Strange Stories in English Books in the 80s

Vas_Guy · 29-04-2009 10:21am #1

Does anyone remember the story in their English book from about 1982 where a boy eat magic carrots and turned into a donkey and the stories in the book went through his search for turn back into a boy, strange, I think the book was called stepping stones but i'm not very sure.

There was another story about a flying bus, "children, children come with Gus you'll be happy in this bus"

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 29-04-2009 10:22am

Vas_Guy wrote: »

Does anyone remember the story in their English book from about 1982 where a boy eat magic carrots and turned into a donkey and the stories in the book went through his search for turn back into a boy, strange, I think the book was called stepping stones but i'm not very sure.

This sounds like Peig.

There was another story about a flying bus, "children, children come with Gus you'll be happy in this bus"

This sounds like a headline from the front cover of The Sunday World.

stovelid · 29-04-2009 1:25pm

I remember one from the very early 80s, a story about a guy that suddenly goes blind in a - I think - tube station. Scared the life out of me when I was a kid.

darkdubh · 29-04-2009 2:01pm

Vas_Guy wrote: »

Does anyone remember the story in their English book from about 1982 where a boy eat magic carrots and turned into a donkey and the stories in the book went through his search for turn back into a boy, strange, I think the book was called stepping stones but i'm not very sure.

There was another story about a flying bus, "children, children come with Gus you'll be happy in this bus"

Yeah ,i remember the one about the boy turning into a donkey,the bus one dosent ring a bell though.

tfitzgerald · 29-04-2009 2:09pm

boys being turned into donkeys sounds like Pinocchio:eek:

hairymick · 01-05-2009 2:40pm

This may be from the same book,it was on the cirriculum at the same time(early 80s).It was about a tramp who finds a magic fiddle in a dump and finds that it enables him to play really well and makes him very rich.I think he ended up breaking it and going back to being a tramp.

mud · 01-05-2009 8:39pm

I've been racking my brain trying to remember what this book was called. It was one of those annuals with picture stories in it. Bunty keeps coming into my head but at the same time not sure, it was a girl's annual anyway.

What I can remember is that this girl gets locked in an attic where there's a weird picture, she falls asleep and wakes up trapped in the picture . . . . forever :eek:

I remember it scaring the bejaysus outta me.

Firetrap · 03-05-2009 12:22am

Jeebus - I think I remember that story :eek: I don't think it was the Bunty as I think its stories had happy endings. It was one of the sister comics -Mandy or Judy I think. Two more comic stories with weirdo endings that stick in my head are the one with a girl who learns all too late that there are clones of herself and her family lobbing about town. The other was this girl pianist who has a successful performance début. Some woman appears backstage and grants her a wish - she asks for the chance to relive her musical debut. Only problem is, the thing keeps looping and looping and looping. No doubt she's still playing that piano piece.

Dyr · 03-05-2009 12:25am

The scarey ones were probably in misty, my sisters used to get it...

Firetrap · 03-05-2009 11:18pm

No, these stories were definitely not in Misty. There was something especially jarring about these stories with shock creepy endings showing up in the middle of the other stories. Ironically, I can't remember any of the other stories that were in these old comics, just the creepy ones.

Back on topic: The strangest story I came across in an English book was Trouble in the Mountains. There were two kids in it - a boy and a girl - whose dad got sent to prison for stealing sheep. It turned out that the sheep in the area were being stolen in an ambulance - after all, who would stop an ambulance to check what was inside? For a while, I suffered from the delusion that Headford in Galway (where the story was set) was a shortish distance from Dublin - in the book the two kids cycle to Aras an Uachtarain to get their dad's name cleared.

girlbiker · 04-05-2009 6:01pm

mud wrote: »

I've been racking my brain trying to remember what this book was called. It was one of those annuals with picture stories in it. Bunty keeps coming into my head but at the same time not sure, it was a girl's annual anyway.

What I can remember is that this girl gets locked in an attic where there's a weird picture, she falls asleep and wakes up trapped in the picture . . . . forever :eek:

I remember it scaring the bejaysus outta me.

