meanwhile, in Russia...
An elephant was on holiday.
When asked "And how is it going?" he replied, rubbing his hands together as he did so, "Oh it's very nice but also very cold! Verrrry cold!"
So cold, in fact, that he was going to the Winter Palace to find out why.
The Winter Palace, as it transpired, was ruled by King Edward the George.
("What's a George?" I asked. "Don't be silly!" was the answer.)
When the elephant arrived, King Edward was just talking to his servants - all of whom were complaining of the cold. But the loudest complaint by far was coming from a tall Viking warrior (and fierce!) called Neizel Van Wingful III. The Viking was understandably upset because in the middle of his wedding service Betty, his beloved bride to be, had frozen on the spot and was now just an ice cube!
Elephant was, all in all, alarmed and curious as to the cause of this freezing up and frozen over.
"Well," explained the George, with embarrassment, "you see, the thing is, er, well, the heating has failed - that is to say, our dragon has become depressed and is too sad to breathe fire. No fire, no heating."
"No heating, no bride!" chimed in the distressed Neizel.
"Can I help?" asked the elephant.
The George and his servants put their heads together and thought - as much as their chilly heads would let them anyway.
"YES!" announced the Chief Sheep excitedly. "If you can cheer the dragon and make them laa laa laugh, that should do the trick and get the heating baaa baaa back."
"How do I do that?" asked the elephant.
"Crazy dancing, that's how! I bet the dragon's never seen an elephant before - and never one that was doing crazy dancing!"
"But I don't know how," said the elephant with a worried sweep of his trunk, "'specially not Russian dancing."
"We'll teach you!"
King Edward the George clearly had no problem joining in with the rest of the palace because he was the first to start the dancing lesson! Gartered royal legs, servants' hooves, viking furry boots, and what might have been a sea horse - all were soon flinging themselves about with wild abandon to the sounds of a recordion (an instrument i'd never heard of before).
The elephant soon got the idea. Quickly the entire court formed a long conga line and proceeded down the slippery steps deep into the palace basement where the sad dragon lay among the coal. The dragon was red and absolutely ginagantic! It was also miserable. Sighing, the great regal beast almost forgot to open its eyes as the cacophony making conga line came down. But open them it did - just in time to see an elephant wildly spinning and high kicking in an attempt at crazy dancing - only to slip on the icy steps and go sliding bumpity-bump on his bumpity-bum and fly straight across the floor and into the dragon!
The dragon opened its great fierce looking razor sharp beak
and laughed. Laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed so hard that smoke began to swirl out from its nostrils and sparks started to leap from its tongue.
"Get down!" yelled the George.
Everyone ducked as hot bright flames exploded out in all directions and the coal on the floor - and in the heaps lying around and about - began to glow. There was the sound of swiftly running Viking furry boots.
The elephant ran as fast as he could over to King George and the servants, clutching a tail that smoked from a glancing flame - which only made the dragon laugh all the more.
"Let's get out of here!" said King Edward.
All together now they raced upstairs.
No-one, thought the elephant to himself, could have run any faster. And perhaps this was true - but a certain Viking had definitely run FIRSTER, for Neizel, as everybody could see, was already kissing his newly thawed out wife Betty before the smiling vicar.
"Man and wife," said the vicar, "Viking and Vikingess."
And everyone in the now warm palace was very happy/
THE END.
...................
i meant to post this on friday evening - but didn't get the chance.
It is a true story as invented and performed by school children with randomly picked hand-puppets and an accordion (or 'recordian' as i was told). my own involvement was deeply minimal - and slightly sheepish.
much credit goes to Richard another tutor.
sometimes, the kids are just brill. :D
When asked "And how is it going?" he replied, rubbing his hands together as he did so, "Oh it's very nice but also very cold! Verrrry cold!"
So cold, in fact, that he was going to the Winter Palace to find out why.
The Winter Palace, as it transpired, was ruled by King Edward the George.
("What's a George?" I asked. "Don't be silly!" was the answer.)
When the elephant arrived, King Edward was just talking to his servants - all of whom were complaining of the cold. But the loudest complaint by far was coming from a tall Viking warrior (and fierce!) called Neizel Van Wingful III. The Viking was understandably upset because in the middle of his wedding service Betty, his beloved bride to be, had frozen on the spot and was now just an ice cube!
Elephant was, all in all, alarmed and curious as to the cause of this freezing up and frozen over.
"Well," explained the George, with embarrassment, "you see, the thing is, er, well, the heating has failed - that is to say, our dragon has become depressed and is too sad to breathe fire. No fire, no heating."
"No heating, no bride!" chimed in the distressed Neizel.
"Can I help?" asked the elephant.
The George and his servants put their heads together and thought - as much as their chilly heads would let them anyway.
"YES!" announced the Chief Sheep excitedly. "If you can cheer the dragon and make them laa laa laugh, that should do the trick and get the heating baaa baaa back."
"How do I do that?" asked the elephant.
"Crazy dancing, that's how! I bet the dragon's never seen an elephant before - and never one that was doing crazy dancing!"
"But I don't know how," said the elephant with a worried sweep of his trunk, "'specially not Russian dancing."
"We'll teach you!"
King Edward the George clearly had no problem joining in with the rest of the palace because he was the first to start the dancing lesson! Gartered royal legs, servants' hooves, viking furry boots, and what might have been a sea horse - all were soon flinging themselves about with wild abandon to the sounds of a recordion (an instrument i'd never heard of before).
The elephant soon got the idea. Quickly the entire court formed a long conga line and proceeded down the slippery steps deep into the palace basement where the sad dragon lay among the coal. The dragon was red and absolutely ginagantic! It was also miserable. Sighing, the great regal beast almost forgot to open its eyes as the cacophony making conga line came down. But open them it did - just in time to see an elephant wildly spinning and high kicking in an attempt at crazy dancing - only to slip on the icy steps and go sliding bumpity-bump on his bumpity-bum and fly straight across the floor and into the dragon!
The dragon opened its great fierce looking razor sharp beak
and laughed. Laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed so hard that smoke began to swirl out from its nostrils and sparks started to leap from its tongue.
"Get down!" yelled the George.
Everyone ducked as hot bright flames exploded out in all directions and the coal on the floor - and in the heaps lying around and about - began to glow. There was the sound of swiftly running Viking furry boots.
The elephant ran as fast as he could over to King George and the servants, clutching a tail that smoked from a glancing flame - which only made the dragon laugh all the more.
"Let's get out of here!" said King Edward.
All together now they raced upstairs.
No-one, thought the elephant to himself, could have run any faster. And perhaps this was true - but a certain Viking had definitely run FIRSTER, for Neizel, as everybody could see, was already kissing his newly thawed out wife Betty before the smiling vicar.
"Man and wife," said the vicar, "Viking and Vikingess."
And everyone in the now warm palace was very happy/
THE END.
...................
i meant to post this on friday evening - but didn't get the chance.
It is a true story as invented and performed by school children with randomly picked hand-puppets and an accordion (or 'recordian' as i was told). my own involvement was deeply minimal - and slightly sheepish.
much credit goes to Richard another tutor.
sometimes, the kids are just brill. :D