An adventure starring Toad, Badger, Ratty, and Mole - and, of course, Miles...
"Just remembered something, you chaps. Heard from the baker's boy that there's been something going on in the Wild Wood that has even the stoats and weasels scared. Fancy going on a little hunt to see what all the fuss is about?"
"I'd heard the same myself," said Badger. "It started around a week ago, but let's not rush into anything without being suitably prepared. I happen to know that there's a fearsome hunter living nearby that we'd be wise to have join in our venture."
"An excellent idea, Badger, the sooner the better," said the adventurous Ratty.
"We'll need all the help we can get if what we've heard is true," added Mole.
Toad's three chums, fortified by the lemonade and selection of cakes and biscuits they'd recently consumed, headed to Toad's armoury to gather shotguns, clubs, knives, and a large net. They made their way around to Toad's garage, where they found him sitting on a huge picnic basket. "Just in case we require a little sustenance later," explained Toad, who never liked doing things by halves. They had soon loaded everything into the car, and drove to a nearby village, wherein East Willow Street was situated.
"My sources tell me that you're the fearsome hunter of East Willow," said the Badger. "Is that true, little boy?"
"Yes. My name is Miles and I'm a big boy," replied the cherubic child.
"In that case," responded the Badger, "would you like to join us for a picnic in the Wild Wood, before we hunt for a fearsome beast that's scaring even the weasels and stoats and other animals of the forest?"
"Yes. Let's get started right away," said the brave Miles, eager to be off on the hunt. First, though, Badger cleared things with the boy's parents, who knew of Badger and what an upright, trustworthy sort he was. They also knew there was no stopping their son once he'd got an idea in his head.
The group soon found a nice spot in the woods, and, leaving their mighty assortment of weapons in the car, they unloaded the picnic basket and prepared to enjoy their repast. Suddenly, from somewhere nearby in the forest, a tremendous crash was heard as a tree fell to the ground. The five crouched behind a hedge, ready to evaluate the situation from a safe vantage point.
A huge dinosaur lunged out of the woods and Toad jumped up with joy, enthusiastically saying "Look! What a wonderful pet he'll make. I must have him."
"Quiet, Toad," urged Ratty, cautiously. "That's a carnivore... I don't think they make good pets!"
"A... a... a... d-d-dinosaur!" stammered Mole.
"Not to worry," soothed the fearless
Miles, "I'll take care of this." So saying, he stepped forward and
stared the lumbering behemoth straight in the eyes, before letting out a mighty
"ROAAAARRRR!"
The dinosaur, not used to being met with such courage, turned
tail and ran away, crashing through the trees until it could no longer be seen or
heard and silence had once again descended on the Wild Wood. The animal had escaped down a tunnel (filling it in behind it) to a forgotten prehistoric land at the centre of the earth, from which it had dug its way up a week before. Miles had given it such a fright that it would be too scared to ever return to the surface.
"Time for something to eat," said Miles, surveying the feast laid out at his feet. The five friends soon made short work of it and started packing up the picnic basket.
"How did you do that?" asked the incredulous and impressed Mole. "You didn't even need a weapon."
"It was nothing," replied Miles, modestly. "All dinosaurs are scared of Milesosaurus REX!"
"ROAAAARRRR!"
The End.
 |
| The hero of the story |
Firstly Happy New Year to yourself and all your readers/contributers.It is always a pleasure to read your comments and wallow in nostalgia.Always happy memories.Speaking of memories and in direct response to todays posting,I remember reading childrens books similar to the Wind in the Willows but almost certainly it was slightly different.The lead character was possibly Brock the badger and the varous other animal characters had adventures on river boats,canals.Would you know what series of books I amrefering to orhave I imagined it?Happy New year mate and keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you too, Triple F. There was a book called Six Tales Of Brock The Badger by Alison Uttley in 1941, so it might be those stories you're thinking of. Never read them, so don't know if they quite fit your description or not. Brock is usually the name give to badgers in books, so there could be others. Thanks for commenting, TF.
ReplyDeleteLovely story. T47. Hope your grandson enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to all Crivites when it comes.
Don't know if you saw Pointless earlier today, Mr Robson, but one of the categories was people or characters nicknamed 'Kid'. Only one I got was Kid Jensen. The contestants didn't do very well either though- in an earlier round one of them confidently said "postman" as an answer to "Words ending in -ost"
And a Happy New Year to you also, DS.
ReplyDeleteI missed Pointless today, but I should have been one of the answers. After all, there's no one more pointless than me.
What an excellent thing to do for your grandson T47 that's the sort of thing he will recall with a find smile as he gets older, nice story and art as well. All the best to all Crivvies for 2021 and hopefully things will get back to normal (well with luck will be even better as pre COVID things weren't great) sooner rather than later.
ReplyDeleteAnd all the best to you for 2021 as well, McS. We may well be faced with a new 'normal', but hopefully we'll adapt to it. I'm sure T47 will appreciate your nice comments about his story for his grandson.
ReplyDeleteThank you Dave S and McScotty for your comments.
ReplyDeleteI shared the story and art with Kid as we both are very fond of The Wind in the Willows and he decided it might be of interest to his readers. The result was a modestly credited, edited rewrite to bring the story from the preschool version for a 30 month old boy to closer to the original language of The Willows.
Miles has been roaring like a dinosaur for the last nine months, so my plot revolves around his personality.
The book became part of his bedtime routine and he says his own lines. My hope is that when he's older he will remember his story with the characters and will enjoy The Wind in the Willows itself.
T47 is being far too generous in his assessment of my minor contribution. The idea was his, the story was his, most of the dialogue was his, and therefore most of the credit belongs to him - and Carmen for the drawings of course. I certainly hope that Miles goes on to enjoy The Wind In The Willows when he's the right age (around 11-13 I'd say, as a starting age) - it's a book that everyone should read.
ReplyDelete