It was called Misty!! Found it in my nanas house years ago - I remember it scared me and my cousin stupid! The picture one gave me nightmares too and the girl was trapped and only could only look out the eyes holes FOREVER!! :eek:

darkdubh · 05-05-2009 1:03pm

hairymick wrote: »

This may be from the same book,it was on the cirriculum at the same time(early 80s).It was about a tramp who finds a magic fiddle in a dump and finds that it enables him to play really well and makes him very rich.I think he ended up breaking it and going back to being a tramp.

Yes i remember that,it was from an english book of stories from around 82,83 in primary school.Another story was about an old man who lived alone and a mouse kept coming out of a crack in the wall giving him gold coins.I think there was another story about a magic carpet.Does any of this ring any bells?

Ann22 · 05-05-2009 11:47pm

I remember when you finished with the Hopscotch readers (eg'Trouble in the mountains', 'the secret place', 'the tara broach' and the ones donkey's years ago with Maura,Sean and Rusty the dog..) you graduated onto 'Lift off' and 'Links'....no one I know remembers these:(....Maybe not many schools did them. There were some great stories in them like 'the return of the iron man'-cool and scary..then one 'the money lender and the tailor's daughter'..and one about a boy who wanted to watch a football match but couldn't go for some reason...he floated up in the air and could watch it over the wall

:).

Queen-Mise · 05-05-2009 11:53pm

i must have went to the wrong schools.

Those stories are brilliant. I do vaguely remember misty.
I can barely remember childhood, no chance of what i read though.

Going to google misty though tom.

Ann22 · 06-05-2009 12:03am

http://mistycomic.co.uk/Home.html

Misty was brilliant. I bought two old annuals off ebay recently.Check this site....Click on 'the cavern of dreams' at the top of the page. It gives you a choice of stories to read...select a story title then click on the actual first page to increase the size before clicking 'play slideshow'

kelle · 06-05-2009 6:18am

Ann22 wrote: »

I remember when you finished with the Hopscotch readers (eg'Trouble in the mountains', 'the secret place', 'the tara broach' and the ones donkey's years ago with Maura,Sean and Rusty the dog..) you graduated onto 'Lift off' and 'Links'....no one I know remembers these:(....).

I guess we must be around the same age, Ann as I remember all those!
I remember Links 1 had all these weird drawings- years later there was an art exhibition in the hospital where I trained in London and all those paintings were shown, they were by a Belgian artist called Magritte.
No wonder I had a lot of nightmares!

hairymick · 06-05-2009 11:47am

kelle wrote: »

I guess we must be around the same age, Ann as I remember all those!
I remember Links 1 had all these weird drawings- years later there was an art exhibition in the hospital where I trained in London and all those paintings were shown, they were by a Belgian artist called Magritte.
No wonder I had a lot of nightmares!

My older brother had Links,i remember being freaked out by the illustrations all right,especially a black and white photograph of a pair of shoes that looked like human feet.

Vas_Guy · 06-05-2009 2:21pm

darkdubh wrote: »

Yes i remember that,it was from an english book of stories from around 82,83 in primary school.Another story was about an old man who lived alone and a mouse kept coming out of a crack in the wall giving him gold coins.I think there was another story about a magic carpet.Does any of this ring any bells?

The magic carpet rings a bell

Ann22 · 07-05-2009 5:52pm

hairymick wrote: »

My older brother had Links,i remember being freaked out by the illustrations all right,especially a black and white photograph of a pair of shoes that looked like human feet.

Yeah! I remember that... it was like shoes or boots that had toes on the end..weird

kelle · 07-05-2009 6:46pm

Ann22 wrote: »

Yeah! I remember that... it was like shoes or boots that had toes on the end..weird

http://rene-magritte-paintings.blogspot.com/2007/08/le-modele-rouge.html

He must have had a disturbed mind!

rainbowtrout · 08-05-2009 8:04pm

Vas_Guy wrote: »

Does anyone remember the story in their English book from about 1982 where a boy eat magic carrots and turned into a donkey and the stories in the book went through his search for turn back into a boy, strange, I think the book was called stepping stones but i'm not very sure.

