Jupiter Artland & Juniper Green Stories Inspired by Art
Contents Introduction 2 Want not, Weep not - 3 the Story of the Weeping Girl The Suck, the Spider s web and Mr Snowball 6 Veronica and the Statues 8 The Chocolate Adventure and the Magic Key 12 The Web of Mirrors and Opposites! 14 Jennifer s Tale 17 Ghostboy 21 Stone Bridge 24 The Mysterious Case of Missing Matilda 26 and the Wonder of the Web Patra and the Weeping Girls 31 The Flower Man 34 Wizard Zooboo and the Three Challenges 39 The Chronicles of the Orchid, the Children, 43 the Witch and the Willow Tree. The Orchid s Revenge 45 1
Introduction These stories evolved from a two year, whole school project that the pupils of Juniper Green Primary School in Edinburgh undertook in partnership with Jupiter Artland. The pupils visited the sculpture park and used the sculptures as a stimulus to create the stories. They were told orally at an interactive performance in the school using a wide variety of media and have now been adapted in written form to create this booklet. We hope you will enjoy reading them as much as we have enjoyed imagining them and we challenge you to identify each piece of art work that helped inspired them. 2
Want not, Weep not - the Story of the Weeping Girl There was once a girl called Penelope who had been invited to a party. Her friend Rosette was from a rich family but Penny s family was rather poor. Her father had just lost his job in the local, factory as a machine could do it better and faster than he was able to. Her mother worked as a maid for the lord and lady up at the manor house but she did not earn much from this. When Penelope told her parents she wanted a new dress for the party, they had to break the news to her that she would just have to wear her old one. We simply can t afford it, Penny. We ve just enough money to feed the family. What will Rosette think if I don t wear a new dress to her party? She won t think badly of you, Penny, said her parents. Rosette knows times are hard for us. Good friends always understand. But I want a dress! I need a dress! It s just one thing! And Penelope turned and ran out into the woods. Her parents were unable to stop her. As Penelope walked sadly by the stream, she was not paying the slightest bit of attention to anything that was going on around her. However, a tiny orchid was growing there. Suddenly, Penelope felt a tickle on her leg. Her heart jumped and she turned round tearfully. She tried to pick up the tiny orchid but, to her great surprise, it shook its head at her. Out scattered pollen which made lots of other tiny orchids spring to life. They jumped up on top of the first tiny orchid and started building up into one great big giant orchid. The giant orchid leaned over and spoke to her. Why are you weeping, girl? My parents are poor and won t let me have a new dress for my friend s party. Well, said the giant orchid, times are hard. You are lucky that your parents have enough money to feed the family. But what will Rosette think if I don t wear a new dress to her party? She won t think badly of you, said the giant orchid. Good friends always understand. But I want a dress! I need a dress! It s just one thing! 3
And Penelope turned and ran on through the woods. The giant orchid was unable to stop her. As Penelope walked sadly past the stone house, she was not paying the slightest bit of attention to anything that was going on around her. However, the little green frog that lived there had popped out to take a shower in the waterfall. Suddenly, Penelope felt a tickle on her leg. Her heart jumped and she turned round tearfully. She tried to pick up the little green frog but, to her great surprise, it jumped back into the doorway of the stone house and croaked at her. Why are you weeping, girl? My parents are poor and won t let me have a new dress for my friend s party. Well, croaked the little green frog, times are hard. You are lucky that your parents have enough money to feed the family. But what will Rosette think if I don t wear a new dress to her party? She won t think badly of you, croaked the frog. Good friends always understand. But I want a dress! I need a dress! It s just one thing! And Penelope turned and ran on through the woods. The little green frog was unable to stop her. As Penelope walked sadly through the trees, she was not paying the slightest bit of attention to anything that was going on around her. However, a wise old spider that lived in a magnificent web there, spun down on a silvery thread. Suddenly Penelope felt a tickle on her leg. Her heart jumped and she turned around tearfully. She tried to pick up the wise, old spider but, to her great surprise, it spun up on a silvery thread and spoke to her in a whispery voice. Why are you weeping, girl? My parents are poor and won t let me have a new dress for my friend s party. Well, whispered the wise, old spider, times are hard. You are lucky your parents have enough money to feed the family. But what will Rosette think if I don t wear a new dress to her party? She won t think badly of you, whispered the wise, old spider. Good friends always understand. 4
But I want a dress! I need a dress! It s just one thing! And Penelope turned and ran on through the woods. The wise, old spider was unable to stop her. As Penelope stopped and leant her head on her arms against a tree, she was not paying the slightest bit of attention to anything that was going on around her. However, a girl was gathering some wild flowers to decorate the house for a party. Suddenly, Penelope felt a tickle on her leg. Her heart jumped but she did not turn around. Oh what now? She said crossly. Why are you weeping,? said a kind and gentle voice. My parents are poor and won t let me have a new dress for my friend s party. Well, said the kind and gentle voice, times are hard. You are lucky that your parents have enough money to feed the family. But what will Rosette think if I don t wear a new dress to her party? I won t think badly of you. I understand, said Rosette. And Penelope turned and ran to her friend. Rosette was unable to stop her but did not in any way wish to. The two good friends walked happily back through the woods - together. 5
