Another set of tales improvised during lockdown. Music: Creepy — Bensound.com. Here are some Totally Made Up Tales, brought to you by the magic of the internet.   Put your faith away. It will hold you later.   Try rubbing me. I'll pop out of my clogs.   Hardly anyone from Germany likes thinking hard about warfare.     It was a bright Tuesday morning and Linda was making herself some eggs for breakfast. She broke the eggs into a ramekin before pouring them into the bowl which, she'd read, is something that you should do. Having poured them into the bowl, she whisked them because she was making eggs of the scrambled variety. As she whisked them, the eggs became frothier and frothier and frothier and threatened to over spill the edge of her whisking bowl. Not knowing quite what to do, she, nonetheless, didn't stop whisking and gradually a tendril of frothy egg spilled over the side of the bowl. This she felt was a disaster. Linda was a very tidy person and any threat of a spillage she was going to treat with the utmost seriousness. She brandished her whisk at the spillage on the floor and she whisked it. Unfortunately by so doing, she made it even more frothy and it started to spread across the kitchen floor. As it spread, it starts to gain consciousness. It eventually towered over her a frothy monster with an opening where its mouth would be. It breathed heavily on her, ruffling her hair back around her face. An eggy smell enveloped her kitchen, and she backed away, trapped between the fridge and the washing machine. "It's time for breakfast," said the monster, as it gobbled her up. The end.     Lights cast shadows. Shadows hide evil. Don't use lights.   Use your noggin wisely. It will let you down.   Screw you, Mr Blair! I want to eat you up!     One morning, Erica woke up to discover that her boyfriend Jonathan was missing. Normally this would not cause her concern, but Jonathan had been suffering from a very severe case of measles and certainly wouldn't have been well enough to go out for his own thing. She went downstairs to the living room where he'd been sleeping on the sofa in order to be able to toss and turn in his feverish state. But he was nowhere to be found. She called for him, but there was no answer. She searched every room without finding him. Being a sensible girl, she decided straight away to report the matter to the police, not to bother them, but just so that it was on record at the earliest opportunity. She picked up the landline phone in order to dial them, but mysteriously, there was no dialing tone. She went back into the bedroom and picked up her mobile phone, but despite being plugged in overnight, it had no battery. She decided that the best thing to do would be to walk to the police station and report it that way, but when she opened the front door, something shocking greeted her. The whole house had been enclosed in a clear plastic dome, which appeared to be hermetically sealed from the outside world. Some two meters in front of her front door, the dome curved down into the ground and she could see that there was a sign plastered on it on the other side. It said, "Beware: Plague."   Is that the end? I mean, that could be the end. It could be the end. That can be the end. Why can it not just be the end? It could be, "Next to the sign on the other side of the dome, Jonathan was waving at her."   The end.     One day, a scientist called Peter found the solution to everything. It was to dissolve it all in alcohol. He started with himself. The end.     Michael had always loved riding his bicycle. He would get up early in the morning so that he could get a bike ride in before his day started properly. And once he day started properly, he would do as much as possible of it on his bike. One year, he decided that he was going to push himself further and enter a really difficult race. He researched all of the possible bike races around the world and picked one which went over 300 miles through desert and mountains. But the most challenging part of this 300 mile race was the very end where you had to cross the channel to make it back to London. He spent many, many months in training and built himself a series of little courses in his back garden that he could do to practice for these particular terrains. He wasn't able to build himself an equivalent to the channel, and so had to go further afield to practice the cycle-powered aquaplaning he was going to need in order to get home at the end of the race. He decided that the Pacific Ocean was the best place to practice for the channel being as it was slightly harder, and therefore would see him in good stead for the relatively narrow distance of the channel itself. Standing on the shores of Tokyo Harbor, he saddled himself up to his bike and pointed the front wheel towards the water. "Tally ho," he said, everyone around him looking slightly perplexed at his outdated and outmoded way of expressing himself. He was last seen on the 31st of March 1978. If you have any information about his whereabouts, we would be interested in hearing from you. The end.     Michelle had a problem with her neighbour. Her neighbour was incredibly noisy. Not just ordinary noise: this was the sound of someone who was learning to play the drums. The end.     It was Michael's 13th birthday and he had decided to celebrate his entry into adulthood by telling the girl he loved that he loves her. He took out a piece of paper and his set of drawing pencils and made her a beautiful picture. At the top, he carefully lettered the words, "Michelle, I love you." And he decorated the writing in his very best calligraphic style. Underneath, he drew a triceratops with a speech bubble coming out of it. The triceratops was saying, "No, really, I do." And just to be absolutely certain in a footnote at the bottom of the cards he added, "This is definitely not a joke. I absolutely do love you and this is why I have said it three times on the card." Having finished his drawing, he stepped back, held it up, and was pleased with his work. He popped it into an envelope, wrote her name on the front, and dropped it into her locker the very next day. He waited for the whole day for Michelle to say something to him, or maybe reciprocate with a note. Morning break passed and they walked past each other in the corridor, but there was not a flicker of recognition in her face. At lunchtime, he looked across the cafeteria at her, but she did not look back. Finally, when it came to afternoon break, he could bear the tension no longer. He sought her out. "H-h-hi, Michelle," he stammered shyly. But she looked right through him and kept on walking. She didn't even acknowledge his presence. He chased after her. "Michelle, I wondered if you got the card that I left in your locker this morning." But again, she paid no attention to him. It was as if he hadn't said a single word. Michelle is now 36 and still occasionally hears whispers in the wind, as if someone is desperately trying to tell her something, but she can never quite make them out. And there never seems to be anyone there when she looks. The end.   I almost cried. That's such a moving ending.     Trials and tribulations make you strong, but annoy you. Buddism won't save you from the cost of living.     Rain fell on the high peak. Charlotte huddled close to Roger and wondered when the storm would pass. A little further along the low wall that they were using for shelter, were Fred and Barbara, the couple who had accompanied them to the peak. This was supposed to be a jolly outing on a summer's day, but all of a sudden the weather had changed dramatically for the worse. Charlotte glanced up at the clouds and silently resigned herself to the idea that this was not going to stop, and maybe they were just going to have to brave the rain and get back down to their cars. And then, on a gust of wind, she heard just a couple of words. She thought it was Fred's voice and they were, "Eat them." She turned to look at the source of the noise, but Fred was sitting all the way over on her left and the noise and seemed to come from the right. She puzzled on this for a while and then caught another snatch of words, which again, sounded like him, but came from the wrong direction. This time it came from above, though there was nothing above them except for the cloud, but it was distincter this time. The first time she had thought it might've been, "meet them," or, "greet them," but this time it was definitely, "Eat them." And as she heard these words, she noticed that she was hungry, hungrier perhaps than she'd ever been in her whole life. She turned her eyes on the other couple, but they didn't really seem that appetizing. And then, as she felt her stomach growl, she realized the warmth on her arm. The person next to her was, strangely, making her mouth water. The smell of him filled her nostrils, salty and damp, meaty, almost. She had always liked that he was slightly plump, and now she had a reason. That fat dripping off him made her mouth salivate more than it ever done in her life. She removed the bucket and spades that she'd, perhaps foolishly, packed for their day out, and with one swift blow knocks him out. Fred and Barbara jumped up and screamed, aghast seeing the death blow that Charlotte had dealt to her boyfriend. As they moved towards her, she quickly hit them over the head as well, although she was less certain about eating them. The storm lasted several days, but Charlotte had a blissful holiday. She worked her way through Roger's meatier regions. She disposed of the less appetizing parts of him. And she drew pictures of the scene, as it unfolded in the valley below. When the mountain rescue search party found her two days later, they concluded that the other three climbers, being inexperienced, had simply slipped on the wet path and fallen to their death. The only things that Charlotte had with her when she was discovered were a bucket and spade and a number of sheets of what appeared to be goat parchment on which she had sketched the landscape beneath them. The end.     Well that's another waste of seven whole hours, Derek. Proverbs very specifically aimed at people. It's one of those Derek proverbs. There's a whole book of them.   Wait until death to tell me lies, Mr Blobby. I really thought that was going to be “wait until death to tell me you love me”.     Rona and Kristen woke up one morning, wondering what the strange sound was. It was a distant, high-pitched squeal and it seemed to be coming from inside the house. They thought, at first, that it might be some piece of electronic equipment that had got into a weird cycle and needed to be switched off and on again. But after they'd wandered around the house, trying to find the source of the noise, they realized that whichever room they were in, it always seemed to be coming from all directions, as if it was in the walls. Now, Rona, who was by nature a little bit impatient, started to suspect that Kristen was playing some kind of joke on her. She even accused Kristen of making the noise herself. Kristen said, "All right, well, if that's what you think I'll go outside and then you can see if it continues." So Kristen walked out the front door and went to the end of the garden and stood just by the pavement at the side of the road. Rona stayed inside the house, closed the door, and could still hear the sound. In fact, if anything, the sound was louder, more penetrating, more aggravating. Rona placed her hand on the walls where it seemed that the sound might be coming from and closed her eyes. The sound changed. No longer just a high-pitched squealing, there were lower frequencies resonating all the way down. She could almost feel the house vibrating with multiple harmonics, rich and dark. And they were no longer aggravating noises, but the most beautiful sound she had ever heard. Music, but that doesn't do it justice. Music like she never heard, music that she could feel she could live in. The sounds seemed to interweave in a dance that captured the very heartbeat of the universe. And through it, she started to feel that there was a message, that she was not just part of the heartbeat of the universe, she was not just starting to come in sync with the whole of creation, that the creation was speaking to her. After a few minutes, Kristen reentered the house. Rona didn't even turn. She was oblivious, swept up in the majesty of her experience. Kristen tried to get her attention, tapped her on the shoulder, shook her a little bit. But with every passing minute, Rona looked more and more vacant, more and more disconnected with Kristen, with the house, with the present time and place. Finally, Kristen could stand it no longer. She shouted right into Rona's ear and the spell was broken. Rona turned. She looked at Kristen and had a vague memory, now slipping away like a dream on waking of having seen wonderful sights, but as each second passed, she became lesser than what they had been. As Kristen held her, Rona began to cry. What she had experienced, she would never have again and Rona would never quite feel that Kristen ever understood her properly. Meanwhile, somehow far away and close at the same time, the heart of the universe continued to pulse.   You have been listening to Totally Made Up Tales, which were indeed totally made up by James Aylett, James Lark, and Andrew Ormerod. All of these stories were recorded without advanced planning, and then lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for some more Totally Made Up Tales.   When you die, put your ashes in to me. Did I start that? No? No. That was perfect. Very creepy. I think it's meant symbolically.

Totally Made Up Tales

Lockdown Season, Episode 3

Another set of tales improvised during lockdown. Content warning: bit sweary! Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.   Here are some Totally Made Up Tales, brought to you by the magic of the internet.   Grass never grows twice. It always leaves a stain.   Refresh your browser often. It will speed everything up.   Marry wisely, lest you fall badly into debt.   Eliminate waste from your life using spoons and forks.   Caring for people is hard. So care slightly left.   Put your feet on somebody. It'll stool them slightly.   It shouldn't be this hard, Freddy thought, to pick the right shade of red for your accent wall. He tried pillar box red, but it was too showy. He tried wine red, but it was too dull and gloomy. What I cannot cope with, he thought to himself, is the sheer range of options in the red catalog. He looked at the paint colour charts spread out on the ground before him. There must be more than 200 shades of red alone, and this was only from one range. He quivered to think what would happen if he went into B&Q to look at theirs. This was simply unacceptable and he would have to do something about it. I shall simply have to eliminate some of the colours of red from the spectrum, he thought. The easiest way to do this would be using some kind of reverse prism. Happily, Freddy was an esoteric sort of individual and had a whole cabinet full of prisms and various refractory implements, and he began to take them out, line them up, and judge which would be best. It took him three and a half years to determine the exact right combination of different-shaped and sized prisms to eliminate red from any colour light passing into the contraption. But he succeeded, and was dismayed to discover that, with some of the shades of reds now missing from the spectrum, everything was a little bit too blue. In fact, it seemed that there were now more blues than there had ever been before. And this truly offended his sense of balance and symmetry and all that is fair and equitable in the world, and he thought, well, I'm just going to have to get rid of some of this blue. And so, he returned to his cabinet of prisms and added more subtlety and different colours and shades of crystal to use in the prism contraption, and finally, after five years, was able to sit down and have to reduce the number of blues to a palatable number. The greenish tints that settled over everything was, to his eyes, even worse than the blue. And so, back and forth, this went on for several years, tinkering and adjusting each time. Until eventually, the only colour that was left was brown. And Freddy looked at it and it was a nice shade of brown. He liked the brown, and he put the brown on his wall, and he stepped back and thought, what this could do with is just a little bit of colour. The end.   One morning, when Margaret got up, Jeffrey wasn't there. What was there, on the pillow next to her was a short note, which simply said, "Had enough. Good luck. Bye." But first, Margaret felt puzzled and somewhat thrown off balance by this. It seemed to come out of nowhere. She checked the wardrobes and the chest of drawers, just to be sure it wasn't a joke, but sure enough, everything that was Jeffrey's was gone. She went to work that day as usual, and got home again in the evening as usual and made dinner. And throughout the day, she wondered what exactly it was that she'd done wrong. She reflected as she went through her day, that nothing very much had changed. Apart from the fact that she was cooking for one, everything else was pretty much as usual. And yet, it felt so very, very empty. But, could she pin it down more specifically? What exactly was this emptiness, and how was she feeling it? She thought back to the beginning of the day. Where did the feeling of empty start? She realised that it had just started as soon as she woke, in a bed that was now only half full. "Aha," she said. It had continued as she had eaten her breakfast on her own, without her husband next to her, then got into her car to go to work, but without her husband next to her, sat down at her desk at work, without her husband next to her, and so on and so on. Every part of her day, just by herself, without her husband next to her. And she realised that more than anything, what she was missing was having something next to her all day. She considered her options, checked on the internet. What else could she put next to her? She narrowed it down to three options. Firstly, a dog, which she would have to feed. Secondly, a coffee machine, which would be convenient in some ways, but would be quite a heavy thing to carry around with her all the time. Thirdly, an avocado, which was deeply portable and heavily photogenic. Unfortunately, she had to discard the last option because she was worried that it wouldn't last. And so, she got herself a dog, but she always thought back that maybe an avocado would have been a better choice. She didn't vocalise this at first, but as the weeks wore on and the dog proved to be unreliable at waking her up, or not always able to control its bladder in the office, she started to blame the dog for not being as good as the hypothetical avocado. You see, she thought to herself, if I was having this much trouble with my avocado, I could just cut it open and eat it. Margaret took a decisive course of action. She went to Sainsbury's and began to peruse the avocados. She hadn't realised up until this point that avocados came in more than one variety. As she prodded and pressed the avocados, testing them for ripeness, the dog was next to her saying, "What are you doing? Why are you looking at the avocados all of a sudden?" She tried to be discreet about it and to say, "Oh, well, I just developed a passing interest." But the dog could smell that she was lying. The dog said, "I see the way you look at them, when you think I'm not there." But Margaret ignored the dog and bought her first avocado. For a few days, Margaret felt an overwhelming sense of happiness. There was always someone there. She woke up next to a dog and an avocado. When the dog was annoying, she had the avocado. When the avocado was boring, she could turn to the dog. But after a week of what seemed like bliss, she woke up to a horrible sight. There, next to her on the pillow was just an avocado skin. "What have you done?" she asked of the dog, that was sitting, looking smugly satisfied on the rug. "I've eaten the avocado," said the dog. The end.   Putting on his duffel coat, Thomas Smith set up for work for the very last time. He thought to himself, "I, Thomas Smith, am retiring today, after 40 years in my chosen field". It was a 40 tough years as the police inspector of Cardiff North. As he made his way into the office, he saw the faces that have grown familiar to him, day in, day out. "The boss would like to see you," said Charlie Perkins, but he didn't say it in a very nice way. Heeding the words of Charlie Perkins, Thomas went to knock on the door of the chief inspector. The anxiety made his hands shake and the knock was tremulous. But it's my last day, he thought. What could possibly go wrong? "Come in," said the chief inspector, and his voice was barbed. Thomas pushed the door open, walked across the expanse of shabby carpet, and took a seat in the threadbare office chair facing the chief inspector's desk. Chief Inspector looked at him coldly across the top of his horn-rimmed glasses and said in a low, slightly threatening tone, "But we all know why you're here, don't we, Thomas?" "Because I'm retiring today?" asked Thomas. "Oh, that's what we all expected," said the chief inspector, "a little handshake, perhaps a glass of bubbly to celebrate your 40 years here. It should have been so simple." Thomas looked around him and tried to think what else could be the matter. "Am I behind on my dues to the widows and orphans fund?" he asked. "Oh, no," replied the chief inspector. "The widows and orphans are very well taken care of, thanks to you, Thomas. Oh, no. I think you'll find the answers I wrote in this dossier," which he slipped across the table, emblazoned across the top, Operation Calamity. Thomas opened the dossier and started to read. What he read chilled him to the very bone. It was a complete account of his life, from the moment of conception onwards. "But how have you managed to obtain this information in so much detail? There are things here that no other living person could know," he said, having scanned the few pages. The chief inspector looked at him, scorn in his eyes. "Well, we don't just use living people." Thomas continued reading, more and more unsettled. "You know where my father is." "The whereabouts of your father is crucial to your very purpose," said the chief inspector, "a purpose which you have failed to complete. If you turn to the last page, I think you'll see exactly what I'm talking about." Nervously, unsettled, and more than a little scared, Thomas turned to the last page. "My father is what?" "That's right," said the chief inspector. "Your father is Satan, and it is your job to bring about the end of the world before you retire. Which, by my reckoning, leaves you about six hours. There's cutting it fine, Thomas, and there's cutting it fine. I hope you know how disappointed we and your father are in you." Thomas mumbled something about being able to do only his best, and staggered out of the office. But realised as he walked down the carpet-paved hallway, for the plan was beginning to form in his head. Having been conceived by Satan, he was of course, equipped with all of the knowledge to bring about the end of the world. He just had had so many other things to focus on, he haven't really thought about it until now. The quickest way to bring down contemporary civilisation was simply to switch off the internet. First port of call were the 5G masks. Rather than visit them in person, Thomas devised an ingenious scheme where people would blame 5G on all sorts of maladies afflicting the population, and would tear them down and set fire to them themselves. The second action he needed to complete was to destroy the servers on which the entire internet were stored, which fortunately, were in Cardiff North. He was able to use his warrant card in order to get access to the building. And then, it was just a little matter of lighter fluid and a dropped match. Third task he would need to perform was, however, the one that was going to take the longest. The actual destruction of humankind could be achieved in, well, several ways, but the obvious ones were a plague, a virus, or some sort of natural disaster. And he decided not to hedge his bets and to plump for natural disaster. It might not be obvious to everybody what the link is between switching off the internet and causing a natural disaster, but to Thomas, it was. Obviously, if no one had access to the internet, they had no access to warnings, because no one used radio anymore. This meant that any disaster would have a disproportionate impact on humanity, and it would be easy to find one that would wipe out everyone. Back at the police station, a small amount of anxiety was being felt by the chief inspector, who was worried that his little retirement joke may have got out of hand. Thomas had drawn a pentagram on the floor, using a red board marker and was lighting candles at the apex points. His colleagues were beginning to gather, pressing their faces up against the frosted glass leading into his office. Meanwhile, far beneath the surface of the earth, the elder gods began to wake. Charlie Perkins was particularly perturbed. He had brought some Asti, which he had preferred to open, and he was sacrificing a goat. He wasn't even sure that Asti paired well with goat meat. And he was wondering, is this what happens to everyone on retirement? And decided to revise his pension plan. Inside the sacred circle that Thomas had constructed around the pentagram with the crayon, the air moved more slowly. The light seemed more golden. And Thomas himself was finding it harder and harder to walk around, continuing the chants that would raise the elder gods. As Satan himself began to operate in the police station, a ginormous tidal wave made its way towards Cardiff Bay. Building in height over the Atlantic Ocean, it rolled steadily eastwards. It was not an altogether unnatural sight in Cardiff, but the fact that the tsunami was tinged a horrendous colour of pink began to unnerve even the most stalwart residents. And they wondered just what was going on. As the waves in Cardiff Bay started to get higher, the foam started to turn blood red, and the tsunami bore down, growing in height by the minute. "So, do you think I should put the banner up now?" Charlie Perkins asked his colleagues. The wave crashed over the coast of Wales, spreading itself across the whole of the British Isles, as its trailing edge hit the continents of Europe and Africa. "I'd say we should start with the balloons." The end.   It was Wednesday, and Wednesday was Jeremy's favourite day. It was the day on which he had Coco Pops. With barely concealed excitement, he bounced down the stairs and tore open the door of the larder. There, sitting in a central place was the box. He was interrupted by his mother, who entered the room with a quiet gasp, and then demanded to know why he had torn open the door to the larder. He looked down at the larder door, clutched in his furry paw. Sheepishly, he tucked the door behind his back, blinked up at his mother. "It's Wednesday." "Wednesday or not, young thing, you must take better care and responsibility of the fittings and fixtures of this home. When your father sees what you've done, he will be very unhappy indeed. We must get this sorted out now, before he returns home from his foraging." And so it was that they, yes, Jeremy produced the door from behind his back and they looked at how they might attach it back to the frame of the larder. It was a more complicated task than one might think when one doesn't have an opposable thumb. But by continual effort over a number of hours, they were able to rebuild the moulding, reassemble the doorframe, and reattach the door. It was a pretty good job, particularly for bears with no training in such things. But Mother Bear knew that Father Bear would notice the difference. "I think we should probably just move house," she said. Jeremy agreed. This was probably the best idea. He'd seen Father Bear when Father Bear was angry. And he thought, Father Bear will not notice an entire new house, but he will certainly notice poor jointery. So, he scurried upstairs to pack his Rupert Bear suitcase. Meanwhile, Mother Bear got out the matches. She began to put firelighters around the various parts of the house so that it would combust swiftly and leave as little trace as possible. And as she did so, with her other hand, she checked on her iPad whether there are any similar-looking homes going on right move. It turned out that there were several. And so, it was that the bears moved into the White House. The end.   You have been listening to James Aylett, James Lark, Becky Moore, and Andrew Ormerod. These stories were recorded without advanced planning, and then lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for more Totally Made Up Tales.

