The Man Who Wanted A Shave

There once was a man who lived in a cave

The man in the cave was ever so brave

Every time he wanted a shave

He would leave the comfort of his cave

As he climbed out of his hole

He waved at his friends, rabbit and mole

Then the man remembered his goal:

To have a shave after leaving his hole

Now what is a shave? You may ask

For this man it is an everyday task

He wears a beard like he’s wearing a mask

‘But how does he take it off?’ You ask.

After the cave, the man carries on

He dances around whilst singing his song

‘My beard is oh so very long,

I’ll find a shaver and turn it on!’

A shaver was what the man was after

So he went to the place that was full of laughter

He met his friend, Bernie the Crafter

Who gave him the very thing he was after!

He took the shaver and jumped with joy

He looked just like a little boy

Dancing around with his new toy

Who thought a shaver could bring so much joy?

The man ran right back to his home

Dodging a tree and jumping a bone

Back in the cave the man was alone

But he didn’t mind, at least he was home!

He plugged his shaver into the wall

He switched it on then watched it fall

The beard, it fell and looked so small

A pile of hair was next to the wall

Soon the man could feel his face

So he opened up his mirrored case

As he looked into this place

He noticed the different look of his face!

‘The hair is gone, I see my chin!’

All the man could do was grin!

He threw all the hair into the bin

And sang again, ‘My chin! My chin!’

That was the man who lived in a cave

The man in the cave was ever so brave

He wanted to have a very nice shave

And so he did by leaving his cave!

A note from Nev...

I had a fantastic time with the children (and grown-ups!) at Golders Green Library yesterday afternoon. We gathered together in the children's library there - what a great space it was! Lots of room to move around and explore our imaginations together. At the end of the session we created a wonderful story. In fact, it was such a fun story I have started to write up a more detailed version of it. Come back and visit on Monday morning as I launch 'The Orange Rocket'!

Muffin's Adventure in the Space Jungle (Chapter 6)

The slime monster growled with each breath as he continued to look at the petrified orange space cat. Then he started to speak once more, ‘You… You… YOOOUUU…’

‘Oh no! This is it. This is how my life comes to an end!’ thought Muffin as she closed her eyes and braced herself for the worst.

The monster continued to move closer to Muffin as he continued to roar, ‘You… YOU… YOOOUUU… want a cup of tea?’

Muffin’s eyes were still closed in the silence that followed. She thought to herself, ‘Is this it? Am I dead? At least there is tea in cat heaven!’ Then very slowly she opened one eye to see right there before her was the monster.

‘Y, y, you…? D, d, did you ask me if I wanted… a cup of tea?’ Muffin was very confused.

‘Well of course it was me!’ the monster retorted. ‘Do you see any other slime monsters round here?’

‘Well, no, but…’

‘But what?’ asked the monster.

‘But, I thought you were going to… eat me?’

The slime monster paused momentarily then responded, ‘You thought I was going to eat you?’

The monster and the cat stared at each other for a moment before the slime monster burst out laughing, ‘HAAA HAAA HAAAA!! No, no, no, I don’t want to eat you! Why would I want to eat you – you’re orange and furry and would surely taste foul!’

Muffin could not believe what she was hearing. ‘Well what do you want then?’

‘Like I just said, a cup of tea! Do you want to have one with me?’ he asked once more to the now extremely confused cat.

‘W, well that would be nice… but why?’ Muffin was now searching for answers in this unusual situation she found herself in.

‘Because you are the first creature I have seen for a long, long time’ the monster answered. ‘You see, I have been in that glade for many, many space years all on my own.

‘But why have you been on your own for such a long time?’ asked Muffin, who was now beginning to feel a lot more relaxed in the presence of this huge green creature.

‘Because no one has been in, everyone stays away from my glade. And I have been trapped in there. The only way I could be set free was to come into contact with another space creature from planet Um. But no other space creature has set foot in my glade until…’

‘Today!’ Muffin responded, finishing off the slime monster’s sentence.

‘Exactly! Your claws on my skin woke me up and did just that – you set me free!’ Muffin noticed the slime monster smile for the first time.

‘Well that is good news! I’m glad to be of service!’ chuckled Muffin with a proud grin on her face. ‘So how about that cup of tea then?’

‘Oh yes, that would be ever so nice!’ said the now much happier monster.

‘You can come back to my place if you like, I have a huge selection of very nice space teas for you to choose from.’ said Muffin with pride.

‘Oh that does sound nice!’ said the slime monster.

So the two creatures set off towards Muffin’s place where they sat and enjoyed drinking many cups of tea late into the evening. They had fun sharing space stories and laughing lots. From that day on the two creatures were best friends and had many, many, many more cups of tea!

