The Day Spelco got Outsmarted by a Mango

Written by: Rebbecca Hemmings

Ideas by: Class 3S from Harborne Primary School, Birmingham, UK

The children were asked to respond to the title: What happened When the Food Came to Life

This was their response...

There was once a grumpy wizard called Spelco, who lived in a very big house in the middle of Bangalore, India. He spent many of his days creating spells and potions. He often helped rich people get whatever they wanted and they paid him very handsomely for his magic. However, his spells were not always perfect. Sometimes they went very wrong.

Once he turned a young lady’s head into that of a snail’s. All her parents had asked was to make her more beautiful. Her father was so angry and beat Spelco with a stick. As he beat the wizard he repeated Spelco’s name 3 times and all of a sudden his daughter turned back to normal. That was how Spelco learnt how to undo his spells. But from that day onwards he decided to work even harder on his magic so that mistakes like that never happened again. He could not afford to lose the business that the noble people of Bangalore gave him.

One day whilst creating a spell and preparing lunch in his kitchen, Spelco heard a knock on the door. When he opened his front door he saw a very poor family. Every single one of them was smiling at him.

He asked them very coldly “Why are you peasants knocking on my door?”

Anand (the oldest child of the family) answered brightly; “We are a very poor family who live on the road just down the road from here. We smelt the beautiful aroma of food coming from your house and we wondered if you might be so kind to share some with us?”

Spelco was far from impressed. He did not like poor people. He thought they were smelly and dirty and most of all, he could not understand why they didn’t get up off their lazy bottoms and work to get money. He thought they were a waste of space.

“Get away from my door! I will give you nothing!”

With that, he slammed the door and went back to his kitchen to eat his lunch and finish his spell which involved cooking a chicken head, a pig’s trotter and tiger’s tongues. When he had finished he decided that he wanted to go for a walk down the road to help digest his food. When he opened his front door, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. Anand, his mum, his dad, his little sister and their dog were all standing in the same place he had left then hours ago and they were still smiling. He was furious!

“What is wrong with you crazy people? I am not giving you my food, you fools!”

Anand and his family were very patient people and understood that sometimes rich people did not understand the way they lived. Rich people often thought they were good for nothing, but that was far from the truth. They worked very hard to find work but often people did not want to employ them because they looked poor and the smelled. The family often went days without food so the often the only way to get some was to beg for it. Begging required a lot of patience. They wished things were different.

Anand said “Please sir, we are all very hungry and we will even eat the scraps you give to your dogs. Feed us once and we will never bother you again.”

Spelco would not be convinced. He said “Oh I will make sure you never bother me again! You want food. I will give you food!”

The whole family smiled even more. As Anand was about to say “Thank you”, the miserable wizard angrily said “I will turn you into my favourite food; mangoes. Then I will eat you one by one until you are all out of my life forever, you pestering idiots!”

At hearing those words, Anand’s father told his family to run but it was too late. Spelco said “Bili bili bango, bili bili bango turn these fools into juicy mangoes!”

Straight away there was a loud noise that sounded a bit like a vacuum. The family started shrink and turn orange and in no time at all they had all been turned into mangoes which all sat on a mango tree. Spelco laughed an evil laugh as he picked up the tree and planted it into his back garden. As he was planting his said to himself, “That will teach you all a lesson forever. Maybe if you had done something with your lives you would have come to a better ending. Now when I eat you, you will be gone forever. Well, if I was really kind I would say my name times to bring you back to life. But why would I do that?” He laughed as he skipped back to the house.

What Spelco did not realise was that even though he turned the family into mangoes, Anand’s transformation wasn’t quite complete. Anand was still able to use his brain and he was still able to see. Once again one of Spelco’s spells was faulty. Anand called out to his family:

“Mummy, daddy, little sister, doggie! Can you hear me?”

But all the other mangoes sat still on the tree, lifeless.

“Oh my! What am I going to do? The wizard is going to eat us all very soon and then we will be gone forever! What shall I do?”

Then he remembered what the wizard had said whilst he was planting their tree.

“Ah ha, all I have to do is say his name three times and then we will go back to being human again. Oh yes! But err… what was his name? I have forgotten!”