Lockdown Season, Episode 2

During the Covid-19 lockdown, we started getting together on Zoom to improvise. Here are some stories we told. Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.   Walking home, Phillip observed children playing on the swing. He pushed them off. Mark put a wimple on and started singing like he was Sister Act. Morning had broken in South Sussex. The animals were awake and violent. Opening his present, Timothy discovered something surprising. It was his own head inside. Heating my house takes many slaves. They burn coal and sometimes, burn themselves. Susie put gin in everything, including her mother's tea. Rest in peace. And now some slightly longer stories. David rode his bicycle to work. It had a bright, shiny bell and a light that he could use when it was dark. One day it developed a puncture and stopping by the side of the road to fix the puncture, he was run over by a car. The ambulance came quickly and whisked him off to the emergency department of the local hospital. The doctors patched him up as best they could and although he was to walk with a limp for the rest of his life, he was more or less all right. The only problem was he needed to top up his pressure every day. The end. Mabel had always wanted to keep chickens. One day, she went to a garden center and got some. Unfortunately her husband had other ideas of the best thing to do with them. One by one her chickens started to go missing. When she questioned him about it, he looked at her with flashing eyes. "Don't worry about the chickens," he would say. The satanic rituals he performed each night made him more and more powerful until one day he became Prime Minister. Unfortunately by then he had run out of chickens, so he only stayed Prime Minister for about 15 days. The end. Waking one morning, Jeremy opened his eyes. In front of him was a gorgeous sight. The woman he loved had climbed through his window in the night. Climbing the rough exterior walls of the tower had given her cuts and scrapes on her body. However, he didn't care. She looked amazing to him. She however was shocked and appalled when she woke up to discover herself in his bedroom, covered in bruises and scratches that she had no memory of getting. "What the fuck did you do to me?" She reached for her mobile phone, which fortunately she had thought to bring with her. Jeremy now languishes in prison. His beloved does not want to have anything to do with him. But she still sleep walks every night. The end. Delia Smith wanted to boil an egg. First of course, she had to find the perfect pan. Fortunately, Delia's kitchen is huge and it has every type of pan conceivable, extremely well-filed. Her first thought was that she wanted a very small pan, almost exactly the size of the egg. So she went to the very small pans section, that is first organised by diameter and then by depth. And she found herself one, which she believed would be about exactly the size of a regular farm egg. Well, when she put the egg into it and filled the pan with water, she became bothered by a particular detail that she hadn't thought of. Because the pan was such a similar shape to the egg, it wasn't able to sit on its side properly once the water was in. Next, she thought, maybe what she needed was an enormous pan, and then some kind of gantry to hold the egg in the exact centre. She took a golf buggy to the other end of her kitchen and went to the large pans and picked out more or less a cauldron. Placing it on the back of the buggy, she then went off to her bits and bobs cupboard and found something that she could use as a gantry that had originally been intended for cubing beetroots. Returning to the the main cooking area, she assembled the contraption and placed an egg within it. And then she went to fill up the cauldron with water. But, quelle dommage! she had failed to take something very important into account. The time that it takes to boil water increases exponentially with the volume. When she quickly calculated how long it would take to boil this egg, it would take the regular amount of time to cook it, but nearly an entire lifetime to heat the water. And her husband was in bed waiting for his breakfast right that moment. She decided to start a health craze for eating raw eggs. The end.   "Come into my office", Roger said to the new recruit. "I have a job for you. And you must tell none of the others what I'm about to say. I want you to take this envelope and put it through a certain letter box." And he provided the details of the letterbox: the number, how far above the ground it was, the street address and so forth. The new recruit, slightly mystified by the instruction, was an obedient and hardworking lad called Peter Purse. And so, following the instructions that he'd been given to the letter, Peter took the envelope and set out to find the letter box. He walked, following a street map until he found the building. He managed to gain entrance to the lobby. He realised that the postboxes inside the building weren't all in the lobby, they were on the different floors. And so he started one by one to scout through the floors, looking for the right numbered letterbox. It took him the best part of the morning, but finally Peter Purse found the relevant letterbox, put the letter into it and, with the feeling of a job well done, he returned to his place of work. Peter gave no more thought to the letter that he had delivered for several weeks until he was once again summoned to the study of his boss. "Come into my office," said Roger, "I have another job for you. And this one is of a more permanent nature. How would you like to be a postman?" Peter thought long and hard about the question, and finally agreed. As the years went by, he wondered about the other people in the company who weren't postmen. He wondered what they were doing with their lives, but being a postman he was always on the move, and never had a chance to go back and look. The end.   At the top of Melissa's building was a floor that no one went to. Everyone knew it was there. It was clearly marked in the lift, and on the signposts that run up the staircase. But she asked around and nobody knew who lived there or how to actually get out at that floor. So one day she tried. "How hard can it be?" she thought, "I'll just push the button in the lift." So the doors closed. She pushed the button, and the lift went nowhere. "That's funny," she thought, and pushed it again. Still nothing. "I shall try the stairs," she thought, pushing the button to open the lift doors. As she climbed the stairs, she heard an echo of her own footsteps. Or was it? Looking down, she could not see anything. Looking up, similarly the stairwell appeared empty. But looking sideways, just out of the corner of her eye, she felt she could see some sort of movement. It was only when she got to the door to the mysterious floor that she was able to see what it was. It was a woman, much like her. A woman wearing the same clothes as her, the same height, the same colour hair as her. The only difference between this woman and herself was that she was fading away as this woman was becoming more distinct. As she reached for the door handle at the top of the building, her mirror image reached for the door handle too. And Melissa saw her own hands, her fingers fade as fast as the rest of her body was fading into nothing. Suddenly, she felt the door slamming behind her and her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room of indeterminate size that she found herself in. There was no sound. There was no light. There was just herself in the darkness. And when she turned, there was no door behind her, either. The end.   Every morning on his way into work. Roger brought himself a coffee. He went to the same little coffee shop just around the corner from his workplace. Until one day he discovered that it wasn't open as usual. Where was he going to get his coffee now? He looked across the road and a little stall he had never seen before had been set up. It offered flights to South America for pick your own coffee tours. So, not really being able to think properly at the moment because of not having had his morning coffee, he signed up for one. It cost him all of his life savings, and a little more. But now he is a Chilean citizen. The end.   You have been listening to James Aylett, James Lark, and Andrew Ormerod. Join us next time, for more Totally Made Up Tales. Taking stock of the situation, Hector threw his sword into the pool, winning. I enjoyed that because we had only had thirteen words, but we used five of them just to say "taking stock of the situation".

Lockdown Season, Episode 1

Our third and final episode of maritime tales. Among some lighthearted shorts, we meet a sailor's wife, and then witness the birth of the ship that's we've heard so much about. Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.     James: Here are some Totally Made Up Tales, brought to you by the magic of the internet. Alternating: Jump over small hoops. It's better than going through them. Sweeten your deal with honey. It will help you get sales. Mixing your metaphors will lead you to water. Walk a long way. You'll clear your mind and stretch your legs. James: And now: The Sailor's Wife. Alternating: Heather was the wife of a sailor who spent many months away at sea at a time. She survived on hope and her only consolation was her child, Phillip. He was the apple of her eye. Three years old and running around like a maniac. Just the spit of his father. One day, Heather and Phillip were playing in the sand when Phillip saw a ship entering the harbour. "That is my Daddy's ship," he cried. "No," said Heather. "Your daddy is away for another six months." "No," said Phillip. "That is my Daddy's ship," and he stamped his foot petulantly. Heather caught him up in an embrace. "We'll go and look at it." They walked to the harbour wall, Phillip squirming in anticipation. "There he is!", he said, pointing to a man walking away from the ship. "No," said Heather. "That man is too tall." "There!" said Phillip, pointing at a different man. "No," said Heather. "That man is too short." "There!", said Phillip, pointing at a third man. "Well," said Heather, "it is very similar to Roger. I wonder what he's doing back so soon." They walked quickly to where the man was standing. "Are you my husband?", asked Heather. "Are you my Daddy?", asked Phillip. "Are you my family?", asked the man, and they embraced. "Why are you back so soon?" asked Heather. "That is a long story," said Roger, "and one day, I will tell it to you." "We met a disaster just as we were passing the Rock of Gibraltar. The Captain saw three figures floating above the deck and one pointed at him and let a fearsome cry. The second pointed at him and spoke words of dread. The third pointed at him and spoke nothing. The Captain locked himself in his cabin and refused to come out, insisting that we return home at once. The First Mate brought us around and navigated us safely home. I do not know when we shall sail again, but this is a terrible portent." Heather held his hand and hoped that he would never go away again. Phillip also held his father's hand. The End. Alternating: Attention to detail is a devil's errand, so allow yourself to be sloppy. Muster Mister Custer, pester Lester. Faster, Pastor Caster! and foster Coster Gloucester. "Splice the main brace," said Jeffrey, and proceeded to get drunk. James: And now: The Ship Awakes. Andrew: Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang went the hammers against the wood and the sound reverberated around the mighty shed of the shipyard. James: They were putting the finishing touches on the latest ship to roll through the George & Brothers Shipyards, at Chatham. Andrew: She was a truly beautiful vessel, destined for the merchant marine. Large, imposing, grandiose, sleek, missing only the final pieces of decking and the mast to be fixed and raised. James: Spencer, the ship's architect was watching from one side, from the office, as the men swarmed over her. Andrew: He turned, from watching the finishing touches being made, to the ship that he had been imagining for so long. Rolled up the plans on his desk, locked the office door, and headed off to meet the ship's new owner. James: Over a pint in the Rope and Anchor, they toasted the successful completion of the ship's hull, and looked forward to her launch next week, to join the merchant fleet owned by this particular businessman. Andrew: The end of the day came, the foreman blew his whistle, the workmen downed their tools and set out for their homes, and the shipyard shed was locked securely for the night. James: There she rested, silent and waiting. Andrew: The silence of the ship building shed at night had the special quality that only comes to spaces that so often ring with noise. It had a textured feeling to it, as if you could reach out and touch it. James: A shaft of moonlight through the windows of the shed, illuminated the brass name plate on the ship's stern. "Sea Sprite." Andrew: If anyone had been in the shed, they might have had the eerie feeling that someone behind them was watching, and have turned and found nothing but the ship bearing down on them, as its soul slowly started to awaken. James: What do ships dream about before they first touch the ocean? What can a boat imagine before it feels the kiss of a wave? What could go through the mind of Sea Sprite, before she had ever even tasted the open air? Andrew: That same observer, who we earlier imagined, might feel, not just a watchful, but was it a malevolent presence? No. Not quite malevolent, but somehow not of this world. James: All ships have personalities, and those personalities are shaped and changed by their captain and their crew, but at birth, they are invested by only two things. The men who built her and the wood she is constructed from.   Andrew: Once upon a time, in a far off land, where a warm rain falls for much of the day, for much of the year, and many exotic animals make their homes, and the forest is alive with the squawks of birds, and the ribbitting of frogs, and the hissing of snakes and other wildlife… there stood a tree. A mighty hardwood tree, towering over all the others. James: It had been there so long, that it had seen not only generations of creatures and birds come and go, but it had also seen the gradual rise of the forest around it, and indeed, deep within its rings, it still bore the memories of the open plain. Andrew: Ah, the time of the open plain. The tree was one of the few remaining witnesses of the period in history, when humans has first descended from the trees, walked on the grounds, and formed their earliest tribes. James: In its branches and whorls, in its trunk and its bark, were encoded the history of not only the human race, but so many other species that it had seen rise and sometimes fall before it. Andrew: Owing to its long life, the tree possessed a deep wisdom that few others were able to obtain, through years of reflection and adversity. Many human shamans and magic men and women had come to worship at the tree, and to draw strength from its wisdom and from its magical power. James: For generations, the savviest traders would come and eat under the tree, hoping that its wisdom would somehow filter into them, and help them be better in the world. Andrew: Now the tree stood tall and proud. Its history rooted deeply inside it. And it knew that a change was about to come. James: The animals and birds were gradually being driven out of the forest, and indeed the forest itself, was being felled one tree at a time. Andrew: And then, the fateful day dawned when the foresters came for the mystical tree itself, and began to hack their little axes into its bark, and slowly cut out an enormous wedge from its base, until it fell — bringing down with it many smaller trees, and other parts of the canopy, so that it too could, in its turn, be packed up, chopped down into planks, shipped off, and sold to European merchants. James: In the shed of the shipyard, Sea Sprite lay waiting, and dreamed of revenge. I'm James, and I'm here with Andrew. These stories were recorded without advanced planning, and then lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for more Totally Made Up Tales.   Andrew: Muster Mister Coster. Pester Lester, test… James: No, I think when we pester Lester, you need to move on to something else, don't you? Andrew: Oh, okay. James: Well, I don't think there's a third one with pester Lester. Andrew: Oh, I don't know why in my head, it was gonna go pester Lester, test a sister. But, that was maybe a bit… James: Yeah, that wasn't gonna happen. I would not have guessed that. Andrew: But, okay. So, pester Lester. I'll just keep "test a sister" for myself. James: Okay.

Episode 15: The Sailor's Wife, The Ship Awakes, and other stories

Another episode of tales at sea. Following on from the mysterious tales of the Dark Gentleman, we find another curious passenger on board…although will they turn out to be any less disturbing to the crew? Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.   Andrew: Here are some Totally Made Up Tales, brought to you by the magic of the internet. This week: The Stowaway. James: Martin, the First Mate, thought he knew everything about this ship, as First Mates really ought to. Andrew: It was not the largest ship the world had ever seen, but nevertheless it contained many nooks and crannies and corners that men who had served on it across journeys of several months had still not managed to explore. James: Martin, however, knew them all. But something was not quite right. Andrew: There was a strange energy on board the ship, that was quite different to the masculine peace that settled aboard the boat once the shore was safely left behind. James: It reminded him of the one or two times when they'd transported families from Southampton across to the New World looking for a new life. Andrew: It was not as strange as the time when the famous occultist traveled with them and disappeared halfway across the ocean, but it was still something not quite right. James: Martin didn't like it when things weren't quite right, it upset the smooth running of the ship and it made the men grumble, and that was one of the worst things to contend with. Andrew: He decided that he would determine for himself whether there was anything untoward going on, on the ship, but he would do it in a subtle and determined manner. James: He drew up a schedule where he could regularly walk every turn and every corner of every deck, both above and below. Andrew: He began his exploration and very soon began to have an even more acute sense that there was something either just ahead of him or just behind him, but it was as if, whenever he turned his head, the thing it was that was following him or that he was following — and he could not be sure which it was — had disappeared, and he was left once more alone. James: He had first had the sense a day or two out of port, and it continued for a full week, gradually making him more and more frustrated, until one day, Timothy, the old cook, came to him. Andrew: Timothy was a grumpy man, perpetually red in the face with irritation, and missing his right leg. He had adapted his kitchen galley successfully so that he could navigate his way around, but in all other areas of the deck he moved on traditional sailor's wooden crutches. James: He came to Martin with a complaint about theft. Andrew: An entire barrel of biscuits, which he had been intending to use later that week, had disappeared from the kitchen, lock, stock, and barrel. James: Martin knew that none of the men would have tried to secrete an entire barrel anywhere else about the ship, it was a ridiculous and foolhardy notion that you could even get away with it, and so he continued his pacing about the decks until he discovered the barrel, now empty, in one of the smaller holds. Andrew: Scattered on the floor around the barrel here and there were biscuity crumbs. James: Martin spent some time checking the rest of the hold, looking behind the crates and boxes, and underneath the tarpaulins, but he could not find any indication, other than the barrel and the crumbs, that anything was amiss. Andrew: Later that day, in the evening, he sat down with the Captain for dinner, and the Captain turned to him with his customary question and said, "Well then, First Mate, what are the news?" James: He recounted how Timothy had come to him and his investigation and what he'd discovered, and the Captain looked at him with suspicion crossing his face, "Have you felt a presence onboard ship?" he asked. Andrew: "Well sir, as it happens," Martin replied, "I have felt a rather different atmosphere on the ship than usual… it has seemed that there has been something here." "What do you make of… this?" said the Captain. He opened the draw of his work desk and took out a piece of paper covered in a strange childish scrawl, and laid it out in front of the First Mate. James: "Was that? It looks like it was drawn by a child, sir." Andrew: "Yes, it could be a child or possibly a madman, or I'm not entirely sure. I dismissed it entirely of course, read it through for me." James: "I can't make it out at all, sir. It doesn't seem to be written in English, or indeed any other language as I recognise." Andrew: "Yes, I thought that," said the Captain. "But here, look, when you hold it up to a mirror, now try." James: "Oh my word," said Martin. "You're right. It's a diary." Andrew: "Yes, that's right. A page from a diary. A diary that's been kept while on this ship. I found it fluttering along the passage outside the door to the hold." James: "Do you really think so sir? We have a stowaway?" Andrew: "I think we should consider the possibility. Nothing has been quite right on this ship since the time that mysterious man disappeared after saving us from pirates, and I wonder if the forces of the occult have returned to haunt us." James: "I shall organise the men to do a thorough inspection, sir. I'm sure we will catch them." And indeed Martin was sure that he would catch the stowaway. Andrew: Duly assembled, the men set out in groups of two around the various passages of the ship in search of the mysterious diary writer. James: Creeping down the passageways, hunting through the holds, peering into the dark corners, the men gradually covered every inch of the ship. Andrew: Each pair in their turn, returned from their searching to the main deck to report to the First Mate, and came back empty handed. Not a sign, not a scrap, not the slightest clue as to the writer of the diary had been found. James: Two by two, Martin ticked them off in his head until there were five pairs still out, then four, then three, then two. The last pair that had gone down into the holds below reported that they could see nothing out of the ordinary, and he was just wondering how the other pair was getting along when the sound of a struggle came from the cabins that they had been searching. Andrew: The cries and thuds muffled by the several layers of decking nevertheless could be heard and stirred an immediate call to action in the First Mate. He grabbed two of the pairs nearest him, his trustiest men, and set off down the hatches to go and investigate for himself. James: He burst in, the men hard behind him, on an amazing scene. Andrew: Inside the passengers' cabin, standing quietly and unassumingly in the centre of the passenger cabin was a small elfin faced girl with close cropped hair, beaming at them with her hands on her hips. Lying on the ground of the cabin in front of her were the two burly sailors, out for the count. James: A thought flashed through Martin's mind, wondering how on each how such a small child had managed to overcome such large men, but he was too well trained to voice this concern. "Seize her!" he cried. Andrew: The men who had come down with him and to whom his order was addressed looked at the girl, looked at their fallen comrades, looked nervously at each other, and hesitated upon the threshold. "Didn't you hear me, men?" said the First Mate, "in and seize her!" James: Greg looked at Harry, and Harry looked at Greg, and neither of them wanted to be the one to make the first move. So Martin reached forward and grabbed the girl by the scruff of the neck. Andrew: At once, she burst into tears, and paying no heed to her bawling, Martin dragged her through the passageway, dragged her up onto the deck, into the Captain's cabin, where he threw her roughly to her knees in front of the ship's commander. James: "Good work, Martin," said the Captain. "And what are you, eh?" Andrew: The little girl looked at him, sobbing, wide eyed, and said, "oh please sir, please, have mercy on me." James: Martin nudged her with his foot. "Captain asked you a question," he said. Andrew: "Oh, oh, I am ..." The girl took a deep breath in and looked directly at the Captain imploringly and said, "I am but a poor child, sir. My father was a sailor of many years standing and spent his life at sea and one day in a tragic accident was killed when his ship caught fire. My mother was unable to support herself, me and my brother, and my brother signed up to sail to the New World in the Navy and I decided that the only way forward for me was to follow him and so I ended up here on the first ship I was told was sailing to the New World and I hid in the hold." James: The Captain looked at her sternly. "I cannot just let stowaways use my ship as free transport between the continents." He said. "We cannot throw you overboard, we're in the middle of the sea, but if you are to remain here, you must work to earn your keep." Andrew: "We have no use for you on deck, this is man's work requiring a man's strength, but the kitchen is short of a boy, you shall serve there for the remainder of the voyage. Go, at once. You will be directed by Timothy the cook." James: And so Martin took her down to the galley, and introduced her to Timothy, and Timothy immediately put her to work scrubbing the Brodie stove to keep it clean or at least as clean as Timothy deemed necessary for basic sanitary food production purposes. Andrew: With a dedication and an application and a thoroughness that seemed uncharacteristic for someone that looked outwardly so delicate, the little girl scrubbed at the stove, scrubbed and polished and shined. Bucket after bucket of dirty water was emptied over the rail into the sea, until the Brodie stove was as good as new. She turned to the cook and said, "sir, I have scrubbed the stove. What would you have me do next?" Tim looked at her and said, "sir? I'll have no sir in my kitchen! I'm Tim the cook, and what's your name?" James: In a small voice, Elsie introduced herself and told her story of how she had come to be on the boat. In return, Timothy gave her a history of the vessel, including some of the rare goods that they had transported and the confusing and perplexing tale of the Master of the Dark Arts, who had recently bought passage with them to the New World. Andrew: Over the days that followed, Tim and Elsie built up an extraordinary rapport. The cook, who was usually one of the grumpiest and least sociable fellows aboard the ship, had taken a shine to this little girl, and she to him. The atmosphere in the kitchen changed from one of shouting and swearing to one of laughter and camaraderie, and the quality of the food rose remarkably as a result, raising the morale of the rest of the crew. James: Over dinner one night at the Captain's table, the Second Mate, Will, turned to the First Mate, Martin, and mentioned sotte voce that perhaps they should have a stowaway on every voyage. Andrew: They laughed, looking at their empty plates wiped clean by freshly baked bread, when suddenly they were interrupted by a cry from the lookout tower. "Ship ahoy!" James: Coming onto the deck, the Captain looked at the lookout, who was pointing hard astern. Behind, somewhere in the darkness, there was a light. Andrew: A half a mile off or so it seemed, there was a ship shaped object bobbing backwards and forwards with the motion of the waves with an eerie glow that seemed almost otherworldly. James: Slowly, the shadowy shape was gaining on them. Andrew: The Captain summoned the crew to their action stations, called for the sails to be hoisted full up, and observed the mysterious shape still gaining on them. James: The faster they went, the faster it pursued. As the spectre came closer, the lanterns from their own ship, and the light inside it, gradually made the shape clearer. Andrew: The First Mate turned to the Second Mate and, furrowing his brow, said, "this is going to sound like a very strange thing to say, but does that look to you like a ship made out of smoke?" James: "Not any ship," said the Captain. "That is the ship that we saw burn to the waterline." And it was true, the superstructure looked identical, the rigging, the position of the masts and sails. It was the pirate ship that had chased them so recently. Andrew: And as it came closer, the mysterious glow that had revealed it when it was at a distance to the lookout resolved into the flickering embers of the final burning pieces of wood floating on the water underneath the smoky shape. James: "Can we even fight that, sir?" asked the Second Mate. Andrew: "Do we need to fight it, sir?" said the First Mate. "What's its intention? It's just smoke." James: "It's evil," said the Captain. "Prepare the cannon." Andrew: "How do you know it's evil, sir?" said Will. James: "I just have a feeling," said the Captain. "The feeling that evil has been dogging us ever since that ship burned." Andrew: The cannon trundled forward on its heavy wheels to the ship's rail and was being loaded by the men responsible for it. They turned to the Captain and said, "Ready to fire, sir", and the Captain said, "Very well, fire at —" But before he could finish the command, a small tug on his elbow revealed that Elsie had come up to the deck and was looking at him with a serious face. "Please sir," she said, "don't fire on the vessel, it's me that it's come for. Please let me go and speak to it." James: Agog, the Captain let her pass. Elsie walked right up to the rail and held her hand out towards the ship that was now only a few dozen feet away. Andrew: Out of the swirling mass of smoke that made up the shape of the ship, with its amorphous and shifting edge, there seemed to solidify an additional shape of a man standing opposite Elsie, face to face, where the rail of that ship would be if it had a rail, and it seemed to that an arm came out from his smoky body and extended across the water and gently, gently, gently made its dark tendrily way to her hand until it touched it. James: As soon as it did, the smoky ship started to dissolve and waft away on the fresh breeze coming in from the ocean behind it. "Daddy," she called out gently. And in response, a deep thrumming sound seemed to make the word "Elsie" from across the water. Andrew: With the contact between the two having been made, the form of the smoke ship dissolved and it became once more the mists that roll over the seas at night and ceased to have any shape or solidity. James: And as it dissolved, so too did Elsie's form gradually fade away until the Captain, the First and Second Mate and the crew members could see plain through her. Andrew: As she was on the verge of disappearing before their very eyes, she turned looking at the crew in turn and taking them all in with her penetrating gaze, finally her eyes rested on the Captain and she said, "thank you" — and vanished. There came from the hatch leading down to the galley a sobbing which caused the First Mate to turn and there to his surprise he saw Tim with his face buried in his cook's apron, uncharacteristically emotional. James: The crew were quiet for the rest of the journey, less banter and less grumbling than usual. In the Captain's cabin, a number of hushed conversations over dinner attempted to discern just what Elsie had been and where she had gone — but without coming to any conclusions. Andrew: The only thing that everybody could agree on was that the quality of the food had improved, and from that day forward it remained the best on the high seas.

