The green lizard with red big eyes

In Moscow, near the school where my husband works, we saw this strange animal.

We called it "The green lizard with red big eyes".

A Mosca, vicino alla scuola dove lavora mio marito, abbiamo visto questo strano animale. 

Lo abbiamo chiamato "La lucertola verde con grandi occhi rossi".

C'era una volta una lucertola con il raffreddore. Nessuno aveva mai spiegato alle lucertole l'importanza dello starnuto. La lucertola si accorse che trattenendo gli starnuti vengono gli occhi rossi. Soltanto poi capì che gli sarebbero rimasti enormi. Povera lucertola con gli occhi rossi grandi.

Massimo Ferrari, my husband and teacher

The wolf and the stork | Illustration by Jean Effel

A long, long time ago, the wolf and the stork were friends. One day, the wolf asked the stork to come to his house to eat. When the stork arrived at the wolf’s house, the wolf put two bowls of soup on the table. The wolf ate his bowl of soup so quickly. When he finished, he asked the stork, “Did you like my soup?”

But, the stork was angry because he couldn’t eat the soup. His beak was too long. When the stork went home, he was still hungry. The wolf laughed and laughed. Then, the stork had an idea. He asked the wolf to come to dinner. He filled two tall pitches with good soup. They began to eat. When the stork finished eating, he asked the wolf if he wanted more to eat.

But, the wolf was angry. His mouth was so big that he couldn’t get it into the pitcher. The wolf went home hungry, and the stork laughed and laughed. The wolf and stork have never been friends ever since.