Anand squeezed his brain very tightly and tried to remember the wizard’s name. But because his brain was now a lot smaller, he found it difficult to remember things. At that very moment Spelco came walking down the garden path to the tree.

“Right, I am hungry, it is time to eat my precious mangoes.” Spelco laughed as his picked Anand’s dog from the tree.

Anand cried out “No! Please don’t eat my doggie, he is my best friend!”

But Spelco could not hear Anand’s tiny voice and even if he could, it probably wouldn’t have made any difference. Spelco, bit into the mango several times until he had eaten the whole thing.

Anand cried as the horror unfolded before his little mango eyes. Spelco wiped the juice from his lips and said “Mmm… that was one of the tastiest mangoes I have ever eaten.”

He then picked Anand’s little sister from the tree and took a huge bite.

“God, oh God please help us, this wizard is destroying my family before my very eyes. What have we done to deserve this? Please oh please, help me to remember his name. Was it Spelly? Spiko? Oh why can’t I remember?”

Of course Spelco could not hear any of this and even if he did. He wouldn’t have cared; he was too busy enjoying himself eating the delicious fruits. Once he had finished eating Anand’s little sister, he then picked Anand’s Mum from the tree.

Anand went bonkers “Oh you wicked wizard! I will not let you destroy my family. We might be poor but we are just as valuable as any other human being! I know your name, I know your name! Spelco, Spelco, Spelco!” He has remembered!

All of a sudden, Spelco dropped the mango from his hand as it started to grow back into a full grown woman, Anand’s mother. Anand and his father also turned back to normal!

“Run, mummy, run daddy! I am going to get my little and sister and our dog back!”

They did what he said and ran as fast as they could. Whilst they were running his mother shouted “Be careful my son.”

This all happened so quickly that Spelco was startled. Anand quickly broke a branch off the tree and he started to beat Spelco. Spelco cried out!

“Ow! Please stop. I am sorry! Ow”

But Anand continue to beat him like a crazed boy. “You ate my sister and my dog. I want them back you wicked Wizard!”

At that moment, Spelco fell on the floor. He looked very pale. Anand stopped beating him and watched as the wizard held his stomach in pain. Then his stomach made a loud growling noise and Spelco wriggled and writhed. Then as quick as you could say his name, Spelco vomited a huge orange mess. It was all the mangoes he had eaten. Anand seized his opportunity and said:

“Spelco, Spelco, Spelco!”

As he had hoped, out of the orange messed two figures started to form. It was his sister and his dog. When they were back to normal he ran to them and hugged them. He then told them to run back to their cardboard home down the road. They obeyed and ran as quickly as they could.

Spelco was still on the floor exhausted. He felt awful for what he had done. He had witnessed just how hard Anand had fought for his family and he had gained a new found respect for him and his family. He realised that the love they had for each other could not be broken and that they were prepared to do anything to protect each other. He had never seen someone work so hard for what they wanted. He said;

“Boy, I am very sorry for the pain I have caused you and your family. I looked down on you because you are all poor. But I have learned today that you are very strong, courageous people, who are willing to fight for what you believe. Please forgive me.”

Anand was still very cross; “You think we are nobodies because we have no money. Yes, we have no money but we are smart, we are loving people and have each other. No amount of money can buy that. I wouldn’t change my family for all the money in the world. You have all this money but you are miserable. All we asked you for was some of your scrap food and you wouldn’t even give us that!”

Tears started to fall from Spelco’s eyes. As he wept, he said “Please let me right my wrongs. I will give you and your family work so that you never have to beg again. You will be able to afford your own home and live a more comfortable life. I will not take no for an answer. What I have done is very wrong.”

Spelco kept his word; he provided work around the house from Anand, his mother and his father whilst Anand’s little sister and dog often played in his huge garden. Spelco grew very close to the family and that made him very happy indeed. He had learnt a huge lesson that day: having lots of money does not bring lots of happiness but having people around who love and care for you makes you very happy indeed.

The End

*FREE Workshops for residents of Edgbaston, Quinton, Harborne

Get started in growing your own veg and learn more about E.A.T (Edgbaston Arts Table) at Winterbourne House and Garden.

