Submitted by RaeAnna Goss, Nashville, Tennessee

Idea posted December 17, 2004

Here's a sound story for fall. Group the kids in different instrument groups according to the characters, and read the story. When you read the word or character, the students play the sound effects!

Trees - temple blocks, claves, wood blocks
Enchanted Forest - wind chimes
Fairies - glockenspiels
Woodpeckers - xylophones
Owls - metallophones
Troll - drums

Once upon a time, there were some beautiful trees that lived in an enchanted forest. Every time autumn came around, they were so proud of their new brightly colored leaves that they would throw a fall party and invite all of the woodland forest guests.

The Birch offered some of its white bark to make out the invitations. The trees thought this was a wonderful idea, and they wrote out invitations for all the animals to join them in the middle of the forest as soon as the sun went down.

The first group to get the invitation was the fairies. They were so excited to be invited that they danced all around the enchanted forest, hanging beautiful fairy lights to brighten up the party.

The second group to get the invitations was the woodpeckers. They also wanted to help with the party, so they gathered all of the fresh berries and nuts around the enchanted forest for food at the party.

The owls also got an invitation. Since owls are so wise, their job was to make sure everyone in the enchanted forest knew about the party and came on time.

But the one person the trees and forest animals could not invite was the angry troll who lived under the bridge in the enchanted forest. If the troll knew about the party, he would come and eat the fairies, woodpeckers, and owls.

Well, the day of the party arrived. The whole enchanted forest was excited about the festivities. The fairies arrived and lit the fairy lights all around to brighten up the party. The woodpeckers arrived with their fruit and nuts. The owls arrived with all of the rest of the forest animals.

The trees were so magnificent in their beautiful colors of gold, red, purple, and yellow, and they were so happy that the party was such a success.

The animals had a wonderful time, and they sang and danced all through the night!

But, as you might have guessed, the troll did find out about the party. He heard the noises of the singing and dancing, and he was so mad and hungry he decided to go crash the party and eat the guests! After all, owl meat was very satisfying, woodpeckers tasted delicious, and fairies were always a tasty dessert!

When the troll arrived at the party, all of the guests froze. No one knew what to do! Should they run? Should they hide? Just when the troll was about to make his move, the trees noticed something in the sky. The sun was coming up!

Now if any of you know anything about trolls, when the sun comes over the trees, the trolls turn to stone!

Just when the troll was about to catch an owl, the sun came over the trees and turned the evil troll into a stone statue! All of the animals were happy again, and they lived happily ever after in the beautiful enchanted forest! The end.