Shandibarr and the Lillefolke

By Harry Wright, age 12.

Once there was a wizard named Shandibarr. Like all Wizards, he wore a robe. Like most wizards, his beard was grey. Like a lot of wizards, he had a wand. But Shandibarr had one big quirk…

Here is Ewan’s brilliantly imaginative story that he created in his own time all about Pixies in response to our recent Out & About activity prompt.

THE BIG BAD BOG!!!

Once upon a pixie land, under a little oak tree there lived a pod of pixie’s, all was happy and merry…until one day…

In late 2020, we held a competition, asking our young people to write a short story about what would happen if they fell into a magical portal.  Here are some of the fabulous entries that we received.

The Portal Story

By Summer, aged 10.

“Don’t go through there,” Maya whispered “We don’t know where it goes.”

“Oh Maya, but what if it leads somewhere colourful and magical,” Chloe said, looking into the purple mist.

“But what if it leads somewhere dark and you can’t get back because the portal breaks,” Maya argued.

“Maya, i’m sure that won’t happen, It’s an adventure.”

“Fine you go through but i’m staying here,” Maya said, sitting down on an old brown chair.

“Ok, but you will be missing a whole bunch of fun.”

Chloe took a deep breath and let herself fall into the portal. Travelling through the portal was an adventure itself. The purple mist surrounded her and bright glowing stars flew through the air, It was like a beautiful dream. The tube before looked like it went on for miles but the ride was over in a few short minutes. At the end of the ride Chloe was dropped into a small room, on the wall was a nice picture of 2 dolphins swimming together and it started to remind her of Maya. Suddenly, she started to feel anxious, like maybe Maya was right and she shouldn’t have gone through the portal. Her friend’s words repeatedly echoed in her head like bells. She took another deep breath “you can’t turn back now,” she mumbled to herself.

She brought herself to open the door and when she did, water gushed into the room like a waterfall and she came to face to face with a small, blue dolphin. She took a look around and the sight was beautiful, multicoloured coral waved at the bottom of this place and animals large and small swam around her. Then, Chloe started to sink, which wasn’t surprising since Chloe had never been good at swimming. She looked at the dolphin who was swimming up to her, she held on tight to the top of it and climbed on. “Thanks dolphin,” she whispered. Suddenly, she heard a splash behind her. what was that? She thought to herself.

“Chloe, it’s me, i couldn’t just let you go on your own,” Maya shouted underwater, it was strange that she could speak underwater but Chloe didn’t think about it too much.

“Maya, Maya, come here,” Chloe shouted, “i think this dolphin is trying to show me something.”

“Ok, i’m so glad i was wrong, this place is amazing.”

They raced after the dolphin swimming through the reef and swerving past coral. Finally, the dolphin stopped giving the girls a chance to catch up, it gave a call and several other dolphins arrived. The girls stared straight ahead amazed at what they saw. A beautiful palace lined with gems, with statues of dolphins dotted about. It didn’t take the girls long to figure out what it was-the dolphin castle. The girls wanted to explore it so badly but they knew their mums would be worried, it was the day of Chloe’s party and she still hadn’t picked out her dress.

“Chloe, we have to get back, maybe we can come back some other time,” Maya said, looking behind her “we have swam a long way and it might take us ages to get back.”

“You’re right,” Chloe as she hugged the dolphin,” we’ll be back soon, I promise.”

Portal toilet

By Bradley, age 12

Bradley needed to poo but when he went into the toilet cubicle he noticed it was glowing. He was very curious and looked into the toilet but this was no ordinary toilet No! This was a toilet with a hidden portal and when you flush it, a hole appeared and pulled him in.

The tunnel felt wet and squishy as he falls far down into danger. He begins breathing heavily and soon the portal closes. He floated around in the open air, no gravity around as he swims through the air trying to find a way out, The stinky smell of poos flying about makes him hold his nose and the heat makes the water particles evaporate but they still smell of strong urine. He held his breath.