Episode 14: The Stowaway

Our first episode of tales set at sea and among sea-going folk: The Captain's Log, The Dark Gentleman, and other stories. Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.   James: Here are some totally made up tales brought to you by the magic of the internet. First this episode: The Captain's Log. James/Andrew (alternating) Once, the Captain was writing a log entry when he noticed out the window that there was another ship following them. That seemed strange, because no one had charted these waters before him. He did what he would normally do when sighting another ship: he wrote down its bearing and approximate distance, and ordered the bosun to raise more sail in order to get distance between them. After darkness had fallen, they changed course in order to lose them. Sailing in the darkness by dead of night, a ship felt like a world of its own. Gliding nearly silently through the black waters, crested with a rime of white catching the moonlight, the crew spoke softly in case they should be overheard by any other beings. Sunrise brought a fresh breeze and no sign of the ship, but that very evening it appeared once more. At dusk it was gaining on them, but once darkness fell they changed course to avoid them. Sunrise came again and brought an empty horizon. The third night a hush descended on the ship. You could hear a pin drop. From astern there came the sound of a woman crying. Her sobs rended the hearts of the men, so much was it a call to their own loneliness. "Beware!" cried the Captain. "'Tis a sprite!" But the men paid no heed, tacked the ship towards the sobbing, and tried to rescue her. One by one, they jumped into the water over the rail. One by one, they swam towards the heart-rending sound. And one by one, their sounds faded into nothingness. Finally only the Captain and the First Mate remained on the ship. "Don't you go in," said the Captain, but too late. Come morning the boat was full of men once more — climbing up the mast, hanging from the spars, and scrubbing the deck. The Captain looked around in great surprise. Returning to his cabin, he made an entry in the log reading: July Fourteenth. The crew have been replaced by fairies. God have mercy on my soul. Seventeen years later, the floating hull was discovered by a Royal Navy vessel, which determined that the boat had been abandoned, and all aboard had perished.  They found the Captain's log, the final entry still wet.   James: Chase … Andrew: Away … James: Your … Andrew: Demons … James: By … Andrew: Going … James: To … Andrew: Sea.   James: Make … Andrew: Biscuits … James: Using … Andrew: Flour … James: And … Andrew: Weevils … James: They'll … Andrew: Taste … James: Crunchy … Andrew: And … James: Delicious.   Andrew: Damp … James: Will … Andrew: Get … James: Everywhere … Andrew: When … James: You … Andrew: Are … James: At … Andrew: Sea. That wasn't really a proverb; that was just a fact. James: It was just a statement of fact.   Andrew: Rum … James: And … Andrew: Sodomy … James: Neither … Andrew: Are … James: Welcome … Andrew: In … James: My … Andrew: Navy. James: Rum and sodomy. I mean it's really just the Georgian Navy's equivalent of 'Netflix and Chill.'   Setting … Andrew: Sail … James: From … Andrew: Southampton … James: We … Andrew: Encountered … James: Three … Andrew: Witches … James: Floating … Andrew: On … James: The … Andrew: Surface … James: Of … Andrew: The … James: Sea. Andrew: One … James: Told … Andrew: Us … James: That … Andrew: Our … James: Voyage … Andrew: Would … James: Be … Andrew: Successful. James: One … Andrew: Told … James: Us … Andrew: That … James: Our … Andrew: Voyage … James: Would … Andrew: Be … James: Traumatic. Andrew: The … James: Third … Andrew: Told … James: us … Andrew: That … James: Our … Andrew: Voyage … James: Would … Andrew: Be … James: Long. Andrew: Which … James: Witch … Andrew: Was … James: Telling … Andrew: The … James: Truth?   And now: The Dark Gentleman.   Andrew/James (alternating): The morning of the ninth day of the month of May, the ship broke free of its mooring, and started to float towards the mouth of the harbour. Aboard was a distinguished gentleman, who was known throughout the land as a practitioner of the Dark Arts. He had a small moustache and black hair, an avuncular face but long talon-like fingers. He had paid for a cabin across the Atlantic Ocean. The men muttered amongst themselves superstitiously, but accepted his presence since their pay had been raised thanks to his generosity. He intended to spend the voyage shut in his room reading about the newest discoveries in the occult realm. His colleagues in the New World were anxious that he should be ready to assist in their Great Endeavour upon his arrival. His routine was to rise at dawn, read a paper from his colleagues and pray for safe weather to his guardian demons. After breakfast he would jog around the poop deck before settling down into another book. So passed the many hours and days at sea, until on the thirtieth day of the voyage a cry was raised by the lookout. "Ship astern!" There was a black sailed ship some half mile off, emerging from a mist. The Captain immediately summoned the officers, and the Dark Gentleman. "I fear that we are being tracked by pirates. We must load the cannon and prepare to defend ourselves." "Or," said the Dark Man, "we could simply repel them using…" And here he trailed off, and suggestively made a twirling shape with his fingers. The Captain was a practical man and didn't think that this would work, but gave it the go ahead anyway while preparing the cannon. The magician sat cross legged on the fore deck, surrounded by his Dark Objects. He lit a candle, made a sacrifice of his own blood, and started chanting in runic verse. The cannon was loaded, and the Captain ordered it pointed at the vessel gaining fast on them. Before he could fire the other vessel caught fire and burned to the water line. The Captain looked in astonishment and gasped. "What did you do?" The magician did not respond, but packed his Dark Objects away into his special chest, smiled, and descended back to his cabin. The crew grumbled once more. Later that day, the Captain ventured to the cabin of the Dark Master, and knocked. "Come," came a voice. "I've been wondering what —" "Yes," said the magician. "They came, of course, for me. I am the only man who knows how to unlock the magic of the Philosopher's Stone. One of my brethren in the New World has discovered such a Stone — or so he thinks — and I am heading to help him create unlimited wealth for all humankind. What will the pirates do now that gold will be valueless? Ah! That is why they want to kill me," explained the magician. "They cannot comprehend the enormity, or the wonder, of this discovery. I'm afraid that we will have to part ways at this juncture." So the magician folded his hands, lowered his gaze, and vanished. The End.   James: I'm James, and I'm here with Andrew. These stories were recorded without advanced planning and then lightly edited for the discerning listeners. Join us next time for more totally made up tales. We set out one morning from Southampton. Three witches on the water, oh aye. Oh the three witches of the Isle of White, the three witches of White … Andrew: Who've all been … The White Witches. James: The White Witches. What'll they tell you then? They said that our journey would be long and arduous but successful. Oh that's not bad. Told us it would be full of fire and brimstone, and that we'd all die. Oh. That's more specific than they usually are. Yeah, yeah. We're going home now. Andrew: I thought the third witch was going to say both of them are lying or something like two of us are lying. James: Oh yes. It's… oh, gosh. Two of us are lying. Well she has to tell the truth then 'cause otherwise it's a logical thing isn't it? Andrew: Unless all three of them were lying. James: Or all … Yes. Or one of them was lying. Andrew: Her. James: Her. Or she was an inconsistent narrator. Which would be a bigger problem.

Episode 13: An episode of maritime tales

The second of our Tales of Orange, following last episode's The Queen and the Orange. Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.   James:    Here are some Totally Made up Tales, brought to you by the magic of the internet. Andrew / James (alternating):     Mist covered the land, and from the recesses of the valley came a new sound. Bwaaaaaaah, it went. This startled the villagers, who gathered at the edge of town with ear pressed to the ground listening to the mysterious rumblings and worrying. It made many noises before they saw, emerging from the mist, elephants!     As they stampeded toward the town, the elephants put their trunks into action, trumpeting the arrival of the herd. Thus, was jazz invented. James:    And now, the Cavalier of Saint Ignacio. Andrew:    The sun rose over the hills with the promise of a hot summer's day ahead. James:    Sitting in the shade of an orange tree, a man bit into the fruity pulp of the delicious orange globe. Andrew:    He offered half of the fruit to the dog that faithfully sat by his side, and man and beast together wolfed down their delicious fruity breakfast. James:    Over the hill back in the town, he could hear the sound of trumpets. Andrew:    It was the celebration of the Feet of Saint Ignacio. James:    Since sundown the day before, people from the villages all around had been bringing their wares and particularly their oranges, fabled throughout the country, to the town square in preparation for the feast. Andrew:    Saint Ignacio was the patron saint of orange grove, and legend ran that wherever his foot had landed on the earth, a tree had sprung up — and in celebration of his feast day at the end of the orange season, the growers would gather in the capital city of the region, and paint the soles of their feet orange and walk through the streets. James:    The children would run amongst them singing and dancing and laughing, and when they reached the town square, a great feast awaited them all. Andrew:    This man however, was not taking part in the feast this year, for something significant was about to happen to him. James:    As he got up intending to make his way into the town, another sound reached his ears. Andrew:    He was not the only one who heard the mysterious sound. His dog's ears pricked up, and his eyes became immediately alert, and he too stood and man and dog looked at the distant horizon. James:    At first they could see nothing but dust. Then, gradually they could see figures moving through the dust and finally, as the figures got closer, they could see men on horseback; the thundering of the hooves as they galloped towards the town warning of the importance of their mission. Andrew:    He took from his bag a spyglass and extended it in order to inspect the men and determine who they were. James:    He swept the spyglass from one side of the band of cavalry to the other, counting 6,7,8,9,10, no twenty men, all on horseback… until he found their leader. Andrew:    Their leader, the Cavalier of Saint Ignacio, the twenty knights of the orange grove! The fabled, nay, mythical group! Surely, they had died out centuries ago! But no, now here they were looking exactly as they did on the mighty altarpiece painting that stood in the church in the town. James:    He ran to the town elders. Andrew:    Breathlessly, he arrived in the village square and threw himself down before the mayor and said, "Quick! Quick! You must come with me, there is something that I must show you at once. I know it seems unlikely. I know that this is the worst possible time but you must come with me as you trust me as a man and as a member of the city, please!" James:    And then Old Marco, the priest stepped forward and said in his gravelly voice, "It is the Calvary of Saint Ignacio, is it not?" Andrew:    "But how could you know that?" Said the young man. "How could you possibly know?" James:    "I have prayed and I have been visited by the Feet of Saint Ignacio and they pointed towards the frieze of the Cavalry this morning. I knew that they would be coming." Andrew:    "There has been a legend, a legend of yore that was passed to me by the former priest of this town on his death bed that one day the Cavalry would return. They would return with a dire warning." James:    And so the mayor got into the mayor's official cart and the two ponies were hitched to it and the elders followed behind with the children singing and dancing and playing and not understanding that this was not the normal feast of the Feet of Saint Ignacio, but this was something very special. And the entire town met the Cavalry on the border. Andrew:    At the front of the imposing column of men in their dark black robes with orange silk flashes on the sleeves, there was the Cavalier resplendent, a gold cross on his chest, a mighty lance in his hand, a shining helmet upon his head that in the morning sun seemed to be aflame. James:    "Oh Cavalier!" started the mayor. "I beg you, tell us why you have come." Andrew:    "Silence!" said the Cavalier, banging the end of his lance upon the dusty ground. "Cease this revelry and listen to the dread portent that I have to share with you. Your town is in grave danger." James:    So stern was his voice, so imposing his very physique, that even the children stopped playing and dancing and laughing and singing and all was silent before him. Andrew:    All that could be heard was a slight rustling of the morning wind in the trees of the orange groves. The occasional chirp of a cricket. You could have heard a pin drop as everybody hung on the words of the Cavalier. What was the threat that was so dire that the mythical knights should have to return? James:    "The town," began the Cavalier. "The town, the orange groves, Saint Ignacio's memory itself. All is at stake. Andrew:    The wrath of God is to be visited upon this town in twenty four hours' time. A grave crime has been committed against his Grace and a mighty earthquake is going to rip the very foundations of the town from the stones of the hill and cast it down and from the depths of the earthquake will come floods and fire and the groves of oranges will be consumed, unless you render up to me by sundown tonight the criminal who has done this deed." James:    So saying the Cavalier wheeled his horse, and the Cavalry rode off to camp outside in the fields. Andrew:    Chaos immediately reigned in the town. Everybody was stirred by these words. Suspicion came to roost in every heart. "Surely, it was this person's misdeed when they had swindled me at cards." "Surely it was that person who had given me short measure on my loaf of bread."     Ah, but what was the deed and who had committed it? James:    The mayor, and the elders, and Marco the priest, gathered in the mayor's house to discuss what must be done. Andrew:    The mayor banged his fist on the table and demanded silence. The room fell quiet. He had his audience.     "We must hold," he said, "an inquisition. Every adult citizen of the town must be brought before us one by one and their soul and character tested." James:    "We should start," Said Mr. Iniquez who ran the bakery. "We should start with ourselves to ensure that amongst the elders there is no sin." Andrew:    Several faces looked guilty and hesitant at this idea, for who among us would want all of the most secret places of our hearts to be revealed to our neighbours? James:    Nonetheless, no one could come up with a convincing reason why they should not go ahead. And so, one by one they faced their peers and recounted the deeds of their lives. Andrew:    What would it be, this unknown crime against the Grace of God that the inquisition was searching for? Each man or woman in turn stood before the others and confessed what they considered their misdeeds. Coveting their neighbour's wife or ass; failing to respect their father or mother; failing to make confessional or go to church; petty swindling; great misdeeds in the heart, in the mind, in action. All was laid bare. James:    By lunch time, the elders of the town knew each other better than they knew themselves, and already they were worried about doing this with the rest of the population. Arguments were breaking out between elder and elder over slights and infractions over the years. What would happen when they did this with the entire population? Andrew:    What happened was the temperature in the town began to rise. It was as if the collective temper was slowly boiling. There was a seething mass of resentment, and politics, and gossip, and nastiness. The town that had lived so happily and peacefully in the bountiful land, so blessed with fruit trees, where people had lived a happy life for so many years, were slowly turning into a nightmare of mistrust. James:    At the end of the first day, half of the town had confessed their sins. Over night, many arguments broke out, including some fights between those who now knew that they had trusted in vain, or thought better of people than they really should have done. And on the second day, they began again with the rest of the population, confessing their sins one by one to the elders, who wrote them down in a large book. Andrew:    It had been an uneasy night. Few had had a good night's sleep. People were haggard and worried. The town seemed like a different place entirely from the site of happy festivities it had been the day before. By mid afternoon, the confession had been completed and the elders regathered in the office of the mayor to review what they had found to try and uncover the sin that the Cavalier had been sent to expunge. James:    "I have read the entire book of inquisition," said the elderly Marco. "And I cannot see a single act which could be considered the overriding sin of this town." Andrew:    "No, we must look at the list again. Somewhere in this list there must be the sin that we are looking for. What about this one? What about the young man who was having an affair with his brother's wife? Surely that is an offence against God that would have brought his wrath upon us." James:    "But," said Marco, "he did penance for his sin. He confessed that to me five years ago. That cannot possibly be the reason that God's wrath is upon us." Andrew:    "Ah, but what about this? The man who claimed that he had made a donation to the hospital in the capitol city of our country, and in fact he had taken the money and spent it on a weekend of wild abandon." James:    "Ah, but you forget," said the mayor, "that he not only subsequently paid for a new hospital for the capital, but has set up seven or eight hospitals throughout the region." Andrew:    "What about this one? A woman who confesses that in her quest for a husband, not only did she pray devoutly for the Lord to deliver one to her, she cast spells and incantations in a Pagan ritual." James:    "Pah!" said Martine, one of the elder women of the town. "You are simply saying that because as a young woman she was known as the most beautiful amongst the town, and you're all upset that she did not choose you. She was not participating in witchcraft. She was merely reading from a traditional book that all of us have read from at one point or another in our lives. There is no sin here." Andrew:    The elders were at a loss and the mayor said, "well, then let us each take a section of the inquisition book and once again reread it in search of the sin that God seeks to punish us for." James:    And so the elders of the town sat down once more to read through the considerable expanses of the book of inquisition. Meanwhile, outside the town's folk continued in their squabbling and bickering brought about because of the inquisition and the confessions therein.     As the light dimmed and the day came to an end, a storm rolled in off the mountains and rain began to fall on the town. Andrew:    First, in droplets onto the earth it bounced, sending up little clouds of dust. Then gradually in fatter, larger drops it fell, soaking the earth, causing the top soil to run down deep into the valleys. Every animal fled for cover. Soon it was torrential. The cracks of thunder began, and the lightning started to strike at the trees of the orange groves and the tops of the towers of the city. James:    Before long, the locals roused from their sleep, if they had managed to sleep in the first place, noticed the flickering of flames from out in the orange groves, and ran out, distraught in panic. Andrew:    Their livelihood, their treasure, the thing that had nourished and that they had nurtured for so many centuries was being destroyed by this great cataclysm of nature, and as they saw the trees burning, they wept bitter tears. James:    Day dawned on a sorry scene. The orange groves, once rich with beautiful trees, now reduced to blackened stumps. The townsfolk, tired from weeping through the night, collapsed around each other, some of them managing to make their way home, some of them having merely lain down in the street and gone to sleep. Andrew:    It was clear to them that the Cavalier's warning had come to pass that the Wrath of God had been visited on their town and on their region and they had not discovered and delivered the sinner. Where was this person and what had they done?     Meanwhile, far away on a road leading to another part of the country, the man walked whistling a merry tune, his dog by his side, orange juice on both of their faces. James/Andrew (alternating):    Yorkshire was a fictional county in the mind of King Harold. He loved the idea of a county full of dour men who would wear stout jackets and flat caps, and talk to each other in elliptical, impenetrable sentences while smoking, drinking, and watching a cricket match.     When he died, such was the mourning of his country that they created Yorkshire for him in his memory, and it stands today still a testament to his greatness. James:    I'm James and I'm here with Andrew. These stories were recorded without advanced planning and then lightly edited for discerning listener. Join us next time for more Totally Made up Tales.

