A (2:34)

Same.

E (2:34)

Wait, what's that on the ground?

D (2:36)

Where? There.

E (2:38)

Ant. It's Super Ant. More powerful than a lawnmower. Able to leap garden gnomes in a single bound faster than other ants. It's Super Ant. Today's episode, pie in the Sky.

D (2:55)

Hey, mom, is that a pie? It smells delicious. Can I have some?

F (2:59)

Sure, honey. I'm just taking it out of the oven. Wait, what's this on the pie?

D (3:04)

It looks like an ant.

B (3:06)

Not just any ant. I'm Super Ant. I have all the powers of an ant, but Super.

E (3:13)

Whoa.

D (3:14)

A talking ant.

F (3:16)

Honey, don't point at the talking ant. It's rude.

B (3:19)

I'm here to solve your problem. Our problem.

F (3:22)

You seem to have come to the wrong house. We don't have any problems here.

B (3:25)

Are you sure? Have you checked your bathroom? I can sense criminal activity in here.

F (3:31)

Pretty sure. In fact, I just finished renovating this house. It took a long time. Years, actually. But everything is finally exactly the way I've always wanted it. If anything in this house didn't work, why, I'd lose it.

B (3:44)

In that case, I'd better go check your bathroom for you. Great. Grasshopper, your toilet is gone.

A (3:56)

What?

F (3:57)

Let me see.

B (4:00)

Oh, no.

F (4:03)

The toilet is gone.

A (4:05)

My renovations.

D (4:07)

Oh, no. It's a crime. We're so lucky you're here, Super Ant.

B (4:11)

It must be the dastardly Dr. Anteater. My nemesis.

F (4:15)

Why does he steal toilets?

B (4:17)

No one knows.

F (4:19)

And he doesn't want to, I don't know, eat ants.

B (4:23)

You'd think he'd want to eat me. But no. His main thing is stealing toilets. You're very lucky I came here in time.

D (4:31)

You can solve the crime, right, Super Ant?

B (4:33)

Of course I can. I'll do anything for my young fans.

E (4:37)

Wow.

B (4:38)

And wait. I believe I hear Dr. Anteater upstairs now.

F (4:42)

I don't hear anything.

D (4:44)

Should we all go get him?

B (4:45)

No, no, no, no, no. Don't worry. I got him to. Upstairs. Hi yah. Oh, hiya, Dr. Anteater. We are fighting. This is for real.

D (4:57)

It sounds like he's fighting someone.

B (4:59)

Dr. Anteater sure is strong.

F (5:02)

I'm going to just go look.

C (5:04)

No, don't.

B (5:05)

I'll come back downstairs. I'm back.

F (5:08)

Wait, Super Ant, you're all by yourself. Where's Dr. Anteater?

B (5:12)

Oh, no. You actually just missed him. Really?

F (5:16)

How'd the fight go?

B (5:17)

Great. I won. He had to go to the dentist. So he gave up.

F (5:20)

Do Anteaters have teeth? Well, I'm going to Google it.

B (5:25)

Wait, I'm sensing more nefarious acting.

D (5:29)

Is it Dr. Anteater again?

B (5:31)

Even worse, it's the dastardly man spider. He's a man as small as a spider.

F (5:37)

What does he do?

B (5:38)

He steals bidets. No.

F (5:41)

I love my bidet. It has seven different spray jets. I'll go check.

B (5:46)

No, let me. He's far too dangerous. Jumpin. Jiminy Cricket. I'm so sorry that the day is gone.

F (5:57)

My renovations.

D (5:59)

Super Ant, what should we do?

B (6:02)

Well, we'll need to track him down. But he could be anywhere right now. Peru, Nepal, the Great Wall of China. Already? How? Wait, Now I'm sensing that he's right. Upstairs.

F (6:15)

Upstairs. Well, let's all go get him.

B (6:17)

No, ma'. Am. It's far too dangerous. He's a spider as big As a man?

F (6:21)

I thought you said he was a man. As big as a spider.

B (6:24)

Well. Oh, look behind you. Huh? Hiya. Hiya. We're upstairs. And we are definitely fighting.

D (6:35)

Now that is what it sounds like.

B (6:38)

I'm back.

D (6:39)

What happened?

B (6:40)

What?

F (6:40)

Oh.

B (6:41)

I won again. I tied him up.

F (6:42)

Can I see him?

B (6:43)

No.

F (6:45)

Okay, Super Ant, I really think you should go.

B (6:47)

Wait. I'm sensing the most devilish crime yet.

D (6:51)

Hey, everyone, it's me, dad. I've been upstairs this whole time, but now I'm gonna use the bathroom.

