Welcome to Story Quest, a weekly podcast where we bring your stories to life!
In this episode we bring Monty’s story The Great Sea Revenge- to life.
If you have a story idea, you could be like Monty and have it turned into a Story Quest. All you have to do is send us your story idea here. We know you have the best imaginations and together we can create the most brilliant stories!
That’s just what Monty did. You can watch the story they suggested come to life below, plus they tell us all about the inspiration behind the story at the end.
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Read along to The Great Sea Revenge! Here
You can read along to the story while you listen. Just follow the text below. Don’t worry if you find a word tricky – you can pause the video whenever to give yourself more time.
The Great Sea Revenge
The Great Sea Revenge
âStuff and nonsense!â shouted the fearsome Blackthorne – I donât believe in the kraken any more than I believe in the Easter Bunny – call yourself pirates? More like pip squeaks!â
So he seems pretty confident doesnât he? I wonder if heâd feel the same if he could see deep under the ocean the long tentacles and sharp claws of one of the biggest sea monsters of all. THE KRAKEN!
If you imagine a really big octopus – maybe the size of a bus, and then make it a hundred times bigger, well youâre still quite a long way off just how ENORMOUS most Krakens are. They can also have several heads and claws. Yes, claws AND tentacles. And probably a whole load of other really scary looking stuff like a massive mash up of every sailorâs nightmare. Many boats had perished at their snakey hands. Or snakey tentacles.
But something you need to know about Krakens is although most of them love a good plunder, what they really really love to sink is PIRATE SHIPS. They didnât usually bother with anyone else.
I mean, it wasnât like the Kraken were trying to be like massive Robin Hoods – vanquishing evil to help others, (although pirates deserve to be eaten by sea monsters) but mostly the Kraken liked attacking pirate ships because they were full of loot – gold and silver coins, dazzling diamonds and glittering crowns, that sort of thing. The Krakenâs watery lair deep at the bottom of the ocean was made from piles – even mountains of glittering jewels.
Blackthorne the Bad, who we met at the start was a pirate and he was just about as evil as the Krakenâs were huge. Word had got out that he was at large in the Salty Seas and he was as bold as the Krakens were hungry. But as we heard if any of his crew happened to casually mention the Kraken, Blackthorne would leap furiously and start shouting.
âIâm not afraid of fairy stories!â He snarled at his shipmates. âAny Kraken that shows its fishy head would find himself on the end of my sword!â
But whether he liked it or not news of of Blackthorne on the Salty Sea had reached the watery depths of the Krakenâs lair, and caused them to swish and swirl excitedly as they planned their attack.
Krills, the largest of them all assembled the Kraken. âKeep your wits about you – things have a habit of happening when you least expect it! I hear theyâve plundered peaceful folkâs boats for years so letâs show this horrible lot how to pick on someone their own size.â
The game was on.
At midnight when the sky and sea were black as can be Krills rose out of the ocean with a ROAR and launched himself at the deck. Some of the pirates screamed and ran below deck but Blackthorne just laughed and laughed and brought out his long silver sword.
âSINK THIS SHIP!â Snarled Krills as the others rocked the boat this way and that – they could hear the clinking and clanking of gold booty inside adding to their excitement. But the ship pitched rolled but didnât tip.
âSINK THIS SHIP!â came Krillâs cry once more.
The other Krakens rose up and clung to the masts, as they tossed in the foamy seas, turning the water into whirlpools but it was no good – Blackthorne pulled out his sword and SLASH! SLASH! He sliced at Krills over and again until the giant monster sunk into the waves.
Krills was dead.
The other Krakens wailed and thrashed their tentacles but Blackthorne just laughed as his crew pulled the Bloody Bess away from the whirling seas.
The pirates had claimed their victory.
There was a sad quietness in the seas as the Kraken laid their leader to rest in the deep and golden sands of the Salty Sea. And then anger – bubbling in the deeps getting louder and louder – until one of the kraken roared ferociously and proclaimed.
