Gareth the Gannet and the Eclipse of the Sun describes what happens to Gareth when it starts to get dark much earlier than usual. Then, just as he's about to settle down for the night, the sun comes out again. He's cross, and doesn't understand what has happened. Luckily, he meets Wisey (a wise old owl) who tells him it was an eclipse of the sun, and then explains what an eclipse is. The story begins...
Gareth the gannet was fed up. No, he was more than that. He was really, really fed up.
Since the crack of dawn, he had been flying all the way out to sea and back again, goodness how many times. And why? All to fetch yet more food for his last remaining fledgling - who really should have left the nest by now. Teenagers! Now, here he was again, catching the sea breezes and hovering high in the sky.
Gareth scanned the surface of the sea below with his beady eyes, watching for the tell-tale shadow of a fish as it swam lazily to and fro, or perhaps darted up to the surface to escape from a larger fish that was chasing it. If he saw one, he would fold his wings back, take aim, and dive, dive, dive, plunging like an arrow into the depths of the water with hardly a splash. If he was lucky, the speed of his attack would take the fish by surprise and Gareth would grab it in his beak and then loop back to the surface, where he would run along the top of the sea as quickly as his short webbed feet would go, flapping his wings like mad, until he was moving fast enough to take off again. Once airborne, he would carry the fish back to his partner in the nest on the cliff-side colony, and feed it to the chick, whilst she took her turn to go hunting.
However, on this occasion, before Gareth had time to spot another fish, he noticed that it was getting quite dark.
"Is that the time already?" he thought to himself, "I'd better get back or the missus will be mad." So, without further ado, he headed back to his nest on the cliffs as fast as his wings and the wind could carry him. Even so, his partner gave a raucous squawk, and told him off for coming home empty-handed (or rather, empty-beaked).
Gareth squawked back crossly. He was tired after all that hunting for food and in no mood to put up with complaints. "Stop moaning," he said, "it's time for bed."
His partner grumbled some more. "Bed time?" She looked around, holding her head at all sorts of angles as she did so. "It doesn't seem all that long since we got up."
Gareth decided he couldn't face an argument, so he didn't answer. Instead, he lay down, tucked his head under his wing and settled down for a nice long nap.
And then what happened?
He really couldn't believe it -- really, really couldn't believe it The flipping sun came out again, the darkness vanished, and the day was as bright as ever!
Gareth checked his watch. It was only just after eleven in the morning.
Yes, Gareth was really, really fed up.