Dates
Tuesday 17th April’ 12 / 11am-1pm
Wednesday 18th April / 3pm-5pm
Thursday 19th April / 5pm-7pm


The dynamic agency for South Asian arts, sampad, and one of the UK’s busiest theatres, Birmingham Hippodrome will be providing opportunities for people in Harborne, Edgbaston, Quinton and Bartley Green to roll up their sleeves and get creative as part of Birmingham City Council’s groundbreaking ‘Arts Champions’ initiative.


The scheme aims to bring the city’s residents closer to Birmingham’s world-class arts scene. Why not come along to one of the FREE skills workshops, kindly provided by staff at Winterbourne House and Garden to learn how to start growing your own veg and meet the team at Edgbaston Arts Table to hear more about arts activities in your area.

Cost: FREE to residents of Harborne, Edgbaston, Quinton and Bartley Green*
*Offered on a 1st come 1st served basis, workshop suitable for 16+yrs


Where: Winterbourne House and Garden, University of Birmingham, 58 Edgbaston Park Road, Edgbaston B15 2RT


How to book: E: education@birminghamhippodrome.com T: 0121 689 3064/3192

The Monster who Drank the Rainbow

Written by Rebbecca Hemmings

Children at Cannon Hill Park in Edgbaston were involved in an interactive Story making session.
This is the Monster they created.....

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There was once a place called Happy Village. It was called this because all the people there were very happy. They were always smiling, laughing and generally doing things that made them happy. Every time a villager saw another person, they would smile a big smile, wave a huge wave and gave each other massive hugs.

They did lots of things that made them happy. They played football. They went to the beach. They played lots of games. But the thing they liked doing more than anything was baking cakes. All kinds of cakes were baked every day. Every day the air in Happy Village was filled with the lovely smells of baked cakes. Lemon cakes, chocolate cakes, orange cakes, blueberry cakes, cherry cakes, strawberry cakes, cakes with sprinkles on, cakes with butter icing, and cupcakes. In fact they baked every kind of cake you can imagine. Baking and eating cakes made everyone even happier than they were before.

Well, except one person. The monster that lived in a cave on the edge of the village was very unhappy. He always wore a big frown on his face. He was sad because his job was to scare people but the people of the village were not scared of him. They were so happy that he could not make them sad. He had tried his hardest to scare the people by making ugly faces, jumping out at people and roaring, he even tried to wake people up from their sleep. But nothing worked! The people would just smile at him, give him a hug and offer him some cake.

This made him sad. He felt he was not a real monster. Real monsters were supposed to make people sad and scare them. He had not done that. So he stayed in his cave away from the people trying to think of ways to make the people unhappy. He thought that if he could make the people sad it would make him happy. He wanted to be happy more than anything in the world.

One day, on a walk back from drinking from the river, the monster noticed it had started to rain. As usual the people came out of their houses and danced and laughed in the rain. He rolled his eyes and grumbled, then started to walk back to his cave. Just before he stepped into his house, the sun came out. He then noticed the rainbow appear. All of a sudden the people cheered and danced, like it was Christmas. They had not seen the rainbow in months.

“Let’s have a rainbow party!” Said a villager.

The whole village cheered, some ran to get cakes, others skipped to get the party decorations and others hugged and danced around each other. The monster observed all of this miserably. That was until a brilliant thought entered his head. If he got rid of the rainbow (this thing that made the people even happier than when they were baking cakes), he would make them really sad. He saw the big straw he had used to drink from the river. He grinned and ran to the end of the rainbow.

Straight away he put the straw in his mouth and started to suck from the end of the rainbow. He drank the rainbow all up! When he had finished, the sky went dark and it started to thunder and rain. The people who were dancing in the street stopped, they looked at the monster in disbelief. Then as the monster had hoped, their huge smiles turned all the way down and they all became very sad. They were so sad that one by one they started to cry. The crying became so loud that it was almost became deafening. The monster smiled and skipped back home.

“Finally!” he said to himself. “I have made them sad! Yippee, I’m a real monster!” He danced a silly dance all the way back to his cave.

However, when he got home, he had a  horrible feeling in his stomach. He did not like it. He realised that he was feeling very bad. He felt bad that he had made the people cry. The people had not done anything bad to him. All they had done was smile at him, hug him and bake cakes for him. In fact they had been very kind to him.

He thought “If being horrible makes me feel like this, then I do not want to be like other monsters.”