God, I remember that, i think it was stepping stones, there was a whole series of the readers, imaginitively titled Stepping Stones A, B, C, D, etc

There was another story where the people in the story had to find someone that would give them a magic phrase which meant something would happen (don't remember the story) but I do remember the phrase was o-long-do-man-go :pac:

G Luxel · 28-06-2009 9:11pm

I remember the Hopskotch books, troubles in the mountains, yes remember that, it had photographs of Dublin in that book, everything else in the series had drawings, they must have thought that country didnt know what dublin looked like, one page had a picture at the bottom of the page of a vw beetle at the phoenix park i think.....

DublinWriter · 28-06-2009 9:17pm

I remember some of the English books we had in primary during the 70's, anyone remember 'Links'?

In particular I remember reading one story about a circus with a donkey so vicious that it wouldn't let anyone ride him, and a strong guy who knocked it out so he could ride it (steady!) and win a prize.

We also had a copy of Edin Bylton's 'Three Little Sambos' in our school library.

I dunno what was more damaging, the above, or the fact that most teachers chain-smoked in class.

carmelod · 03-10-2009 3:45pm

Hi guys,

I am trying to remember a story we did in primary school it was about a farmer and his donkey. The donkey was lazy or didnt want to work. The farmer notice he used to walk fast when the donkey passed the forest so the farmer made a ring of leaves and put it around the donkeys head so it walked fast all the time.

I know its a bit bizzar but would anyone know what the name of this story is or what English book it was in.

Many thanks!

Ann22 · 03-10-2009 7:49pm

carmelod wrote: »

Hi guys,

I am trying to remember a story we did in primary school it was about a farmer and his donkey. The donkey was lazy or didnt want to work. The farmer notice he used to walk fast when the donkey passed the forest so the farmer made a ring of leaves and put it around the donkeys head so it walked fast all the time.

I know its a bit bizzar but would anyone know what the name of this story is or what English book it was in.

Many thanks!

That's familiar to me...it wasn't in a religion book by any chance? There used to be cool wee stories in them. Some of my son's books have a very similar drawing style. Same artist maybe.
I was at a car boot sale recently. I found a copy of 'Exploring English -Short Stories' the version I used for the Inter Cert. I would've bought it if it wasn't so dusty, I'd never stop sneezing if I read it all:(.. I flicked through it though. I remembered the stories so well..'Janey Mary', 'The Rockfish', 'The Wild Duck's Nest', 'The Trout' and the best ones 'The First Confession' and 'The Confirmation Suit'. Anyone remember them?

Ann22 · 03-10-2009 7:51pm

DublinWriter wrote: »

I remember some of the English books we had in primary during the 70's, anyone remember 'Links'?

quote]

A few of us were talking about 'Links' a few posts back DublinWriter. I remember it well, also 'Lift off' and 'Reaching Out'.

Dyr · 03-10-2009 8:08pm

Ann22 wrote: »

That's familiar to me...it wasn't in a religion book by any chance? There used to be cool wee stories in them. Some of my son's books have a very similar drawing style. Same artist maybe.
I was at a car boot sale recently. I found a copy of 'Exploring English -Short Stories' the version I used for the Inter Cert. I would've bought it if it wasn't so dusty, I'd never stop sneezing if I read it all:(.. I flicked through it though. I remembered the stories so well..'Janey Mary', 'The Rockfish', 'The Wild Duck's Nest', 'The Trout' and the best ones 'The First Confession' and 'The Confirmation Suit'. Anyone remember them?

yeah janey mary left quite an impression on me, "the first confession" and "the confirmation suit" I remember too. I didn't do it for the inter cert so they were probably the older brothers' books I was reading.

Ann22 · 03-10-2009 8:37pm

Strange the way some images stick in your mind. Janey Mary for example, I remember she lived in Canning Cottages. The queue at the church for bread. The man with the greasy dandruff flaked collar in front with the hob nailed boots.. I wondered what became of her after he stood on her bare feet and left the nail imprints:(.
The 'First Confession' was a great story..the grandmother who hid the porter under her shawl, the story of the man who came back in spirit to leave black handprints on the bed 'cos he made a bad confession..the author's memories of climbing up on the elbow rest in the Confession box only to stumble and end up hanging upside down facing the priest:D.
The Confirmaton Suit was blue serge with massive buttons, the wee fella puked up his Communion wafer to his mother's horror if memory serves. Then the race among his relatives to get the first kiss off him after the ceremony:).

carmelod · 03-10-2009 9:00pm

I found out it was M'asal Deag Dubh by Pádraic Ó Conaire. An old Irish short story.

