Watery Tale Rook

The river Frome runs deep and fast,
So many stories it has seen in its past.
The water bubbles, gurgles, froths and foams,
On it meanders, round corners it roams.
On the river banks in the shade of the trees,
Stories unfolding through histories.
Of bygone people and a bygone age,
Tales of life and mystery to cover many a page.
But, where are these stories? On the wind they run free.
Tiny clues remain unearthed to be found by you and me.
We've searched and discovered, with youthful creation
A myriad of ideas inspired by location.
Then crafted and polished and carefully penned
So a patchwork of stories from the library extend.
With devices in hand follow our direction
as words and pictures reveal for your inspection.
Our stories await you, let your imagination free,
Come and visit Frome's hidden tale tapestry!

One day in the park, early in the morning, everything was totally unspoiled. The grass was green (mostly), the trees were growing (extremely slowly), and the bench was wood (as always). Well, it WAS unspoiled until the loud, annoying BEEP BEEP BEEP of Snail Stupido's alarm clock totally spoiled the totally unspoiledness of it all.

Snail Stupido yawned a snail-y yawn and shlopped out of bed. Then he slimed up to the table and made himself a bowl of pellet flakes with his stalk-eyes (more on pellet flakes later). Once he'd finished his abnormal breakfast, he remembered to turn his alarm clock off. Then he slithered outside, hauled his home on his back and inhaled some slime. The reason he inhaled some slime was this: he had gasped and some off his gooey coating had been sucked into his mouth. The reason for this involuntary gasp was... There was a giant shopping trolley right outside his shell. Well, it was giant to him. Just normal to you or me.

Anyway, just as our Unusual hero had sucked up his unwanted slimy snack, his main half-friend, Diddyman, walked up from behind and said a shocked "good morning". The reason it was a shocked 'good morning' was the same as the reason for SS's snail-slime snack: giant trolley. "What on earth is THAT doing here?!?" Yelled Diddyman. "Don't ask me what it's doing. I'm not a mind reader" replied Snail Stupido. Just then, they both noticed the same thing at the same time: a full carton of snail pellets. It had blown out of the bin overnight and landed on a log shaped a bit like a trophy stand on the other side of the skate park. Now, Snail Stupido was not your ordinary snail. He was so accident-prone, he had become immune to snail pellet's deadly poison and grown to really like the taste. On the other hand, Diddyman was just as unlucky as SS. You see, Diddyman was the man in signs. And you may also know that there are signs in the world that picture little men being electrocuted, attacked by sharks, and not minding the gap between the platform and the train. So you can imagine that he was very concerned about everyone's safety. He wanted to get to the carton so he could dispose of it. They both had their different reasons to get their hands (or eyes) on the carton. All they had to do was get there. But the skate park was tough terrain, especially if you were as small as those two. So there they were, pondering how to get there, when the third and final member of their non-established gang popped up, seemingly out of nowhere. And he had an answer to the problem. "Why don't you have a race?" Suggested Tim the small person. They all thought that was a great idea (especially Tim) so that's what they agreed to do. Snail Stupido decided to use the trolley as his racer, Diddyman got his Diddybike, Tim got his checkered flag and they were ready to go.

The traffic lights on the road by the skate park changed from red... To orange... To green! They were off! They raced over slopes and bumps and curved sides, until the prize was in sight. They were neck and neck (which is a racing term for being right next to each other) when suddenly... CRASH!!! As you can probably tell from the supplied sound effect, they both crashed into each other. Their vehicles of choice skidded along the final stretch in one big trolley-and-tiny-bike bundle, and crashed into the winner's podium. The carton went flying over the playground and landed in the road! "I'm gonna get it!" Yelled Diddyman, running wildly across the playground. Suddenly, a giant lorry hurtled round the corner. It was heading right for the prize! Diddyman froze in his tracks. BANG! The lorry ran right over the carton, snail pellets exploded everywhere and the lid went flying at high speed back over their heads and hit the trolley with a loud CLANG!!! Snail Stupido was still on the trolley, so Diddyman grabbed on to the trolley's back and so did Tim. The trolley zoomed across the track with them all clinging on to the back. Suddenly it whizzed up a ramp and flew up high into the sky. They got a view of the whole park! The only people who saw the trolley flying through the air with a small boy, a stick man and a cross-eyed snail riding it were a few early risers who had decided to take an early morning walk in the park to wake themselves up. But that beautiful moment ended far too quickly and too loudly as well. It ended with the deafening SPLASH! Of a trolley that had just been flying at about 15 metres up in the sky landing in a river. And that, my friends, is the story of Snail Stupido and the runaway trolley. And now I have to go, so you have an excuse to the second story. Byeee!