Veronica and the Statues This story is about a little girl called Veronica. She lived in the woods with her mother. They were very poor but Veronica s mother tried her best to give her everything she wanted. However, Veronica was never happy. No matter what you did for her. If you made a cake she would say it was too sweet. If you made her a cup of tea she would say it was too wet. If you asked her to go to bed she would say she was too tired. Veronica had lots of toys and dolls but she didn t have anyone to play with. She called all of the other children names, refused to share and was generally nasty to everyone she met. Veronica had no friends but her kind mother got her many pets to keep her company. She had a dog, cat, hamster, frog, stick insect, rabbit, Guinea pig, terrapin, snake, fish, pig, gerbil, mouse and turtle. She didn t really like any of her pets. She didn t walk them, feed them, clean them, or stroke them. In fact she didn t do anything at all to look after the pets. Her poor mother did all the work. One day Veronica looked at all her pets and thought boring. She thought to herself, what I need is an animal that will make all the other children jealous. I know what I want. I want a monk-chip, a cross between a monkey and a chipmunk. How cool would that be! She marched up to her mother and demanded I WANT A MONK-CHIP. Her mother said, Yes of course darling. What s a monk-chip? Don t you know anything? It s a cross between a monkey and a chipmunk. 8
But Veronica, I can t get you that.it doesn t exist. Veronica went red in the face and shouted. I DON T LIKE YOU YOU RE NOT KIND HURRY UP AND CHANGE YOUR MIND! Veronica s mum said I m sorry my darling but it is impossible for me to get a monk-chip. Veronica flew into a rage. Her face contorted, tears poured down her face. She stamped her feet and shouted at the top of her voice before running up to her room. What she didn t notice was that just where she had been standing a statue appeared. A statue of a screaming, crying, selfish brat, a statue of Veronica. Veronica sulked in her bedroom until her mother knocked on her door and said it was time for dinner. What is it? she said. Something special, your favourite, Christmas dinner. I ve roasted a turkey, pigs in blankets, vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy. Veronica looked disgusted. I don t want it she said. I want sweets and chocolate for dinner. But sweets and chocolate is not a nutritious dinner. But Veronica went red in the face and shouted. I DON T LIKE YOU YOU RE NOT KIND HURRY UP AND CHANGE YOUR MIND! Her mother said, You can have some chocolate ice cream as a special treat after dinner. But Veronica wasn t listening. She raced downstairs into the kitchen, opened the cupboard door and stole all of the ice cream, chocolate bars, sweets and even her mother s Turkish Delight that she would have as a special treat. With her arms full, Veronica ran out of the house to the garden to eat her goodies. 9
What she didn t notice was that just where she had been standing a statue appeared. A statue of a sneaky, devious, selfish thief, a statue of Veronica. When she had finished her sweets Veronica walked back into her house, straight past her mother and straight past the statues and up to her room. Her brave mother knocked on her bedroom door again. Sweetheart, she said. All of your cousins are coming round to play later. Will you please tidy your room a little? Why don t you do it you nasty old bag, Veronica screamed. But I don t have time poppet. I have to do the dishes and tidy all the other rooms in the house. Again Veronica went red in the face and shouted. I DON T LIKE YOU YOUR RE NOT KIND HURRY UP AND CHANGE YOUR MIND! And then everything went silent. Mother, Veronica called. Mother. She slowly pushed the door open and there was a statue of a lady, looking sad with a tear rolling down her cheek, a statue of her mother. Veronica looked around with her eyes opened properly for the first time in a very long while. The house was full of statues of Veronica - Veronicas, screaming, biting, crying, howling and much, much more. Veronica looked at the horrible faces and realised how she looked to other people. She didn t like what she saw. No wonder I don t have any friends she thought. No wonder my pets are afraid of me. No wonder my mother looks so tired all the time. Veronica felt ashamed of herself. How could she be so selfish? She looked at a statue of her spitting into the goldfish bowl. What a horrible thing to do, she said. I wish I never done it. She went up to the statue, placed her hand on its shoulder and said. I m so sorry. As soon as she said sorry the statue just disappeared - gone. She went to another statue of her kicking a chair. Again she placed her hand on its shoulder and said I m sorry and, puff, it was gone. 10
Veronica realised that although she had been so horrible it was not too late. If she could say sorry to all the statues and become a better person then everything might be all right. It took her hours to say sorry to all the statues but she eventually finished except for one last statue. After all of the statues had disappeared she did the dishes, vacuumed the carpets, tidied her bedroom and cooked the tea. When everything was looking perfect she went up to the last statue. She put her hand on her mother s shoulder and said, Mother, I m so sorry for all the horrible things I have said and done to you. Her mother came back to life but where there had once been a tear there was now a smile. Veronica s mum looked around the room and at Veronica. It looked so tidy and there was a delicious smell coming from the kitchen. Something else looks different too said Veronica s mother. What? said Veronica. You do. You have a smile on your face. From that day on Veronica was never nasty again. She tidied her room, looked after her pets and made lots of friends. 11