The Flying Castle Stories, 1, 2 and 3
By
Robert Mayfield
Illustrations by John Wakefield
For details of this author. Thank you for your support.
Introduction
Hope you enjoy these three stories of the Flying Castle Stories of which there are fifteen in all. Inspired by Horsham Town Hall they bring in many of the features of this iconic and quirky old building that has stood in many different forms in the centre of Horsham over the past six hundred years. During that time the castle has collected many legends which lie hidden in the fabric such as the ghost of Dan Roberts who acted for the Duke of Norfolk as custodian of the Town Hall in the18th Century.
More details can be found at
http//ww.flyingcastlestories.co.uk .
‘Dedicated to all those who like quirky
old buildings that have stories to tell.’
The stories
The Human Cannonball
Swifty the Elephant
The Sundial
The Human Cannonball
Lucky Jim, the little green Genie; six inches tall and wearing a ridiculously tall top hat, could not believe his ears as he sat in one of the castle turrets waiting for the ‘witching hour,’ when their flying castle came to life, and sailed off on a new mission. He was listening to a conversation in Market Square below.
“Most of which you won’t need,” said the man on leaving the hall.
“What do you mean?” asked his friend.
“If you look at it sensibly all you need is a waterproof suit, a crash helmet, good boots and gloves. You don’t need breathing equipment.”
“What do you know about it then?”
“Use your brains; you add breathing equipment, you will weigh yourself down, and when you are flying through the air it will bring you down short of where you want to land. You want to land safely don’t you?”
“Hum I see what you mean. I want to make it a success. Not everyone gets the chance of being shot out of cannon from England to Scotland. The other day a man was shot from Mexico to America. So I thought it would be good to be shot out of a cannon as well. I want to fly!”
“You’re a nut!”
“Ok, but a happy nut!” and so the two went off chuckling down the road.
‘I would like to see that,’ thought Lucky Jim, ‘a human cannonball! I wonder if Barnie heard.’
He looked down from the turret to Barnie the Bear who stood motionless, in a striding position, on the pub sign. It looked just as though he was ready to walk off into the distance. If only people knew the truth: that once Barnie the Bear came to life, he could do more things than squeak in the wind, which is just what the sign below him used to do in bad weather.
There was now a glint in Barnie the Bear’s eyes.
‘Aha!’ thought Lucky Jim, ‘we have contact. Tonight should be quite exciting.’
Sometimes when life gets quiet, there is a chance to think about things. Our four heroes had had plenty of time to do that. Lucky Jim was a genie, but he had found that, when not needed by Robin, his master, life could get quite boring. It was a great relief to find that by hanging around the flying castle things could get interesting. Then there was Barnie the Bear; the poor lonely looking bear outside the pub.
The third adventurer was Rosalinda, the Ladye Fayre who kept an eye on the flying castle during the day from her shop over the way.
As for the lion, known as Greatlion, well he could be seen each day standing like a statue on the front of the castle.
The ‘witching hour’ was between one and four in the morning when things were at their quietest, so that given a full moon, the four would come together and take their flying castle off to heaven knows where.
Four plus, one makes five, and the fifth member of the crew was a little Yorkie called Paddy; he would come prancing up and join them just as the flying castle was about to take off.
They had enjoyed these secret journeys for the past year, after all why shouldn’t genies and shop signs have a life of their own! As Lucky Jim had put it, “we can’t go on swinging in the wind or sitting in a magic lamp all the time.”
The clock struck one. There were stirrings. The jets came to life and hastily Barnie the Bear, Rosalinda, Paddy and Lucky Jim scrambled through the front door. The next moment they were off.
“Where are we going tonight?” called Rosalinda as she made her way up to the bridge. There was no reply. She burst through the door and stood aghast; there was no one at the helm!
“Barnie, Lucky Jim, there is no one here. Where is Greatlion?” Lucky Jim and Barnie came racing up the stairs, eagerly followed by Paddy.
“Where is Greatlion? We can’t do without him! Who is flying this thing? We are going to crash!” cried Rosalinda.
“You can crash if you like,” growled Barnie the Bear, “I don’t want a mess round my pub.” He grasped the wheel but the flying castle seemed to know exactly where it was going; it was set for the north of England.
“I think,” said Lucky Jim, “I think, I know exactly where we are going.” The others looked at him in astonishment. “Barnie knows!”
“Come on Barnie let’s hear what this is all about.”
“A human cannonball; that is what it is all about!”
“Woof, woof!” barked Paddy, as he peered intently off to one side. All turned round, and their mouths dropped open in astonishment, for there, flying alongside, was Greatlion, frantically waving a piece of paper.
“He’ll have to land on the roof and climb down,” said Lucky Jim, and that is just what Greatlion did. In next to no time he was back on the bridge, still brandishing the paper.
“There,” he said, “that is our mission,” and he showed them the photograph of a man flying through the air having been shot out of a cannon.
“That’s what Barnie and I were talking about,” said Lucky Jim.
“Well, it has happened,” exclaimed Greatlion. “The only trouble is that George Waverly has gone into outer space.”
