Rumplestiltskin, by Tom and Lilly

Once upon a time, there was a very boastful mechanic who had a beautiful daughter. One day, after being insulted by the local baker about his ‘lowly’ profession, he wanted to show the town that he and his daughter were better then anyone. He updated his status of facebook; “I have the most brilliant daughter in the world, she has the ability to spin copper wire into gold. LOL!”
An hour later, the mechanic got two emails to his iPhone; one read ‘King Dave liked your status’. The other said ‘King Dave has sent you a private message.’ The mechanic was thrilled with all the attention he had received from the most prestigious man in all of Macbookshire.
Later that day, the mechanic decided to log into Facebook to see what King Dave had sent him. The message read “Yo, I was wondering if your ever so talented daughter could pop up to my mansion. I’ve got some copper wire lying around, and tbh, I’d rather have gold lying around, tehehehehehe ;) Send her up tomorrow at 6pm, King Dave.”

As the King had asked, the mechanic sent his daughter to the mansion at 6 o’clock, on the dot. “I want you to prove this talent your Father is posting online. If he is lying, you shall be banished from Macbookshire, forever.” The King stated as he lead her through the mansion. They arrived at a wooden door, on an isolated corridor, that when opened revealed a room almost full with copper wire… and one spinning wheel. “You have until tomorrow morning to spin this copper into gold…”, and with that, the King left.
The daughter broke down into tears, realising that herself and her father would be banished; no-one would be able to turn copper into gold. Then suddenly, a strange looking, short man jumped onto the window sill. “Who are you?!” cried the daughter, startled by this stranger appearing. “Are you a dwarf?”
“No,” exclaimed the man, “I am vertically challenged, thank you very much. And I am here to help you, so if you could stop insulting me for a second, I’ll explain.”
The ‘vertically challenged man’ offered to help the daughter by spinning the copper into gold, but only in exchange for goods. The daughter gladly agreed, she’d give anything to help her father, and so decided that she would give up her cherished Blackberry phone to ensure her father wouldn’t get banished.
After a long night of watching the ‘vertically challenged man’ work, the daughter listened for King Dave’s return while the last of the copper wire was being spun. After a while, the door swung open and King Dave entered. “My God, your father wasn’t lying. I’m going to make a fortune of ‘Cash4Gold’.” The King ordered that the daughter stay in the mansion another night, and after feeding her, he lead her to another remote room, even bigger than the first, where there was twice the amount of copper wire than the first night. “You have until midday tomorrow to make me gold.”
Although there was more copper wire, the daughter was not worried, as she trusted that the ‘vertically challenged man’ would be back again to help her. Sure enough, at midnight, he appeared on the window sill once more. This time, the daughter exchanged her iPod for the ‘vertically challenged man’s’ gift. After 12 hours of solid work, the King burst into the room once again, and was delighted with what the daughter had produced. King Dave, once again, commanded that the daughter stay for one more night, as he only had a little bit more copper wire left. She was locked in the same room as the night before, and for hours, sat waiting for the ‘vertically challenged man’ to come to her aid. Right on cue at midnight, he emerged, and asked what the daughter had to exchange.
“All I have is my laptop, but I’m following Justin Bieber on Twitter. I can’t give it up!”
Seeing how distraught the daughter was at the thought of giving up her laptop, he agreed that she could keep it. “However, you must promise me one thing…”
The daughter nodded, encouragingly. “…I want your first born child.”

The daughter gave a sigh of a relief, and happily gave into his whim, thinking ‘I’m not having children anytime soon.’ The next morning, just as the ‘vertically challenged man’ was leaving, he added “Oh, by the way, follow me on Twitter at iwantyourfirstchild.twitter.com”. King Dave then crashed excitedly through the door. “You are the most amazing women I’ve ever known; I need you… to marry me. Please.” Knowing how rich the King was, and knowing the status she would receive, she accepted immediately, hoping that the King wouldn’t be alive for too long seeing as he was quite old.

After a year of dismal marriage, the Queen gave birth to a baby boy. A week after the birth, the Queen was sat with her baby, waiting for King Dave to return home from mouse hunting, when someone started thumping at the door. The Queen opened the door, and at first, saw no-one. However, after a purposeful cough, she looked down to see the ‘vertically challenged man’. “What are you doing here, kind sir?”
“Why, I am here to take what is rightfully mine.” The ‘vertically challenged man’ replied, gesturing to the baby.
“Of course you can have him; all he does is be sick and cry. But in return, I want my Blackberry and iPod back!”
The ‘vertically challenged man’ was hesitant at first; he had taken them fairly, but soon agreed, for his want of a baby. “Okay, we can trade. But only if you can guess my name. I’ll be back in three days.”
As soon as the ‘vertically challenged man’ left the mansion grounds, the Queen immediately got onto Google and searched ‘vertically challenged man names’.
“No results” she sighed, desperately wanting back her belongings.