Episode 12: The Cavalier of Saint Ignacio

After a couple of word at a time shorts, we begin with the first of our Tales of Orange (a second will follow in episode 12). Then, we join Freddie as he embarks on a difficult adventure in The Capture of the Elements. Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.   Andrew:    Here are some Totally Made Up Tales brought to you by the magic of the internet. James:    Make. Andrew:    Cinema. James:    Interesting. Andrew:    By. James:    Jumping. Andrew:    Through. James:    The. Andrew:    Screen. James:    And. Andrew:    Joining. James:    The. Andrew:    Action. James:    Like. Andrew:    Me. James:    Because. Andrew:    I. James:    Am. Andrew:    A. James:    Lovely Andrew:    Person. James:    Don't. Andrew:    Trust. James:    Me. Andrew:    Because. James:    I. Andrew:    Am. James:    A. Andrew:    Liar. James:    Maria. Andrew:    Was. James:    The. Andrew:    Queen. James:    Of. Andrew:    Spain. James:    She. Andrew:    Ruled. James:    Wisely. Andrew:    And. James:    Fairly. Andrew:    Because. James:    She. Andrew:    Was. James:    Catholic. Andrew:    Her. James:    Husband. Andrew:    Was. James:    The. Andrew:    Duke. James:    Of. Andrew:    Aragon. James:    And. Andrew:    He. James:    Rode. Andrew:    A. James:    Fine. Andrew:    White. James:    Horse. Andrew:    Whenever. James:    He. Andrew:    Came. James:    Home. Andrew:    He. James:    Would. Andrew:    Immediately. James:    Get. Andrew:    Off. James:    His. Andrew:    Horse. James:    And. Andrew:    Go. James:    To. Andrew:    His. James:    Wife. Andrew:    And. James:    Present. Andrew:    Her. James:    With. Andrew:    A. James:    Fresh. Andrew:    Orange. James:    She. Andrew:    Would. James:    Bite. Andrew:    Into. James:    Its. Andrew:    Delicious. James:    Succulent. Andrew:    Flesh. James:    And. Andrew:    Thank. James:    Him. Andrew:    With. James:    A. Andrew:    Kiss. James:    One. Andrew:    Day. James:    He. Andrew:    Could. James:    Not. Andrew:    Get. James:    Any. Andrew:    Oranges. James:    He. Andrew:    Asked. James:    Around. Andrew:    And. James:    There. Andrew:    Were. James:    None. Andrew:    He. James:    Rode. Andrew:    Home. James:    Despondent. Andrew:    Until. James:    He. Andrew:    Encountered. James:    A. Andrew:    Man. James:    Pushing. Andrew:    A. James:    Cart. Andrew:    Of. James:    Oranges. Andrew:    Hoy! James:    He. Andrew:    Said. James:    To. Andrew:    The. James:    Man. Andrew:    How. James:    Much. Andrew:    Are. James:    Those. Andrew:    Oranges. James:    Well. Andrew:    Said. James:    The. Andrew:    Man. James:    I. Andrew:    Am. James:    A. Andrew:    Poor. James:    Man. Andrew:    And. James:    These. Andrew:    Are. James:    My. Andrew:    Lucky. James:    Oranges. Andrew:    They. James:    Are. Andrew:    The. James:    Only. Andrew:    Thing. James:    That. Andrew:    I. James:    Possess. Andrew:    So James:    The. Andrew:    Duke. James:    Promised. Andrew:    To. James:    Pay. Andrew:    A. James:    Fair. Andrew:    Price. James:    For. Andrew:    Them. James:    I. Andrew:    Cannot. James:    Accept. Andrew:    Any. James:    Payment. Andrew:    For. James:    These. Andrew:    Oranges. James:    In. Andrew:    Money. James:    Said. Andrew:    The. James:    Man. Andrew:    Whose. James:    Name. Andrew:    Was. James:    Miguel. Andrew:    If. James:    You. Andrew:    Wish. James:    To. Andrew:    Take. James:    These. Andrew:    Oranges. James:    You. Andrew:    Must. James:    Offer. Andrew:    Me. James:    Something. Andrew:    More. James:    The. Andrew:    Duke. James:    Offered. Andrew:    Himself. James:    Very. Andrew:    Well. James:    Said. Andrew:    Miguel. James:    Here. Andrew:    Are. James:    The. Andrew:    Oranges. James:    And. Andrew:    I. James:    Will. Andrew:    Come. James:    In. Andrew:    Ten. James:    Years. Andrew:    To. James:    Claim. Andrew:    You. James:    The. Andrew:    Duke. James:    Took. Andrew:    Them. James:    Home. Andrew:    And. James:    Presented. Andrew:    Them. James:    To. Andrew:    His. James:    Wife. Andrew:    Who. James:    Was. Andrew:    Delighted. James:    With. Andrew:    Them. James:    The. Andrew:    Most. James:    Delicious. Andrew:    She. James:    Had. Andrew:    Ever. James:    Tasted. Andrew:    Time. James:    Passed. Andrew:    The. James:    Couple. Andrew:    Aged. James:    Gracefully. Andrew:    As. James:    Their. Andrew:    Power. James:    Grew. Andrew:    And. James:    Their. Andrew:    Children. James:    Also. Andrew:    Ten. James:    Years. Andrew:    Had. James:    Passed. Andrew:    And. James:    The. Andrew:    Orange. James:    Seller. Andrew:    Miguel. James:    Had. Andrew:    Returned. James:    Walking. Andrew:    Into. James:    The. Andrew:    Palace. James:    He. Andrew:    Demanded. James:    The. Andrew:    Right. James:    To. Andrew:    Speak. James:    With. Andrew:    The. James:    Duke. Andrew:    At. James:    Length. Andrew:    He. James:    Was. Andrew:    Admitted. James:    To. Andrew:    The. James:    Throne. Andrew:    Room. James:    Where. Andrew:    A. James:    Full. Andrew:    Crowd. James:    Had. Andrew:    Assembled. James:    To. Andrew:    Have. James:    Lunch. Andrew:    Each. James:    Table. Andrew:    Was. James:    Filled. Andrew:    With. James:    Oranges. Andrew:    He. James:    Picked. Andrew:    One. James:    Up. Andrew:    And. James:    Immediately. Andrew:    Threw. James:    It. Andrew:    At. James:    The. Andrew:    Duke. James:    I. Andrew:    Claim. James:    You! Andrew:    He. James:    Said. Andrew:    All. James:    The. Andrew:    People. James:    Went. Andrew:    Berserk. James:    Throwing. Andrew:    Oranges. James:    At. Andrew:    Each. James:    Other. Andrew:    And. James:    At. Andrew:    The. James:    Queen. Andrew:    And. James:    Her. Andrew:    Husband. James:    The. Andrew:    Guards. James:    Attempted. Andrew:    To. James:    Control. Andrew:    The. James:    Scene. Andrew:    And. James:    Failed. Andrew:    The. James:    Duke. Andrew:    Called. James:    To. Andrew:    Miguel. James:    I. Andrew:    Will. James:    Come. Andrew:    To. James:    You. Andrew:    And. James:    Rising. Andrew:    From. James:    His. Andrew:    Seat. James:    He. Andrew:    Made. James:    His. Andrew:    Way. James:    Through. Andrew:    The. James:    Throng. Andrew:    Outside. James:    The. Andrew:    Duke. James:    Mounted. Andrew:    His. James:    Beautiful. Andrew:    Horse. James:    While. Andrew:    He. James:    Had. Andrew:    A. James:    Bay. Andrew:    Settled. James:    For. Andrew:    Miguel. James:    The. Andrew:    Two. James:    Of. Andrew:    Them. James:    Rode. Andrew:    Out. James:    Through. Andrew:    The. James:    City. Andrew:    To. James:    Never. Andrew:    Return. James:    The. Andrew:    Queen. James:    Never. Andrew:    Ate. James:    An. Andrew:    Orange. James:    Again. Andrew:    And now, The Capture of the Elements. James:    Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there lived a young man in a village by the sea. Andrew:    He had dreams of being a successful fisherman. James:    Every day he would go down to the pier and watch the fishing boats leave on the morning tide. And then he returned to his house where he made pots for the other people within the village. Andrew:    He was too young to go out in a boat himself and had not been taken on as an apprentice by any of the fisherman because his family were considered cursed. James:    One morning, having watched the fishing fleet go off over the horizon, he returned home to start work on a particularly big pot for the village's wizard. Andrew:    The wizard had come to him several days before with a specification that he had written by hand for the very particular dimensions, shape, material and colour of a pot that he wanted to have made. James:    At this point, Freddie was just finishing off the rim of the pot at which point it would be complete. Andrew:    There came a knock at the door. It was the wizard at the appointed hour ready to pick up his pot. James:    "Is my pot ready?" said the wizard. Andrew:    "Yes, it's ready. Here it is. I've just finished this very second. Your timing is perfect." James:    "Excellent," said the wizard, and took the pot promising to return later with payment. Andrew:    Freddie waited several days patiently to be paid by the wizard who, he assumed, was a man of his word. He was an honest man of good standing. But the wizard did not return. James:    And so, after a week had passed, at the end of a morning of making mugs for the local worthies, he ventured across the village to where the wizard lived. Andrew:    He knocked on the door and the knock echoed through the wizard's house but there was no answer. Being curious, he peeked in through the window. James:    He saw vaguely through the grimy glass, a shape moving about. It was too indistinct for him to see if it was up it was a wizard or perhaps, one of his familiars. Andrew:    He was apprehensive but concerned for the well-being of the wizard. Although he was a magical man, he was still elderly and could easily have been injured. Tentatively he pushed the door open. James:    With a disquieting squeak, the door swung open, revealing a dreadful scene within. Andrew:    Furniture was overturned, there were scorch marks on the ceiling, water all over the floor, the whole place looked as if a storm had raged through it from one side to the other with thunder and lightning. James:    Over by the fireplace, a figure lay on the floor, a robe thrown over it. Andrew:    Freddie immediately made his way over to inspect the fallen man. It was indeed the wizard and yes, he was still breathing. James:    Before he was able to pick up the wizard and take him out of the house, a voice called to him from across the room. Andrew:    "Do not be afraid, young man. He is quite well, the faint will soon pass." said the voice. James:    Freddie looked over and saw a shadowy figure, standing by the stairs. Andrew:    "Oh — I only came because of the ...", he said, pointing at the pot. James:    "You were wondering who I am," said the figure stepping forward into the dim light of the remains of the fire. "I have been brought forth from your cauldron. You may call me, if you must, Thunder." Andrew:    "In order to rouse your friend. You, young man, must come with me. We must gather up the other forces of the elements and come together once again in order to reanimate the man who summoned us." James:    And so, Freddie reached out his hand to Thunder. And although Thunder's hand was insubstantial, somehow he grasped it, and around them the world started to dim. Andrew:    The very next instant, it seemed to Freddie he looked around and he was miles above the boiling ocean in the midst of a billowing dark electrical cloud. James:    Tossed around by the waves and wind was a small fishing boat that Freddie recognise had sailed out with the fleet that morning. Andrew:    It was one that he knew from his own village and he could see that the men on board, although they we're experienced sailors was struggling to keep control of it in the midst of the mighty storm. James:    "Behold," rumbled Thunder in his ear, "the power of Wind…" Andrew:    And at that moment, a fierce gust rushed past Freddie's face. It was as if he had had sand paper dragged across his skin, so great was the force of the Wind. James:    "How do we capture it?" asked Freddie. Andrew:    "Ah ..." said Thunder. "That is the challenge that you must complete. Here. Take this," he said. James:    Freddie reached out his hand and discovered that placed in it was a canvas bag, about the size of a turtle. He looked at it, and he looked down at the churning sea below, and felt the Wind on his cheek, and saw the boat buffeted by the waves and the wind. Andrew:    "But how do I capture the Wind in the bag?" thought Freddie. "It must be possible in some way." He opened the neck of the bag and held it out into the oncoming gust and then suddenly whoosh! James:    Freddie struggled with the bag, which wriggled and danced, as if it had a wild animal inside. Andrew:    It was like wrestling a giant throwing him this way, and that way, tossing him devil may care around the sky. James:    From one horizon to the other, Freddie was blown and thrown, as he attempted to get Wind under control. Andrew:    He realised that length, that brute force alone would be no match for the mighty Wind, and that he would somehow have to outsmart it in order to encase it back in his bag. James:    Freddie remembered the song that his mother used to sing to him when he was a child, about the great battles of the beginning of time between the elements. Opening the back he filled his lungs with the Wind, and began to sing. Andrew:    The song was a beautiful tale about Time and the Universe and his children, and as the wild Wind came from the bag, entered his body, and left as the sweet, well arranged music, it calmed. It became peaceful, it ceased to struggle. He was no longer throw this way or that, but found himself with a well-filled bag that he was able to pull the drawstrings off and tightly seal. James:    Below he could see the boat no longer buffeted by the wind but, damaged from the storm, was under threat from the waves and the rain of going under anyway. Andrew:    The water seemed to suddenly double in intensity. It was if there were sea above and below, as down, down, down came the torrential torrents of rain from the sky. Suddenly, Freddie realised that the next magical spirit must be that of the Rain. James:    He turned to Thunder who handed him another item. Andrew:    It was a large, dark, green bottle. The glass so dark has to be nearly opaque. It was the sort of bottle that you would expect to find lying on a beach with a message coiled up inside from some distant land saying, "Help me." James:    Cradling the bottle in one arm, Freddie carefully worked out the cork and then thought, "How am I going to get Rain inside?" Andrew:    He could see easily enough how he could get some Rain inside. He should surely just turn the bottle to the sky… and so he did. James:    As he did, the Rain continued to pour down some of it moving into the bottle. Which started to fill up. Andrew:    Fill up and then overflow. Then suddenly, Freddie found himself underwater. It was as if a fountain had erupted from the neck of the bottle and was rapidly filling up the whole of the world. James:    Freddie had grown up next to the sea and was a strong swimmer and yet with the water all around him, he began to panic. Unable to breathe, unable to see clearly, he desperately held on to the bottle and, forgotten in his other hand, the cork. Andrew:    His limbs thrashed wildly through the encroaching dark and cold of the water. He forgot everything that he had ever known about how to stay safe in the sea, if in one of its sudden changes of moods, it grabs you and drags you. James:    As he started to lose consciousness, floating in the water that was filling up the world, the voice of Thunder sounded in his ear. Andrew:    "Do not fight the water," said Thunder in his deep resonant voice. "Be the water. Float and find your way to the surface." James:    With the last vestiges of his consciousness and the dying remains of his strength, Freddie kicked upwards seeking the surface of the rapidly rising tide. Andrew:    So tossed and turned that he been underwater that he really wasn't sure entirely any more which way was up… when suddenly it occurred to him, surely the cork would float. If he released the cork, he would only have to follow that. James:    Letting go of the cork with one hand, he saw it rising away from him and kicked once, twice to follow it to the surface. Andrew:    Spluttering, he emerged the air, immediately grabbing the cork, and thrusting it into the neck of the bottle, sealing Rain tightly inside. James:    Floating exhausted on the now calm sea, he handed the bottle back to Thunder. Andrew:    "Only one spirit remains" boomed Thunder. "The final and most dangerous spirit of all that of Lighting." James:    And as his rumbling voice said the word, the sky lit up as Lightning forked down towards the mass of the ship. Andrew:    It struck with an almighty crack, split the tall mast of the ship clean in two, and the two halves fell from other side and crashed into the deck and the sea beyond. James:    Thunder held out a third item to Freddie. Andrew:    It was a finely polished, ornately framed mirror. James:    As he took the mirror from Thunder, Freddie noticed the flickering in the heavens above. As Lightning gathered and prepared to dance down, he looked at the mirror in his hand, and then flung it out to capture the Lightning as it arched down from the sky. Andrew:    The next thing he knew, Freddie awoke and found that he was lying on the stone floor of the wizard's cottage. James:    The wizard, no longer unconscious on the floor, bent over him, his face filled with concern. Andrew:    "Here," he said, "drink this." and pressed a cup of water to his lips. James:    Later the wizard asked Freddie to recount his adventures, and as he did the wizard's face filled with respect. Andrew:    "You, young man have a gift for magic. I would like to take you on as my apprentice and lead you on a journey in a magical life. Will you join me?" James:    Freddie eagerly assented. Andrew:    "Wonderful," said the wizard. "Return home at once and get a good night's sleep." James:    As Freddie walked back from the wizard's house across the village filled with voices of the returning fishermen, he heard rumbling in the distance a solitary note of Thunder. Andrew:    I'm Andrew and I'm here with James. These stories were recorded without advanced planning and then lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for more Totally Made Up Tales. Andrew:    Suspicious. James:    People. Andrew:    Hang. James:    Their. Andrew:    Hats. James:    On. Andrew:    Suspicious. James:    Hatstands. They live in suspicious houses, they eat suspicious bread. Andrew:    Lovely.