Many thanks for replies!

Firetrap · 04-10-2009 5:57pm

Bambi wrote: »

yeah janey mary left quite an impression on me, "the first confession" and "the confirmation suit" I remember too. I didn't do it for the inter cert so they were probably the older brothers' books I was reading.

I just googled First Confession and found this web page that has the texts for Janey Mary, First Confession and the Confirmation Suit on it.

We had Links in our school but I genuinely can't remember anything from it

Ann22 · 04-10-2009 8:33pm

Thanks for that Firetrap. I enjoyed that wee read:).

komodosp · 08-10-2009 2:35pm

I seem to remember a story about a boy who kicked over a faerie fort or something and was condemned to having thorns appear in his bed every night or something...

gipi · 18-02-2011 8:27pm

Quite a bump on this thread - but I have a related question please!

Buddy of mine was asking about a story which he thinks was in the Exploring English Inter Cert book, or another school text book from the 1970s. Can't remember the title or the author, but the gist of the story is as follows:

A lad goes to Dublin Castle (or similar) for a job. When he arrives, he's told to sit in a room and wait for someone to come for him. He waits all day, but nobody comes.
He goes back the following day, this time he's prepared and brings his newspaper and sandwiches. But still nobody came.
At the end of the first week, he's sitting in the room when someone finally comes in....and hands him a wage packet!
The days pass into weeks, weeks into months......
....and he retired today, still sitting in the room!

Does it ring any bells for anyone? (sounds like a Frank O Connor, but that's just a wild guess on my part!).

Thanks!

Skerries · 20-02-2011 10:09pm

i remember a story from secondary which was a kind of Sliding Doors tale
it was about an Irish mother and her only son who she adored and at the end of it the son comes down the hill too quickly and rather than hit their chicken he swerves and is killed and the mother in her grief says he should have run it over and she would still have her only son
Then the story is told from the point of view that he did kill the chicken and the mother knows he did it and never talks to him again

also i remember there was a story by H.G.Wells about a man in Victorian England who was able to make artificial diamonds but was destitute because he couldn't sell them for some reason

stovelid · 21-02-2011 11:16am

Firetrap wrote: »

I just googled First Confession and found this web page that has the texts for Janey Mary, First Confession and the Confirmation Suit on it. :

Thanks for that. I haven't read those stories for years and years but I found myself still being able to anticipate the stories and dialogue by memory. The Behan one always made me so sad at the ending and First Confession is such a classic:

"Is it, father? "I asked with the deepest interest-I was always very keen on hanging. "Did you ever see a fellow hanged?"

"Dozens of them," he said solemnly. "And they all died roaring."

"Jay ! " I said.

WindSock · 26-02-2011 2:07am

komodosp wrote: »

I seem to remember a story about a boy who kicked over a faerie fort or something and was condemned to having thorns appear in his bed every night or something...

Hah, just been reading through this thread with that exact story in mind

I remember thinking it was hilariously funny for some reason that he hopped into bed and hopped straight out again because of the pins / thorns. I used to always check my bed then just in case and wonder why he didn't remove them as he got in...

I would love to see the book that it was in. I think it may have been the same one that had the story about David and the Lion, he removed the thorn from the paw, then he was captured by the Romans and stuck in the arena to fight the lion, but the lion remembered who was and didn't attack.

And it also may have had the story of Samson and Delilah.

Perhaps it was a religion book but I thought it was English, especially if there was a story of fairies.

Oh yeah, another one coming back to me now about a miser.

I reckon it was 2nd class, 1987/88.

Rainbow_brite · 28-02-2011 12:46am

I've been racking my brains since yesterday trying to remember the name of my readers some of those same stories came up but I was in primary school until 1994.

I had the silver lining in 5th class and the golden sunset in 6th class.
The first confession story was in one of these books. There was also another story set in dublin about a girl and her doll came to life and ran across one of the bridges along the quays they had a photo of Ormond Quay (I think) as one of pictures that accompanied the story.

