This is a Quack Quack publication 4 The Raft.pdfAs they walked up the meadow, Quack Quack, Billy...

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This is a Quack Quack publication

First published on line in 2017

Soon to be published in hard copy.

I have been aided in my endeavours by two talented people:

Sylvia Pitman

Our illustrator who brought the stories to life.

And

Robyn Popaditch

A very able IT graduate specialising in Web based design.

There are more Quack Quack stories in the pipeline so watch this

space……

We hope you enjoy the stories as much as we have enjoyed writing

them.

Copyright © John Peter Kelly 2016

Quack Quack doesn’t understand copyright so I have done it for him.

Copyright © John Peter Kelly 2016

The right of John Peter Kelly to be identified as the

Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

The right of Sylvia Pitman to be identified as the

Illustrator of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

All rights reserved.

ProtectMyWork.com

Reference Number: 030516S004

Print design and Typeset by Robyn Popadich


J.P.Kelly


Story 4

The Raft

“Grandad,” asked Leila the following night,

“did they build their raft?”

“Not yet,” I replied. “We left them walking up the

meadow towards the wood, where Roger

Rook had seen some broken branches on the ground, much better for floating on the pond.

So…..”


As they walked up the meadow, Quack Quack, Billy

Bunny, Sammy Squirrel and Tommy Dormouse

started to sing:-

“Fie fo fiddle de dee,

It’s off to build a raft are we,

Seeking broken branches free,

Fie fo fiddle de dee.”

As they reached the edge of the wood, Roger Rook

turned to the left and they followed him until they

came upon the broken branches. They were all

shapes and sizes, but nothing that Billy Bunny

couldn’t handle.

“We need to cut some of these they’re too long,”

said Billy Bunny as he inspected the branches.


“Ollie Otter could do that for us,” said Quack

Quack, “with his sharp teeth.”

“But he’s not here,” added Tommy Dormouse.

“We’ll have to find some other way of cutting them

then,” said Quack Quack.

The friends sat down to think.

“Grandad,” said Syd., “they need a knife.”

“Yes, but they don’t have them in these stories.

So how do you think they can cut the branches?”


“They need someone with sharp teeth,”

continued Syd thoughtfully.

“So, who in the animal world has sharp teeth apart from Otters?”

“Sharks!” shouted Leila gleefully.

“Yes, but we don’t have sharks in the pond; they are only in the big oceans. Anyway, even if there

were sharks in the pond – which there aren’t –

they couldn’t breathe on land because they

breathe water, not air. And they couldn’t get to the branches as they only have fins that are for swimming in the water and not for walking on

land.”

“Who else has sharp teeth?” I asked.

“A fox!” cried Syd triumphantly.

“Yes, a fox. Freddy Fox. Also, one of the

friends.”

Now, Freddy Fox lived in a lair – because that is

what foxes’ homes are called – in amongst the roots

of one of the trees in the wood.


“Let’s get Freddy Fox to help,” said Quack Quack.

“We can use his sharp teeth to gnaw the branches,

and help to make them the right size.”

“Good idea,” added Sammy Squirrel, “I’ll go and

find him and bring him to help.” And off he

scampered, climbing the nearest tree, before leaping

from branch to branch, and tree to tree, until

arriving above Freddy Foxes home. He scampered

down the tree trunk and stood at the entrance of

Freddy Foxes lair, and shouted for Freddy. Mrs Fox

came out of the tunnel.

“Oh, hello, Sammy, are you looking for Freddy?”

“Yes, Mrs Fox,” replied Sammy.

“Freddy,” shouted Mrs Fox, “Sammy is here for

you.”


Freddy came to the entrance.

“What’s up Sammy?”

“Nothing Freddy. We’re building a raft to float on

the pond, and would like your help in cutting the

branches to size.”

“That’s great Sammy. Mummy, can I go with the

boys?”

“Just so long as you don’t get into trouble,” replied

Mrs Fox. In an instant, Freddy Fox was out of the

tunnel entrance and running down the track with

Sammy.

When they arrived where the others were waiting,

Freddy Fox quickly sized up the situation. “How

long do you want the raft to be?” he inquired.


“So long that we can all get on it,” replied Billy

Bunny, before adding,” OK. That size,” pointing at

one of the branches, which looked as though it

could take Billy Bunny and Freddy Fox seated

behind each other.

They agreed that seemed almost right, and set about

collecting all the same size branches together. But of

course, they were different sizes, and Freddy Fox

started chewing the ends of those that were too long

to make them all the same size.

Soon the branches had been completely cut, but

they needed some more to finish off.

“Those long ones over there are too long for me to

chew,” said Freddy Fox. “We need to cut them in

half first.”


“How do we do that?” queried Quack Quack.

“Well, see that stone over there,” continued Freddy

Fox. “We need to put the branches on it at the point

where we need them cut. If everyone stands on one

end holding it down then Billy – being the heaviest –

can jump on the other end. That would make the

branch bend and it should snap in the middle.”

“That’s a good idea,” said Quack Quack. And they

set about moving one of the large branches into

place. Tommy Dormouse stood on one end of the

branch, giving out instructions to the others, while

they lifted it and placed the middle over the stone.

Seeing the branch in place, Billy Bunny took a hop

and a jump and landed on the end sticking in the air.

The branch came down to earth with a thump, while

the other end with Tommy Dormouse on rose into

the air sending Tommy into the sky.


“Help!” Came a strangulated cry from Tommy

Dormouse as he continued his upward flight.

The others watched in horror as Tommy Dormouse

soared into the air, his arms flailing. Quick as a flash,

Quack Quack flapped his wings and flew up into the

air after Tommy Dormouse. Just as Tommy’s

upward movement stopped and he started to fall

back to the ground, Quack Quack arrived

underneath Tommy and caught him on his back,

preventing him from falling to the ground and

hurting himself. Tommy clung onto Quack Quack’s

feathers as slowly they glided back to the ground to

the relief of everyone.