Episode 11: A Tale of Orange, followed by The Capture of the Elements

For our first episode of 2017, we go into…space! An experimental stretch for us, and there are times where you can almost hear us reaching for words to describe things we're not familiar with. Hope you enjoy it!   Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.   James:  Here are some "Totally Made Up Tales" brought to you by the magic of the Internet. In this episode, "Airlock Number Six". Andrew:  The black depths of space stretched out as far as the eye could see. James:  Maria was so used to the sight that she barely gave it a glance these days. Andrew:  She was engrossed in her work of routine maintenance on the outside of the spaceship and her mind was wandering from the task at hand to her plan for the rest of the day. James:  First, of course, dinner in the commissary as usual. That would not be remotely interesting, but afterwards she was hoping she could persuade Steven to take a virtual walk with her through the rainforest. Andrew:  The radio inside the helmet of her space suit squawked and her team leader reminded her that it was time for her to return to airlock number six. James:  She closed the panel she was working on, secured her tools back onto her spacesuit, and kicked off back towards the airlock and the safety of the pressurised compartments. Andrew:  She pressed the illuminated panel next to the door - it swung open with the reassuring hiss and thunk - and returned into the small docking area as the outer door closed behind her. James:  As soon as it had clanked shut, she could sense that something was wrong. The lights had not changed from amber to green. The inner door was not opening. Andrew:  This was not entirely unusual on a space station of this age. It was not one of the newer models, and the simplest thing to do if you encountered a mechanical fault like this was just to back up and start the sequence again. So she turned round to open the outer door that she had come in through. James:  This light was also orange. "That was strange," she thought and thumbed her radio. Andrew:  "There seems to be a malfunction in the airlock doors. Both sides are amber. Is there anything that you could do to reset it at your end?" James:  She waited a few seconds for a reply. Andrew:  She pushed the button on her radio again. "Erm…Michael? Don't know if you heard that, but there's a bit of a problem here in airlock number six." James:  Again, no reply. But they'd been trained for this because sometimes radios would go wrong if they were passing through a sunspot or some other electromagnetic activity which would interfere with radio communications. She unhitched a spanner from her tool belt and started to work on the inner door lock. Andrew:  She successfully removed the panel from the wall and revealed the emergency override controls. Turning the gauge, which ensured that the outside door was firmly shut, she released the safety switch and undid the locking mechanism of the inner door. James:  Before opening, she tried one more time on the radio. "Michael? Can you…is there anything going on on the other side? Can I open the door and come in?" Andrew:  Again, no reply. She tapped three times on the inner airlock door, which was the agreed signal for "I am coming out." There was no reply, and so she gave the door a firm push and stepped through into the suiting area. James:  After checking the oxygen levels, she carefully removed her suit and noticed, as she was hanging it up, that all the other ones were missing. Andrew:  It was a relief to be back in the relaxed comfort of her everyday space clothes and out of the bulky, cumbersome engineering suit that she had spent the last few hours working in. She pressed the release panel at the side of the suiting room door and stepped into the corridor outside. James:  The corridor was empty, and more curiously the station seemed completely silent, something that she'd never encountered before. There was always some noise, some mechanical sound, or some murmur from the engines that kept them in orbit, or from the people who lived and worked there. Andrew:  She made her way along the corridor to the elevator bank that would take her up to the seventh deck where her residential quarters were. James:  The lights on the elevator were also orange. That was strange. The elevators had never failed before. She pressed the button anyway, hoping that it was a problem with the light rather than the machinery. Andrew:  Nothing happened as she pressed the panel and she tried again a second, and a third time. Each of the panels next to the bank of service lifts were unresponsive in the same way. James:  Giving up on the elevators, she unhooked the panel that gave access to the service ladders that ran alongside them and started the long climb up to the next floor where the main control rooms and bridge were located. Andrew:  She climbed the ladder with the methodical, practiced precision of an experienced engineer. She knew her way around this vessel and all of its strange corners and crevices in a way that few other people did. James:  When she reached the next floor however, even she was surprised. Andrew:  The access hatch to the service ladder was open, practically hanging off its hinges. James:  The corridor beyond was pitch black, all the lighting seemed to have failed. Maria unclipped her personal light and switched it on. Andrew:  She poked around in the darkness with the beam of the torch looking for any clues as to why the lighting system had malfunctioned. James:  She couldn't see anything, but when the beam passed across the doors to the control centre, she saw that they too had been opened. Andrew:  This instantly sent a shiver of fear down the back of her neck. She knew that the only people who would open the control room doors were fellow engineers and that they would never leave them open. James:  She stood at the entrance of the control room and shone her personal light around. Andrew:  At first, it seemed that everything was as it should be. The connection to the main engines was intact and the backup connection was secure and in place. James:  There didn't appear to be any damage to any of the consoles, and yet all of them were dark. None of the welcoming and reassuring lights twinkled across their surface in the way that they normally would. Andrew:  The eerie quiet of the control room, usually such a bustling space, began to creep up on her and became a steadily more insistent sensation that things were very wrong. James:  Trying not to rush, Maria nonetheless moved quickly over to the central power panel and attempted to restart the power. Andrew:  She ran through the sequence that, rarely though she had ever had to use it before, came to her as second nature - and waited to see if the ship responded. James:  There was no change. The panels remained blank, the lights remained out, and the eerie silence continued. Andrew:  She knew that she should attempt the restart process one more time and that the reboot unit needed to rest for five minutes before it could potentially be operated again. She sat on the floor in the dark, in the silence and concentrated on breathing steadily in and out to keep the rising sense of panic under control. In the stillness where the only sound was the beating of her heart in her own chest, she became aware of a curious cold sensation passing over the skin of her forearms. James:  It was the same sensation as when an unexpected breeze caresses you or when you're certain that you've heard something where there should be no sound. She glanced down and noticed that the hairs on her arm were standing on end. Andrew:  She glanced down at her watch and saw that the five minutes had passed and stood up, face-to-face with the reboot unit once more. James:  As her hands moved automatically through the procedure, her mind started to wander once again: What was going on? Andrew:  She primed the reboot switch, pumping the handle three times and turning the control lever to armed. She pushed the reboot button, heard the thunk of the connection being made, and once again was rewarded with no change. James:  She sagged slightly, her forehead touching the reboot panel. Procedure, she was aware - some small logical part of her mind reminding her - procedure at this point was to evacuate the space station. Andrew:  She knew that she should make her way to the nearest escape capsule station, which were situated on every deck. She hesitated. How could she leave the space station behind with so many unanswered questions in her head? James:  She remembered that the memory units for the central computer was stored in the control room. Maybe she could grab the most recent one or two and take them with her. Andrew:  She opened the cabinet containing the storage units of the ship's main computer and was dismayed to see that there were three units stacked next to each other. Without access to power, she would be unable to determine which of the units had been used most recently, and would therefore have to select one of the heavy items at random to take with her. Would she manage to select the one that contained the most recent records and might explain why the ship was deserted? James:  She had to assume that the technicians responsible for the computer organised things according to some sort of plan. Either they moved from left to right and refilled behind the one that was being used, or they only replenished the cards in one go once all of them had been used up. In the first case, she would need the one on the far right. In the second case, it could be any of them. Andrew:  She knew therefore there was a slightly better chance of the information she wanted would be contained in the memory bank on the right, so she unclipped it from its housing and picked it up with both hands. James:  It was both bigger and heavier than she had remembered and she definitely wouldn't be able to take more than one. She only hoped that there would be space in the escape capsule to secure it safely for re‑entry. Andrew:  She manoeuvred her way awkwardly from the control room to the nearest escape hatch holding the memory unit in both hands and balancing her personal light on top to illuminate the corridor ahead of her. James:  Although, with the power off, the space station was beginning to cool down, the exertion meant that she was sweating by the time she got there. Andrew:  She pulled at the emergency handle which released the panel covering the entrance to the escape pod. James:  The opening was dark in front of her, and she knew that the chutes led for 10 to 12 feet down into the escape pod, and she couldn't reasonably drop the memory card in there first. She would have to hold it to her body as she slid down into the pod. Andrew:  She stepped one foot and another into the tube, sat on the edge, clasped the memory card across the front of her torso, and pushed off to slide down to the escape pod. James:  She landed in the padded seat with a jolt and she could feel the shock travel though up her spine. Andrew:  There was little room to manoeuvre inside the escape pod. These crafts were designed for one or, at most, two people and the ship was supplied with dozens of them, enough for the entire crew to be able to abandon ship safely. James:  Wriggling round, she tried to find a place to store the memory card so that she would have access to the controls of the small craft. Andrew:  The memory cards were bulky and yet effectively indestructible. All that was necessary was that she found a way to strap it down. She removed a length of webbing from her utility belt and strapped the card to the back of the pod's pilot seat. James:  Then she cast her personal light around the pod, looking for the manual checklist. She knew that without power, she would have to do everything herself. Andrew:  Having successfully located the checklist, she began the exit procedure by decoupling the magnetic lock, which automatically closed the hatch, and detached her escape pod from the space station. James:  From there, she worked her way gradually down the list, taking sightings on known stars, establishing with sufficient accuracy her orbit so that she could calculate the parameters of a manual re‑entry burn. Andrew:  Having completed the calculations, she set her stopwatch and, at the appropriate moment, fired the pod's rocket engine to take her on the appropriate course. James:  Following completion of the re‑entry burn, she again took sightings to confirm that she was in the appropriate orbit. Now, all she had to do was wait. Andrew:  The pod made its steady descent down into the planet's atmosphere and one by one, the mechanical dials on the control panel in front of her began to come to life as altitude and wind speed began to be read by the sensors on the craft. James:  Maria kept her eye on the altitude reading, hoping that it was accurate, and waiting for the right height above sea level to deploy the parachutes. Andrew:  As she waited, she looked out of the single front window of the pod at the surface of the planet that she had not seen for some time. James:  Already the empty, mysterious space station felt like a curious dream and only the hard reassuring presence of the memory card behind her told her that it had been real. Andrew:  She replayed the sequence of events in her head, trying to pinpoint exactly what it was that could have occurred. James:  She remembered Michael telling her that it was the end of her work period. She remembered tidying up, she remembered getting back to the airlock, and getting inside. Nothing seemed strange about any of those events. From that point on, it had been nothing but strange. Andrew:  There had been no signs of struggle anywhere that she had looked in the ship and the control room's escape hatch still had escape pods ready to use. James:  There must have been six or seven people in the control room…all of them disappeared by the time she'd got there. If they hadn't evacuated the space station, where had they gone? Andrew:  Why had the door of the control room been left open and why was the hatch to the service ladder open on that floor as well? It defied all logical explanation. James:  Beyond the control room, there were another 20, 25 people working on the space station, and yet she'd had no indication that any of them had been there either. It was as if in the time between the end of her work period and securing herself within the airlock, everyone on the space station had simply vanished. Andrew:  The same train of thought seemed to go around in her head unresolved until the needle of the altimeter touched into the zone that told her it was time to deploy the parachute. James:  She reached above her head with both hands and grasped the parachute handle, pulling it down suddenly towards her. As the parachutes unfurled behind it, the entire capsule seemed to spin around her. It rocked into its landing position, Maria sitting upright once more. Andrew:  Moments later, the capsule struck the surface of the water and - finally - she was back home, and the mysterious adventure was surely nearly at an end. James:  Through the weeks and the months of the investigation that followed, Maria told her part of the story a thousand times to a thousand different people. Analysis of the memory card was able to explain how a power surge had disabled the station and showed that one by one the crew members had simply disappeared from the computer's vision and tracking system - but was unable to shed any light on how, or why, or where they had gone. Andrew:  In the annals of space exploration, there was only one similar incident ever reported and, since there were no survivors at all from that vessel, no further information could be obtained and no further explanation could be provided for how it was that all the crew, except Maria, had simultaneously vanished. James:  The names of the crew members are inscribed on the Astronauts' Memorial where we remember all those who have given their lives, whether we understand their sacrifice or not, as humanity spreads out towards the stars. James:  I've been James and I'm here with Andrew. These stories were recorded without advanced planning, and lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for more Totally Made Up Tales.

Episode 10: Airlock #6

This episode we have two stories. Carlos and his Wife make a difficult journey. Meanwhile, the Lonely Skunk lives a troubled life in the forest. Music: Creepy — Bensound.com.   Andrew:    Here are some Totally Made Up Tales, brought to you by the magic of the internet.     We begin this week with Carlos and His Wife. Andrew & James (alternating)     Carlos went to town and bought a new cart. He wanted to take his bride to visit his grandmother, so he hitched the new cart to a horse which he had borrowed especially from his brother and lifted his beautiful new bride into the back. Climbing onto the driver's seat, he whipped the horse and they raced off.     Along the mountain path, there lived a troll. He exacted a toll on every cart that passed his house. Approaching the bend in his cart, Carlos slowed and prepared to face the troll. "Who goes there?" said the troll traditionally. "It is one simple man and his wife. We wish to visit our grandmother. Please let us pass, o troll!" The troll scratched his hairy head and responded with the riddle as is traditional.     "You are a stalk and I am a long tongue. Which animal is your wife?"     Carlos fell into a fitful silence as he attempted to unravel the riddle. A small time later, his wife spoke quietly to him. "Could it be a…" James:    There will now follow a short pause while we figure out what our riddle means. The troll is a long tongue, right… and the man is a stalk of some description. Andrew:    Okay, a stalk of… yeah. A stalk of corn or a stalk of grass… James:    The long tongue reaches out and tries to get the stalk. That's what the troll does. That's a metaphor for those two… which means the wife can be anything, which means the wife can choose to be… what eats frogs? Frogs have long tongues, right? Andrew & James (alternating)     "Could it be a bird of prey?" Carlos's face lit up, "Yes, this is exactly what it should be." He turned to the troll and realised that the troll had vanished.     Continuing their journey along the road, Carlos enjoyed the feeling of the victor. The next bend brought them face to face with an ogre. "Stop," he growled and demanded a sacrifice. "Something you cannot do without," he said. Carlos looked down at the cart and his horse and thought about which of these he could give freely. "Why not just give him the air in your lungs?" Carlos once more applauded his wife and breathed deeply over the ogre. The ogre disappeared and they continued on their road.     As the village where his grandmother lived came into sight, another monster stepped onto the path. It was a dragon, breathing fire and grumbling like a railway engine. "I am hungry," said the dragon. "I demand food or your life." Once more, Carlos was perplexed. How could he feed a dragon without sacrificing his horse?" His wife had another idea. "Could we feed him the straw from the wagon?" "Do dragons eat straw?" asked Carlos. "Well, let's find out," said his wife. So they pushed some straw in the direction of the dragon and waited. The dragon sniffed the bale suspiciously and took a small nibble from the corner. It tasted odd, like a smoky kind of grass. The dragon took another bite. Smoke definitely made things more palatable. He wolfed it down and belched. "You have passed my test," said the dragon and as he let them past, he crept into his cave.     Driving into the village, Carlos and his wife were delighted to have made it safely. His grandmother lived at a crossroads just off the main square. Knocking on her door, Carlos was excited to present his wife, and feast with his family. The door swung open. Within, there was a dark gloom and a light in the fireplace. Sitting in a chair next to the fire was Carlos's grandmother. "Come closer my child," she said, crooking her finger and beckoning him. He knelt beside her chair and recounted the arduous journey they had undertaken to visit her. "Ah," she said. "This journey has been a lesson to you. When there are obstacles to be overcome, you must work with your wife together and so you shall triumph. You will seek many challenges and your wife will fix them for you. Don't take the support for granted." "Yes," said Carlos. "Not on any account." "Ohhhh," said his grandmother. "You have no idea."     On the way home, they took a different route, were attacked by a bear and Carlos's wife killed it with her slingshot. The end. Andrew:    This is the story of the lonely skunk. James:    Once upon a time, there lived all sorts of creatures in the forest. There were shrews and mice that scuffled and scurried through the undergrowth. There were rabbits and hares that bounded along the pathways and tracks through the trees, and badgers snuffling through their sets and sniffing out their prey. Andrew:    There were many animals that lived in the forest each with their own different personalities, but one animal more than any other was regarded as an outcast and was looked down upon by both people and beasts. James:    The skunk did not lead a happy life. Andrew:    Everywhere he went he only wanted to make friends and yet his pungent aroma drove all away from him. James:    Over time, he'd learned that he would not be welcomed at the little gatherings in the glades of the forest, that he would not be greeted cheerily if he passed another animal on a track or path, and that he would not be at all welcome indeed if he turned up at the home of another animal, and so over the years, he had learned to keep very much to himself. Andrew:    As a consequence, the skunk was lonely. He felt the loneliness deep inside his black and white fur. He was surrounded by evidence of the lives of other animals all the time, and yet somehow, it was as if he existed in a bubble which excluded them from him so completely that it could never be crossed. James:    Until one day, he met a frog. Andrew:    It was a bright and misty autumn day and the skunk was wandering along, lost in his own thoughts as usual, meditatively wondering about the changing of the seasons, and he did not see the frog until he very nearly stepped on it. James:    "I beg your pardon," said the skunk, preparing to scurry away as he expected that the frog would immediately make some comment or rather about the stench that always followed him about the forest. Andrew:    But the frog made no such comment. In fact, he made no reply at all and only looked blankly at the skunk who repeated himself what thinking that the other had not heard him. James:    "I beg your pardon," said the skunk again and this time, the frog looked at him and said very quietly, "The apology is mine." Andrew:    The skunk was taken aback by the gentle politeness of the frog's demeanour and inquired of him further the meaning of his words. James:    "I merely meant," said the frog, "that I was sitting here so quiet and so indistinguishable from the leaves around me that it would be altogether too easy to step upon me and I must apologise for that. I could have chosen a rock to sit on or indeed a branch, somewhere that would have left me less vulnerable to those going about their regular business." Andrew:    The skunk was speechless to be addressed. This was the longest sentence that another animal had directed at him for some years and he was puzzled as to why it was that the frog was not repulsed by him in the way that so many other creatures were. James:    So he asked, "Do you not have a problem with my standing here and talking to you?" Andrew:    "Why should I have such a problem with a passing conversation with a fellow animal?" said the frog. James:    "I merely meant," said the skunk, "that so many people find me an unappealing conversationalist for whatever reason." He was beginning to doubt that the frog could smell him at all. Andrew:    "But you seem such a polite and friendly gentleman, how could anybody object to passing the time of day with such a cultured individual?" James:     At this, the skunk broke into a broad smile. "Well, that is very kind of you to say, sir." Andrew:    "And now, I must, please, beg your pardon for I have pressed long enough already on your time and I myself certainly have many things which I must be doing," said the frog. "Good day to you and I hope to speak to you again on another occasion," saying which he hopped off. James:    Cheered, the skunk went about his way and that night, rather than as was his usual custom to bed down early and thus attempt to sleep through the depression of the night, he instead stayed up and thought about his conversation with the frog and recounted to himself the other events of the day so that he would remember them freshly for such a conversation. Andrew:    The next day as the skunk woke in the bright morning light, he hoped, once again, that he would meet his new friend, the frog, while traversing the forest. James:    Making his happy way through the ponds and tracks of the forest, he did not, at first, meet the frog, but did run into a number of other animals. First, a rabbit crossed his path. Andrew:    As usual, the rabbit took one look at him, made a sneering remark about the smell, and hopped off contemptuously into the undergrowth. James:    Next, at a watering hole deep within the heart of the forest, he came across a snake. Andrew:    The snake hissed at him, protested, and chased him off from the water saying that it wasn't for the likes of him. James:    Finally, near an old lighting-struck bole deep within the forest, he met a weasel. Andrew:    The weasel too was contemptuous and pelted the poor skunk with bits of twigs and acorns, chasing him off and jeering him as he retreated hurt as much in spirit as in body. James:    Plodding back towards his home, the skunk was not in a happy place. Andrew:    The contrast of the previous days elation could not have been more bitter to him. After years of resigning himself to lonely isolation, he had finally had a sense of what it would be like to be befriended by another animal only to have it snatched away from him. James:    He slept that night through the dark hours, shivering, and very much alone. Andrew:    At last, he found himself in the arms of sleep and strange dreams crossed to the screen of his mind. James:    First, there was the rabbit that he had encountered that morning, but now, instead of running away from him, the rabbit welcomed him with open paws. Andrew:    Next, there was the snake waiting by the watering hole who this time allowed him to drink his fill of water and pass the time of day pleasantly. James:    Finally, there was the weasel, who instead of pelting him with nuts and acorns, instead offered to share his bounty. Andrew:    And finally after these there charming encounters, he met his new friend, the frog, on the way home and they talked of many things. James:    The skunk woke once more happy and optimistic about the day ahead. Andrew:    He set out along the forest part of the spring in his step determined to find the frog and to seek his counsel on the curious dream that he had had. James:    He tried first along the central paths and roads keeping out of others' way but looking carefully for the frog and when he did not find him there, he tried the watering holes one by one and finally, he started working through the outskirts of the forest, the perimeter where it bled off into grasslands. And there, he found the frog. Andrew:    The frog was sitting on a log at the edge of the forest contentedly ribbiting, breathing in and out, and looking down across the slope of the field to the river at the bottom. James:    "What ho, frog?" said the skunk. Andrew:    The frog looked round, "Ah, it is my friend, the skunk," he said. "And how are you on this wonderful autumnal day?" James:    The skunk explained that although the previous day had been very upsetting, he had had a curious dream with positivity and delightful conversation and was wondering if the frog had any idea what it might mean. Andrew:    "Ah," said the frog, "dreams are a mysterious thing. Sometimes they tell us the truth. Sometimes they tell us the opposite. On this occasion, I wonder." James:    "But what should I do? I cannot see myself having such wonderful interactions with other creatures in the forest and yet, that is the thing I desire most," said the skunk. Andrew:    "Ah," said the frog, "It is a difficult question, is it not? I myself wish that I could stay here and pass conversation with you every day, but alas, I must make my way down to the river and then back home for my animal holiday is going to an end." James:    "What do you mean?" asked the skunk who was not really aware of there being animal or creatures beyond the forest at all. Andrew:    "Well, I mean," said the frog, "that I must return home. I must go back to the river and then turn right along it and there I will find the other frogs, the newts, the water rats who are my friends and acquaintances. James:    The skunk was quite taken aback. The idea of creatures living in a riverbank rather than in the welcoming forest was utterly alien to him and yet, also intriguing. Andrew:    "Do you think," said the skunk, "do you think that I might come with you to this riverbank? Do you think that some of your friends and acquaintances might be more welcoming to me than the animals of the forest?" James:    "Well," said the frog, "I cannot see why not. My frog and toad friends are most gentle and gracious creatures and the voles that live in the riverbank just next to me are some of the friendliest creatures I have ever had the pleasure to get acquainted with." Andrew:    "Shall we make our way there now?" said the skunk, hoping that he was not being too presumptuous. James:    "I think perhaps we should," said the frog and hopped onto the skunk's back. "If I'm not being too presumptuous as to ask for a ride." Andrew:    Off they set, skunk and frog together, strolling down towards the river, passing the time in pleasant conversation.     I'm Andrew and I'm here with James. These stories were recorded without advanced planning and then lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for More Totally Made Up Tales.