Between 1st and 4th class I had the witches broom and the magic pencil. I remember that fairy ring story as well (I'm not sure if it was also in one of these books)! There was also a story about a man who kidnapped bad children and put then in a sack on his back! very strange.

My 1st class book was 'away to fairyland' there was a poem or song in the book (one of the first that i learned in school) which is the way to fairyland to fairyland I want to go to fairyland to dance by the light of the moon (we were made sing this on repetition nearly all year)

stinkle · 01-03-2011 11:33pm

Rainbow_brite wrote: »

I've been racking my brains since yesterday trying to remember the name of my readers some of those same stories came up but I was in primary school until 1994.

I had the silver lining in 5th class and the golden sunset in 6th class.
The first confession story was in one of these books. There was also another story set in dublin about a girl and her doll came to life and ran across one of the bridges along the quays they had a photo of Ormond Quay (I think) as one of pictures that accompanied the story.

thank you for reminding me of that story! it was in one of my English books too in 5th or 6th class. The story was called "The Bookshop on the Quay" by Patricia Lynch

Red Hand · 02-03-2011 10:11pm

gipi wrote: »

A lad goes to Dublin Castle (or similar) for a job. When he arrives, he's told to sit in a room and wait for someone to come for him. He waits all day, but nobody comes.
He goes back the following day, this time he's prepared and brings his newspaper and sandwiches. But still nobody came.
At the end of the first week, he's sitting in the room when someone finally comes in....and hands him a wage packet!
The days pass into weeks, weeks into months......
....and he retired today, still sitting in the room!

Does it ring any bells for anyone? (sounds like a Frank O Connor, but that's just a wild guess on my part!).

Thanks!

There was a short film of that, presumably based on that story (which I haven't read). The short film, maybe only 5-10 minutes in length, is the same as above, but it's set just after Independence when the civil service is transferring to the Irish Free State, and in all the confusion, the guy gets a pay packet at the end of the week by a guy who thinks that the office he is waiting in is the interviewee's office. And then it shows him years later in the same office.

Ann22 · 02-03-2011 10:26pm

Skerries wrote: »

i remember a story from secondary which was a kind of Sliding Doors tale
it was about an Irish mother and her only son who she adored and at the end of it the son comes down the hill too quickly and rather than hit their chicken he swerves and is killed and the mother in her grief says he should have run it over and she would still have her only son
Then the story is told from the point of view that he did kill the chicken and the mother knows he did it and never talks to him again

That story is strongly familiar Skerries...I can't remember any details more than you though.:(

darkdubh · 03-03-2011 9:12am

I mentioned this earlier but ill see if it rings any bells.Around 82,83 in prmary school we had an English book that ha two stories i distinctly remember.One was about a tramp who finds a fiddle in a dump.It was a magic fiddle i think and it made him rich and famous.Somehow he ends up breaking it.Another story was about an old man who's given a gold coin every night by mice who live in his house.He gets too greedy and they stop bringing the gold.

roobear · 19-08-2011 2:09pm

ah skerries , ive been thinkin about that story too , cannot for the life of me remember the name of it though , its WRECKIN ME HEAD!!

Niles · 19-08-2011 7:30pm

Firetrap wrote: »

Back on topic: The strangest story I came across in an English book was Trouble in the Mountains. There were two kids in it - a boy and a girl - whose dad got sent to prison for stealing sheep. It turned out that the sheep in the area were being stolen in an ambulance - after all, who would stop an ambulance to check what was inside? For a while, I suffered from the delusion that Headford in Galway (where the story was set) was a shortish distance from Dublin - in the book the two kids cycle to Aras an Uachtarain to get their dad's name cleared.

I vaguely remember something like this, though it would have been the 90s when I read it.

DublinWriter wrote: »

We also had a copy of Edin Bylton's 'Three Little Sambos' in our school library.

Our school still had Bylton's Golliwog books (this was the late 1990s). Strange thing is in my innocence I never actually realised what the Golliwogs were meant to represent, I always assumed they were just some generic fantasy creature like leprechauns or fairies.