He decided he needed to make people happy again. The only problem was, he did not know what to do. This made him really upset, so sad that he started to cry. He sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. He cried so much that his tears started to go into his mouth. When they did, he noticed they had a beautiful taste. He had never tasted something so yummy in his life! He licked his lips and fell in love with the taste. Then he noticed a tear drop on his lap, and he was amazed! His tear contained all the colours of the rainbow. He could not believe it! The rainbow had not only made his tears taste delicious and they were also the same colours as the rainbow! This made the monster very happy as now he knew what he had to do.

The Monster ran around his cave and found all the sad movies he could find. He puts lots of jugs around him. He sat down on his sofa and watched the movies. These movies made him so unhappy that cried and cried and cried, like a big baby. As he cried, his tears splashed into the jugs. When he had enough tears, he smiled and got to work. He put all the ingredients together and baked hundreds of cupcakes using his tasty tears. They looked like the rainbow and tasted marvellous!

Once they were all baked, he ran out excitedly to the people with his cupcakes. He had a huge smile on his face but the people did not.

“What are you smiling at, you big bully?” said a little man. “You have made us all very upset and grumpy!”

“I am very very sorry. I should not have done it. But look, I have made some delicious cakes to make you happy again!” Said the monster.

 “We don’t want anything from you!  All these years you have tried to make us sad just like you and now finally you have. You have even taken our rainbow! We do not need anything from you, thank you very much.” said a woman who sounded very annoyed.

The monster talked to them again, “But, I have made these for you all. They are rainbow cakes. They taste beautiful, you will love them.”

“Keep them!” said the old man. With that, the villagers turned around and started to walk away. However, a little girl went up to the monster with her little sad face. She slowly took one of the cakes from the monster and she took a bite. As soon as she did that, her feet started to shake. Her knees began to wobble. Before she knew it, she was dancing like she had never danced before. She screamed out to the villagers, “Woo hoo! These cakes taste amazing! I feel happier than ever! You must try one!”

One by one the villagers curiously took a rainbow cupcake from the monster, never taking their eyes off him. As they did that their feet shook, their knees wobbled and they started to dance like they were on stage. They could not believe how happy the cakes had made them.

The rain stopped and the sun shone on the entire village.

“Wow these cakes look and taste great!” said the old man.

“How did you make them?” said the womanly, curiously.

“I made them with the essence from the rainbow.” Said the monster.

“These are the best tasting cakes I have ever had! Rainbow cakes are beautiful!” Said the little girl.

The villagers carried on dancing and celebrating. When all the cakes were finished, the monster smiled. The happy dancing villagers said “Thank you!” The monster had done what he came to do. As he was walking away, he felt a little tap on his shoulder. He turned around, it was the little girl.

She said, “Thank you for making us happy again.”

 “That’s okay. I am really sorry for what I did. I just wanted to be happy but being horrible does not make me happy. It makes me feel really awful and I do not like feeling awful.” said the monster.

The villagers stopped dancing and listened.

 “Monster, now that you are happy too. Why don’t you come and live in the village with us? We will make sure you never get sad again. You could bake more of your rainbow cakes for us.”

“Really? You would like me, a monster to live in the village?”

All the people nodded and smiled. The monster thought about it for a while and said, “Well, to be honest, I don’t think I have what it takes to be a scary monster. Yes, thank you I would love to live in the village.”

Everybody cheered and the old man shouted “Let’s celebrate!” With that, all the people danced and ate until the sun went down.

After that day, no one (including the monster) was ever unhappy ever again.

The monster had learned a very valuable lesson: Making others sad, makes you feel sad but making people happy, makes you very, very happy indeed. He liked being happy.

How the Worst Meal Turned into the Best Occasion Ever!

Written by Rebbecca Hemmings

Ideas created by: John, David, Jackie, Phillip, David, Leslie, Martin, Leana, Helen, Pam, Steve and Jimmy from the California Church, Quinton, Birmingham.

The creators of this story were challenged with coming up with a tale that suitably matched the title, based on their own experiences with food.

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“I’ve had enough of this!” said John to his team mate David.

“This is the seventh time in row we have lost a match! I mean 32 to 2 is just unheard of!”