He felt a tug on his legs as he was pulled down into a smaller green tube. It was the width of a normal slide but covered in and black so he couldn’t see anything. As he scaled down it he was shot out as if it was a cannon into a world with gravity. He crashed to the ground with a thump. “Ouch,” he said.

As he fell, he got a quick glimpse of wasteland with all kinds of rubbish and he felt his stomach clench as he thought he was going to hurl. Sickness crept up his throat, but he managed to swallow it back down, burning his throat as it fell.

He landed on a mattress and fell down a mountain of rubbish and food. When he banged onto the next item, a fridge, it felt horrible. He looked at his leg and it was bent sideways. The pain ripped through him making him scream loudly.

Bradley laid there feeling hurt and sorry for himself. Why had he gone through the portal in the first place? If only he was not curious! Finally, he dragged himself up and did a big sigh. He decided to climb the tall tower of rubbish which was piled up high to get a good view. His leg felt as if it would fall off. At the top he almost fell off but managed to hang on to a high ledge a handle of a door frame and he struggles swinging from side to side and soon swinged onto the ledge. And soon he gets a good look of the world. It was all a wasteland everything from leftover food to

rubbish to empty buildings. He yells, “Where am I?”

He stomps his feet on the floor, annoyed and the whole sky goes black. He closes his eyes and opens them again and realizes he is still in bed. Bradley goes downstairs to have his breakfast, making sure to put his rubbish in the recycling bin.

Down and round…

By Gracie, age 10

Down and round into a smooth-walled, circular chute as an array of different shades passed Tilly Thompsons immense, brown eyes as she floated like Alice down the rabbit hole. One second she was choosing her beloved book at the tucked away book shop she adored and now she was gliding down what seemed to be a portal. It couldn’t be, could it? Tilly had only heard of them in her favourite books however to be in one was breath-taking. She felt like she was floating around in space-which had always been a lifelong passion for her. She was finally alone, even if she was on her way to something incredible , no one to bother her, no one to be mean to her.

The magic portal suddenly came to a conclusion smashing Tilly on to the rawness of the smooth floor. It was like the first time you fell over at ice skating. Emotions rushed all over her body such as embarrassment, humiliation and confusion. She took a glimpse around her. Tilly gasped in amazement. Beautiful costumes hung around her by mannequins all in different shades. Sequins delicately thrown all over the wooden floor like a new year eve party had just taken place. All of the costumes were of people who have already lived such as King Henry VIII. Some were even of people who Tilly had never heard of yet. The rest of the room was filled with dressing rooms, each different from the over. The shop looked like it had been rampaging with customers although nobody was in sight. Tilly thought it looked like something eventful happened which seemed to drag all the customers away.

All of a sudden, Tilly surprisingly found herself slipping on a costume. She was attempting to dress up as Anne Bolyn, King Henry VIII second wife-Tillys personal favourite out of all six. She slipped on the huge velvet dress and itchy head peace . Deep inside her she knew this was a terrible idea but for some reason she could not stop herself. When she glared in the lengthened mirror she actually looked something like a queen! Her sister always said she looked like she could be a feisty monarch. She pranced onto the platform, which was in the middle of the shop, as a consequence of huge emerald smoke wrapped around her. Suddenly, she was sucked back in the array of different shades.

Tilly pondered to herself, instantaneously trying to remember all the books she had read which have portals in, that the spellbinding dress up shop could have been the gateway to millions of other portals. With a smack, Tilly was out of the portal and in an old fashioned bedroom. She took a glimpse in the mirror and she was amazingly Anne Bolyn! Tilly peeked around her and saw an oddly placed calendar which read 19 May 1536. Why did she remember that date? She suddenly realised why she knew the date. It was the horrible date Anne Bolyn was executed…

4)

By Florence

Down and round into a smooth-walled, circular chute. Scared. Lost. Gone. Going somewhere I do not know, sweating, breathing heavily. My body shaking. Darkness everywhere you look. cold and wet . The taste of soggy brown bread in my mouth. A horrible lingering musty smell filled the air. Light only glowing at the bottom of the chute. Dust particles making me sneeze.

