Saturday, December 20, 2014

Welcome to Pirates, Dragons and Moon Monsters


Welcome to the 'Pirates, Dragons and Moon Monsters'  blog. Here you will find quirky adventure poems for young children written by Rab Swannock Fulton and beautiful illustrations by Marina Wild. The three poems and pictures commissioned by Múscailt Arts festival, NUI, Galway are:
The blog includes two of Rab’s children stories:

If you would like to find out more about Rab and Marina can check out Marina's work at http://www.marinawild.com/ and Rab's at http://rabfultonstories.weebly.com/

If you enjoy the pictures, poems and stories, please tell all your friends about this site.

All the best,
Rab & Marina



The Adventure of the Pirates and the Mermaids

Captain 'Shiver Me Timbers' Sharkey
Was the greatest pirate king,
He fought a thousand navies
And every battle did he win.

Captain Sharkey had a beard, a wooden leg
And a sharp metal hook,
A parrot on his shoulder
That gave you a wicked look.

With his pirate crew he sailed
The seven seas so green,
Chasing clues of fish-tailed girls
- The bonniest ever seen.

On a distant treasure island,
Inside a silver studded yam,
He found an ancient map showing
Where the pretty mermaids swam.


The pirates dodged giant icebergs
With penguins forty foot high,
Endured terrible tempests that spat
Seashells in their eyes.

They fought a monstrous squid
With scales of gold and brass
Till our manly heroes came
To the mermaids' realm at last.

There were the mermaids
Swimming in the glittery sea,
Coral clips in their hair
And flipping their tails with glee.

They were leaping over dolphins,
Tickling tigersharks' tums,
Singing songs to starfish,
Learning secrets from their mums.

'Shiver me timbers!' cried Sharkey,
'We've come to make you our wives,
So leap aboard me fish-tailed girls
For the adventure of your lives!'

'Talk to the hand, old man,'
Cried the boldest of the aqua maids,
Whilst her friends blushed and whistled,
Blew kisses and waved.

Captain Sharkey turned to his men
And whispered, 'Lads, it's war.'
They got the ship's cannon all loaded up,
Lit the fuse, and then ROAR!

The cannon balls flew boom boom boom
But the mermaids just laughed,
And whacked the balls with their tails
As the hairy pirates gasped.

Down went the top sail
And the poop deck blew apart,
But 'Shiver Me Timbers' Sharkey
Just gave a big pirate laugh.

On the terrible battle went
With neither side looking the winner,
When suddenly the pirates realised
It was time for their dinner.

Broken masts were all around,
The poor boat's frame did quake,
But 'Shiver Me Timbers' Sharkey managed
To cook a lovely pasta bake.

'Mmmmm,' sighed the mermaids,
'What is that lovely smell?'
'We'll give you a bit if yi stop hitting us,'
Brave Captain Sharkey did yell.

The fearful thunder of war did cease
And the ocean breathed calm and slow
As the pirates lowered plates of grub
To the mermaids down below.

Well those ladies had never
Ever tasted such a thing,
All their life they'd eaten only fish
Which was really rather boring.

'Can you clean?' they asked
With a simper and a blush.
'Shiver Me Timbers!' cried Sharkey,
'I'm a devil with the brush.'

'If you promise to be clean
And cook us a meal every day,
We'll marry you,' said the mermaids,
'We'll marry you right away.'

So Sharkey and the pirates packed
Dustpans, brushes, pots, forks and knives,
And went down below the waves at last
And got a heap of lovely wives.


Copyright © 2010 Rab Swannock Fulton
All Rights Reserved
All images © Marina Wild 2011

 

The Bus That Flew To The Moon

Once there was a little girl,
Bláithín was her name,
She'd get the bus into school,
Then get it home again.

One day she sat apon the bus
Thinking of her books and toys,
When the bus's windscreen wipers
Made a very strange noise.

You see, those mischievous wipers
Were not content with their lot,
Wiping windows was boring,
'We'd rather go flying' they thought.

It just so happened on that day
The rain was beating down awful mean,
And with every drop the wipers thought
We've got to quit this crazy scene.
The bus was on the Rahoon road,
Heading towards Westside,
When the wipers suddenly gave a squeal
So loud and full of pride.

The bus lurched once, then a bump
Was followed by gasps eveywhere,
As the driver shouted 'Hold on tight!'
And the bus lept into the air.

'Look there' cried Bláithín pointing,
'Galway city has shrunk so small!'
Then the bus flew so high
The city could not be seen at all.


Planet Earth soon was left behind
As the wipers whizzed fast
And passengers stared amazed
As satelites flew past.

The bus zoomed by fiery comets
And tinsel stars so bright,
Till all too soon the yellow moon
Came looming into sight.

Then twenty feet from the moon,
the wipers gave a groan,
They could sweep to and fro no more
so wearisome they'd become.

Then a passenger from the Claddagh
(Who sailed a boat in Galway bay)
Pulled an anchor from his coat saying
'I knew this would be handy one day.'


