The Owl Who Stole the Apples From the Tree

Tom lived in a house, with his mummy and a cat called Pickles.
Like most little boys, Tom liked to play in the garden – running and throwing and kicking his ball.
In Tom’s garden there was lots of tall grass and a big tree with shiny red apples growing on it.
Every day Tom would count the apples on the tree. 1, 2, 3, 4 – 4 apples on Tom’s tree.
One night Tom was woken up by a strange noise out in the garden. “T-wit-t-woo, t-wit-t-woo” it went.
His mummy told him not to worry. It was just a little owl who sleeps in the daytime and wakes up at night.
The next day Tom played in the garden as usual, but when he counted the apples in the tree he got a surprise.
1, 2, 3 – 3 apples in the tree. Where had the other apple gone?
That night Tom heard the little owl calling in the back garden, “t-wit-t-woo, t-wit-t-woo.”
The next day he played in the garden and counted his apples. 1, 2 – only 2 apples now in the tree. Where had the other apples gone?
That night Tom heard the little owl again, “t-wit-t-woo, t-wit-t-woo.”
When Tom woke up he ran out to the garden to count the apples on the big green tree but there was only 1 apple left.
“Where have all the apples gone?” thought Tom. “Maybe the little owl has been stealing them from my tree?”
That night Tom listened for the sound of the little owl and sure enough it called out, “t-wit-t-woo, t-wit-t-woo.”
In the morning Tom went out to see if the owl had stolen the last apple from the tree.
He was right, there were no apples left on the tree. Tom laughed and danced around the garden and then ran and told his mummy.
“Mummy, mummy,” he said laughing, “the little owl has stolen all of the apples from my tree.” His mother smiled and laughed too.
That afternoon, Tom was throwing his ball high into the sky. It bounced on the ground and rolled into the long grass beneath the tall apple tree.
Tom searched through the long grass to try to find his ball. He reached in with his hand and found something round. “Here it is,” he said.
Tom was amazed when he pulled a shiny red apple from the long grass, instead of his ball.
Tom kept searching and found more apples. He lay them on the ground and counted them, “1, 2, 3, 4 – 4 apples.” Tom ran to show his mummy.
“So the owl didn’t steal the apples from the tree,” said his mummy, “they just fell out of the tree and into the long grass because they were ready for eating.”
Tom’s mum put the apples into a big and tasty apple pie, and after their tea they both ate a piece of the pie covered in thick custard.
After Tom had eaten his pie he asked his mummy if he could have another piece of the delicious apple pie.
“Well, just a small piece,” said Tom’s mummy. “It’s not for me,” said Tom and he took the slice of warm apple pie to the garden.
“It’s for my friend, the little owl,” he said to his mummy. “I’m sorry I thought you stole the apples from my tree,” called Tom and left the piece of yummy pie in the garden.
“T-wit-t-woo, t-wit-t-woo,” answered the owl. “That means ‘thank you’,” said Tom to his mummy. She kissed him and he went to bed.

The End.