THE ADVENTURES OF PUFF THE BARN OWL
THESE STORIES ARE DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF DOLLY CUNNINGHAM
WITHOUT WHOSE INSPIRATION THEY MIGHT NEVER HAVE BEEN WRITTEN
Dolly Cunningham 1905-1998
With her Puff
PUFF’S GOLDEN RULES
1.
Puff and children NEVER
talk to strangers.
2.
Puff and children NEVER
take sweets or presents from strangers.
3.
Puff and children ALWAYS
help the police.
4.
Puff and children are
ALWAYS polite.
5.
Puff says children MUST
obey their parents.
6.
Puff says children MUST
be kind to all animals and birds.
YOU MAY DOWN LOAD THESE
BOOK 5
"PUFF GETS INTO TROUBLE"
By Darrell Cunningham
Copyright reserved world-wide
PUFF
GETS INTO TROUBLE
It
was a lovely sunny morning at the Rescue Centre and Puff the barn owl decided
to drop in on her friends.
Flying
across the lawn she spotted Sid the Muscovy duck heading for the pond.
“Morning”
screeched Puff as she swooped down to land along side Sid. “What shall we do
today?”
“Sorry
Puff I am meeting Henrietta Hen for Breakfast by the pool”
“Oh!”
exclaimed Puff “alright, see you later” and flew on.
Just
then Puff noticed Big B the
“Do
either of you two feel like an adventure today” asked Puff.
“Sorry
we are just going to soak up the suns rays today. It is so nice today”.
Remarked Topsy. Puff just snored out aloud and flew
on until she landed on a post on the edge of the long field.
Puff
started to think of something to do. I know she thought, I will go and visit
the Tawnies in the tree at the bottom of the long
field. With that she took off in the direction of the giant oak.
As she
flew down the old deer trail she was careful to fly very silently past Mr
Badger’s home a sett, which was under an old tree.
Nearing the river she glided under the bridge over the river and started to
follow the bank.
“Quiet!”
came a whisper from a statue by the river’s edge.
Puff
realised that this was Henry Heron hunting for breakfast in the shallow.
“Sorry
Henry, I’m just of to see the five wise owls in the Giant Oak. I thought they
might be able to suggest an adventure perhaps in the Wild Wood”, Puff said in
all innocence.
“Are
you mad?” remarked a rather gruff sounding Henry “Whatever you do keep out of
the Wild Wood?”
“Why?”
Puff asked rather shocked at Henry’s warning.
“There
are things in that wood that young owls should not see, and that’s all I am
saying” replied Henry settling down to his fishing again. Puff simply thought
to herself that Henry was just being over cautious, and flew on banking over
the river.
As
Puff crossed the opposite river bank she noticed two strange fury animals on
the ground below.
“Hello”
she said as she landed by them.
“Hello”
replied the larger of the two golden coloured furry animals “Where are you
going?”
“My
name’s Puff and I’m going into the wood in search of adventure”
“Really”
said the smaller one. “I’m Weasel and he is Stoat.”
“You
know if you really want an adventure you should go and help the rats in the
deepest part of the wood” suggested Stoat “Their cruel King keeps all the food
to himself and they are starving”.
With
that, unseen by Puff, Weasel grinned to himself.
“That’s
terrible” remarked a shocked Puff “How can I help?”
Weasel
and Stoat appeared to be whispering to each other, then they turned to Puff and
Stoat said “Just come with us and we will show you”.
So
off went Puff with her two new friends into the Wild Wood.
About
that time Captain Blue, a kingfisher, was flying down the river heading for his
outpost in the weeping willow. He spotted the three going into the Wild Wood.
He thought to himself. What are those two shifty villains doing with that young
barn owl going into Dark Wood? They are up to no good I wonder what Sergeant
Starling would say, and he turned around and headed towards the Long Field.
Meanwhile
deep in the wood by now Puff and his companions were hiding behind a large
fern.
“Now
Puff this is what you should do. When it starts to get dark we will distract
the Rat King while you fly into his home and take the Brown bag from under his
throne” said Weasel in a low voice winking at Stoat.
Meanwhile….
“Sergeant
Starling” shouted Captain Blue of the River Patrol as he approached the field
station where the starlings were based. “Stoat and Weasel have gone into the
Wild Wood with a young barn owl in tow”
“Really”
replied the starling from his observation post “That sounds bad we had better
let Mr Badger know quickly, I don’t trust those two a single bit”
Mr
Badger was just settling down to a nice meal when the two flew in both talking
at once.
“Mr
Badger Sir it’s terrible…..terrible…….its Stoat and Weasel they have got hold
of a young barn owl and all three…. have gone into Wild Wood!!!!!”
“Quiet!”
shouted Mr Badger at the two birds. “Describe the young owl to me quickly”
Captain
Blue gave Mr Badger a good description of the owl.
“That
sounds like young Puff from the Wildlife Centre. This could be serious the
humans at the Centre will be very cross with all of us if anything happens to
Puff the barn owl. We must hurry into the wood now”
The
moon was shining brightly through the trees in the depths of Wild Wood and the
Rat King was sitting on his throne looking at his latest trophies from a raid
that day on the chicken run at the farm. All of a sudden there was a loud
banging from the side of the clearing and King Rat jumped up. Sneakily hiding the
brown bag back under his throne, he headed for the noise shouting orders to his
troop of rats.
“Find
out who is making all that noise”
The
noise had of course been made as a diversion by Stoat and Weasel who by now
were high tailing it for the protection of the undergrowth.
Puff
saw her chance and swooped in. Reaching under the throne with one talon she
grabbed the brown bag and immediately lifted off to fly to rendezvous with the
others.
“My
jewels!” shouted King Rat on his return to the throne after finding nothing in
the side of the clearing. “ Someone has stolen my jewel bag. Find them and
bring back the culprit for punishment. NOW!”
Puff
landed by Stoat and Weasel.
“Well
I’ve got the bag” said Puff rather pleased with herself “Shall I give it to the
poor rats?”
“Err
NO!” shouted Weasel “Stoat and I will do that. You just wait here for a while”
With
that the two were just about to sneak off with the bag when a voice boomed out
from the ferns
“HOLD IT YOU TWO JUST STOP RIGHT THERE!”
Stoat
and Weasel froze in their tracks recognising the deep commanding voice of Mr
Badger.
“HAND OVER THAT BAG NOW!” Growled Mr Badger accompanied by Sergeant
Starling and Captain Blue.
“They were only trying to help get food for
the poor starving rats from their cruel King” said Puff in their defence.
“IS THAT WHAT THOSE TWO CROOKS TOLD YOU” growled Mr Badger as he tipped up the bag
Stoat had timidly handed to him.
To
Puff’s amazement out tumbled a collection of very bright shining things but not
a single piece of food in sight.
“AS FOR YOU TWO……..” Mr Badger started to say to the by now
cringing Stoat and Weasel
“We
will deal with those two” said King Rat standing in the shadows supported by
his army of rats.
“Take
them into custody” commanded the King to a group of burly rats nearby. And with
that the King scooped up the Jewels from off the ground, placed them in the bag , nodded to Mr Badger and disappeared into the night
with his troops and charges.
“Now
as for you Puff I hope you have learned your lesson about trusting strangers” said Mr Badger looking towards Puff. “Now off you go home at once Puff”
Puff
needed no second warning and she lifted off and headed home feeling very
ashamed indeed.
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BOOK ONE |
BOOK TWO |
BOOK THREE |
BOOK FOUR |