âBlackthorne must pay! We must sink that ship. The sea will have its REVENGE!â
Korran, who was Krills brother was first to launch an attack – slipping silently under the hull and then breaching with a HISS – the boat rose up into the air but as the sailors furiously worked the sails it crashed back down and quickly disappeared from view.
âSet up a decoy!â said Korran. So some of the younger Krakens tried to distract the crew by darting around the ship but Blakthorne set burning oil around the vessel and neither Koran or anyone else could get close.
Kaliope was a little Kraken and she was fed up with everything. She missed Krills and hated all the fighting. She didnât even like plunder and jewels so whilst the others came up with this plan or the other she slipped away to bask on the shores of a nearby island. To her surprise someone had got their first. A little girl, sat on her own, quietly crying.
âWhatâs the matter?â Kaliope whispered, inching forward.
âEeeek!â the little girl jumped a mile in the air at the sight of this small sea monster, even though she was quite a kind looking sea monster. Then she became more confident and curious.
âAre you a⌠kraken?â she asked with a shy smile.
âOnly a little one. Donât worry. Krakens can be kind you know. We only really eat pirates.â
âHmph! Well I wish youâd eat Blackthorne. He stole my fathers ship – we were bound for Norway with a years harvest aboard – we are ruined!â
âHe killed our leader tooâ said Kaliope. âThe others want revenge. I just want him to go away.â
The two sat quietly for a while and Kaliope curled up on the rock with a sigh and placed a kind tentacle around the girlâs shoulders. The little girl didnât seem very frightened but then kids are better at dealing with monsters than adults, as most people know.
The little girl looked thoughtful and then said âBlackthorne drank a barrel of rum after heâd sunk our ship and partied all night. Well before he fell asleep. They say he parties as hard as he fights.â
Kaliope could well believe it – and it gave her an idea. Krills had said to always be alert – Sometimes things happen when you least expect them toâ he had said. Maybe Blackthorne deserved a surprise too – if only she could find the ship she had an idea about what she could do to get revenge.
It wasnât that hard to find the ship, it was rocking with song and dance (quite a lot of the songs were quite rude) as the pirates cheered their success in killing Krills and sending the others into a dizzy spin. Barrels of rum were being rolled along the deck and soldiers were soon staggering around, and then most had fallen into their bunks and snoring so loudly she could hear it from a mile away.
This was her chance. She didnât roar or fling herself at the deck but instead swished under the hull and used her claws to loosen the screws that held the wooden hull together. First one – PING! It gently dropped to the sea bed. Then another – PING! There were mutters from on board but not enough to rouse the pirates from their sleep. The boat began to lurch the tiniest amount as the water trickled in to the hold, and after a few more PINGS, and more screws loostened the trickle became a stream and then a delugeâŚ.
And the sailors still hadnât noticed – the few left dancing only realised they were standing in three feet of water and then the shout went up!
ABANDON SHIP!
WEâRE SINKING! WEâRE SINKING
But before they had time to do anything, with a watery shout and an enormous bubble of glugs the Bloody Bess sunk and the pirates met A VERY WATERY END.
The other Kraken couldnât believe it! Theyâd heard the shouts and come swishing to see what was happening and cheered and applauded Kaliope with their tentacles as she blushed with pride.
âYouâve done it! We have our revenge! Not to mention all the plunder!â They cheered and the Salty Seas were never troubled by Blackthorne again.
And just to put everything right Kaliope dived deep into the wreckage of the Bloody Bess and scooped armfuls of gold and silver and precious jewels and took them back to the island where the little girl ran to meet her. Kaliope piled the riches at her feet.
âWe wonât be ruined after all – weâll be RICH! You were right! Krakens can be kind!â she said, hugging Kaliope who was careful to make sure her claws didnât pinch the little girl.
âWell – as long as youâre not a pirate!â giggled Kaliope before happily swishing back into the depths to the others. She could do without seeing pirates ever again – as Krills said life could be surprising but she thought that sheâd rather have NO surprises at all – at least not for a while! And thatâs the story of the Kraken and the Great Sea Revenge!
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