Not knowing how much more of this I could take, grabbing the walls I shouted help!. Of course no one could hear me and the wall was flat and smooth so I just fell and fell and fell. Trying and trying and trying to get a good grip on the wall. It felt rubbery

and soft so I began kicking it and bouncing off it still falling down. Not afraid anymore loving life, laughing shouting silly things like yippee! ki yay and other crazy things . I was having a blast until I heard a huge grunt. My heart skipped a beat. Shaking like a leaf there I heard another grunt and another and another. Every time I heard it my blood ran cold. I tried bouncing off the wall once more to make me feel better but I couldn’t. The wall was now hard . My leg was probably broken .

Darkness fell on the end of the tube now. My eyes red as rubies not wanting to sleep feeling queasy. The air in the chute started to smell bad, large snoring noises came from the end no closer now than when I started. Green tinted gas flew up the chute and swam around my nose. My body so tired now that I needed a rest . Missing my family and friends even though it had probably only been a day. The time and date was unnoticeable, not ok, my breathing ran faster than a car on a race track.

After finally falling to sleep that night waking up was a whole different story . It’s not everyday you get woken by the sounds of a giant thing singing in the shower. I woke up and said ‘’Mum is that you’’ . She was not there though. In her place was a huge nostril whatever was down there I do not want to know.

An unordinary adventure

By Rose, age 10

Shooting down and round into a circular-walled shoot, James felt a buzz in the air. But let’s start from the beginning…

James was an ordinary boy. He did ordinary things and enjoyed ordinary things.  But what James was about to do was not ordinary at all…

James loved stories. He spent all of his time reading or thinking of different adventures and fantasies. In fact, that was what he was doing now. He was in the middle of an extremely boring geography lesson, dreaming up a world in which there was a huge library full of interesting tales. What James didn’t know is that he was about to enter one himself.

As James walked home from school that day he saw something that excited and confused him at the same time. A cat (a very normal, ginger stray in case you were wondering) walked into a tree and simply disappeared in front of his eyes. Excitement fizzed through him like cola in a twirling straw. This was like something straight out of his stories! He edged towards the tree with mounting unease and reached out to touch it. He felt a feverish atmosphere in the air and there was a ‘whoosh’ as James was whisked away…

James felt a thud as he hit the floor. He looked up to see he was in a forest.  That’s when he heard children. He ran forward and tripped over a tree root to get a mouthful of mud and bread.

‘Bread?’ thought James, ‘Why would there be bread?’

He looked up to see a trail and breadcrumbs and two children running amongst the trees. ‘Hansel and Gretel!’ James thought, ‘I’m in a fairy tale!’  With his eyes widening with joy and his heart beating delightedly, James followed the siblings in close pursuit.

Panting heavily, James came to a halt. He had come to the end of the trail and Hansel and Gretel were nowhere in sight. Suddenly, there was a cackle in the silence. Dread filling his heart, James looked up expecting an evil witch to be staring into his terrified eyes…

Instead, there was the biggest, most magnificent library James had ever seen. Laughing in delight, he ran in. Inside there were shelves and shelves of colourful books and balconies curving and twisting around the building. There were lights and staircases flourished with decorations. It smelt of fresh pages and ink. Bannisters gleamed with polish and there, pride of place, sat right in the centre, was the most glorious fantasy story. James (as you can guess) couldn’t resist this beautiful book and reached to grab it when he somersaulted through the air, dazzled by blinding, white light.

Suddenly, the sensation stopped. James looked around, he was back in the geography lesson. ‘Wow! That was brilliant! I wonder why I am back in this geography lesson?’ thought James.   “Good grief boy, pay attention!” Said Mr Munnings from the front of the class, “STOP DAYDREAMING!”

But in his head, James knew he never would.

