Narrative - The Three Riddles

Here is our narrative that we have been working on this term. We worked on describing settings, characters and including a problem that needs to be resolved. Enjoy!

The Three Riddles by Room 5

William just couldn’t sleep. The shimmering moonlight was shining brightly on his face and his big sister Claire was snoring loudly in the bed next to him. Shadows had crept up on the walls as he lay perfectly still listening to his clock ticking endlessly.

William’s sheets were wrapped tightly around him and his throat was dry. He wrestled himself from his bed and tiptoed downstairs to get a drink of water. TAP, TAP, TAP! What was that he thought?  Footsteps? William raced back upstairs to his room and covered himself in his sheets like a fly trapped in amber. His stomach lurched. William peeked over his sheets to check if his sister was awake, but her bed was empty.

William was just like most boys his age he had short spiky hair, grazed knees and wore his lucky red shirt as much as his Mum allowed. The only thing that made William stand out was his enormous ears. It was those ears that were now listening carefully for any signs of his sister.

William heard a muffled scream coming from above him. He crept out of the safety of his bed and made his way out of his room and into the corridor. The attic door was open and the ladder was resting on the carpet. A terrible smell wafted down the steps, it smelt like old gym socks and mouldy cheese. William was very afraid but decided to climb the ladder to see what was causing the awful stench. As he reached the top of the stairs he could see a pair of glowing red eyes staring out at him from the darkness. Suddenly out of the shadows stepped a gruesome green goblin. He was about half as tall as William but had a large round belly poking out from his old tattered waistcoat. His long warty nose was leaking slimy snot that stretched to the floor. As he opened his mouth to speak William saw the goblin’s rotten, crooked teeth, and felt the rancid smell of his breath stinging his nose.

“I am Snotlin the Goblin – go to bed little boy and forget about your sister you will never see her again”. William was trembling with fear at seeing this gruesome creature in the darkness. William cried “I want my sister back and I will do anything for her, even though she is annoying and snores a lot!”

Snotlin smiled flashing his rotten teeth “OK stinker if you want your sister back you must solve these three riddles”

William was worried he had never really been good at solving riddles. “The first riddle you must solve is this what goes up as the rain comes down?” William grinned “that’s easy an umbrella”. As the wicked goblin glared at William a large dribble of thick snot fell to the floor. “OK little worm let me see how clever you really are”.

“What starts with E and ends in E but only has one letter?” Snotlin beamed with pride at being so clever. William scratched his head as he thought “Is it a ummmm…………….”

Snotlin chuckled “what’s wrong dummy, don’t you know the answer it’s an envelope”. William replied quickly “is it an envelope?” “How did you know that?” replied Snotlin. William smiled to himself but didn’t say anything maybe this goblin wasn’t that clever after all he thought.

“Your last riddle is this a girl lived in a one storey house that was pink, her bed was pink, the walls were pink what colour were the stairs?”

Oh no William thought he really wanted to say pink but knew that was way too obvious. “Wait a second – a one storey house doesn’t have stairs. There is no answer!”

“Arghhhhhh” yelled the goblin “you little rotter” The Goblin was shaking with anger. Snotlin stretched out to grab William. As he reached forward he slipped on the large pool of snot that lay on the floor and tumbled backwards onto his bottom. Snotlin began to cry like a baby. William now felt a lot braver as he approached Snotlin. “Right I’ve answered your stupid riddles, give me my sister back or else”. “OK, she is behind that box over there” sniffled Snotlin. William raced over to untie Claire and as soon as the ropes were loose she stood up and gave William a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. Just then William and Claire heard a large crash from where Snotlin had been sitting. All that remained now of the goblin was a large pile of snot. “I think we should maybe just keep this between the two of us”, whispered Claire. “I’m not sure Mum and Dad would believe us anyway”, said William.

The End