Jamie the painter

Once upon a time, there lived a famous artist called Jamie.  He was a funny wee man and a wonderful painter.   He would paint anything that anyone ever wanted.  His home was a shiny castle and outside the castle was a deep river full of crocodiles and alligators. Even though he was quite scared of them, the animals in the river were one of his favourite things to paint.

One morning he was trying to cross the spooky river to get a better view for his painting, when all of a sudden a long weed became tangled around his ankle.  The more he tried to pull away the tighter the weed became. He started to feel really terrified and was quite sure the crocs were going to get him.  The river looked very fierce.  It seemed as if the weed had come to life and was after him too. Jamie wished he had just stayed in his castle and painted some bunches of flowers instead. Now he knew he was in a lot of danger and he tried to quickly think of an escape plan!

Just at that, Jamie spotted a delivery van coming along the bumpy road to his castle.  A cooker was tied to the top of the van. Suddenly he had a crazy idea. Jamie grabbed his paintbrush and wriggled about so he could reach his pot of poisonous paint. He painted the weed with the poisonous paint, the weed started to shrivel and shrink up until it totally disappeared.

Jamie walked towards a magic button, he pressed it and it took him across the spooky river. He approached the delivery man and asked, “Can I help you?”

The deliveryman said, “Are you Jamie the painter?”

“Yes” said Jamie. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I have an important delivery for you” said the delivery man.

“What is it?” asked Jamie.

“It is a time machine!” said the delivery man in excitement.

Jamie was astonished. He asked the man if he could unload the time machine and then he walked cautiously inside. Lots of buttons and gadgets were everywhere, a window let all the sunshine come streaming through. Jamie lifted his finger with excitement and pressed a big red button.

All of a sudden there was a clank and a bang as the time machine burst into life. He felt a tingle all over his body as the machine took off. Where was he going? He looked down and found that he was wearing a gold suit.

“ Wow, what is happening to me,” he said.

Just at that moment there was a CRASH!  and a BANG!  The time machine had landed!

Slowly the door opened. Jamie tip - toed out. He found himself in a beautiful golden temple. Paint pots were everywhere.  He couldn’t resist the urge to paint and so he painted a large wooden crate that was sitting on the floor.

Something then magically happened, the lid slowly opened and there was the most amazing collection of treasure, sparkling and glinting before his eyes.

“I’m rich beyond my wildest dreams’” he said out loud.

Quickly he loaded up the time machine with his newfound treasure. He couldn’t believe the magic of his paint!

Excitedly Jamie slammed the door and decided to inspect his treasure. 

“This bit of gold looks dusty, maybe I should give it a wipe” thought Jamie.

Jamie gave it a blow and the most amazing thing happened – suddenly a blue and gold creature came out of nowhere. Jamie screeched with fear and jumped behind the treasure chest. 

“Don’t worry I am kind – I am a genie” the creature said with a smile.   Jamie had a good look at the genie.  He was 7 foot tall and his face was blue as a smurf and he was wearing the same golden suit as Jamie. Jamie was gobsmacked he didn’t know what to do.

The genie continued. 

“In order to keep the gold and return home you must complete 2 challenges.

Your first challenge is to collect 10 pots of rare magic paint.  You will find it in a gruesome, grubby snake pit.  However, there is a monstrous and muddy hill which you must climb.  At the top there will be a fierce, ferocious dragon guarding the final pot of paint and that pot of paint is especially magic as it is never runs out.  Don’t worry about the challenge being dangerous, your golden suit will protect you from the snakes and any other danger you might meet.  One last thing, the paint’s magic power is that all the things you paint will come to life.  Now proceed with the challenge – good luck!”

Jamie agreed to accept the challenge.  Nervously he left the time machine and headed East towards the sound of hissing snakes.

As he got closer to the sound he realised they were in a large cave.  He cautiously crawled into the damp, dark cave.  In the centre there was a large snake pit full of angry sounding snakes.  It was then that he realised that some paint pots were right in the middle of the pit – surrounded by the snakes.

Tip toeing he nervously stepped into the pit and started crawling through the snakes.  He was shocked to see that they were biting him, but he couldn’t feel it because the suit protected him like armour and he was able to collect 9 paint pots.

He left the cave and saw the hill he had to climb.  Exhausted, he reached the top and faced the dragon.  Jamie remembered the paint’s magic and he painted a golden sword which the dragon immediately ate.  He then painted a silver shield but it was too heavy for him to hold, he accidentally dropped it and it slid to the bottom of the hill.  Suddenly he had an idea! He made an electric guitar that was so loud when he played, that it knocked the dragon out and he was able to collect the paint pot.

The genie appeared from the 10^th pot of paint and congratulated Jamie

“Fabulous work, you have completed the first challenge and now you face the second challenge.  I must warn you it is twice as difficult.  You must get me a multicoloured pearl from a multicoloured clam from the deepest part of the ocean. There is only one of these out of all the seas, find it and you will return home safely.

Jamie immediately found himself on a deserted island.  He quickly painted a pair of goggles and a pair of flippers.  He then dived into the water and started to zoom quickly to the bottom of the sea.  His golden suit protected him from the crabs and the squids that were squirting ink at him.

He spent ages looking for this one of a kind pearl and was almost ready to give up when he saw a deadly shark swimming towards him with his mouth open wide. Jamie noticed that the pearl was stuck in the shark’s tooth.  He painted a dental kit and very carefully he pulled the pearl from the between the shark’s teeth.

Immediately he was back at the time machine where the genie was waiting for him.  The genie thanked him for the pearl and handed Jamie a piece of the weed which had tangled round his ankle at the start of this adventure.  Jamie nervously took the weed and suddenly felt himself being flung through the air and landed with a thump.  He slowly opened his eyes and realised that he was safely back home at his castle.  He looked around himself and there, lying next to him was enough gold to allow him to live happily and continue painting whatever anyone asked.  He promised himself that he would never cross the river again!

P1S ,  P3T, P4F/T and P6H.