Muffin's Adventure in the Space Jungle (Chapter 5)

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! The ground shook violently with each passing ‘thump’. The sound was getting louder and nearer to where Muffin was hid.

‘Oh no!’ cried Muffin, as she peered her frightened head out from opening in the tree, ‘He’s coming this way!’ Muffin could see the slime monster towering above the trees and looking all around the jungle. She knew he was looking for her and would not stop till he had found her.

‘WHHEEERRREE ARE YOUU?’ he growled in his fearsome voice. Of course Muffin was not going to shout out and tell him. Instead she tried to reassure herself, ‘Maybe if I can stay quiet enough he will pass straight by me.’ Then, the thumping stopped and there was silence. ‘Ah, he must have given u…’ But before she could finish her sentence the opening of Muffin’s hideaway was filled with the aggressive looking face of the slime monster!

‘THERE YOU ARE!’ he roared. Muffin was terrified as she became covered in slime straight from the monster’s big green mouth. His dark green eyes stared menacingly into the tree where Muffin sat trembling with fear.

Muffin looked to either side of her, hoping to find a way to escape, but her hoping was in vain. There was no way out for Muffin now, she was trapped!

[Chapter 6]

Muffin's Adventure in the Space Jungle (Chapter 4)

Before she knew what was happening, Muffin found that she had been hurled head first into the jungle bush she first emerged from. She shook her head and tried to gather her senses before she heard another, ‘RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!’

Muffin pulled her head out of the bush and as she turned around she was confronted by a gigantic green slimy monster.

‘AAAAHHHH! It’s… it’s… it’s… a slime monster!’ Muffin was terrified, this was much worse than a tiny wriggly worm.

The slime monster rose out of what Muffin previously called the ‘squidgy thing’. It kept on rising, higher and higher till it towered above the tall trees all around. It roared again, ‘RRRAAARRRRGGHH!!’

‘Oh no, I’m done for!’ cried Muffin. ‘Please… please…’ Muffin was lost for words as she desperately tried to back away from the slimy monster.

The monster began to arch it’s way down, closer and closer to the now petrified orange space cat. ‘COME HERE!’ the monster roared as it began stretching its slimy arm towards Muffin.

‘Ah… ahh…’ Muffin turned her head slightly and caught sight of the opening in the bush where she had come from. She was filled with a glimmer of hope, but she had to act quickly, the slime monster’s hand was now just inches away from her. She mustered a pathetic sounding cat ‘roar!’ which did actually make the slime monster flinch slightly. This gave Muffin just enough time to push herself off the ground and make a dive through the opening in the bush.

‘I did it!’ she chuckled as she found herself darting quickly through the long bush. Out the other side she came where she continued at top speed over the mole mound, under the tree trunk and all the way to the very end of the muddy path. She kept going till she found herself a perfect hiding place in an opening at the bottom of a large hollow tree trunk.

‘Phew! Safe at last!’ said Muffin as she finally had a chance to catch her breath. ‘I thought I was a goner!’

Muffin began to go over the events of the past few minutes in her head as she realised how fortunate she had been to get away from such a terrifying creature. ‘Perhaps I’ll head home now’ she thought to herself. But just as she stood up ready to climb out of her hiding place she was instantly knocked to the ground by an earthquake-like vibration in the ground.

[Chapter 5]

Muffin's Adventure in the Space Jungle (Chapter 3)

Muffin’s big brown eyes reflected what lay before her. ‘Wow! I’ve never seen anything like it before!’ Muffin looked out to see a wide and open glade surrounded by tall trees. Only, the glade was not grassy as there was no grass on the ground. In fact the ground did not look firm at all, but it did not look like a lake either. It looked like a large soft green mass.

‘How unusual.’ Muffin purred. ‘What ever could it be?’ Muffin’s face glowed as the setting red suns reflected off the large green mass and onto her orange furry face.

‘I wonder what it feels like?’ Muffin was a very inquisitive creature and always liked to feel things to see whether they were hard, soft, smooth, rough, hot or cold. ‘Maybe I should just touch it with the tip of my paw.'

Muffin cautiously crept down the bank to the edge of the large green mass. She reached out her left paw (she was a left-pawed cat) and… she touched it!

‘Oooh, that feels strange. Kind of soft and squidgy. A little bit warm too. Maybe I’ll just check it again.’ Muffin once again reached out her paw and touched the big green mass. This time a bit of it remained on her paw.

‘A bit slimy too! But it still feels nice to touch.’ Muffin, now feeling comfortable with what lay before her decided to walk onto the green mass so that all four of her space cat paws were on it.