In this story you will meet some crazy characters, some fun ones and some maybe evil!!!!

Taylor Clever was just walking home from school when she heard a "Ping"."That was odd," said Taylor and she became really curious about it. So she followed the odd sound until she came to what appeared to be an ordinary grey hole with a silver lid just at her feet. Taylor Clever reached down and tried to open it, but it was impossible!!!!!!

Then she had an thought, what if there was a key to open it. There was a hole and it said "key inside!" Above which was a piece of sticky paper with the words 'Code 2006' So she tried this but it was wrong because it went "beep beep wrong answer!"" Oh dear. I wonder what the real correct code is?"

Then she remembered she had an animal bench of secret friends. Taylor went to her golden friends as they always saw everything which happened in these woods. They were bound to know the code. Taylor Clever did the secret knock which is where you tap on the owls beak and they came to life. They whispered "What do you want,dear". "Can you tell me the code for the key hole," whispered Taylor. "It's 1962" " Thank-you." And off she runs!

When she got back to the key hole she did the code and this time it was right "Well done you can have the two keys." TWO KEYS!!!!!" " What that is impossible to guess which one will open my magical portal."panicked Taylor. Then she made up her mind and decided and just have a go with the keys.

She started to get worried ...

When she finally got there she thought it would be the right key. She tried it and it worked!! She went to Gobstopper land and they fill your mouth up with gobstoppers, it was a crazy place!

When she finally got home, Taylor told her mum all about the crazy adventure, but her mouth was so full of gob stoppers her mother couldn't understand a word that she said.

The End

Myths and legends, legends and myths. These titles cover truth.

Only the rustling of the oak leaves on the windless day told the nearby wrens where she was. With her bushy, black hair and olive-like skin, Gwen had professionally climbed up a gnarled tree that stood stooped over the path. Gwen was hungry since she hadn't eaten since breakfast. The reason was because her parents were arguing and when they have arguments they really argue. You could say that if you were standing in the room it was like an oven that was set on a high setting indeed. Moreover, they argued over small things like toothpaste. This time it was over chicken eggs (they had chickens in their garden which they got eggs from).

Gwen sighed as she spotted a grey squirrel clumsily waddle past on the branch above hers. She was thinking about having a squirrel hamburger, but decided against it in the end. Earlier she had sneaked out the back door, scrambled to the end of her garden (which was a very long way), through a hole in the hedge (she discovered the hole whilst chasing a rogue chicken , and finally up her tall, oak tree.
After a long discussion with a confused looking bird, she had concluded that she had to go back. So, a slow walk back later she had made her way back to the eerie, white painted house that she lived in. Silence. She heard no sound apart from the songs from the gentle wrens. The coast was clear, or so she thought. Gwen reached for the door knob , of course, she had suspected too soon. "THERE YOU ARE," hollered her mother who was clearly distraught, " YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ONE OF US. I MEAN TO SAY THAT YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED, OR KIDNAPPED EVEN!"

"YOU WOULD NEVER HAVE CARED IF I HAD DIED!" replied Gwen who had been screaming back at her mother. Before her mother had a chance to reply Gwen sprinted back to the hole in the hedge and stomped away. The trees began to thin out and in front of her was a busy road. However, Gwen did not notice until she was standing in the middle of it. Gwen, with her heart pounding, looked towards the right. Her heart beat lessened as she could not see any traffic. Suddenly, her heart beat was shot up again quicker than running water. She looked over to her left as a large car came rushing towards her. Without meaning to Gwen started running forward, the opposite way to where she wanted to go. Then relief streamed through her body. She was tucked tightly together, lying on the pavement.