6)

By Jacob, age 8

Shooting down and round into a smoothed walled circular shoot…

I was about to be sick the bright colours of my past bewildered me. Blue, orange, red, yellow, brown, black, burgundy and white hypnotised me. Rarely anything hypnotises me.

Shaped like a pyramid colours spiralled round. Suddenly doors appear at the bottom of the tunnel each door has symbols that tell you what realm is behind that door. Three doors stand in my way one door has an American football and another has a magnifying glass, and the last door has an ice hockey puck. There was a flash of light then magnifying glass door flings itself open and drags me in. Then all of them opened fighting for me, but I still went to the second door. I landed flat on my face! I looked up there were huts instead of houses and monsters were running round like crazy elephants. I thought they might tread on me. I ran away from them so I would not get trampled. BOOM! I collided with the Scooby gang. They wanted me to help solve their crazy mystery. I was flattered because this was my dream. I have always wanted to be in the Scooby gang. Now I just need to remember where the mysterious portal is!

7)

By Eva, age 8

Down and around into a smooth wall, circular chute.

As Alma swirled and slipped down the never-ending purple chute, she felt everything was somehow changing. Either she was shrinking, or the world was getting bigger. Eventually she came to an abrupt halt. Getting up she noticed a crystal chandelier which reflected light around the somehow familiar rooms. She couldn’t get her head round where it was. Then she heard footsteps coming closer, which made her heart skip a beat. With panic setting in she slid and hid under the feasting table while trying to spy a pair of feet from under the bright

white tablecloth. She glanced a pair of diamond encrusted heels. She gasped. She knew exactly who owned them, after all she had dressed her in them many times before. It belonged to her most prized possession, her doll Eva. But how come she was now life-size? Confused, she scrabbled to her feet to meet Eva. She said “Hi Alma, I recognise you, follow me, let’s chat. Nervously she followed her, not having the slightest idea where they were going. She wiped her sweaty palms down her skin before taking hold of Eva’s hand as they entered her bedroom.

“But how come you’re alive and bigger than me now?”

“I had to because there is an evil mastermind opening portals, so humans will get into our world and be under his control. You had to, you’re the only girl that hasn’t been under it yet!”

All of a sudden she heard a bang on all the windows and doors. “We have been locked in” cried Alma, nearly in tears. Eva put a comforting arm around Alma. A mysterious voice boomed “You have been locked in, there is only one way out mwah ha ha ha ha.” “It must’ve been the evil mastermind”, said Eva.

“Complete this challenge”, it thundered again. A minute later the ground started shaking as a toy giant walked in. Alma thought she recognised him. It was from her brother’s room. She knew its weakness. She shouted to Eva, “Get the flute and play tune”. Straightaway she followed her command. Instantly the toy giant fell asleep so Alma chopped off its toe. “Find the key to be released”, sneered the voice. The girls searched continuously and they were getting desperate! But then Eva spied it on the glittering lampshade. They unlocked the door and there he stood.

They started fighting and fighting and fighting some more. The girls rounded up all their strength. Then with a killer blast of burning acid over his heart, he dropped to the floor dead. All the toys shouted “thank you” as she climbed back into the portal. Alma shouted, “I’ll be back soon!!”.

Notes from a parent – “I would like to share with you our pixie hunt. We found loads of pixie homes and play areas like tiny holes in tree to large branches for playing. My daughter liked the hole in the wall the most for the home and has draw the house and the pixies that live there. Thank you for your inspiration.”

Buddy

He is a doll,
He is cold,
He is the King of the bed.
Why have I chosen this object?
I don’t let people touch him,
He his my royal cuddle toy,
Soft like a cuddle from an animal,
He is the king of the bed.
Why have I chosen this object?
He lives on my lion pillow,
He is roarsome,
It’s his roarsome throne.

We loved this BOP poem sent in to us, written by a 10 year old boy at home.

It’s great how you have chosen to explore Buddy – he is clearly very important to you and we loved finding out more about him. Your use of repetition is fantastic and really helps to bring the whole piece together! Well done, and thank you so much for sharing!