Episode 9: Carlos and his Wife, and the Lonely Skunk

Our main story in this episode is The Curse of the Royal Soil: A Marvellous Tale of the Sleeping Princess, the Watcher of Flowers and the Unfortunate Messenger and the Hardships that Befell and how things came to Pass in the End. Preceded by a couple of shorts: first, Mr McGregor gets his comeuppance, and then we meet the King and the Golden Pig. Music: Creepy – Bensound.com.   James:    Here are some Totally Made Up Tales brought to you by the magic of the internet. Andrew:    "Have you seen my cup? It's full of coffee and I want it." Mr. McGregor was a bastard. Everyone hated him, particularly the morning when he fired half his staff. Subsequently, the remaining staff plotted to kill him in a devious fashion.     "We could booby trap his car."     "Too risky. What if it caught fire and blew up on us?"     "We could tamper with his swivel chair."     "Too fraught. We've no way to ensure he sits on it."     "We could knife him."     "Yes! That's the simplest solution."     So, one day, Mr. McGregor was reading the newspaper while someone fetched his coffee, and Mavis from Accounts snuck up behind him and knifed him where it hurt. The police determined the cause of death was accidental consumption of a knife, and no one was punished.     The end. James:    Once upon a time, back when things like this happened, a golden pig was due to be sold at market. Andrew:    The king heard of it and immediately went to buy it as a gift for his wife. James:    He was opportunistic and wily, far more cunning than your everyday royal. Andrew:    The previous king was a fool, and had died a poor man's death and thus he was cunning but had no money. How was he to obtain the pig? James:    First, he took a sandwich from the royal table and traded it for a cockerel. Andrew:    The cockerel, in turn, he traded for an abacus. James:    The abacus he swapped for a cart. Andrew:    For the cart, he removed both wheels and swapped the parts for a barrel of ale and two goats. James:    Two weeks later, he had enough finally for the golden pig. Andrew:    But alas, it had been sold to a merchant. James:    Who should it belong to? The king, who as king, naturally felt he had some claim over the nicer things in the land, even though he was so poor, or the merchant who had bought it fairly at market? Andrew:    There was only one way to decided the dispute: through a traditional fiddle contest. James:    The day of the fiddle day dawned bright and crisp, and the common folks started running around, excited by the prospects of the contest ahead. Andrew:    The merchant rose early and tuned his fiddle. James:    The king, meanwhile, slept in 'til noon, trusting in his luck. Andrew:    The referee declared that they would begin with shanties and both played vigorously. Victory fell to the merchant. James:    The second round was jigs and one after another, both men played with gusto, but once more, the merchant was victorious. Andrew:    Finally came waltzes, and here the king had the edge for he was naturally in three parts, as many monarchs are. James:    With the waltz going on in the background, the populous was swept up in dance and the pig danced away too. Andrew:    The king was declared the loser, but having learned the waltz, he couldn't complain.     And now: The Curse of the Royal Soil: A Marvellous Tale of the Sleeping Princess, the Watcher of Flowers and the Unfortunate Messenger and the Hardships that Befell and how things came to Pass in the End.     Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a woman in a cottage. James:    She had lived there all of her life and before her, her mother and before her and before her, back as far as the villagers around her could remember. Andrew:    She was renowned, far and wide, for her wonderful talent of growing flowers. James:    She did not grow flowers in the way that you or I would. There was never a hint of pruning or grooming or watering or feeding. Andrew:    She was an exponent of the now-forgotten and no longer taught art of flower watching. James:    She would gather herself, sitting on the ground and with an intense look of concentration upon her face, will forth flowers to erupt from the ground in front of her. Andrew:    The flowers that she grew were beautifully fragrant, colourful, attractive, alluring, bewitching. James:    All through the kingdom, she was known for this, and much sought after, for her flowers could bring couples together, could enable them to conceive and could, in some cases, heal even the most ghastly sickness. Andrew:    Anybody experiencing drama, passion, confusion or loss in their life would surely want her flowers in their time of need to comfort them and to bring them through to safety. James:    In times long past, the flower watchers had been a redoubtable sect, many of whom went into battle for their kings and queens, but these days, there is only her left. Andrew:    One day, while hard at work in her garden raising flowers, a man came down the lane leading to her house, riding a fast horse. James:    She could tell from the way that the horse was panting and blowing air through its nostrils that this man had ridden long, far and indeed hard to get here to her. Andrew:    Her keen eyesight detected that he was in the livery of a royal footman, someone coming to see her from the palace. Something must be afoot with the royal family. James:    The messenger arrived at her door, swung down from his horse and prostrated himself in front of her.     "His majesty, the king, requests that you come at once to assist his daughter, the princess." Andrew:    "But what is wrong with the princess?" she asked, "I must know the sickness that I am being asked to cure." James:    "Nobody can tell," said the messenger, and indeed, it was true. For the princess had fallen into a deep coma and although many curatives had been tried, many people had been consulted and even the greatest magic had been attempted, nothing had been able to rouse her from her slumber. Andrew:    "Very well," said the flower-watcher, gathering herself together. And, mounting the horse behind the messenger, they rode back to the palace. James:    As their horse approached the capital city, the woman could see far and wide the signs of grieving within the kingdom. Andrew:    The princess was a popular figure and people were beside themselves with sadness and worry that she should have been taken sick so close to the eve of her 18th birthday. James:    Flags were flown at half mast, many people wandered through the streets weeping openly, and when they reached the palace gates, they were received at once by the king. Andrew:    "Ah, I have a great sorrow in my heart," said the king, "my daughter, my beloved daughter lies sick and surely you can bring her to life again." James:    The plant-watcher was shown to the chambers of the princess where already all around her bed had been placed planters full of soil, ready for her to do her work. Andrew:    "Leave me in peace," she said, "I must have peace to concentrate. I shall raise a bed of fine roses and the scent will surely wake your daughter from her slumber as we pass it under her beautiful nose." James:    And so, as the rest of them excused themselves, she sat on the floor at the foot of the princess's bed and started to concentrate. Andrew:    The minutes passed, the hours passed, the days passed, and when one full week had gone by, the first red rose begun to open its bud and the petals spread wide, releasing their scent into the air. James:    The plant-watcher opened her eyes and smiled and looked at the princess lying on the bed. Andrew:    She took the red rose and passed it gently across the princess's face, taking great care not to scratch the royal brow with any of the thorns. James:    The princess twitched in her sleep, but did not rouse. Andrew:    The wise flower-watcher immediately knew that all was not as it seemed. She returned to the anxiously waiting king and queen and said to them, "your majesties, I fear that there is something that you are not telling me. James:    It is clear to me that the princess is held back within her childhood and so a beautiful rose in the soil of the place that she grew up should indeed have roused her." Andrew:    At that, the king turned to his wife and receiving a barely perceptible nod from her, said, "ah, there is a sad tale that few people know but that you can be entrusted with in our hour of need. James:    The princess did not grow up within these walls, but in a faraway castle owned by her father, my brother. Andrew:    He died tragically in the civil war and after that, I adopted her and since then, the castle has lain empty on the edge of a desolate marsh on a windswept coast looked after only by an elderly caretaker." James:    "Very well," said the flower-watcher, "you must send at once a messenger to this castle, for the only way to bring the princess back to you is using flowers grown in the soil of her childhood." Andrew:    And so it was that the same messenger, the fastest rider in the king's forces, was sent out to ride to the very farthest edge of the kingdom across the desolate marsh to the windswept coast where the abandoned castle stood. James:    As he crested the last hill before the marsh, he saw the castle just peeking over the edge of the horizon. Andrew:    And, as the miles of marshland passed under the hooves of his horse and the castle grew larger and closer, it seemed to him to be a place of great desolation. James:    Dismounting, he was met at the castle walls by an old man. Andrew:    "Ah, you'll be the messenger then," said the old man. James:    "I am here on an urgent mission from the king," said the messenger, "I must have —" Andrew:    "Yes, yes, you must have, you must have. Come, come first. There is no hurry here, young man. You must be hungry and your horse needs water." James:    So saying, the messenger followed the old man inside and as he did, he could not help but notice that the beds that normally should be teeming with flowers were barren and empty. Andrew:    And the vegetable garden too was terribly overgrown, the orchard, in fact, everywhere that plants grew was a mess. James:    After stabling and watering his horse, the old man led the messenger into the great hall where he put down in front of him a strange meal of berries and fruit. Andrew:    "Let me tell you a tale, young man," he said as the messenger tucked hungrily into the strange dishes in front of him. "Let me tell you a tale of this castle and how it came to be abandoned. James:    I was a much younger man when I first saw this castle. I was carrying the sad news of the death of its lord and master. Andrew:    It was during the time of the civil war, a sad chapter in our nation's history when two royal brothers fought for control of the land. James:    I was the last bearer of the sad tidings of the death of the prince and when I told his wife, she was sore stricken with grief. Andrew:    So badly did this news affect her, so deep was her grief that before my very eyes, she slit her own throat. The blood ran across the courtyard of the castle and seeped into its very soil. James:    She had been buried barely a day when the new king's men came to take the princess away to the capital, and I remained here along with the last of the old family's retainers. Andrew:    From that day onwards, the atmosphere of the place seemed to change. It was as if all the life had gone out of the very stones of the building, and one by one, the venerable plants, the ancient trees, the thriving vegetables in the gardens and orchards of the castle began to wither and die. James:    And more slowly but just as inexorably, the retainers, one by one, wasted away before my very eyes. Andrew:    It seems to strange to me that each of them in turn would from some inexplicable sickness waste into nothingness and I pondered long and hard what it could be that had caused their death. James:    Eventually, I realised that I'd been so horrified by the manner of the old queen's death that I had avoided anything to do with the courtyard ever since. Andrew:    Anybody who had gone through that courtyard or touched its soil tainted by the blood of her royal suicide was cursed." James:    The young messenger put his head in his hands. Andrew:    The blood drained from his face and the young man emitted a low moan. "Oh the tragedy, for it is that very soil which I have been sent here to collect on behalf of his royal majesty." James:    "You'd better use gloves," said the old man. Andrew:    Early next morning as the sun was peeping over the horizon, the messenger woke and went down to the courtyard with the gloves and trowel that the old retainer had given him. James:    He carefully filled a satchel with the royal soil and prepared to ride back to the capital. Andrew:    Pausing at the gate of the castle, he turned to wave farewell to the old man who had been so helpful, and in doing so noticed a tiny speck of the soil that had lodged on the edge of his wrist. James:    Dismissing the man's tale as mere superstition, he flicked the soil away with his gloved hand and rode off back to the capital. Andrew:    All day and all night, he rode and the next day, he arrived at the castle and was ushered immediately into the royal bed chamber by the king's steward. James:    There, the flower-watcher carefully took the soil and distributed it amongst the planters to provide the environment of the princess's childhood that was necessary to bring her back. Andrew:    And so it was, dear listener, that everything turned out as the flower-watcher said it would do. The rose was grown in the soil of the princess's childhood. The scent awoke her from her deep slumber. She was able to celebrate her 18th birthday and come of age and all was well. Except for one person. James:    In the days after the celebration, the messenger noticed nothing different, but as the days turned into weeks and the weeks turned into months, he began to feel a hunger that he could not satiate. Andrew:    Since that one fateful day, the day on which first he touched the royal soil and then he saw the sleeping princess, there had been but one all-consuming thought in his mind at all times. James:    The image of her behind his eyelids as he slept at night, the vision of her in front of them as he wandered through the city during the day… he could not think of anything else. Andrew:    Ah, so deeply was he in love with the princess that he pined and pined and began slowly to waste away. James:    After a few months, he was unable to continue his job as a messenger and after a couple of years, he was unable to continue to afford living in the capital and wandered the country increasingly alone. Andrew:    A lonely nomad he was. He ended up, after years of wandering, in the farthest parts of the kingdom, and one day, he came over the crest of a hill, and saw before him a wide and bleak marsh. James:    On the road in front of him there lay a dying soldier who called out to him. Andrew:    "Young man," cried the soldier, "young man, please help me. I am on an urgent mission that I will not be able to complete for I am expiring." James:    And the soldier told the young man of the battle that he had come from and the prince who had fallen there. Andrew:    "Go — go convey this message to the queen in the castle that her lord and husband is dead. Take it to her personally. You are the last bearer of the news." James:    On the other side of the country, the flower-watcher sat on the dirt in the middle of her house and started to concentrate. Andrew:    First she imagined a tiny seed deep underground. Then she imagined the first tiny root and shoot, each reaching out boldly in opposite directions. James:    In her mind, she saw the root system develop and strengthen and the shoot gradually make its way to the surface. Andrew:    Meanwhile, in a far-off castle in barren soil, a solitary snow drop poked its head up through a long-neglected flowerbed and the process of renewal at last began. James:    I've been James and I'm here with Andrew. These stories were recorded without advanced planning and lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for more totally made-up tales.

Episode 8: The Curse of the Royal Soil, A Marvellous Tale of the Sleeping Princess, the Watcher of Flowers and the Unfortunate Messenger and the Hardships that Befell and how things came to Pass in the End (and other stories)

In episode 7, we meet King Dubious III in the last days of his reign, and join Keith McGreggor as he comes out of retirement to investigate The Bad Debtor. Music: Creepy – Bensound.com.   Andrew:    Here are some totally made up tales, brought to you by the magic of the internet. We begin with the Sealed Instructions. Andrew & James (alternating words):     It was the night of the coronation of King Dubious the Third. His beautiful wife was waiting for him in their royal bedchamber while he finished up his duties. All the castle was asleep. Tomorrow, the festivities would last all day long. There would be dancing and music. Dignitaries would come and celebrate the beginning of his reign. Tonight, he was writing a list of instructions in case of his death. He sealed them into a box and placed the box in a special cupboard ensorcelled by the royal magician. "Have you finished, dear?" said his wife. "Yes," he replied, and they kissed.     Morning dawned, the castle bathed in glorious light, and people milling around, waiting for the events to begin. In the guardhouse, there was a small chance that something would go wrong. This was the job of Sergeant Major Keen, who would lift the drawbridge if an attack was imminent. He was an experienced man who knew his job. His assistant however was new, and required a considerable amount of attention. "Why are you not ready yet?" asked Sergeant Major Keen. "I'm still getting a tabard on," replied his young assistant, Jeffery. "That should have been done hours ago," said the Sergeant Major. "Here, let me," and so he helped Jeffery put his tabard on, and didn't keep an eye on the horizon.     Over to the West, there was a cloud of dust as a band of marauding bandits charged towards the castle on horseback. A vicious cry leapt from their mouths as they closed in rapidly. "Death to the people! Death to Dubious!" they cried, crossing the drawbridge into the keep, slaughtering all before them. Dubious heard a commotion outside, and pulled back the curtain to look down, and gasped. He pulled out his trusty sword and ran into the midst of the melee, and soon he faced his opponent, the leader of the band, General D. Hunter, the outlaw. "So," said the General, "we meet at last. Now, I have your castle at my whim. Soon I will have your throne." "Not so fast," said the king, and they fought.     I was but a young pigeon at the time, watching this from afar. It was a terrible sight. Thousands of men were slaughtered, and women were killed. Children died, animals too. It was terrible. After the battle had ended, only one man remained. It was the Sergeant Major, who had managed to defend his post using his trusty sword and considerable experience. Jeffery had, however, perished at the first hurdle. Keen became briefly king. However, the instructions in the envelope were for the eventuality of the former king on his death. In them, he had laid down a series of retaliatory steps that had to be taken if he was killed in battle. The heavy-hearted Keen enacted each to the letter, and destroyed all around. Now, there is nowhere in that country for any bird to land or eat its fill. The end.     Leave your prejudice behind when engaging in discourse with others.     Mary had a little problem. Her lamb was ill. She took him to the vet, and the vet said, "Yes. He has a disease called laryngitis." "Oh," said Mary. "That sounds terrible." "Yes," said the vet. "We'll have to remove his voice box." After the operation, Mary's lamb was right as rain, except he couldn't baa any more. Mary was distraught and ate him on her own[…or birthday, or plate].     Shaving foam will make you frothy, so rub it on your face daily.     Once upon a time, there was a rabbit. He lived in the middle of a royal wood with his friends, and they had joyous sex. One day, the most enormous fox appeared on the edge of the forest, and started sniffing for rabbits. The rabbits were afraid. "Never trust a fox," said the eldest. "Come to me," cried the fox. "Little rabbits, I've a special surprise for you." "Ooh," said some younger rabbits, and went, and saw, and got eaten by the fox. The moral is simple. Don't trust a fox.     Brush your hair with dynamite for that special look.     Gary went to his mother's house for dinner. She was cooking lasagna. He loved lasagna, and particularly his mother's. She got the recipe from her mother who had been chef to the king of Italy. This recipe was wanted in every kingdom of the world, but Gary's mother kept it to herself. He loved her, and grew fat on her pasta. The end. Andrew:    Now, The Bad Debtor, a Keith McGreggor mystery. James and Andrew (alternating sentences):     Keith was a retired police officer. He'd spent twenty years or more working for the force, and much of that time had been taken up with petty crime, run-of-the-mill traffic violations, things like that. The occasional high-profile case with some national media interest had made him into somewhat of a local celebrity, but now that he was retired, he was happy to slip into quiet obscurity. These days, an exciting time was if he managed to catch a fish down by the canal. Fishing was a fantastic occupation. It was regimented. It required equipment. It got him out of the house. It was something to keep him busy in the long years of quiet solitude ahead.     One day, while waiting for the fish to bite, he was looking around as he often did, and noticed a man and a woman on the other side of the canal. Both smartly dressed, the young man in a dark suit, the woman in a light blouse and skirt and high heels, the man was passing the woman some kind of envelope. Keith wondered about this, his police instinct suggesting to him that no good was being done here. Why were these two professional-looking people down among the warehouses on the wrong side of the canal next to the railway track at lunch time? "Up to no good," he thought to himself, and resolved to find out.     Quickly and discreetly, he packed his equipment away, keeping half an eye on them, and looped round using the foot bridge that crossed the canal. Hurrying so as not to let them out of his sight, he trailed them back up into town, where the man went left onto the high street and disappeared into the bank. The woman he continued following as she went past the shops and out towards the high school. She paused at the gates of the school and tucked the envelope into her handbag.     He noticed as she did so that it wasn't the kind of handbag that you'd expect to see a schoolteacher carrying. It was an expensive designer one, and new-looking. Now that he came to look more closely, her clothes were higher-end than he'd expect, and she was wearing very expensive shoes as well. She hurried across the front yard of the school and into the staff room, where she greeted colleagues and started to make a cup of tea.     As the bell for the end of lunch rang, Keith returned home to think about this. How would a high school teacher afford such fancy things? He fired up his computer to see what he could find out about her online. After a couple of hours of research, he hit upon the fact that he had been looking for. She was, thanks to her postings on Facebook, he knew, heavily in debt to the bank, and he presumed that she must have been taking out a series of loans and extending them over time in order to fuel a lifestyle that she was ill-able to afford, a behaviour that he recognised all too often from his career of dealing with people who had unwittingly entered a life of crime. Who then was the man from the bank, and what was he paying her for?     The following day, he went into the bank in order to investigate getting a loan for, he said, some minor home improvements. He was interested to see would the young man be involved in the process, and if not, how did he fit in? First, the woman behind the counter helped him fill out the application form. He would, she pointed out, have to have an interview before being approved for the loan. "Would it be possible to have the interview today? It's just, I'm here now," he said. Checking the diary, she was able to put him into an appointment forty-five minutes later, time he spent doing the crossword.     "Do step this way," said a man in a smart pinstripe suit, and showed him into a dingy, windowless office of the kind that was deeply familiar to him from his life in the police force. But this man was not the young man he was looking for. Older, close to retirement age, he took Keith through the formal interview process that the bank required. "I wonder if I could have a glass of water," asked Keith. "My throat is rather parched from all this talking." "Of course," said the bank manager, pressing a small button recessed discreetly into his desk. "Phillip, could I have another cup of white coffee and a glass of water, please?"     Just as they were finishing up the interview, Phillip came through with the drinks. This was the young man that Keith had been looking for. Clearly he was a more junior member of staff, so how had he become connected with the woman? Perhaps, as he had done today, she had seen him when she came in to discuss her loan. He would have to follow the young man and keep him under close observation to find out what was going on between the two of them.     After his appointment at the bank, Keith left and crossed the road to a small café, where he found a table in the window and sat, nursing a series of cups of milky tea. At closing time, he observed the young man exiting the bank and furtively looking both ways before hurrying off down a side street. A lifetime working in law enforcement had taught Keith that when people knew that they were doing something suspicious or wrong, they often gave it away in the way that they walked. This man knew he was up to no good. But what exactly was it that he was up to?     Keith followed at a discreet distance as the young man also followed the road up towards the high school, but it was nearly 6 o'clock now, and surely the building would be locked up? Lingering at the gates as the young man walked across the car park, Keith noticed the young woman leaving by a side exit. She waved to him, and the young man came over. She let him in and closed the door furtively behind the both of them. Keith crossed the car park and checked. The door was locked, and he wouldn't be able to get in this way.     Quickly, he walked around the perimeter of the school until he came to the main entrance, where he knocked on the window. The janitor sitting behind the glass slid the pane across and popped his head out. "Oh, hello, Keith," said the janitor, who knew him from angling circles. "I'm not here in an official capacity," said Keith, "but I wonder if…" "I'll let you right in," said the janitor, who implicitly trusted Keith. "There's a side door that you can see from the car park. Where does that let into?" "Oh, that would go straight to the gymnasium," said the janitor. "Second on the left."     Keith hurried through the corridors and found his way into the empty gymnasium building. It was extraordinary the strange, eerie atmosphere of the twisty corridors of an empty school at night, and took him back to his own school days. Moving softly down the corridor, he listened at each door, trying to determine the location of the interlopers. He heard a muffled thump and hurried towards it, which brought him in the direction of the girl's locker room. Pausing again, he waited for the opportune time to make his move.     He pushed the door slightly and slowly ajar in a way that wouldn't draw attention to itself, a trick that he had learned as a young police officer, and that had served him well on many occasions. Voices came to him from deeper within the locker room, the man and the woman talking softly. "Is this what you're looking for?" he heard her say. "That's perfect," he heard in the man's voice, slightly excited and anxious at the same time. Keith pushed the door open, and the young couple froze. The young woman was rummaging through an open locker, while the man sat beside her, his face buried in a pair of panties. The woman let out a startled cry, and the large bunch of locker room keys that she'd been holding in her left hand fell to the floor with a crash.     "However did you figure it out?" asked the police chief some days later. "It was simple, really," said Keith. "Once I discovered about the debt, it was just a case of tracing the relationship between the two of them. She must have discovered him sniffing around the locker room at some point and recognised his perversion. When she went to the bank to have the terms of her loan extended and was refused, she saw him there, and had a quiet word with him. She would, in exchange for small sums of money on a regular basis, allow him access to the locker room out of hours. She has no future in education, and he is now in the hands of the court."     "How's the fishing?" asked the chief constable. "Never better," said Keith. Andrew:    I've been Andrew, and I'm here with James. These stories were recorded without advanced planning, and then lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for more totally made-up tales.

