words,
âReindeer are on strike! Christmas is CANCELLED!â
This canât be good, Mrs Claus thoughtâŚ
Itâs less than a week till Christmas, itâs not the time for anything to go wrongâŚ
Below the notice was pinned a longer piece of wrapping paper, this time with a list of demands scrawled in crayon, hardly even readable!
One of the elves started trying to read out the demands
âNumber 1âŚWe demand⌠equal pay to our elf⌠colleagues!â
The crowd burst into laughter! âColleagues⌠we donât like those delivery boysâ They all chuckled.
âNumber 2, We refuse to be replaced⌠by robots or drones that carry presents to children!â
âpff theyâre just winingâ came a cry from the back of the huddle!
âNumber 3, We demand regular breaks⌠with lots of⌠carrots while delivering!â
âAnd weâd like more biscuits but you donât see us complainingâ he shouted again.
âNumber 4, We demand new harnesses with shiny bells and⌠gold GOLD lining⌠HAHâ Even the elf himself couldnât stop himself laughingâŚ
âthey got a new harness last yearâŚâ another elf shouted.
By this point the whole group were getting very rowdy.
âAnd finally number 5, We demand Santa to start doing exercise EXERCISE! and lose weight so we can carry his sleigh more easily!â
Mrs Claus gasped! âHow dare they be so rudeâ she whispered under her breath.
But no one heard over the laughter filling the warehouse!
Mrs Claus knew she had to do something. She slowly backed away from the group, towards the door, hoping to sneak out without anyone noticingâŚ
As she turned to grab the shiny brass door knob she felt a tug on the hem of her dress.
âMrs Claus?â said the tiny elf.
She looked down, it was Rodney, one of the newest elves to join the factory. He was in charge of cleaning out the reindeerâs stable.
âMrs Claus⌠I have a plan to save Christmas!â
âOh do you now? âMrs Claus replied sarcastically⌠She was very doubtful that Rodney out of ALL of the elves, would have a solutionâŚ
âCome with me Mrs Claus⌠youâll seeâ
Mrs Claus followed Rodney as he ushered her through room after room to the door leading out the very back of the warehouse. He creaked open the door and there stood 7 other tiny elves all kitted out in harnesses, silver bells and antlers, standing in pairs right in front of Santaâs sleighâŚ
âWhat on earth is going on?â laughed Mrs Claus! âAre you telling me you think 8 tiny elves think can pull Santaâs sleigh all the way across the world? Youâre all bonkers!â
âWell, there are 8 of us, just like the eight reindeer⌠why couldnât we?â
Mrs Claus could hear the reindeer in the stables gigglingâŚ
âSee Rodney even the reindeer think youâve kidding yourselvesâ Mrs Claus laughed
âThatâs right!â Shouted one of the reindeer! âDo they think itâs easy carrying the whole worldâs presents, a massive sleigh AND Santa for hours straight! Iâd like to see them try hahahahaâ
âActuallyâŚâ Mrs Claus had an idea
I think this could teach you all a thing or twoâŚ
âYou might be able to do it, but we got to train you up firstâ Mrs Claus said with a twinkle in her eye.
The elves looked so excited!
Mrs Claus took each elf one by one to learn how to do the reindeerâs job.
First up, Dancer and Donner had to show the two elves right by Santaâs sleigh how to attach the sac of presents to the sleigh.
âItâs just a simple knotâ They chuckedâŚ
fiddle, fiddle, fiddle, ta daaaa
Dasher and Donner had created the perfect sturdy knot
But when the elves had a goâŚ. They could not make it tighten and all the presents started tumbling out of the sleigh!
âSeeâ said Mrs Claus⌠âIts not as easy as it looksâ
Up next were Blitzen and Comet, who were in charge of navigation.
âWe are in charge of keeping us on the right route! Making sure we donât miss a single delivery AND all in one night!â Comet said sternly.
âSo if we asked you to find the quickest route from here to Australia, would you be able to take us?â Blitzen said cheekily
The two elves looked at each other in panic then back at Blitzen shaking their heads.
âThought as muchâ Blitzen chucked to Comet
Mrs Claus walked over to Prancer and Dancer with that twinkle in her eye.
âSo what are you two in charge of?â
âWeâre the ones who keep us moving! Weâre called Dancer and Prancer after all! We have to make sure weâre all moving in time together so itâs a smooth journey!â
âWell why donât you try teaching these two elves your moves?â Mrs Claus asked
âOK then, copy us you two⌠5 6 7 8âŚâ And just like that the two reindeer jumped, twisted leap and spun totally and utterly at the same time! It was incredible
The poor elves were totally baffled! They tried to keep up but their arms were flailing, their legs were kicking and they kept bumping into each other. The reindeer thought this was hilarious!
âWell thatâs proved that thenâŚâ Mrs Claus chuckled.
âFinally, Vixen and Cupid, what are your roles in the team?â
She knew how important these two reindeer were! They were in charge of the magic dust that let them all fly!
âUs?â Vixen said, âWeâre at the very front of the sleigh and we have to get us off the ground!â
âWe have to look after the magic dust that means we can actually fly!â Cupid chimed in.
This was the final test. The two little elves were given the magic dust and with a confused look on their faces they sprinkled it over themselves.
AndâŚ
Nothing happened
They looked at each other, confused.
âHow did we do it wrong? Surely its as simple as that, its magic!â
Then all of a sudden the elves let out a massive AAACCCHHHOOOO!
And they few up into the air, across the stables, landing head first into the Christmas tree!
âHAHAHAHA I should have warned youâ Said Cupid.
Mrs Claus took a seat in the sleigh with a huge grin on her face!
âLook at you all! I hope itâs clear now that the reindeer have just as difficult a job as the elves! They just make it look easyâ
âThanks Mrs C.â Dasher called out
âAnd to make sure Christmas isnât cancelled I will have a chat with Santa and make sure your demands are met.â âCarrots, new harness, no robots and equal pay, yes?â
âummm and SantaâŚâ Dancer coughed.
âAh not easy that one, but Iâve been meaning to get him off those mince pies for years, Iâll give it a goâ
They all laughed.
And sure enough, on Christmas day the 8 reindeer were seen flying across the night sky doing a fantastic job delivering all the presents to the boys and girls.
And the eight elves?
Well they were cleaning out the stinky stables with Rodney all⌠night⌠long!
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