Cockadoodle-Doo, Mr Sultana!

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A rich and greedy sultan meets his match in a VERY cheeky little red rooster…Hilariously wacky tale by bestselling author of War Horse.The rich and greedy sultan loves his jewels more than anything, so when he loses a diamond button he is furious!Especially as a naughty little red rooster seems determined to keep it…A marvellously funny tale by master storyteller, Michael Morpurgo.

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#Детские книги #Детская проза #Природа и животные #Дом, дача

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Contents

Title Page

The Greedy Sultan

A Stumble on the Road

Cockadoodle-doo, Mr Sultana!

Hide-and-Seek

You Again!

The Last Doodle-doo

The Rooster’s Revenge

The Richest Rooster

Also by Michael Morpurgo and Shoo Rayner:

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About the Publisher

n a far-off Eastern land, a long, long time ago, there once lived a great and mighty Sultan. He was, without doubt, the richest, laziest, greediest and

Sultan there had ever been.

He was so rich his palace was built of nothing but shining marble and glowing gold, so rich that even the buttons on his silken clothes were made of diamonds.

He was so he had to have a special servant to brush his teeth for him, and another one to dress him.

He did nothing for himself, except eat. He was so

that every meal – breakfast, lunch and dinner – he’d gobble down a nice plump peacock just to himself, and a great bowl of sweetmeats, too.

And then he’d wash it all down with a jug of honeyed camel’s milk.

It was because he was so very

and so very greedy that he was so very, very

He had to sleep in a bed

enough for five grown men, and his pantaloons were the

most capacious pantaloons ever made for anyone anywhere.

But believe it or not there was something the Sultan cared about even more than his food – his

He loved his treasure above anything else in the whole world.

Before he went to sleep every night, he would always open his treasure chest and count out his jewels – emeralds, rubies, diamonds, pearls, sapphires, hundreds and hundreds of them – just to be quite sure they were all still there. Only then could he go to bed happy and sleep soundly.

But outside the walls of his palace, the Sultan’s people lived like slaves, poor, wretched and hungry. They had to work every hour God gave them. And why?

To keep the Sultan rich in jewels. Everything they harvested – their corn, their grapes, their figs, their dates, their pomegranates – ALL had to be given to the Sultan. He allowed them just enough food to keep body and soul together – no more.

ne fine morning, the Sultan was out hunting. He loved to hunt, because all he had to do was sit astride his horse and send the hawks off to do the hunting. There was only one horse in the land strong enough to carry him, a great stout old warhorse. But strong though he was, to be sat on by the great

Sultan for hour after hour under the

sun, proved too much even for him.

Lathered up and exhausted, the old warhorse staggered suddenly and stumbled, throwing the Sultan to the ground.

It took ten servants to get him to his feet and brush him down. He wasn’t badly hurt, just a bit bumped and bruised, but he was angry; very angry.

He ordered his servants to whip the old horse soundly, so that he wouldn’t do it again. Then they all helped him back up on his horse, which took some time, of course; and off they went back to the palace.

he Sultan didn’t know it, not yet, and no more did anyone else, but he’d left something behind lying in the dirt on the

farmyard track, something that had popped off his waistcoat when he’d fallen from his horse.

It was a button, a shining, glittering diamond button. Just a little way off down the farmyard track, was a

farmhouse where there lived a poor old woman. She had little enough in this world – though she never complained of it – only a couple of nanny goats for her milk, a few hens for her eggs, and a little red rooster. She always kept the goats hidden away inside her house, and the hens too, for fear that the Sultan’s servants might come by and steal them away for the Sultan.

She had always tried to keep her little red rooster in the house too, because she loved him dearly, and because she wanted him to keep her hens happy. But this was a little red rooster with a mind of his own, and whenever he could, he would go running off to explore the big, wide world outside, to find friends – and to find food, for he was always very hungry.

hat same day, when the poor old woman went out to fetch the water for her goats and hens, the little red rooster scooted out from under her skirts. Before she could stop him he was out through the open door and running off down the farm track.

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