“You were supposed to wait until we were all on

one end, Billy,” said Quack Quack.


“Sorry, Quack Quack,” replied Billy Bunny. “I got

excited and wanted to try it out. I never thought you

weren’t ready.”

“No harm done,” added Sammy Squirrel. “But only

because of Quack Quacks quick action. Well done

Quack Quack. Now, shall we get started?”

They replaced the branch and carefully Quack

Quack, Sammy Squirrel, Freddy Fox and Tommy

Dormouse got on the one end. When they were

ready, Billy Bunny took a hop and a skip and

jumped on the end sticking up. Snap went the

branch in the middle. Billy Bunny landed with a

thump on the ground on his bottom. “Ow,” he said.

But he was OK. Success.

The boys kept snapping branches until they had

enough to finish the raft. Then Freddy Fox chewed

the ends to make sure they were all the same size.

Their next job was to carry them to the pond.

Freddy Fox and Billy Bunny lifted the thickest

branches, while Sammy Squirrel pulled a narrower

branch. Quack Quack couldn’t move anything as his

bill was not made to pull anything, so he and

Tommy Dormouse contented themselves by

supporting the others. Soon they had all the

branches down at the pond beside the remaining

weeds.


“Now what can we do?” asked Billy Bunny.

“We tie them together,” replied Quack Quack.

“How do we do that?” continued Billy Bunny.

“We use reeds, intertwining them between the

branches, and then tying them at the ends. Sammy

has the best, nimblest hands for doing that,”

continued Quack Quack.

“No problem,” said Sammy Squirrel. “But I’m

hungry.”

“Later,” said the friends together. “We’ll eat later.”

“Oh. OK,” said Sammy Squirrel sadly. He felt so

hungry. But he always felt hungry.

So, they got to work, laying the branches side by

side. Then Sammy Squirrel got a reed and wove it

first under a branch, then over the next branch and

so on until the ends of the reeds stuck out on each

side of the line of branches. It was beginning to look

more like a raft all the time. When he had finished

weaving the reeds in between the branches, he started

to tie the reeds together at the ends using his sharp

claws.


“There. Finished,” he said, as he stood back and

looked at the now complete raft.

“Something’s missing,” said Quack Quack.

“What is it?” queried Tommy Dormouse.

“There’s no sail,” he replied.

“What’s a sail?” asked Tommy Dormouse.

“Well a sail catches the wind and blows the raft

across the pond. It’s just like my wing feathers,

which catch the wind underneath them and it allows

me to rise up into the air and fly.”


“What do we use as a sail then?” queried Billy

Bunny.

“A sycamore leaf should be big enough,” replied

Quack Quack.

“There’s a sycamore tree near the chestnut tree at

the side of the woods. I’ll go and get one,” said

Roger Rook and he flew up into the air heading

towards the wood to find the sycamore tree.

“Can you bring me a chestnut?” shouted Sammy

Squirrel at Roger Rook.

“No!” said the others. “We’ll eat later.”

“What’s a chestnut, Grandad?” asked Syd, still

wide awake.


“Well it’s the fruit from the chestnut tree –

sometimes called a horse chestnut, and they

taste very sweet,” I replied.

“Oh!”

“Now we also need a pole, just in case the raft gets

stuck,” said Quack Quack,” and a paddle to push

the raft forward just in case there is no wind.”

“We’ve got a spare branch here,” said Freddy Fox.

“Yes, that will do,” replied Quack Quack.

“What about a paddle?” queried Billy Bunny.

“We use a short stick and tie some twigs to it with

reeds,” said Quack Quack.

“What do we do with it?” asked Tommy Dormouse.


“Well we put it in the water and move it backwards and forwards. It acts just like my webbed feet in the water,” added Quack

Quack.

“That’s a great idea,” said Tommy Dormouse.

“We’ll all be little ducks like Quack Quack,” he

continued.

“Not quite,” said Quack Quack, “but the same

idea.”

Roger Rook returned with a large sycamore leaf held

in his mouth.

“That’s great,” said Quack Quack. “Just the job.”

“How are we going to fix it to the raft?” asked Billy

Bunny.

“How do you think kids?” I asked.

“Glue,” said Leila.

“Sticky tape,” said Syd.


“Good answers – but they don’t have glue or

sticky tape in the animal world,” I replied, “Just

listen…”

“Sammy, you hold the leaf upright by its stem. I’ll go

to the middle of the raft and put my beak between

two of the branches, prising them slightly apart.

When I do that, I want you to carefully push the

stem of the leaf into the hole and hold it there. I will

pull my beak out slowly and the sticks moving back

together should hold the stem in place, leaving the

leaf standing upright” instructed Quack Quack.

“OK?”

“OK, Quack Quack,” replied Sammy.

So carefully Quack Quack stood on the raft and

pushed two branches slowly apart. Sammy Squirrel

pushed the stem of the leaf into the gap made by


Quack Quack, and held it there while Quack Quack

removed his beak, and the branches sprang back

together. The leaf stood tall above the raft. The leaf

had now become a sail.

“Time for a sail on the pond,” said Billy Bunny

excitedly.

“No. Time to go home and have some food," said

Quack Quack. “We can go sailing tomorrow,” he

added.

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Sammy Squirrel. “I’m

hungry and I need something to eat. All this work

has made me very hungry.”

“I think that’s a good days’ work,” said Quack

Quack. “Well done guys. See you in the morning for

school, and then in the afternoon we can go

sailing……”

“Goodnight everyone.”

This is a Quack Quack publication 4 The Raft.pdfAs they walked up the meadow, Quack Quack, Billy...

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