Episode 7: The Sealed Instructions and The Bad Debtor

In episode 6, we finish the story of the Rosewood Unicorn, along with meeting Theresa who runs a comforting bookshop, and seeing what happens when the Dean Drops In. Music: Creepy – Bensound.com.   James: Here are some totally made-up tales brought to you by the magic of the internet.     We start with the Dean Drops In.   Andrew: The head librarian looked up from her desk at the sound of a knock of the door of her wood panelled office.   James: Perhaps, she thought, it was her assistant with the soup for lunch. But, no, standing in the doorway was the Dean of the University.   Andrew: "May, I come in?" he said in his patrician drawl that he had spent years perfecting.   James: "Of course, Dean," she said drawing a chair for him on the other side of her immense desk.   Andrew: "I wondered if I might speak to you about the little subject of books?" He said.   James: "Ah, yes, books," said the head librarian, "they are indeed in my remit."   Andrew: "Yes," he said, "I was wondering if that is really the most efficient way for us to work? Do you think we might re-visit the whole topic?"   James: The head librarian thought for a moment. This was a familiar pattern with the Dean, walking in and sparring with members of his faculty, threatening to take away certain responsibilities or authority. But this, she felt, was going further.   Andrew: Books had always been at the heart of University life and at the heart life and at the heart of learning and culture and damn if she was going to lose them.   James: Although the library contained a large number of things that were not by any stretch of the imagination books, she felt that reducing herself to only looking after those would inevitably see the library become part of some other faculty, such as languages or perhaps the modern hearts.   Andrew: She turned over in her mind the best way to conquer this threat to her domain. What could she do?   James: Smiling gently at the Dean, she walked around the large desk flicking open a small drawer as she went and withdrawing a jewel-encrusted dagger.   Andrew: This she delicately plunged into his back behind the middle of the rib cage, up into his heart and withdrew it wiping it on her handkerchief.   James: "Chelsea," she called for her assistant, "file this under D for dead things."     And now: Part II of the Rosewood Unicorn.   Andrew: The day dawned bright and fair. There was not a cloud in the sky. It was the 17th birthday of the Princess Caroline.   James: She rose early and was dressed in the most sumptuous clothes by her maids and prepared for the full day of celebration before her.   Andrew: In the morning she toured around the capital city meeting, greeting, receiving birthday wishes from the loyal subjects of the king among whom she was so popular.   James: At lunch there was a great banquet with many of the princes from surrounding kingdoms vying for her hand in marriage, not knowing, for the king had never disclosed to anyone the deal he had made with the Man in Black.   Andrew: The afternoon she had for recreation, for it was her birthday after all. She went for a pleasant walk in the gardens and played a game of tennis.   James: And just before the evening meal, as she had for so many years, she played briefly with the unicorn toy that she had been given so many years ago. Although it was no longer alive, she still loved it with a strange passion from her past.   Andrew: After a busy day, her birthday ended with a simple meal for the most immediate members of the royal family in their private dining room. They had a delicious, but not extravagant meal, and had come to the end of it.   James: There was a knock at the door to the royal suit.   Andrew: "Who could that be?" said the Queen. "This is a very late hour for us to be interrupted by an urgent message or an embassy from a foreign power."   James: The King signalled to one of the servants to open the door and inquire who it was at this late hour.   Andrew: The double doors were flung open and framed in silhouette against the flickering candlelight from the corridor behind, was the Man in Black.   James: "I have come," he said, "as we agreed."   Andrew: Well, there ensued a rather complicated conversation. The King had a great deal of explaining to do. The Queen was unhappy. Princess Caroline was unhappy. Tears were shed, voices were raised, but the Man in Black was implacable and the King was a man of his word. There was no way around it other than Princess Caroline should immediately pack her things and leave.   James: Tearfully she looked around her rooms deciding what she would take with her. There was no need, perhaps, for many of the things that she normally liked to wear or many of the books that she usually read from. She packed a small bag, taking with her only a couple changes of clothing and the unicorn.   Andrew: The Man in Black had a fine black horse, strong and sturdy waiting in the courtyard, steam rising from his nostrils as it stamped its hooves and shook its head. "Climb aboard," he said.   James: She swing herself up behind him. The bag pressed between the two of them. Almost as a wall between her and, as she thought of him, her captor.   Andrew: They rode through the night. Across lands that the princess had never seen before and had barely known existed. Across forests and fields, mountains, valleys, they forded rivers, until at length they came to the far off land where the Man in Black ruled.   James: A dark, sinister castle thrust itself out of the naked rock. Towers twisting towards the sky. Around it a dark and menacing forest stretched as far as the eyes could see. As the Man rode his horse, Caroline behind him, down the single, narrow path through the forest, she, tired from their journey, gradually slipped off to sleep.   Andrew: The next day, the princes awoke. At first, she was aware of being in a comfortable bed so familiar to the one that she had slept in for many years. But soon she realised that, no, she was not in the bed chamber that she had grown up in, but she was in a different castle in a different land starting a new life.   James: She crept out of her bedroom and started to explore around the castle very soon finding the main hall where the Man in Black was taking breakfast.   Andrew: "Ha-ha, my dear, you are awake," he said with great charm and courtesy. "We'll you join me for breakfast? I have all the goods that one could possibly want to eat."   James: As he spoke, she realised that she was hungry and sat down to eat some of the most delicious fruits and meats that she had ever tasted.   Andrew: The spread was vast and she ate her fill and was sitting in quiet contentment when her husband spoke.   James: "Now you have come to live here you will, of course, have all of the benefits of my country. The best food, the most delicious wine, the most compliant servants; however, I do regret that you will never be able to go back and see your family again. That is just the way that these things work, I'm afraid."   Andrew: The princess was heartbroken. She said nothing and left the table and returned to her room, tears brimming in her eyes.   James: She threw herself down upon the bed attempting to smother her tears in the pillow. Before long she felt a touch on her arm. She started, looking down her arm she noticed the unicorn and it tossed its head.   Andrew: "What on earth," she exclaimed looking down at the toy from her childhood. "But all those years ago you, surely you, I remember ..."   James: It nudged her with its horn gently and then cantered up to her face.   Andrew: "Oh, you've come back to me just at the moment which I needed a friend. Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said, kissing it on its back.   James: That night Caroline waited until she was certain that all in the castle were asleep before taking the unicorn in her pocket and creeping down to the great hall.   Andrew: There, she gathered up the things that she would need for a long journey and made her way outside through the kitchens.   James: The circle of the trees of the dark forest surrounded the castle and she could not see the path. So thinking that any direction was as good as any other, she picked one and started walking.   Andrew: The forest at night was strange and eerie but she was a confident young woman and with her trusty unicorn and her provisions, she strolled ahead without fear.   James: She walked through the night and as the first hints of dawn started to be visible through the dark trees, she finally came across a clearing and in the centre of the clearing was the castle.   Andrew: She was bitterly disappointed. "Oh, I must have taken a wrong turning somewhere or followed a path that came around. What a foolish mistake to make." But she realised that it would be futile to try and leave again during the daytime when she could be seen by everyone in the castle and she returned to the great hall for breakfast.   James: The following night she tried again. Once more as dawn started to creep across the land, she found herself back at the castle.   Andrew: She made several attempts over the following nights to escape. Each time taking a different path, recording the path that she had gone down by making a mark on the barks of the trees, but each time it brought her back to the castle at daybreak. Then while sitting down to breakfast the Man in Black addressed her.   James: "I told you, but you did not believe me. There is no way that you can leave this place and see your family again."   Andrew: "And indeed why would you want to? Here you will have a life of complete contentment. We have a peaceful land where we are unchallenged in our rule. You will have a life of ease and joy. You should accustom yourself to it and not seek to escape."   James: Caroline ran from the table up to her room and threw herself down on the bed in despair.   Andrew: "Oh, what shall I do?" she said to the unicorn as they played together. "What shall I do? It is comfortable here and life could be easy and it is impossible to escape, but I oh I miss my family so. What shall I do?"   James: That night she did not try to escape and as she lay sleeping the unicorn thought.   Andrew: The unicorn was a sensitive beast and hated to see the mistress who it loved in so much pain and discomfort. "How can I help?" it thought. "How can I help her to escape?"   James: The unicorn understood the magic that controlled the forest and the routes through it. The unicorn made of rosewood from the great tree that stood at the centre of the forest, was well aware of exactly how the Man in Black's magic constrained the Princes Caroline. The unicorn knew that this particular spell was powerful and woven through the very fabric of the castle and the forest itself and that only one thing could cause it to fail.   Andrew: The unicorn, a magical animal, understood the ways of the occult and knew that the only way to break the spell and to transport the princess back to her childhood home where she so longed to go, was to burn a part of the magical forest that formed that the impenetrable boundary around the castle along with an item from the desired destination of the traveler. The unicorn rooted around through the possessions that the princess had brought with her from her home and found one of the scarves that had been given to her in her childhood.   James: Now all of the unicorn had to do was to burn this with part of the rosewood heart of the forest. But now the Princess Caroline never went outside. She always wanted to stay within her room and play and the unicorn could not deny her that.   Andrew: Although it bided its time hoping for an opportunity to be taken outside so that it could collect something from the forest, the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months and the princess was beginning to waste away with sadness and despair.   James: Seeing her condition, the unicorn knew that it could not wait and that its chance to get outside into the forest might never appear. It took the scarf, wrapped it around itself and when the princess was not looking, cantered into the fireplace where it burned completely.   Andrew: The day dawned bright and fair. There was not a cloud in the sky. It was the seventh birthday of the Princess Caroline.   James: She woke excited for the day's festivities ahead and as she always did, she started her day by playing with the delicate and beautiful swan that she had been given for Christmas. Made by the finest toy maker in the land.   Andrew: The door of her bedroom opened and her kindly aunt and uncle beamed down on her. "Come my child, let us have a celebratory breakfast on this your special day. A happy birthday to our beloved child and the most special girl in all the land."   Alternating: Theresa was a pleasant lady who ran the bookshop in town. Every time she wanted a breath of fresh air, she would walk outside into the square and sit on a stone bench beside the fountain. One day while perambulating, she encountered a small boy who was without his parents. He looked lost and sad. "Are you okay?" she asked. "No," he said, "I've lost my mummy." Theresa took him by the hand and went inside the bookshop. She picked him a book to read and made some tea. As he read to himself, she patted him on the head. He sighed contentedly. "I'm not scared any more."   James: I've been James and I'm here with Andrew. These stories were recorded without advanced planning and lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for more totally made up tales.   

Episode 6: The Rosewood Unicorn (part 2) and other stories

In this episode: the first part of The Rosewood Unicorn. Subscribe to get every episode of Totally Made Up Tales. Music: Creepy – Bensound.com.   Once upon a time, there was a man called Phillip who owned a small shop. In his shop, he stocked mostly wooden toys, but also, these days, a few plastic and metal ones, although he did look down upon them. He himself made most of the wooden toys in his shop, a trade which he had been taught by his father, and his father by his father, and so on for hundreds of years. His toys were known throughout the land as some of the finest wooden toys that you could give. Wooden toys though were expensive in the modern world. Wood was not a cheap commodity, and each one required great time, care, and patience, one of the reasons why he felt that they were such charming and enduring toys. These days, many parents went straight to the metal and plastic toys, even though he kept only a small display case of them in the shop. One day, a man came into the store, and came up to the counter, and rang the bell for attention. "Good morning," said Phillip. "How can I help you, sir?" The man said, "I'm looking for a present for my daughter. It must be a very special present, as she is a very special little girl. I want a wooden toy, a wooden toy of a unicorn." Phillip did not have a unicorn available in his shop, but he did promise the man that he would make one as soon as he could, a process which might take, he said, a few weeks, but nonetheless would be ready in time for Christmas. The man thanked him, left his telephone number for Phillip, and left the store with a promise to return. Over the following days and weeks, Phillip worked hard creating a unicorn out of the finest wood that he had available, carefully sculpting and shaping it, shaving off the excess until he had a perfect unicorn toy ready for the little girl. He looked at it with great joy, placed in on the table in his workshop, turned off the light, and went to bed. The unicorn twitched its nose. Meanwhile, not very far away, on the other side of town, in the Royal Palace, the king was worried. It had been a difficult year. It had started, as it always did, in the depths of winter, with a catalog of villages that had run out of food, and many of his courtiers had spent considerable time sending packages out through the snow to ensure that none of his subjects had starved. But this had taken a great toll on the store in the Royal Palace, which was designed to help a capital city resist any siege from a rouge nation, and so he felt that he had no option but to raise taxes in order to refill the storehouse. This troubled the king, for he was generally a man who liked to consider his citizens and subject first, and his own needs later, but he could not allow the capital city to become vulnerable to the scheming of the surrounding nations. "So tell me, Chancellor," he said, after a lengthy pause, "You really feel that the only way that we can raise the necessary funds is with a tax on children's toys?" "I regret," said the chancellor, "that there are simply no other options available. We have, after all, already taxed window, income, horses, and all transactions of any nature to do with adults only. We must now venture forth into unknown lands of taxation upon the child." The king knew that the time for decision had come, and uncomfortable though he was with this, it was necessary, and as the king, it was sometimes required that he did things that he did not like for the good of the country. "Very well," he said. "Issue the necessary declarations, and I will sign them." Members of the court went out later that day with banners proclaiming the new tax, nailing them up on notice boards around the city, and out into the towns and villages of the surrounding countryside. It was a sorry sight to see, amid the Christmas decorations that were being erected, the tinsel, the candles, the displays of toys, these posters. It was as if Christmas was being stolen from the people. Back in the shop, Phillip was getting anxious. The unicorn had taken some considerable skill and time, and thus was very valuable to him, but the man had not yet returned. He looked inside his notebook and found the telephone number and rang it. There was no answer. "What could be going on?" wondered Phillip. Had it something to do with the new tax imposed on toys? Could this have put the man off? But he seemed like such a wealthy and exacting gentlemen. Surely the extra few percent on top of the current charge would not have put him off. Day after day, Phillip rang the number with no response at any time. He tried different times of day. He tried ringing in the evening, ringing in the morning, before he opened the shop with no difference. Regretfully, he realised that he would have to put the unicorn up for sale in his shop to anyone who might want to come and buy it. After all, it was a fine piece of craftsmanship, and if the man who had commissioned it so clearly did not seem to want it, he would have to find a home for it. Just then, as he put the unicorn on the shelf and placed a small label below it indicating the price, the door opened. In the doorway stood a messenger from the Royal Palace who had come on the specific instructions of the Queen in search for a special present for her niece. Now, the niece of the King and Queen lived in the palace because the Queen's sister had very unfortunately died of the flu when the girl was very young, and so they had adopted her as their own, even though she was not directly in line for the throne. The King and the Queen loved their niece and often spoiled her, particularly at Christmas, and so the messenger had roamed out amongst the toy shops of the citadel, looking for a perfect gift for the young princess. "Good afternoon," said the messenger, with great courtesy and dignity. "I am looking for an extremely special toy. I wonder if you could show me the two or three things that you have in your shop that you regard as your finest items?" Phillip of course was delighted to show the messenger the very finest work that he had done, including the unicorn. "Ah, now this is extremely special," said the courtly messenger when looking at the beautiful unicorn. "So expertly carved out of a single block of rosewood. Yes, this is very much what I had in mind. I will take it at once." Phillip wrapped up the unicorn in delicate paper, and put it in a padded box, tied it off with his finest ribbon, and handed it to the messenger along with an invoice that the royal coffers would pay in due course. It was the night before Christmas in the Royal Palace, and the festive atmosphere of seasonal excitement was tingling in the air. All of the servants were dressed in their very finest, and the king himself was wearing not his normal, regular, everyday crown, but the special one that caught the candles and the glimmers as he strode through the palace. It was a great tradition in the household that gifts were given at 7pm on Christmas Eve, when the old grandfather clock in the hallway of the Royal bedchambers struck and played a jolly little tune. It was a moment that everybody looked forward to with great anticipation. Known only to the young Princess Caroline, the mechanism in the clock had long since been investigated by her, such that she could now control when it struck seven by carefully manipulating how fast or slow it preceded through the day. It was actually around 5:30 this year, because she was very keen to see what she would get. As the clock played its jolly tune, everybody gathered in the parlour to receive and give their Christmas gifts. The King's gift to the Queen was a very beautiful painting of the estate that she grew up on, executed by the finest painter in the land. The Queen's gift to the King was a fine new pair of slippers in shot purple silk. Of course, the King and Queen's gift to the Princess Caroline was a small box tied beautifully with a ribbon, which, as she approached it, seemed to move. She untied the ribbon and removed it from the box. She removed the fine wrapping paper from the outside. She opened the box. She unpacked the tissue paper, and within, she saw the beautiful rosewood unicorn. It caught the light wonderfully, and it seemed to be imbued with charm and personality and love. And then it bit her. "Now look here my man," said the king in great exasperation into the mouthpiece of the telephone, "when I order a wooden toy, I expect it to be inanimate, or, at the very least, well-behaved." Phillip didn't know what to say. "Your majesty," he stammered, desperately trying to think how on earth this simple rosewood toy that he had so lovingly crafted could be anything other than inanimate. "Your majesty, I have been making toys out of wood for all my life, and my father before him, and his father before him, and never before has anyone reported to us anything of this kind at all. They have always been simple wooden toys, alive in the imagination of their young owners, but inert to adults." "Perhaps you should check the rest of your stock," the King said grumpily, while looking over at the small corral that they had built to contain the unicorn while they decided what to do next. "Yes, of course, your majesty. Yes, of course. May I send you a selection of toys for your niece to play with while the unicorn is out of service?" "Actually," said the King, "She's rather taken to it." Phillip went back into his storeroom and looked around among the supplies and the tools that he had there. None of the other toys were moving in the slightest, but he was able to find the rest of the block of rosewood that he had made the unicorn from. It was stamped in the corner with the serial number from the timber supply yard where he had got it. He went back to his purchase book, and went through the list, and found the details, and saw that it was one that he had bought from a visiting salesman. He rang up the number on the invoice, and asked if there was anything special about this wood. The person that he spoke to pointed out that it was Christmas Eve, and they were about to close, so there were not many people left, but, after some persuasion, since he was such a well-known figure in the capital city, went to look at their own records, and returned a few minutes later. "We don't have a record of that serial number, I'm afraid, sir. We do have a record of a similar one a couple of batches earlier, which is what we have on record as being the one that you purchased." Something mysterious was clearly going on. He thanked them and hung up the phone, and resolved to think no more on this until after Christmas. After the Christmas festivities had finished, and people began to return to their normal lives, to their work, or to their school, it was time for the Princess to return and begin her lessons. She had a very strict governess, who had been brought in from an adjacent kingdom, who never let her play during class. However, she was allowed to meet other children in the evenings in her activities, at her ballet lessons, and in her riding lessons. She spoke to them and asked them how their Christmas had been, and what it was that they had received as gifts. Many of them, due to the recent tax on children's toys, had had a more limited Christmas than previously. Where they might have had two presents, now they only had one. Where they might have had one present, now they had only had one smaller gift. It had been a sad and sorry Christmas for many people who, even if they understood the necessity of the tax, and the fact that the King's hand had been forced, saw him as the person who, having for so long been a bountiful father figure to them, had now stripped away their joy. The Princess tried to downplay the unicorn as much as she could, but even if she merely mentioned that it was a unicorn made out of rosewood, that was itself a very special toy. If she let slip that it was alive, then that would make all of them jealous. However, she had been raised not to tell falsehoods, and so gradually, the truth got out amongst her playmates. Rumours spread slowly through the city, as it does, step by step, first small, then a little larger, and finally enormous and malevolent. Everybody knew that the King, who had imposed the tax on toys, and had stripped so many people of their ability to delight their children at Christmas, had himself, for his own niece, purchased a live, magical, wooden unicorn. A ferment of discontent began to grow in the capital city. Under pressure from petitions left, right, and centre, the King rescinded the tax, having built up some of the supplies of the citadel, and endeavoured to use his own wealth to top up the rest. As a result, people started buying the Christmas toys that they would have bought, but much later. Was this enough, or had the damage to his reputation already been done? Could he command their respect? Would they follow him if he needed to make another pronouncement for the greater good of the country? One day, while accepting petitioners, the King was startled by someone who did not appear to be a citizen or even a resident of his kingdom. The man who had first asked Phillip for the unicorn toy now stood resplendent in black in front of the King. "Your majesty," he said, "I come to you as a friend, a friend with a proposition. You have in your position a particular toy. You also have a difficulty between you and your people. I can solve these things for you," he said. "With a simple incantation known only to me, the toy will once again become inanimate, inert, and quite normal. At the same time, your people will remember that you have attempted only to act in their good interest, and once more will acknowledge your authority. "On the other hand," he continued, "with another incantation, equally uniquely stored in my own brain, I can make it the case that people never forget this unicorn, and that the discontent which is beginning now will grow larger and larger and larger. I can make it the case that neighbouring states will begin to declare war on you, and your seed store will be put to the test, your authority tested, leading to revolution." The King had, it seemed to him, no choice, although, in the months since Christmas, his niece had so fallen in love with the unicorn, that he knew that it would break her heart. "Very well," he said. "What is the price of this incantation which will restore peace and order to our city and state?" "Well," said the man dressed all in black, "there is, of course, only one price that I would possibly accept for such a powerful incantation. I myself am an extremely wealthy but lonely man, and I have often wanted a bride to be a companion to me in my old age." The King felt he had no choice but to accept, although it grieved him dearly to agree, and so the man said that he would return in ten years to marry the Princess Caroline.