Getting up, she looked around. A dark, shadowed pathway ran forward. Gwen decided to investigate. To the right of her was a flowing river , to the left she could only make out trees. Then she stopped. Beside her , she had spotted a funnily shaped stump.If only she knew the history behind it all.

IN THE PAST THAT SURROUNDED THE STUMP.

Grazing dreamily, the Demandasaurus , without noticing it, crushed a few smaller species as they strayed too close to the giant's feet. A couple of Allosaurus' waited for the herbivorous giant to lower his tail. When he did they would by able to strike. Their patience was wearing off as they had not eaten for a some weeks. His tail lowered so they striked. He was finally taken by exhaustion. A tree that was so innocently standing there was crushed under the weight of the dinosaurs and ubruptly, a minature earth-quake shook them off the dinosaur. Once the earth-quake stopped a dead cool veloceraptor took some pickings and then scampered off back to the shadows.

Though some believe, others do not. Eventually, the people that did not, became the majority and the truth was covered by legends and myths.

One day Scales the fish was swimming near the river bank. Scales saw a little girl throwing stones into the water.
"Stop, STOP!" Said Scales, and the girl looked from side to side and up and down, then she saw him. She looked at him puzzled,"Are you a talking fish? I didn't there was such a thing" she muttered.
"Why are you throwing stones in the river?" He added.
"Because I'm bored" she replied as she climbed on the wall. When it started to get dark Scales told her to leave, "Quick you'd better go, the evil monkey comes at night to swing on the trees. If anyone is stood where you are standing, they will get eaten up!"
"I don't think an evil, monkey will come. Monkeys are not evil, they are fun and playful, and they live miles and miles form here." the girl said.
"We'll if you want to stay here and get eaten by the monkey it's up to you!" So when it turned night the girl sat on the wall.

In a time and world far from ours, lived a collared dove named Bruce. Well nobody actually named him Bruce, but he thought it was a cool name. Bruce lived under a massive bridge where hundreds of birds thrived in the large community. Bruce was the proud owner of BRUCE's BAKERS AND CO which supplied Bridgetown with fresh bread cakes etc.

One day, Bruce was on his way to a shop, when he saw a poster saying Finn Payne is being hanged tomorrow! Come along and watch his Payne! No food or drinks supplied! The hanging takes place tomorrow morning! Bruce saw this as a business opportunity and he flew off as if a toddler was chasing him pointlessly.

After a lot of burnt donuts, Bruce's baked goods were finally ready to be carted into the town centre (which was where the hanging was taking place) When Bruce got to the town centre he saw a lot of hungry people, great! Thought Bruce, because they would definitely want a donut to fill their empty stomach. After Bruce got his tent up and running, he started selling his donuts to the people of Frome. Bruce made £67 in total, with one donut left for himself.

As Bruce walked home, (thinking about what he should eat with his donut) the hanged Man, Finn muttered "donut for the hanged man?" Bruce was a very kind soul, so he tossed his last donut to Finn. Little did Bruce know but donuts were Finns source of power, so when he passed his supper to the hanged man, Finn grew totally macho and tore the ropes around his neck like they were a donut. Buff Finn now went to seek vengeance on the hangman, and who was responsible???

The next day police cars sped through the streets, looking for Bruce, eventually they found the poor collared dove. They locked him up by his bridge for all eternity because of his crime. Bruce's fellow Bridgetown members moved out, because dead Bruce started to smell after a while. Of course Bruce rotted away, but you can still see the chains that once held him there.

The end.......

You've walked, read and absorbed and we hope you've enjoyed,
Inspired tales about Frome that cannot be destroyed.
Stories are everywhere, that much is true,
Locked within nature and all around you.
Our mission is over, our tales are completed,
They're here to be enjoyed, re-read and repeated.
So share them with friends and take others on our walk.
Stories need an audience, so through you they can talk.