B (6:58)

Wait.

D (6:58)

Hey, where's the toilet?

A (7:00)

And the bidet?

B (7:01)

I'll go check on him. Oh. Ah. Help. Bad news. Your dad was kidnapped.

D (7:11)

By whom?

B (7:13)

Uh, by the wicked whom. Dr. Anteater.

F (7:19)

Didn't he already take our toilet?

B (7:22)

Oh, um, I mean, man sp used that one, too.

A (7:27)

Hello?

B (7:28)

Dale, where are you now?

D (7:30)

In the backyard. The backyard? Let's go. Dad, what are you doing?

B (7:36)

Help.

D (7:37)

I'm stuck inside this ant hill. How'd you get there? Super Ant picked me up and put me here. I think he's stealing our stuff. I'm pretty sure I feel the bidet right under me.

F (7:48)

My renovations.

D (7:52)

Super Ant. Were you the one stealing from our bathroom? I thought you were a hero, Paxton.

E (7:59)

Well.

D (8:00)

Hey, wait a minute. Is that our toilet you're carrying on your back?

B (8:04)

Fine, you caught me. But you still gotta catch me. Here I go. He's getting away with our toilet.

F (8:13)

Catch him.

B (8:15)

Wait.

D (8:16)

He's fast for an ant, but he's pretty slow for a person. Let's just walk over and grab the toilet. We got you.

B (8:24)

Curses. Well, I'm still taking a slice of pie.

F (8:30)

That's fine. There's enough for everyone.

B (8:33)

Really? Victory is mine. Hmm.

E (8:42)

What a weird ant. Join us next week for another exciting episode of Super Ant.

B (8:48)

The end.

E (8:52)

And now, Leaf speaks with the author.

A (8:55)

So, Nathan, you wrote the story Super Ant?

C (8:59)

Yeah.

A (8:59)

Well, I thought it was really funny that Super Ant turned out to be stealing the toilet. First of all. And I'm wondering, was Super Ant trying to just steal the whole toilet the whole time, or is he really a superhero?

C (9:13)

I think he was just trying to steal the toilet the whole time. Like, maybe he was trying to drain out of the bottle to make a home for ant1. I think that he thought that the slice of blood was the second best home. But he could have just done what a normal ants would have done and made a dirt pile.

A (9:32)

Yeah, you're right. He could have just done that. Could Paxton or one of the other ants, like, have a chat with Super Ant to try to get him to be more of a problem solver instead of a troublemaker?

C (9:44)

Yeah, probably.

A (9:45)

You think he would listen?

C (9:47)

Mm, maybe not the fourth time, but after like three or four times of them telling him he might listen.

A (9:54)

In real life, are you like a mischievous guy or do you pretty much play by the rules?

C (9:59)

I most of the time play by the rules. But like in facetimes, I sometimes do little pranks.

A (10:05)

Do you remember any little pranks that you've done?

C (10:08)

I mean, I get these sets once a month, and for one of them I tied it to the fridge. And when my dad opened the fridge to get himself an apple, four ball

A (10:18)

shot at him, how did he react? Was he. Was he good natured about it or was he mad?

C (10:24)

He was good natured mostly because the balls didn't go far enough to hit him.

A (10:28)

Were you standing nearby pretending like nothing was happening until it happened?

C (10:33)

Yeah, actually asked him to get me an apple when I thought that he was getting himself an apple.

A (10:38)

Oh, you really set him up there.

C (10:42)

Yeah, I wanted to make sure that he wasn't gonna decide not to open the fridge if he decided not to get himself an apple.

A (10:50)

And what if you had been like, why don't you get it yourself, Nathan? What would you have said?

C (10:55)

I would have said, I can't reach the apple drawer and I don't know how to use a knife.

A (11:01)

He can't avoid it. Now he's gotta open that fridge. That's amazing. I can see why Super Anti is such a well drawn character in your story, because you sounds like you just know a little bit about what it's like to be a mischief maker.

C (11:17)

Yeah.

A (11:18)

Thank you so much for letting us perform your story.

C (11:21)

Thank you for choosing it.

A (11:23)

You are so welcome, my friend. Great work. All right, bye, Nathan.

C (11:27)

Bye. We'll be right back after a few words for the grown ups.