John was referring to the fact that his football team Quinton Villa had been at the bottom of the league for well over a year. Coincidentally, the same amount of time they inherited a new manager the notorious Roger Quagmire. He had become manager automatically after his brother Simon had suddenly passed away whilst on a trip abroad.

Roger Quagmire was a nasty piece of work, unlike his brother Simon had been. Simon had managed the Quinton Villa for 6 years. All the players loved him. He was mild-manner, fair and an all-round great person to be around; everything that his brother Roger was not.  It seemed that all Roger was interested in was his status as a football team manager and sponsorship money. He was constantly shouting at the players and putting them down. This led to team moral being very low.

John felt really awful that as captain of the team, he could not inspire his team to do better during games. He was really getting worked up.

“Calm down John. I have an idea. What we need to do as a team is have some fun. Let’s all go out for a meal or something without what’s- his- face and relax and have fun just like we did in the good ‘ole days. We just need to take our mind of the game for a little while. These loses are becoming a drain on our energy” Said David.

So, the guys had all agreed to meet at Raj Indian Restaurant to drown their sorrows with lots of drinks and to fill their hard-working bodies with spicy Indian treats. Everyone knew not to tell Roger.

“Isn’t this great?” said John to his fellow team mates as that sat around the table at the restaurant.

“...us meeting together like this, having fun, for once. Ok, so we’ve had a bad patch but we know we’re brilliant players, we just need to relax and recoup sometimes, without him always breathing down our necks.”

“Too right!” Shouts a player.

“Miserable old dog. He told me I’m a rubbish striker and always will be. How am I supposed to play a good game when I’ve got those words in my head?” shouted the Striker of the team.

“We are an outstanding team when we put our minds to it and the best is yet to come. We just need to get our minds in the right place. Look, we’ve done it in the past. When Simon was here we were top of the league. We can do it again! We really can. So, we don’t have the best manager in the world, but we can still win if we just focus on it. Come on lads, let’s raise our glasses to the future success of the Quinton Villa!” roared John.

Without any hesitation the players raised their glasses and bellowed a loud cheer, only to be abruptly interrupted by an unwanted familiar voice.

“Hello lads, fancy seeing you here!”

It was none other than Roger Quagmire, their team manager. All the players’ faces dropped, as Roger rudely grabbed a chair from a neighbouring table and pushed a player out of the way to make room for him. John could not believe that he had found out about their secret meeting. What was going to be a lovely, agro free time without their tyrant manager was now turning into a nightmare meal.

Roger ignorantly clicked his fingers at the waiter and demanded a chicken vindaloo: “…of the hottest kind!”

“A fiery hot meal for a real red-blooded man! Not of this korma rubbish like what John’s got. Wimp! No wonder you can’t play a decent game! I don’t know how you became Captain anyway. Simon must have been soft in the head when he chose you!” Remarked Roger.

John sat quietly, biting his tongue. The other players just stared into their dishes, wishing they were somewhere else.

“So lads, you forgot my invite.” Said Roger, looking around at the players.

There was silence around the table, no one dared to look up.

“It’s alright; you don’t have to say anything. You pay a cleaner a few extra bob and they’ll tell you anything you want to know. Not much gets past me.”

John was annoyed but he decided it was best to hold his tongue. He could see that the other players had lost their enthusiasm for the meal. Roger had just taken over. He had taken the opportunity to berate the players about their ‘poor’ performance on the pitch, again! He told them how he was ashamed of them and that the only reason he stuck with them is to honour his brother’s memory. All the players knew that the real reason was because he earned quite a lot of money from being their manger. They would do almost anything to get rid of him but they were stuck as they knew Simon was very fond of his brother and wanted to see him do well.

Roger was increasingly getting on everyone’s nerves, including the restaurant staff. He kept shouting at the waiters, to: “bring the food quicker!” and to, “Make sure the food is hot enough”. The players bowed their heads in shame. None of them were brave enough to say anything to try and kerb his bad behaviour.

Finally, Roger got up to go to the bathroom, not before rudely ordering the waiter to have his chocolate gateau waiting for him when he returns, “Or else!”

 When he was gone the players all breathed a sigh of relief.

“I don’t know how much more of this I can take, he’s doing my head in!” retorted one player.

