CRUISE TO MARS | THREE DUCKS ON A JOURNEY | Written By Lucia & Marco Ciappelli (English Version) | Stories Sotto Le Stelle Podcast | Short Stories For Children And Dreamers Of All Ages

CRUISE TO MARS | THREE DUCKS ON A JOURNEY

Mama duck had two daughters, and she loved taking them on trips to faraway places. The two ducklings had few friends, but they often went out and about.
They played in the farmyard pretending to be a group, and even on their birthday, they ate the big cake all by themselves.
As a gift, Mama decided to take them on a cruise to Mars. She organized the trip on a spaceship for tourists, got tickets for an intergalactic Martian party, and departure as soon as possible — before you could say "quack quack."
While all three of them were in the yard ready for the trip, they saw a strange object flying low over the farm. Landing on the ground, a small square figure appeared at a hatch and said:
"Excuse me, are you the ones with three tickets to Mars and three for the intergalactic party?"
The ducklings looked at each other in amazement. They had never seen a square creature before — square head, square eyes, even the smile seemed square.
"Yes, that's us!" replied Mama duck.
"Quack! Quack! Quack!" chimed the ducklings in chorus, hopping with excitement.
"Please, come aboard," said the Martian with a little squared bow. "The journey to Mars is about to begin."
And in one leap they boarded the spaceship, so curious and excited for this new adventure. The strange vehicle took off as fast as a gust of wind.
In space, it was rush hour. The spaceship found itself in a queue, and the Martian pilot honked the horn: "Bleep, bleep!"
He leaned out the window and grumbled: "It's getting harder and harder to travel! Look at that, there's even a playful little planet spinning around on itself like it's a carousel! Oh, what fun — move over, let me pass, and keep on playing!"
Due to the cosmic traffic jam, the spaceship landed on Mars slightly behind schedule.
"How wonderful!" exclaimed the ducklings when they saw a ship made entirely of glass, ready for the cruise, where they were invited to come aboard.
There was a great bustle of small square Martians.
"Good morning, Mrs. Duck, please make yourself comfortable!" they said with a bow, while the ducklings — quack, quack, quack — chattered and hopped about happily.
In the background, square guitars played Interplanetary Rock.
The three travelers, with their little faces pressed against the windows, gazed in wonder at the red color of the planet.
The ship set off slowly across the sand, but suddenly the engines began to roar and up, toward the top of a mountain, then down over the red rocks — it felt like being on a roller coaster, up and down, up and down. Then it would settle again and slowly cross immense valleys.
"What a strange sight! What a strange vehicle that travels over rocks and sand!" the tourists commented.
The hours passed amid wonders and discoveries. Time flew by.
Evening came. On the Martian ship, Mama duck and the ducklings showed up all dressed up, with bows and ribbons, for the intergalactic birthday party.
The waiters danced, offered their arms to the tourists, and served to the sound of Rock music. Small Martians approached the ducklings and, showering them with compliments, hopping and dancing, played with them.
The party had begun.
"Everything here is square — the glasses, the bottles!" the ducks whispered to each other.
The sweet treats were salty, the salty ones were sweet, the cake was... well, well, what kind of world is this!
The balloons with "Happy Birthday" written on them were — guess what — square.
The evening was coming to an end and fireworks lit up the sky to celebrate the tourists... and they were square too.
"How kind and lovely these Martians are!" said Mama duck, and continued: "We made it to Mars, we've seen what there was to see, we've had our fun. Now let's think about going back to Earth."
Suddenly, the ship commander's voice announced the imminent arrival of a spaceship for the return trip.
The three ducks couldn't wait. They said their goodbyes and, crossing a connecting bridge, stepped directly into the spaceship. And down, toward their planet.
Watching the tourists depart through the ship's windows, the Martians in their waiter uniforms launched dozens of colorful balloons into space.
In the universe, under a starry sky, satellites wandered around the spaceship. Venus shone in the distance, and the Moon, ever closer, smiled with her full face.
Arriving back on Earth, all three stepped down onto the farmyard, happy.
Square balloons with "Happy Birthday" written on them floated in the air.
What a surprise! This is certainly the work of the Martians.
And by telling everyone about their galactic adventure, the two ducklings made lots of friends. Everyone wanted to hear about their trip to Mars.
Our planet may be round, may be big, may be small, may be beautiful, and it will always be our home.

— Written by Lucia & Marco Ciappelli

Each story is currently written and narrated in both Italian and English.

The translation from Italian (the original language) to English and the reading of the stories are performed using Generative Artificial Intelligence — which perhaps has a touch of magic... We hope it has done a good job!

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