ESL resources - using rhyme

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The Queen of Hearts Tarts

Posted by Jacqueline Richards

Language point: using rhyme

In Wonderland, everyone looked forward to baking day at the palace. The Queen of Hearts' alarm clock awoke her early ... and she left King Burly asleep in bed. The night before, he'd been at a banquet and his head was a little swirly. Before long, tasty aromas wafted up the stairs as the Queen of Tarts started baking the most biggest ever chocolate eclairs. Meanwhile, King Burly dreamed of cream. Her initial plan was a strawberry flan, but she lost the recipe and couldn't find a pan. At first, she couldn't decide what to make, so she set off practising on a slab of carrot cake. She wondered if she had enough sugar and spices, for a million and one, tasty cake slices. After seiving flour for about an hour, she switched the oven to gas mark lower. A shake of that and a sprinkle of this ... the Queen of Tarts was in heavenly bliss (and very soon, the kitchen was a mess). She checked in the cupboad to see she had enough margarine ... because the Queen wanted to make the biggest cake that had ever been seen. Next, the Queen of Hearts took a plunge in sponge. In fact, after about an hour or so, the Queen of Tarts' mixer began to slow and eventually wouldn't go. A screw popped out and a fuse fizzled in the plug ... slowly the mixer started to chug. A little waft of magic soon fixed it. Once again, the mixer started to mix it. The gateaux she made was so large, actually it filled a barge. There was so much cream, the sink could hardly be seen. The maid got flustered about the crumble and custard ... she accidentally put in a spoonful of mustard. So her lemon meringue had quite a tang. It was so hot when she took it from the oven, she dropped it with a "BANG !". By the end of the afternoon, the Queen of Tarts had stirred enough mixture for a hundred cakes with her spoon. With a touch of royal magic, it wasn't long before they were all done. Three dozen scones and two hundred current buns were very soon all gone. The royal butler threw a raffle, for one of the Queen of Hearts tasty waffles. Everyone bought a ticket, but when it came to choosing a cake, they simply couldn't pick which one. Anyway, there was enough sticky treacle to stick it to everyone. Of course, her jam tarts were the best of all - she made so many, they filled the hall. The Queen of Hearts tarts were really an art. Even the mice joined in the feast, some of them got stuck in the sticky bread yeast. After a while, there were only crumbs and King Burly, of course, was left licking his thumbs. Where once there had been at last eight, the Queen of Hearts was left with only a plate.

© Jacqueline Richards 2007

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