A (11:33)

Hey, grownups. Lee here see Story Pirates live. Our amazing touring cast, including Eric, will be visiting some east coast cities this spring to perform some of your favorite songs from the podcast. And they'll take suggestions from kids in the audience to create a brand new story that will only be seen once. Best of all, all of our upcoming shows are on weekends, so no need to worry about school nights or bedtime routines. We'll see you soon in Munhall, Pennsylvania, just outside of Pittsburgh. Cincinnati, Ohio, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Medford, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston and Ridgefield, Connecticut. Tickets to all the shows are on sale now@storypirates.com live. Welcome back to StoryLove, where we read stories written by kids. Actual kids send us these stories. We read them and then we talk about them.

E (12:32)

You've perfectly explained the story.

A (12:33)

Pirates. That's right, the story. Pirates. We get tens of thousands of stories every year. We respond to every single one. Peter, I would like to read the very first story here.

E (12:43)

I would love to listen to it.

A (12:44)

Okay. All right. This story is from an 8 year old from the United Kingdom named Dylan. And it's called the Weird Skyscraper. Hello, I'm a capybara, specifically one that sells skyscrapers. Anyway, I had a wild day today. So I had a customer come in today. He said he selled computers, but he had a metallic look. Anyway, he said he wanted the Empire State Building. I thought that was a normal idea until he offered me the best deal ever. A literal orange. No, your ears are not deceiving you. A plump, juicy fresh orange picked straight from Spain and sent in a frigate plane. You know what I had to say? Yes. Big yes. Lots of yes. Happy yes. So I hit the airport and booked myself a first class seat on Capi Air, the airline for capybaras, obviously. So I calmly removed the skyscraper. Like was an everyday thing, of course. But then what I found under was better than what you humans call chocolate, you guessed it, oranges. And the only logical thing to do was nom nom. Oh, sorry. Gasp. I dropped it. Oh, well, here I am. Skyscrapers falling everywhere and NYC in destruction. You know what to do? Fly all the way back to Cardiff, the capital, reclaim my sweet orange and eat 18 pounds of beef. Great. The end.

E (14:18)

Wow, Lee.

A (14:19)

Yes.

E (14:20)

To me the big twist is that we're in Wales.

A (14:23)

I guess so. Well, we're over nyc, aren't we? Yeah, well, we start in Wales is what you're saying.

E (14:30)

Well, I say yeah, because it says fly all the way back to Cardiff.

A (14:33)

Yeah.

E (14:34)

Which I'm maybe Dylan. Dylan is a Welsh name. Perhaps our author is from Wales. There's so many details, so many things to unpack here. But the very first one is this is a capybara who sells skyscrapers in what sounds like, like an office. You come in, you're like, I want to buy a skyscraper. He's like, I got the Empire State Building. I got this. What do you need?

A (14:55)

And you make an offer. Is the most interesting thing about this business. He's not like the price of the Empire State Building is this. He's like, what do you got?

E (15:02)

And I think apparently oranges are in high demand.

A (15:08)

Which I looked this up. Copy bars do not eat oranges. It's not like that's their favorite food or anything.

E (15:13)

Well, I looked it up too, and apparently they don't sell skyscrapers.

A (15:17)

Oh, really?

E (15:18)

So there's a lot of fiction in this story.

A (15:19)

All right, well, do you want to know what they do eat?

B (15:22)

Yeah.

A (15:22)

Are you interested in actual research? They eat grasses and aquatic plants.

E (15:27)

Huh.

A (15:27)

Yeah. So oranges doesn't feel like they would know what to do with one. Yeah. So this is a character trait. It's well done.

E (15:33)

I'm curious about a frigate plane.

A (15:36)

It does sound a little bit aquatic, but I assumed it was like a refrigerated plane, which is what?

E (15:41)

It sounds like a fridge plane.

A (15:43)

Yeah, because he says he sends. He's sending straight from Spain and sent in a frigate plane.

E (15:49)

A frigate is a fast, maneuverable warship. Well, I like it better that it's a fridge plane.

A (15:56)

Yeah, well, I've never been to Cardiff. I'd like to go and eat 18 pounds of beef there.

E (16:01)

Oh, the beef was also a twist. I know you're like, there's nothing better than oranges, but right Now I'll have 18 pounds of beef.

A (16:07)

18 pounds of beef.

E (16:09)

And the last line is one word.

F (16:12)

Great,

A (16:14)

Dylan. We like your style, my friend. Good work. Peter, would you read the next story for us? Yes, I would, Lee.

E (16:21)

This story comes to us from a 6 year old from Ohio named Lorelai. And Lorelai's story is called Too Many Dogs. Dogs in the park. Dogs in the forest. Dogs in the house. Dogs in the treehouse. Dogs in the pumpkin patch. Too many dogs. The end.

A (16:44)

Now let's look at the actual story that was sent in to us. It's handwritten. I just love the way this looks. Mm. It's. It's got so much personality.