Rainbow_brite wrote: »

Between 1st and 4th class I had the witches broom and the magic pencil. I remember that fairy ring story as well (I'm not sure if it was also in one of these books)! There was also a story about a man who kidnapped bad children and put then in a sack on his back! very strange.

IIRC The Magic Pencil was 3rd class and The Witch's Broom 4th Class. The former contained a Flat Stanley story, I found the illustrations for this story very creepy for some reason (it was the same style as those for the Irish Siúl Liom, Rith Liom, etc, series).

The great thing about school books back then was that the stories were actually entertaining, the cynical part of me imagines that today's books are full of over-PC'd drivel. Maybe I'm wrong though.

The Crowman · 01-03-2019 12:15pm

Skerries wrote: »

i remember a story from secondary which was a kind of Sliding Doors tale
it was about an Irish mother and her only son who she adored and at the end of it the son comes down the hill too quickly and rather than hit their chicken he swerves and is killed and the mother in her grief says he should have run it over and she would still have her only son
Then the story is told from the point of view that he did kill the chicken and the mother knows he did it and never talks to him again

also i remember there was a story by H.G.Wells about a man in Victorian England who was able to make artificial diamonds but was destitute because he couldn't sell them for some reason

I remember this one. If I recall correctly the son was after getting news that he was accepted into college or gained a scholarship or something like that and he was excited to tell the news, that's why he was cycling so fast and hit the chicken. I think in the version where he survives the mother humiliates him in front of the neighbours and he goes off and she never sees him again.

branie2 · 02-03-2019 8:13pm

I remember a story in one book called Mr Bagman, who brought kids home to his wife to cook.

05-03-2019 2:52pm

The Crowman wrote: »

I remember this one. If I recall correctly the son was after getting news that he was accepted into college or gained a scholarship or something like that and he was excited to tell the news, that's why he was cycling so fast and hit the chicken. I think in the version where he survives the mother humiliates him in front of the neighbours and he goes off and she never sees him again.

Its called " The Story of the Widows Son" by Mary Lavin from an Exploring English book. This brings back memories!

Nekarsulm · 05-03-2019 3:04pm

I remember The Confirmation Suit story, I think.
Had the suit "buttons the size of saucers" in the boys opinion?
His mother died later that year and he wore the hated suit to the funeral, tears streamibg down his face.

The HG Wells one about the diamonds was read in our national school. This guy perfected a way to make artificial dismonds, but needed to keep a roaring coal fire goung fir a long period to replicate the volcano like conditions necessary.
He sold everything he owned to keep buying coal, but died as the process was just sbout completed.

Hangdogroad · 22-12-2019 12:31pm

Does anyone remember an Irish book in secondary school circa late 80's that had the following illustration which was presented in a comic strip style? A lad is shown drinking in a pub with his buddies. Next hes getting into a car clearly plastered, weirdly, the car has a human face and is looking at the fella with a worried expression. Next the car is shown crashing into a lampost and yer man is smashing through the windscreen.

HildaOgdenx · 23-12-2019 10:40am

Firetrap wrote: »

I just googled First Confession and found this web page that has the texts for Janey Mary, First Confession and the Confirmation Suit on it.

We had Links in our school but I genuinely can't remember anything from it

Nekarsulm wrote: »

I remember The Confirmation Suit story, I think.
Had the suit "buttons the size of saucers" in the boys opinion?
His mother died later that year and he wore the hated suit to the funeral, tears streamibg down his face.

I always loved The Confirmation Suit. It's linked in the post above.

It was the dressmaker who died and he wore the suit to her funeral, without his coat, even though it was pouring rain.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 23-12-2019 5:44pm

I remmeber an Irish story about some guy who stopped eating porridge becaue everyone in his family put salt in it without thinking everyone else had forgotten to.

I don't remember how it ended, but it's very possible there wasn't an ending. It just stopped.0

Pawwed Rig · 23-12-2019 7:49pm

HildaOgdenx wrote: »

I always loved The Confirmation Suit. It's linked in the post above.

It was the dressmaker who died and he wore the suit to her funeral, without his coat, even though it was pouring rain.

We did that in a school play one year. Did Brendan Beehan write it?

Strange Stories in English Books in the 80s

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