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 Adventure of the Pirates and the Mermaids

The Bus That Flew To The Moon

The Princess and the Dragon

The blog includes two of Rab’s children stories:

The Thief and the Thunderstorm.

Sandy and the Unicorn.

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