E (16:55)

Yeah. You know, Well, I love that there's five lines where there's. The first three words are all the same. Dogs in the. And all the dogs and ins and thes are lined up beautifully.

A (17:05)

Yep. You know, this. This is. To me, this is a very deep story. We spend so much time wondering who let the dogs out, who that we who never stopped to consider who let them in.

E (17:19)

This is the question. This reminded me. I used to. When I was six years old, six to ten, I would walk to school. And in where I grew up, there were dogs seemingly everywhere. Not on leashes. They could walk around. You had to watch where you stepped. And I got chased by dogs.

A (17:39)

Whoa.

E (17:39)

I mean, I think they were being friendly, but I was so scared of dogs.

A (17:42)

Wow. Are you still scared of dogs?

E (17:44)

I'm over it. But walking to School for a little while. I was so scared because there were very friendly dogs, but they'd run up to you and sniff you, and that made me scared.

A (17:52)

Okay, well, we. You gave us a lot to think about. Lorelei, thank you very much.

E (17:58)

Incredible story.

A (17:59)

Great story. All right, our final story is by Rory, a 9 year old from Georgia, and it's called the Goose Mayor. There was a talking goose who ran for mayor and won. The goose was very smart. He was a house pet in the town of Waterville. When the goose was elected, he made sure everyone had an indoor pool.

E (18:19)

It's about time. Yeah, I love an indoor pool.

A (18:22)

And that's because a goose always wants to be in the water. Right? And in the winter, they can't be in an outdoor pool.

E (18:28)

Well, you know, geese, they stick around a lot longer in cold places than you think, but they.

A (18:35)

If they had an indoor pool, they'd prefer that.

E (18:37)

They'd probably in there, I would imagine. I've never been a goose, except when I was a goose. On the Story Pirates podcast last season, the goose.

A (18:47)

What's it called?

E (18:48)

Remember Nimini, Turned me into a goose.

A (18:50)

Oh, yeah, yeah. In a recent season. But the original goose story on the Story Pirates podcast is a goose prank.

E (18:54)

Yes, I played a goose.

A (18:55)

Gooses, geeses. I want a goose who lays gold eggs for Easter. Amazing story. I love this. I love the upwards trajectory of this goose. Doesn't seem like he has anything standing in his way. And I just got to say, yeah, we need more candidates like this goose. The goose is very smart. Right? It's a talking goose. They're taking what they're good at, and they are going into public service, which we need more people who can talk and are smart to do.

E (19:26)

And this goose is clearly worked its way up, you know, from the bottom as a house pet over in Waterville. And, you know, I was like, oh, is this a world of talking animals?

D (19:37)

It's.

E (19:38)

It seems like maybe this is a very special goose who is the only one who could talk. And this goose got people to vote for it. If that's the case, we should all

A (19:48)

follow this goose's example. You have something to give to the world. Give back public service, folks.

E (19:53)

Give me an indoor pool.

A (19:54)

All right, Rory. Fantastic story, my friend. That's it for today's story. Love to read all of today's stories. Just head to storypirates.com, why don't you?

E (20:04)

Why not?

A (20:05)

And remember, you can watch an even longer version of StoryLove on the Story Pirates YouTube page with help from your grown up. Grown ups can submit stories@storypirates.com and remember, we respond to every single story we receive. That's it for today's episode, thanks to today's author, Nathan and we'll be back next week with another brand new episode. Until then, stay creative and stay kind.

B (20:31)

Bye.

A (20:36)

The Story Pirates podcast is a production of Story Pirates Studios, executive produced by Lee Overtree and Benjamin Salka. Co executive producers are Holly and Rizwan Kassim, Manya Lissi and Murray Sampson. This episode was produced by Isabel Erricchio, Sam Baer, Peter McNerney, Lee Overtree, Brittany Stahl and Steve White. Recording sound design and mixing by Sam Baer at the Relic Room in New York City. Additional production by Brett Toobin. Theme song by Bobby Lord. Musical scoring by Eric Erson and Jack Mitchell. Our head writer is Peter McNerney. Staff writers are Megan O' Neil and Alexis Simpson. Super Ant was adapted by Jonathan Appel. Episode artwork by Camilla Frank. This episode features performances by greg barnett, michelle chan bennett, jake fallon, kento morita, peter mcnerney, megan o' neil, and britney stahl. Okay, finally that episode is over. I can head over to my private luxury bathroom and take a little break. I'll just open the door here and my toilet, my bidet, my hot tub, my soap dispenser, my toilet brush, my white towels that are folded really nicely. They're all gone. Who could have done this? Wait a second. Super ran.