Just as the wipers wheezed once
And shuddered to a stop,
The anchor was hurled at the moon
Were it landed with a plop!

Everyone slid down the anchor's line
Into a sea of creamy cheese,
Which they swam whilst nibbling bits
And feeling rather pleased.

Then on to an island they clambered
(Of harder cheese it was made),
And every one ate their fill
Then down they all laid.

But as they slept, out crept,
From the island's many holes,
Horrible slabbering beasts that looked
Like giant purple moles.


The moon monsters went Argh!
The bus passengers went eek!
But Bláithín just scratched her chin
And then began to speak.

'Argh argh urgle' she said,
Which translates thus:
'We'll stop eating your home
If you let us go back to our bus.'

Whilst the monsters scratched their heads,
The passengers tippytoed away,
Back to the cheesy shore and then
Swam off - oh so quietly.

Back to the anchor and up the line
And into the bus they leapt;
The driver cut the rope
And wheeee down the bus went.


The bus landed safely in Westside
At Bláithín's very stop,
And into school she went
with a whistle, skip and hop.
'You're late,' cried everyone,
'Where on earth have you been?'
Bláithín explained about the flying bus
And all the wonders that she'd seen.

But even though she told the truth
No one believed a word she said,
So Bláithín just smile wickedly
And shouted 'Urgle Argh Urgle!' instead.

At which ten terrible moon monsters
jumped out from behind a rock,
and ate up the entire school
which was really quite a shock.

And the moral of this tale
is very simple and very true:
don't disbelieve little girls lest
they set giant monsters on you!



Copyright © 2011 Rab Swannock Fulton
All Rights Reserved
Images © 2011 Marina Wild

The Princess and the Dragon

This is the story about a princess,
Which begins rather sad,
For when Sophie was a little girl
She lost her mum and her dad.


Princess Sophie was taken then
By her wicked uncle Ming,
Whose only ambition in life was
To become the country's king.

'I'll marry you when you're big enough
To wear a wedding gown.
Till that day you'll be locked away
In a castle far from town.'


Poor Sophie was imprisoned
In a drafty castle, dull and grey,
With an enormous dragon sat outside
To stop her running away.

The dragon had teeth like knives
And a long forked tongue;
Flames puffed from his nose;
His breath smelled like a badger's bum.

But the world famous league of
'Knights Who Save Damsels In Distress'
Decided saving Sophie would
Make a fine manly test

They vowed to rescue Sophie
And smite the dragon dead,
And defeat wicked uncle Ming's plan
To put a crown apon his head.

With swords and spears for battle
(And scones and tea for their rest),
One by one each knight took on
This awful dangerous quest.

But alas whilst every knight
Was allowed to step in the castle door,
The minute they stepped out again
The dragon gave a fearsome roar.

Some knights it ate up – Gulp!
Others it burnt to crispy toast,
But squishing knights flat was
The thing it enjoyed the most!

After many years there remained
Only one poor little knight,
His name was Edgar, and the trouble was
He did not like to fight.
But nonetheless he polished up
His sword and his thermos flask,
And off he went on shaky legs
To attempt the fearful task.

Outside the castle Edgar stood
Wobblying like a jellyfish
And spluttered: 'Em, eh, hello,
I'm here to rescue you, dear Miss.'

Sophie was suprised to see a knight
Who wasn't all muscles and mustache,
Whilst Edgar blushed shyly
Then gave a nervous laugh.


As fast as lightening love zapped
Between each of their hearts,
And he and she gazed at the other
Whilst giving little gasps.

Outside the dragon flexed
Its mighty metalic form;
Its wings stretched, its mouth snarled;
sunlight flashed from its horns.

As poor Edgar stepped outside again
He heard a terrible crash,
And saw that beast whose very breath
Turned mighty rocks to ash.

But then the little knight stopped
Quaking with shame and fear,
For he saw something most curious
As the terrible beast drew near.

As it roared the monster rubbed
A talon across its belly,
Whilst from its rear did appear
a yellow gas so smelly.

'The poor creature has indigestion,'
Whispered Edgar to the princess,
'A fizzy drink should set it right, I think,
Well more or less.'

Side by side our heroes stood
Shaking cans of fizzy pop.
The dragon opened its fearful mouth...
And they threw in the entire lot!

The beast suddenly leapt upwards,
Then landed upside down,
Its wings twitched weirdly
Whilst it legs flapped around

It rolled about the ground so hard
T'was like an earthquake,
Its eyes birled, its bottom whistled,
Its great belly began to shake.
The creature lept behind a rock,
There came a PLOP and a gasp.
Then: 'Is there any toilet roll?'
They heard the creature ask.

Later, while the dragon savoured
A life of happy tummy bliss,
Sophie and Edgar shared
Their very first kiss.

Then the grateful dragon
Invited them to sit on its back,
And with a roar and a leap
His mighty wings did flap.

Off the friends flew then,
The dragon, the boy and the girl,
To seek new adventures
All around the world.


Copyright © 2011 Rab Swannock Fulton
All Rights Reserved
Images © 2011 Marina Wild