“We must rescue him,” said Rosalinda. “Oh please, please; we can do it.”
“I don’t think we have any choice,” replied Lucky Jim, “the flying castle seems to have decided things for us as usual. He’ll be dead by now,” said Lucky Jim. “I shall have to do a bit of magic on him!” and before anyone could reply the tiny genie had shot off the bridge and was seen soaring off into the night.
“It’s all very well for him,” grumbled Barnie the Bear, “but we are not genies. Now we have got two people to find.”
“Never despair old chum,” growled Greatlion as the flying castle hit a pocket of air, and took a nosedive towards the ground. Greatlion took over the wheel and the craft soon righted itself.
“It’s taking this flying quite well,” observed Barnie. “How many castles could do this kind of thing?”
“It’s perfect,” replied Greatlion. “Just look at it; it is so compact. I love it. It handles like a dream.”
“Who would think that under a great heap of stones there was a flying castle,” remarked Barnie. “I have spent years looking at it. The turrets are perfectly placed for the jet engines, and it can be steered from a little hut on the roof.”
“We even have a flag,” added Rosalinda, who always liked to give the picture a nice rosy glow. Suddenly Rosalinda let out a shriek of delight. “I can see them, there they are,” and sure enough far off in the distance could be seen two figures floating in space.
George in flight
Greatlion steered the castle alongside them and came to a complete stop: the jet engines burbling away gently. Paddy and Rosalinda ran the length of the building, and up through the skylight
in time to greet Lucky Jim and the ‘human cannonball.’
“Thank you so much,” gasped the ‘cannonball’ as he breathed in the fresh air. “Who could have guessed that the cannon would work that well? I was aiming to be shot into Scotland not to be shot into outer space. I had a large breakfast of baked beans, but I did not realise they would work that well. Anyway my name is George Waverly.”
“I am Rosalinda, your rescuer is Lucky Jim, and this is Paddy. Then we have Greatlion and Barnie the Bear up on the bridge. Come on and have a look.”
Mr Waverly could not believe his eyes; here he was miles above the earth’s surface walking through a castle.
“Nuts!” He exclaimed, “I must be nuts.” He looked out of the window, and saw the night full of stars. He could see the earth below them hanging in space.
“I don’t believe this. Pinch me Rosalind. Ow! Not that hard!”
“See, we’re still here Mr Waverly. Now come and meet the captain and his mate.”
The next thing that surprised him was to see a big brown bear, standing beside a lion steering the flying castle.
“Greetings,” growled Greatlion, “where would you like to go? I am Greatlion and this is Barnie the Bear.”
“Oh yes, Scotland would be good. Land me at the spot I was aiming for,” he replied. He held onto the rails his eyes bulging as he took in the bizarre situation in which he found himself. Here he was travelling through space on the way to Scotland in a flying castle! Then to cap it all the craft was piloted by a lion!
“You don’t look well Mr Waverly. Have a seat,” said Rosalinda gently pushing a stool in his direction.
“Thank you,” he muttered. “I am very grateful to you all. But I cannot work out what all this is about. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Life makes very little sense at times,” exclaimed Lucky Jim standing on the windowsill, “you just have to make the best with what you have got. I could take that a little further and say that firing yourself out of a cannon doesn’t make much sense either!”
“Hm! Point taken,” he muttered.
“Come and have a pot of tea; it’s all ready,” said Rosalinda.
“You have a kitchen as well!”
So it was that Mr Waverly found himself drinking tea high above the earth on his way to Scotland.
It was not long before the castle came into land. Not a soul was in sight, which was just as well for Mr Waverly. The farewells over, the craft began to rise up from the Scottish mists, and he stood back and watched in awe as the castle disappeared into the night.
“Who would have believed it,” he muttered to himself as he turned and walked up to the big net, which was meant to catch him.
“What are they hoping; that I will fall down from the sky into this big net?” It was then he had a brainwave.
“Right, if that is what they want, that is what I shall do!” and feeling tired anyway he climbed up into the netting and went very quickly off to sleep.
He was awoken some hours later to shouts of, “he’s landed, look he’s landed in the netting. Oh George, George you had us all so worried, but welcome home,” and before long he was surrounded by adoring fans, prepared to believe that he had really been shot into space and had landed in the net.
Well, after all he had done just that; it was just that the rest of the story was difficult to believe. Perhaps after all it had been just a mad dream. This is what Mr Waverly had settled for; it made more sense. But he enjoyed the memory of flying through space, and being rescued by the most unusual group of beings imaginable.
Swifty the Elephant
Swifty
Greatlion swished his tail and roared, “steady as she goes!”
“Aye, aye,” called Lucky Jim as the flying castle rose above the thirty-foot waves.
“Are we going to survive?” cried the Ladye Fayre.
“It’s built like a fortress,” growled Barnie the Bear, as the jet engines on the four corners burst into life, and they rose out of danger.
The wind gusted around the turrets and tore at the flag, bravely flapping in the wind.
Greatlion peered out at the raging storm. Nothing was going to deter him, and his tail showed not so much as a twitch. Lucky Jim the Genie looked anxious, his top hat rather lopsided.