“He’s ruined our entire night out. I might as well have stayed at home with the Mrs.” said another.

“Lads, I’m really sorry. I don’t know what else to say.” said John sorrowfully.

David stood up and smiled.

“What are you smiling at? There really is nothing to smile about.”  Said John, puzzled.

 “Oh, there will be. Look, I know a way we can give Old Roger here a taste of his own medicine.” replied David. With that he reached into his pocket and took out a box of what looked like medication. He told them that they were tablets to help him with his ‘toilet problem’. Some of the guys looked confused. He explained that he sometimes had a problem ‘going to the toilet.’

John asked “What do mean, like doing a pee?”

Smiling, David shook his head. He told them that these tablets helped to make ‘everything’ a lot softer and easier to leave his body. The men all rolled in laughter.

A player asked, “Do you mean that it’s gives you the runs?”

David’s lips turned into a huge grin. The other player’s faces started to brighten up as they listened keenly.

“So what are you planning to do?” asked the striker.

“Well with a little help from our waiter friend, who is just as sick and tired of Roger as we are! Let’s just say that that chocolate gateau will be a dessert our Roger will not forget in a hurry.”

At that precise moment Roger returned. At the same time the waiter placed Roger’s ‘tailor-made’ chocolate gateau in front of him.

“Ah great, so you lazy idiots are good for something?” Yes, I do love my desserts; this gateau is about to get pulverised!”

All the players, fought hard to hold back their laughter as they quietly watched Roger gulp chomp on and gulp down the dessert like a starving chimpanzee.

John couldn’t resist asking, “How’s the gateau Roger?”

“Not as good as the one my mum used to make but it’s a close second. Whoever knew these imbeciles could produce such a tasty dessert? Ah, but thinking about it, they probably bought it. They don’t look like they would know how to make something as delicious as...”

Roger stopped mid sentence as his stomach growled. All the players watched him intently.

“What’s the matter Roger?” Asked John with a fake look of concern on his face?

“Err... nothing, just a bit of wind. I’m alright, nothing a man can’t handle. Said Roger, meekly.

All of a sudden Roger let out the loudest fart ever. The whole restaurant went silent and turned in Roger’s direction. His face went pale in embarrassment.

“What are you all looking at? Haven’t you ever heard a man let out a bit of gas before? Nosey beggars! Turned around and eat your…”

By now his face had turned bright red. He has put down his fork and he gripped his stomach, clearly in discomfort. At that moment, he let out an even louder and longer fart than the first one. It sounded very wet and bubbly. Daniel couldn’t help saying:

“Roger mate that reeks, I think you need to get yourself to the toilet!”

The others players stifled their laughter as they watched their manager wriggle in clear discomfort.

Roger stood up and started to painfully walk away from the table as he started to say “That’s a good...”

Then he all of a sudden he froze.   The players froze, the waiters froze, in fact the whole restaurant froze as they stared at Roger’s trousers in disbelief.

Daniel broke the silence by saying, “Mate, it looks like you’ve had an accident.”

With that, the whole place came alive with roars of laughter from the players and snorts of disgust from some restaurant guests. Some of players fell off their chairs as they howled at Roger’s unfortunate accident. Some people got up and left their food on the tables as they hurriedly paid the waiters so they could be removed from the stench of Roger’s mishap. Others (mainly the players) started getting their phones and cameras out and took pictures of the infamous Roger Quagmire with the suspicious looking smelly, brown patch on the back of his trousers.  Before he had a chance to open his mouth, his most embarrassing moment of his career was being uploaded to Facebook and Twitter and was being sent to people’s loved ones via picture messages.

John felt a little sorry for Roger, for a split second, and then he remembered just how badly he had treated them over the years. He had had the team at near breaking point! With those thoughts he suggested that they move to a pub or somewhere where he said:

“It doesn’t stink as much!”

With that the football team got up, cheering, shouting and laughing as they left the restaurant carrying Daniel and John on their shoulders. Behind them they could just about hear the manager of the restaurant telling Roger in an angry mixture of Punjabi and English, that he isn’t going anywhere until he cleaned his rotten, stinking mess from their award winning restaurant and paid them for the lost custom.

And that readers, is how the creators of this story decided how the worst meal turned into the best occasion ever!