Three days later, as the Queen was expecting the ‘vertically challenged man’, she decided to share her problems with her followers on Twitter. As she was scrolling through her homepage, she saw a new tweet from someone called ‘Rumplestiltskin’ which read “I’m about to get me a baby guys, yay. Good times, lol!”
The Queen was overjoyed at this revelation, even if he did mean keeping her baby. After an agonising wait, the ‘vertically challenged man’ finally appeared. She showed him in, and offered him tea, and joined him in the second floor lounge.
“So, have you guessed my name yet?” The ‘vertically challenged man’ asked mockingly, “or am I taking your baby along with your Blackberry and iPod!”
The Queen gave a cunning grin, “is it Caspar? Melchior? Balthazar?”
The ‘vertically challenged man’ shook his head.
“Well, I do have one more idea…” The Queen was grinning “is it… Rumplestiltskin?”
The ‘vertically challenged man’ was horrified, and stared in disbelief. “HOW DID YOU KNOW?!” He cried, almost breaking into tears.
“I follow you on Twitter, remember?” The Queen laughed, “And by the way, you have a stupid name”. The Queen approached Rumplestiltskin with one hand reached out, and he placed her Blackberry and iPod into her hand while covering his face with the other hand. Then, unexpectedly, Rumplestiltskin bounded towards the window sill, “again with the insults! I thought Queen’s were supposed to be gracious and kind!” And with that, he hurled himself out of the window.

And that’s the story of how you almost got adopted. Goodnight darling, love you.

The End.

Valentine, by Carol Ann Duffy

1) How is the story told?

It isn't so much a story that is told, it is more of an explanantion of feelings from the narrator, and what they are going to do by referring to the future. The narrator speaks in the 1st person, and it written as if they are addressing someone else. The structure of the poem is: the Opening line is the beginning, Stanzas 2-5 is the middle, last stanzas are the end. As the poem progresses the mood changes and ends with morbid imagery.

2) Themes explored within the poem
The main theme explored within the poem is love; it shows different sides of love, ‘careful’ and ‘faithful’, with ‘fierce’ and ‘possessive’. This theme comtineues through the whole poem, with the ending showing a very morbid, dark side of love..

3) Poetic and Literary devices

Alliteration is used in the poem, some examples are: "red rose" and "cute card".

Metaphores: "it is a moon wrapped in brown paper"

Personification: "it promises light"

Similie: "like a lover"

Sibilance: "fierce kiss"

Why is 'Hamlet' so good?

Shakespeare was, and still is one of the greatest writers of any times and there is a consensus that he is the greatest dramatist of all time. Hamlet is so exceptionally unique, as the character is unlike any other title character ever written.

As a structure of complete dramatic design, it is probably not Shakespeare's best; Macbeth, Othello, Midsummer Nights Dream and King Lear all have better pace and in some cases more defined characters. But Hamlet is the most intriguing, most mysterious and most challenging role in drama. It is possibly the only character that defies interpretation. It has puzzled and stirred debate since it's introduction almost 400 hundred years ago and it is the ultimate challenge for any actor ever since it was written. Many of the most notable actors that who have attempted it, left the experience convinced that the role cannot be master.

But what is it that makes the role such an incredible challenge? Well, it is Shakespeare's biggest role in his longest play, but it is not the sheer volume of the material: the problem stem from finding the consistency for the things that Hamlet does and does not want and what he does or doesn't do for them.

In short, Hamlet at times is determined to avenge his father's murder, yet when the opportunity arrives, he puts it off. He fakes madness, and moments later gives on of the most insightful critiques on the art of acting found in literature. He is at time clever and dumbfounded, wise and silly, serious and frivolous, cunning and innocent, fearless and cautious. Actors who play the role too boldly risk making his procrastination and indecision seem explicable. While those portraying him too spiritually or morally burdened risk dampening the sense of building drama Shakespeare seems to have outlined as his intention.

Why is Hamlet such a good play? Because Hamlet, himself, is such a complex and fascinating study in the human condition.

The Kite Runner.

"I became what I am today in the summer of 1975."

This opening is effective because it causes the reader to ask questions about what happens not only thoughout the book, but what happened in the past to shape this man. The author, Khaled Housseini, uses foreshadowing to show that the events that has shaped this man will be revealed later on in the novel.