“Wouldn’t it be good to know where we were going!” said Lucky Jim.
“We’ll soon know when someone needs our help!” replied Greatlion.
“Woof, woof!” barked Paddy standing on one of the seats, his front paws up against the window, as he peered into the face of the storm. His tail wagged, his ears pricked up and his beady eyes stared intently. “Woof, woof!” he barked again.
Lucky Jim followed his gaze and caught site of a patch of blue sky.
“Greatlion,” he cried, “over there, that’s the way to go,” and the flying castle veered off towards the blue sky.
They came out into bright sunshine. Below lay Africa.
“This is my home,” growled Greatlion.
“What here?” said Lucky Jim.
“Yes, of course, among the elephants, crocodiles, vultures and other such friendly animals. Glad I’ve found another way to spend my life. Had I not made friends with the four of you I would have eaten you all up by now. What a disaster that would have been! You all look pretty tasty to me.”
“Woof!” barked Paddy.
“Yes, even you,” growled Greatlion affectionately. “A Greatlion does not worry about a Ladye Fayre, a bear, a little Yorkshire Terrier or you Lucky Jim, whether or not you are a genie. A little man six inches tall would be a delightful sweet. You’re all food; nice crunchy bones and blood.”
“Alright, Greatlion you’ve had your dream. I must say you do make me feel a little nervous at times,” said Lucky Jim. “Anyway what are we doing here?”
Suddenly there came a scream from below and Rosalinda, the Ladye Fayre, came running up the stairs.
“Look, look down there,” she shrieked, pointing to a spot far below.
Lucky Jim, using his magical powers, increased his vision by just the blink of his eyes. “Hey!” he cried, “there is an elephant stuck in the swamp, and he is sinking fast!”
On hearing these words Greatlion brought the craft to an abrupt halt; Paddy ended up on the floor, Barnie the Bear landed in the corner, a waste paper basket over his head, and with a scream, Rosalinda fell back down the stairs. She ended up sitting with her headdress in all sorts of a mess, draped over her golden locks.
She pulled herself up and ran back upstairs more concerned for the elephant than anything else. “What are you doing Greatlion?” she yelled.
“Saving an elephant,” he replied with a growl.
“You could have given us more of a warning,” replied Barnie the Bear, struggling to remove the basket from his head. After a tussle Rosalinda managed to get it off, but she had to pull so hard that she landed back on the floor again!
“This is not funny,” she cried. “I am going to be all black and blue at this rate.”
“Fiddlesticks!” replied Greatlion, “come and have a look.”
The flying castle had landed not far from the stricken elephant, now gradually sinking out of sight. The stifling heat of the African desert blasted into their faces, as they burst out of the door and raced over to the edge of the swamp, where the elephant was struggling. The more he struggled the more he got stuck.
Throwing out his tail, Greatlion growled, “take hold of this,” and the elephant coiled his trunk round the tail. Greatlion took the weight but without any success.
“Rosalinda, the fire hose!” yelled Lucky Jim. “It’s in the main hall, bring it down.” The Ladye Fayre belted up the stairs, grabbed the hose and ran back just as fast as her fairy like feet could go. Breathless, she handed the end to Lucky Jim, who
performing one of his feats, rose up into the air, and floating over the dangerous muddy area passed the end to the elephant.
“Now keep hold of that my friend,” yell
ed Greatlion, “and for goodness sake let go of my tail. I won’t have one left at this rate.
Hold on tight, we will pull you to safety.”
Greatlion bound back inside, and within a matter of seconds the flying castle was rising gently into the air. The jet motors whirred as they took the strain. Lucky Jim, Rosalinda, Barnie the Bear, and Paddy looked on in astonishment as a very muddy elephant came out of the swamp. He bellowed and trumpeted fit to burst. The others clapped as he was dragged onto the shore. The flying castle came back to earth once again, and a very jubilant Greatlion strode out swinging his tail, and with a big grin across his face.
“Thank you, my most grateful thanks,” trumpeted the elephant. “A group of hunters was chasing me. I am not called Swifty for nothing, and I outran them. But hey, look over there; here they come. It’s my tusks they are after”.
“They want trouble, we'll give it to them,” growled Greatlion. “Come on, let’s get going, you as well Swifty. Lucky Jim will get you through the main doorway without any trouble. His magic works wonders.”
The hunters were gaining quickly on their quarry, but to their astonishment they discovered, on arriving at the swamp, that he had disappeared! Intent on their search through the scrubland the hunters had not seen the flying castle rise up slowly and hover above them. After all it was a magic flying castle, and if it didn’t want anyone to see it, then it would vanish, just like that!
The next moment was one the hunters would not forget in a hurry; they were doused in a powerful jet of water from Rosalinda who was having fun with the fire hose. A Ladye Fayre can be pretty smart!
The flying castle landed and out bound Greatlion who soon had the hunters quaking in their boots. They were herded into the castle dungeons. They all sat wet and miserable. It was altogether a frightening experience, not made any easier when they heard Swifty trumpeting, as he lumbered round on the floor above.