Stanley the Snake Is a Pumpkin

10 pages · 8 min · ages 5+

“Watch this!” said Stanley the snake. “Watch this! Watch this!” said Mango the parrot, who said everything twice. It was Halloween. Tonight, the whole jungle would climb the hill to the Moon Rock in their costumes, to see the big moon come up. And Stanley wanted everybody to look at him and say, “Ooooh.” “Who needs a costume?” said Stanley. “I can be anything!” He curled himself up into a big round ball. He stuck the tip of his tail out of the top, like a stalk. “Ta-da! I'm a pumpkin!” Mango looked at him. Round. Green. Zigzaggy. “Melon!” said Mango. “Melon!”

“Pumpkin,” said Stanley. “A green one. Lola! What am I?” Lola the sloth was hanging upside down from her branch. She was the slowest animal in the whole jungle. She looked at the round green ball. A cloud went by. “Ooh,” said Lola. Another cloud went by. “…Tell me all about it,” said Lola, very slowly. “I'm a PUMPKIN!” said Stanley. But Mango hopped over to see if the melon was ripe. He tapped it with his beak. Tap, tap. That's how you choose a melon in a shop. Nobody knows what they're listening for. “Not ripe!” said Mango. “Not ripe!” The tapping tickled. Stanley giggled. Then the pumpkin unrolled. And unrolled. And unrolled. It was a very long pumpkin.

Mango was dressing up as a witch. He had made a pointy hat out of one big purple leaf. But he did not have a broom. “Broom?” said Mango. “Broom?” Every stick in the jungle was too short, too wobbly or too bendy. “Lola,” said Stanley, “shall I do my tallest shape ever? With no hands?” Lola usually took ages to answer. “No,” said Lola. That one was very quick. “Watch this!” said Stanley. Up he coiled, loop on loop, higher and higher, into a tall, pointy tower. “I'm a witch's hat!” said Stanley, from the top. “Just like yours!” Mango looked up. And up. “Ice cream!” said Mango. “Ice cream!” The tower wobbled left. It wobbled right. Then it wobbled towards Mango.

Flop! The tower fell right on top of Mango. “Uh-oh,” said Stanley. “Uh-oh! Uh-oh!” giggled Mango, from somewhere underneath. Up on her branch, Lola smiled and set off for the Moon Rock. The moon would not be up for three hours. Lola liked to be early.

Stanley had another idea. “Watch this!” he said. This time, he stayed low. He curled round and round into a big flat spiral on the grass. “I'm a spider's web!” said Stanley. Mango looked at it. Mango did not guess. He just hopped into the middle. He turned round twice. He fluffed up his feathers and sat down. “Nest,” said Mango. Just once. He was already asleep.

Stanley could have wriggled out in one second. But everybody knows you can't move when somebody falls asleep on you. So Stanley stayed. First his tail went to sleep. Then his middle went to sleep. Then his nose got tickly. Stanley really, really wished he had hands. The whole sunset went by. A little tapir with a wiggly nose came past, dressed as a spider, on his way to the Moon Rock. So did an armadillo dressed as a ladybird. They saw Mango, asleep in the middle. “Ooooh,” they said softly. To Mango. “I can be anything,” whispered Stanley. “And tonight, I'm a nest.”

Mango woke up. He had never felt better. Stanley's middle felt like it belonged to somebody else. Then Mango saw the purple sky. The moon was coming! “Hurry up!” said Mango. “Hurry up!” He touched his pointy hat with one wing, and all his feathers drooped. “Broom?” said Mango, very quietly. “Broom?” Stanley thought about all those sticks. Too short. Too wobbly. Too bendy. Stanley was the bendiest snake in the whole jungle. But he could be anything. Even not bendy. “Watch this!” said Stanley. He stretched himself out, as straight as a stick. Then he curled the tip of his tail round a big bunch of long dry grass. “Hop on,” said Stanley. “And hold on to your hat.”

Mango hopped on. He held his hat with one wing and spread the other one out wide. Zoom! Up the hill went Stanley, as straight as a stick and as fast as a snake can go. Everybody at the Moon Rock had saved a good spot to see the moon. Just as Stanley and Mango came over the top of the hill, up came the moon, big and round and silver, right behind them. But nobody was looking at the moon. “Ooooh!” said everybody. “A witch on a broomstick!” And not one of them said melon.

Mango puffed up all his feathers. “Witch!” said Mango proudly. “Witch!” And this time, Mango was right. Stanley had wanted everybody to look at him. Now everybody was looking at Mango. Stanley did not even say “Watch this!” He held himself straight and still, and let them look. It was the best “Ooooh” he had ever heard. Then, along the branch over the Moon Rock, came Lola. She had set off three hours early. She was one minute late.

Lola looked down at the broomstick. “Hello, Stanley,” said Lola. Stanley grinned from end to end. “Lola,” said Stanley, “would you like a go?” Lola usually took ages to answer. “Yes,” said Lola. That one was very quick too. Climbing down took a bit longer. Mango hopped off. Lola settled onto Stanley's back and hugged him tight with her long arms, the way she hugged her branch. “Go, Stanley! Go, Stanley!” cheered Mango. And Stanley zoomed her round and round the Moon Rock, under the big silver moon. Lola had never zoomed before. Not once in her whole life. “Faster,” said Lola, very slowly.