Marianna and the Bear

Larkin wanted to write a book. She dictated while Emile wrote the words and sketched some pictures for her to color. It's not finished yet, but it wasn't done on the best paper so I thought I should record it for posterity before the coloring bled through all the pages and made them illegible. I've posted the first couple of pages here, but the rest are available at our picasaweb photo site.

Marianna and the Bear
Story by Larkin Marie Snyder Hamilton
Words and Outlines by Emile

One day Marianna was hiking in the woods. She was a goblin, so she felt safe walking anywhere... after all, who would mess with a goblin?

Suddenly, as she was walking by a cave, she heard a loud BUMP! "Holy smokes!" said Marianna. "What was that?" She was so curious that she had to investigate.

It was very dark inside the cave. Marianna carefully felt her way forward, until she came to a warm, fuzzy wall. "What in the world could this be?" she wondered.

"Grrrrowph?" said the wall.

"Oh no! It's not a wall, it's a bear!" Marianna ran from the cave. The bear ran after her. Quick as a wink, Marianna hid behind a bristly bush. But the bear followed her footprints and found her crouched beneath the leaves. Marianna took off running again. This time she was careful not to leave any tracks for the bear to follow.

As Marianna raced through the woods she noticed a hole in the ground. "Ah, ha! Another hiding place!" she thought, and leapt into the hole. Luckily for Marianna, the bear didn't see her jump into the hole. Unluckily, it decided to take a break from chasing her and sat down right on top of the opening of the hole.

Marianna, thinking the coast was clear, ran right into the bear's bottom when she tried to come out of the hole. "Grrrrowl!" said the bear as it caught her up in its huge paws. "Oh no, I'm caught!" thought Marianna.

But she had forgotten her magic crown. She made a wish and the crown caught the bear in a cage of seaweed.

The end? Perhaps...