The dangers of Killamarsh

Killamarsh Library

9th August 2014

life in Killamarsh can be perilous...

the cast

preparing for adventure

She took the path down Boiler Lane,

A girl walking alone between the tall trees,

Across the dried and dusty earth,

When a tabby cat purred and rubbed against Lisa’s leg.

She stroked the cat and it smiled as it grew,

Puzzled she stroked it twice and 

In a moment it was as big as a goat!

She stroked it thrice and 

When it was as a big as a car, 

It smiled in a dangerous way!

Lisa ran.

The cat ran after.

Squeezing through the hedgerow and into the field beyond!

Running through the long grass,

Hard seedheads hitting her shins and knees.

Keep running!

Cat bounding!

Lion-racing,

Through a field of popcorn grass?

And squelch onto rotting leaves under the dark brown, 

Chocolate brown trees.

Last year’s leaves like old marshmallows,

Gooey and sticky to shoes and cats paws

But tiger cat is still close behind and Lisa turns,

Grabbing a branch and holding it out to keep the cat away,

Holding it out and the cat stops

And sniffs,

And munches on the marshmallow leaves

Licking the chocolate twigs.

And there in the wood of chocolate trees, 

Lisa and the Cat became friends.

But they heard a roaring  and the snapping of branches and a deep slurping 

As the Chocolate Ogres

Came rampaging through the woods

Reaching up giant hands to

Pull the matchstick nests of the Cadbury Birds

Out of the trees and to suck the cream out of their eggs

Lisa stroked her friend again and the ogres fled

From a cat as big as a bus

LISA’S NEXT ADVENTURE 

will take her to Cresswell Crags

And the caves where hidden people still live and the lake where a monster lurks, waiting for people to cross the bridge

and then, of course, there is the story of the giraffe who seemed so gentle and delightful but who tore down the trees, and the houses and the palaces and the castles...

our heroine!

Comments from our puppeteers

• Very enjoyable, the girls had lots of fun. Toad was very good at telling stories, the kids listened well. Very, very good, well impressed.
• The legends of Derbyshire came to life as Toad included the kids in the story. Great way to spend a Saturday morning

Derbyshire Myths and Legends artist: Gordon MacLellan

Thanks to all our storytellers, puppeteers, 

artists and audience