She started to sing to herself, ‘What a lovely squidgy thing! What a lovely squidgy thing that I have found! La di-da da da di-da!’ As she sang, she began to dance on the green mass. She was having a great time. She started jumping up and down on it and watching in amazement as ripples were sent all across her ‘squidgy thing’.

Then came the moment she would quickly regret. You may have seen earth cats before. If you have you will probably have seen them doing that thing they love to too on nice furry carpets – they get out their cat claws and start scratching and pulling on the carpet. Muffin, though she was a space cat, was no different from the earth cats in this respect. She also enjoyed digging her claws into things and this squidgy green mass seemed to be exactly the thing to do it on.

Muffin crouched down low then, using her springy leg muscles, she leaped high into the air. As she reached the highest height she produced one, two, three, four sets of cat claws from her cat paws. Then she fell back down, faster than rain, towards the large green mass with her claws ready to dig in.

‘Wahoooo!’ she screamed with glee. ‘Here I come!’

Muffin landed with a great big, ‘KATHUMP!’ which was immediately followed by a sound that shook the entire space jungle, ‘RAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!’

[Chapter 4]

Muffin's Adventure in the Space Jungle (Chapter 2)

‘I need to find somewhere to relax’ decided Muffin. ‘A nice quiet place.’

You see, the space jungle is a pleasant enough place but it is full of many creatures that like to make a lot of noise. Muffin liked to have her own space away from the space frogs, crickets, squirrels and dogs! So she started to explore.

Muffin wandered down a muddy path, crept under a fallen tree trunk, jumped over a mole mound and then came face to face with a big leafy bush.

‘Ooh, look at those leaves!’ Muffin said to herself as she licked her shiny pink lips. ‘I could eat them till the suns go down!’ (Unlike planet Earth, planet Um was lit by two suns during the day). But just as she pulled the first leaf from the bush, she noticed an unusual light beaming from within the bush.

‘What is that?’ Muffin quizzed. And before she knew it, she was creeping into the bush to find out what it was. There were lots of branches in her way, so she had to use her cat paws and claws to swish her way through the leafy branches.

Muffin excitedly sang to herself as she ventured further forward through the bushes, ‘Swish like this, swish like that! Swish like this, swish like that!’ Then, Muffin reached the final two branches, which stood in the way of her and the unusual glowing light.

‘Okay branches, out of my way!’ Muffin used both her paws to pull back the remaining branches and revealed the source of the glowing light.

[Chapter 3]

Muffin's Adventure in the Space Jungle (Chapter 1)

[The following story is dedicated to all the children who took part in the Summer Reading Challenge 2010]

Once upon a time, not so long ago, there lived an orange haired cat called Muffin. But Muffin was no ordinary cat… she was a space cat! Muffin loved walking around the space jungle looking for leaves to eat – yes she ate leaves, as that is what space cats like to eat. The space jungle was one of the greenest parts of ‘Um’ – a beautiful planet far, far away in outer space.

Most days Muffin would do the same things, she would wake up, have a stretch then go out looking for some nice juicy green leaves to eat. But this day (the day this story is all about) was going to be no ordinary day for Muffin. You see, she spotted a rather large tree with some very nice looking green leaves upon it.

‘Mmm, look at those juicy leaves’ Muffin purred. ‘I can’t wait to get my teeth into those!’ Before she knew it Muffin had climbed all the way to the top of the tree and reached out to pull a leaf from the branch she first spotted. 

‘Ooh, what a tasty leaf!’ Her teeth sunk into the juicy snack and Muffin was feeling nice and relaxed. That was until she turned around and looked behind her.

‘AAAAAARRRHHHHHHH!!!!’ screamed Muffin as she jumped and threw her leaf in the air. ‘IT’S HORRIBLE!!’ she shouted. There behind her was the ugliest, wriggliest, slimiest… worm! Yes, it was a little worm. It may not sound scary to you, but Muffin was very scared of worms. She quickly descended the tree and ran until she felt she was a safe enough distance from the squirmy creature.

‘Phew! I think I’m far enough away now. What a horrible creature. Who’d have thought I’d have such a terrible day – seeing a worm like that. Well I never!’

If only Muffin knew what lay ahead of her that day, she would not have worried about a tiny little worm.

[Chapter 2]

A note from Nev...

I thought it would be good to begin with a story which was inspired by The Summer Reading Challenge 2010 – do you remember the theme? That’s right – ‘Space Hop’. Last year I had the joy of creating many different space-themed stories with a variety of creative and imaginative children from different libraries. So it is with great joy that I present to you ‘Muffin’s Adventure in the Space Jungle.’ It turned out to be quite a lengthy short story – so I shall present it to you in 6 chapters (just to keep you on the edge of your seats!) Hope you enjoy!