Who Stole My Bananas?
Practice Words
Words with the 'augh' letter pattern, making /ΙΛ/ as in 'caught' or /ΙΛf/ as in 'laugh'.
High in a great big tree sits a treehouse, hidden among the green leaves and trailing vines with yellow flowers. A naughty little monkey lives up there. He spends most of his time thinking about food. It seems like he is always hungry and always eating.
At breakfast time, Monkey hunts around for the bunch of bananas he planned to eat. But they are nowhere to be found! He turns his treehouse upside down, tossing books and things all over the floor. He is distraught. There is no sign of the bananas anywhere.
Monkey leans over the treehouse railing and calls out to a little honey bee buzzing near the yellow flowers. 'Excuse me, little bee. Did you take my breakfast? I seem to be missing a bunch of bananas.' The honey bee laughs so hard her wings wobble. 'I could not carry away a big bunch of bananas!' she says.
Monkey spots a snake coiled around a branch above him. 'Excuse me, Snake. Did you by any chance eat my breakfast bananas?' he asks politely. The snake lets out a haughty, hissy laugh. 'I don't eat fruit, only little creatures like rats,' he says, looking down with a calm grin.
Monkey hangs upside down from a vine, clutching his empty tummy. He is worried sick! His belly aches and grumbles with hunger. Breakfast time has come and gone, and this is no laughing matter. Those bananas are nowhere to be found.
He is so hungry now that he can't think. Little monkeys' brains don't work well on an empty tummy. Monkey grits his teeth and squeezes his eyes shut, fists clenched at his sides. Those naughty bananas have completely disappeared!
When Monkey opens his eyes again, he catches sight of something yellow down on the grass below his tree. There is a trail of bananas leading away from the trunk! His eyes grow wide. He has found a clue. That must be where the banana thief went!
At the end of the trail sits a white rabbit, having a picnic with a great big bunch of bananas scattered on the grass around him. 'You naughty thief! You stole my breakfast!' Monkey calls in a loud, angry voice. He leans over the railing, caught up in hunger and anger.
The rabbit doesn't seem worried at all. He holds up a banana and points toward a small banana plant growing nearby. 'Oh, these are mine,' says Rabbit with a laugh. 'If you look over there, you will see that I taught myself to grow my own bananas. I have been growing them all year!'
But Rabbit does something Monkey does not expect. He smiles, reaches up, and ties a bunch of bananas to a vine. 'It has been a big harvest,' Rabbit says with a laugh. 'Here, have this bunch!' Monkey stares down, caught off guard, and a surprised, grateful smile spreads across his face.
Monkey stands on the ladder against his tree, holding the bunch of bananas with a worried look on his face. 'Thank you very much,' he says, 'but I never found the bananas I lost.' The rabbit's calm voice drifts up: 'Try to remember everything you did last night. Maybe you will recall what happened. My mother always taught me to think carefully before blaming someone.'
'Oh yes! You are right. I remember now!' Monkey shouts with a wide grin and a thumbs up. Banana peels are scattered all around his treehouse railing. 'I got very hungry in the middle of the night and had a midnight snack. I already ate my bananas!' He bursts into laughter. What a naughty, silly monkey he had been!