Episode 5: The Rosewood Unicorn (part 1)

Our fourth episode of Totally Made Up Tales, with more tales of wonder and mystery. Spread the word! Tell a friend!   Music: Creepy – Bensound.com.   Andrew: Here are some totally made up tales. Brought to you by the magic of the internet.   James: One   Andrew: Day   James: Elise   Andrew: Held   James: Her   Andrew: Boyfriend   James: Tightly   Andrew: And   James: Whispered   Andrew: That   James: She   Andrew: Was   James: Pregnant.   Andrew: He   James: Was   Andrew: Surprised   James: But   Andrew: Delighted.   James: Together   Andrew: They   James: Planned   Andrew: For   James: A   Andrew: Home   James: That   Andrew: Would   James: Welcome   Andrew: A   James: New   Andrew: Life.   James: Painting   Andrew: The   James: Nursery   Andrew: In   James: Bright   Andrew: Green   James: With   Andrew: Some   James: Dinosaurs   Andrew: On   James: The   Andrew: Walls.   James: Building   Andrew: A   James: Crib   Andrew: Out   James: Of   Andrew: Ikea   James: And   Andrew: Reading   James: To   Andrew: Each   James: Other   Andrew: The   James: Day   Andrew: Of   James: Delivery   Andrew: Arrived   James: And   Andrew: They   James: Took   Andrew: Elise   James: To   Andrew: The   James: Hospital,   Andrew: Where   James: She   Andrew: Gave   James: Birth   Andrew: To   James: A   Andrew: Healthy   James: Baby   Andrew: Dinosaur   James: The   Andrew: End.   James: This is the story of the Gamekeeper's Family.   Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there lived a couple in a wood.   Andrew: The husband was a gamekeeper at the local estate.   James: His wife was a housekeeper for the same.   Andrew: They had lived in their little cottage very happily for the last fifteen years.   James: But ... they longed for a child.   Andrew: They had tried many things, been to doctors, healers and priests but without success.   James: They had traveled the world looking for witches that might be able to cure their barrenness, but all in vain.   Andrew: After many years of searching and hoping, they had resigned themselves to their situation and were content to mind the children of their neighbours and fellow workers.   James: But one day, as the gamekeeper walked home through the forest paths, he came across a basket.   Andrew: Attached to the basket was a note, read, “please take care of me” and inside wrapped up in blankets there was a tiny baby.   James: He rushed home to his wife to show her what he had found.   Andrew: They spent a long time discussing whether or not it would be right for them to keep this child. Who had left it there and why?   James: Eventually, they chose to consult the local vicar who assured them that with all of their experience helping to look after their neighbours' children and given that almost everyone else in the village already had children of their own, the right thing would be for them to keep it and raise it as their own.   Andrew: This they did, with great success and a fine healthy young man was the product of their labours.   James: They had named him Benjamin, after the wife's father and as Benjamin grew in stature, he also grew in the love given to him, not only by them but by others in the village. For everyone enjoyed his outgoing and pleasant company.   Andrew: As the years passed the time came for him to take over his father's job as gamekeeper on the estate and this he did.   James: He had spent his childhood growing up amongst the forest and knew how to look for the different types of woodland animal and also how to protect them. How best to defend them from poachers and so forth. And so, continuing the charm of his childhood as he started his job, he proved to be more than adept as a gamekeeper and was rapidly promoted until he became head gamekeeper.   Andrew: After many years, his parents passed away in a peaceful old age and he moved back to the cottage where he had grown up.   James: By this time, he was himself, married, although as with his parents, he and his wife Amelia, had not been able to have a child.   Andrew: One day, while out walking in the estate, completing his rounds and jobs, Benjamin too came across a basket with a note attached.   James: The note, as the note on his own basket, said “please take care of me” and inside was a tiny child that he took home to Amelia and which as with his parents before him, they decided it was right to adopt.   Andrew: Now, the listener will not know that Benjamin's parents had not chosen to share with him the story of how they had found him in a cradle in the woods. And so, it did not occur to him that there was anything unusual about this coincidence.   James: As Benjamin and Amelia's daughter, Susanna, grew, she also, much like Benjamin was much loved around the village and when it came time for her to start working, she took over Amelia's job as housekeeper, as Amelia had taken over the job of Benjamin's mother before her.   Andrew: And so it was that this story played out from generation to generation. Susanna had a son named Robert. Robert had a daughter named Barbara. Barbara had a son named Tom.   James: And always, down through the generations, the same jobs were passed from father to daughter, from daughter to son, across the generations, gamekeeper and housekeeper both.   Andrew: But why? Why was it that these popular, lovable, outgoing people were never able to have children of their own? And where was it that the mysterious foundlings were coming from?   James: For that, dear listener, we must go back to the first gamekeeper and housekeeper, Benjamin's parents, and see their story from another angle.   Andrew: Once upon a time there was a magical forest where there dwelled many sprites and pixies.   James: Chief among them was a fairy who had lived for many hundreds of years, spending her time looking after the non-magical creatures of the kingdom.   Andrew: Now, many fairies have an ambiguous and complicated relationship with human beings, seeing them somewhat like a tree sees a fungus growing on its bark.   James: At times, the fairy would help humans through stumbling difficulties in their lives, but at other times she would punish them for what she saw as a transgression against the magical forest.   Andrew: She was, to our eyes, capricious in her whims. Sometimes kind, sometimes cruel.   James: One day, the gamekeeper, while walking home through the forest spied a rogue pheasant which had somehow escaped from, as he thought, the forest that he managed.   Andrew: What appeared to be a pheasant to his eyes, was in fact the fairy, wandering through her domain.   James: He carefully set a trap and as she did not consider him a threat, she walked right into it and was quickly bound and trussed with him carrying her home towards the pot.   Andrew: He was not by nature a sentimental person, having spent his life working with the wild animals of the forest. But, there was something about the way this bird fixed him with a seemingly knowing stare as he set it down on the kitchen table that made him think twice about instantly wringing its neck.   James: In the moment that he hesitated, the fairy, as fairies sometimes do, cast a spell, not only for her to be released and free but also so that he would forget having ever encountered her. And, as fairies are also sometimes wont to do, she cursed him at that moment, annoyed and upset that she had ignominiously been bound and walked over the forest. She cursed him that he should never have a child to love him.   Andrew: Sometime later, the fairy observed his wife walking through the forest and weeping and lamenting her lack of children.   James: Unaware that this woman was in any way related to the gamekeeper she had previously cursed, she cast a beneficial spell over the housekeeper that she would have a child that she so clearly desired.   Andrew: The child of course, was easy to provide for fairy folk often have children which they need to be raised in the human world.   James: And no one ever questioned from Benjamin through Susanna, through Robert, through Barbara, through Tom, why, when their feet touched the ground in the forest, flowers grew in their footsteps.   Andrew: And from generation to generation, they continued to live, in the small charming cottage in the middle of the wonderful magical wood.   James: Sally   Andrew: Held   James: Her   Andrew: Handbag   James: Defensively   Andrew: When   James: The   Andrew: Mugger   James: Threatened   Andrew: Her   James: With   Andrew: A   James: Knife.   Andrew: She   James: Balanced   Andrew: On   James: The   Andrew: Balls   James: Of   Andrew: Her   James: Feet   Andrew: And   James: Lashed   Andrew: Out   James: With   Andrew: Her   James: Handbag   Andrew: Knocking   James: Him   Andrew: Over   James: And   Andrew: Giving   James: Her   Andrew: The   James: Chance   Andrew: To   James: Escape.   Andrew: She   James: Reported   Andrew: The   James: Incident   Andrew: To   James: The   Andrew: Police   James: Who   Andrew: Promptly   James: Ignored   Andrew: Her   James: And   Andrew: Carried   James: On   Andrew: Filling   James: In   Andrew: Paperwork.   James: The   Andrew: End.   James: Our next story is Jeremy's Place.   One   Andrew: Day   James: Jeremy   Andrew: Was   James: Walking   Andrew: Along   James: The   Andrew: High   James: Street   Andrew: When   James: He   Andrew: Noticed   James: That   Andrew: The   James: Shops   Andrew: Were   James: All   Andrew: Closed.   James: In   Andrew: Normal   James: Times   Andrew: They   James: Would   Andrew: Be   James: Open   Andrew: On   James: Fridays   Andrew: But   James: Today   Andrew: They   James: Were   Andrew: Not   James: “Hmmm?”   Andrew: He   James: Thought   Andrew: “Is   James: There   Andrew: A   James: Special   Andrew: Occasion?   James: Perhaps   Andrew: It's   James: Remembrance   Andrew: Day?   James: But   Andrew: That   James: Is   Andrew: Always   James: On   Andrew: A   James: Sunday.”   Andrew: So   James: He   Andrew: Knocked   James: On   Andrew: The   James: Door   Andrew: Of   James: The   Andrew: Post   James: Office   Andrew: And   James: Waited   Andrew: For   James: Someone   Andrew: To   James: Open   Andrew: It.   James: Waited   Andrew: And   James: Waited   Andrew: Then   James: Waited   Andrew: Some   James: More.   Andrew: He   James: Gave   Andrew: The   James: Putative   Andrew: Post-mistress   James: Half   Andrew: An   James: Hour   Andrew: And   James: She   Andrew: Didn't   James: Appear.   Andrew: So   James: He   Andrew: Pushed   James: And   Andrew: The   James: Door   Andrew: Opened.   James: “Funny,”   Andrew: He   James: Thought   Andrew: And   James: Stepped   Andrew: Inside.   James: Inside   Andrew: There   James: Was   Andrew: No   James: Light.   Andrew: In   James: The   Andrew: Space   James: Reserved   Andrew: For   James: Packages,   Andrew: There   James: Was   Andrew: A   James: Small   Andrew: Dog.   James: “Strange,”   Andrew: He   James: Thought,   Andrew: And   James: Approached.   Andrew: The   James: Dog   Andrew: Looked   James: At   Andrew: Him   James: And   Andrew: Opened   James: His   Andrew: Mouth.   James: “Why   Andrew: Are   James: You   Andrew: Here?”   James: Asked   Andrew: The   James: Dog   Andrew: “I   James: Want   Andrew: To   James: Know   Andrew: What's   James: Going   Andrew: On?”   James: Said   Andrew: Jeremy.   James: “This   Andrew: Is   James: Not   Andrew: A   James: Place   Andrew: For   James: You.”   Andrew: Said   James: The   Andrew: Dog   James: “Where   Andrew: Am   James: I?”   Andrew: “You   James: Are   Andrew: In   James: The   Andrew: Seventh   James: Kingdom.”   Andrew: Jeremy   James: Backed   Andrew: Away   James: From   Andrew: The   James: Dog   Andrew: And   James: Fled.   Andrew: Once   James: Outside   Andrew: He   James: Started   Andrew: To   James: Calm   Andrew: Down   James: Again.   Andrew: He   James: Convinced   Andrew: Himself   James: That   Andrew: Nothing   James: Strange   Andrew: Had   James: Happened   Andrew: To   James: Him   Andrew: And   James: Proceeded   Andrew: To   James: Walk   Andrew: Down   James: The   Andrew: High   James: Street   Andrew: And   James: Knocked   Andrew: On   James: The   Andrew: Door   James: Of   Andrew: The   James: Butchers.   Andrew: Again   James: There   Andrew: Was   James: No   Andrew: Reply   James: So   Andrew: He   James: Pushed   Andrew: The   James: Door   Andrew: Open   James: And   Andrew: Stepped   James: Inside.   Andrew: Within,   James: There   Andrew: Was   James: No   Andrew: Light.   James: In   Andrew: The   James: Area   Andrew: Where   James: Meat   Andrew: Would   James: Be   Andrew: Chilled   James: There   Andrew: Was   James: Another   Andrew: Dog.   James: “What   Andrew: Are   James: You   Andrew: Doing   James: Here?”   Andrew: Said   James: The   Andrew: Dog.   James: “I'm   Andrew: Just…”   James: “No!”   Andrew: Said   James: The   Andrew: Dog.   James: “This   Andrew: Is   James: Not   Andrew: A   James: Place   Andrew: For   James: You!”   Andrew: Jeremy   James: Looked   Andrew: Confused.   James: “Where   Andrew: Am   James: I?”   Andrew: “Go!   James: This   Andrew: Is   James: The   Andrew: Kingdom.   James: You   Andrew: Must   James: Leave.”   Andrew: Jeremy   James: Backed   Andrew: Away   James: From   Andrew: The   James: Dog   Andrew: Into   James: The   Andrew: Doorway,   James: And   Andrew: Stepped   James: Back   Andrew: Onto   James: The   Andrew: High   James: Street.   Andrew: Now   James: He   Andrew: Was   James: Having   Andrew: Second   James: Thoughts   Andrew: About   James: The   Andrew: Shopping   James: Trip   Andrew: That   James: He   Andrew: Had   James: Planned   Andrew: And   James: Walked   Andrew: Back   James: Towards   Andrew: Home.   James: Passing   Andrew: The   James: Police   Andrew: Station,   James: He   Andrew: Went   James: To   Andrew: The   James: Door   Andrew: And   James: Knocked.   Andrew: The   James: Door   Andrew: Was   James: Not   Andrew: Locked,   James: And   Andrew: So   James: He   Andrew: Went   James: Inside.   Andrew: Within,   James: There   Andrew: Was   James: No   Andrew: Light.   James: In   Andrew: The   James: Cells   Andrew: Where   James: Prisoners   Andrew: Usually   James: Resided,   Andrew: There   James: Was   Andrew: A   James: Third   Andrew: Dog.   James: “Seriously!”   Andrew: Said   James: The   Andrew: Dog.   James: “What   Andrew: Are   James: You   Andrew: Doing   James: Here?”   Andrew: Jeremy   James: Panicked   Andrew: And   James: Ran   Andrew: At   James: The   Andrew: Dog.   James: “Give   Andrew: Me   James: Back   Andrew: My   James: Place!”   Andrew: He   James: Exclaimed.   Andrew: The   James: Dog   Andrew: Jumped   James: Sideways   Andrew: And   James: Avoided   Andrew: Jeremy's   James: Grasping,   Andrew: And   James: Replied,   Andrew: “This   James: Is   Andrew: Your   James: Place   Andrew: Here.”   James: Slamming   Andrew: The   James: Cell   Andrew: Door   James: Shut,   Andrew: Jeremy   James: Collapsed   Andrew: Into   James: The   Andrew: Corner   James: And   Andrew: Slept.   James: The   Andrew: Next   James: Day   Andrew: He   James: Awoke   Andrew: In   James: The   Andrew: Cell   James: To   Andrew: Discover   James: Three   Andrew: Policemen   James: Looking   Andrew: At   James: Him   Andrew: In   James: Confusion.   Andrew: “What's   James: All   Andrew: This   James: Then?”   Andrew: They   James: Said   Andrew: In   James: Unison.   Andrew: Jeremy   James: Stumbled   Andrew: Out   James: Into   Andrew: The   James: Open   Andrew: Air   James: And   Andrew: Saw   James: That   Andrew: Things   James: Were   Andrew: Back   James: To   Andrew: Normal.   James: The   Andrew: Post   James: Office   Andrew: Was   James: Open,   Andrew: The   James: Butchers   Andrew: Had   James: Customers,   Andrew: The   James: High   Andrew: Street   James: Was   Andrew: Bustling.   James: “What   Andrew: Happened   James: Yesterday?”   Andrew: He   James: Thought   Andrew: As   James: He   Andrew: Opened   James: His   Andrew: Front   James: Door.   Andrew: “I   James: Swore   Andrew: I…”   James: And   Andrew: In   James: Front   Andrew: Of   James: Him   Andrew: Were   James: Three   Andrew: Dogs.   James: The   Andrew: End.       James: Peter   Andrew: Liked   James: Jam   Andrew: And   James: Toast.   Andrew: He   James: Regularly   Andrew: Ate   James: Ten   Andrew: Slices   James: Of   Andrew: Them   James: For   Andrew: Breakfast.   James: His   Andrew: Constitution   James: Was   Andrew: As   James: Solid   Andrew: As   James: A   Andrew: House.   James: One   Andrew: Day   James: He   Andrew: Ran   James: Out   Andrew: Of   James: Jam   Andrew: And   James: Had   Andrew: To   James: Use   Andrew: Marmite   James: Instead.   Andrew: This   James: Gummed   Andrew: His   James: Works   Andrew: Up   James: And   Andrew: He   James: Slowly   Andrew: Died.   James: The   Andrew: End.   I've been Andrew, and I'm here with James. These stories were recorded without advanced planning and then lightly edited for the discerning listener. Join us next time for more totally made-up tales ...    

Episode 4: The Gamekeeper's Family, and Jeremy's Place

Totally Made Up Tales is improvised storytelling for the Internet. We record completely new stories without any advance planning, assembled into episodes of sinister, touching and whimsical tales for the discerning listener.

hubhopper

Totally Made Up Tales

hubhopper