Seamus Monkey's Travels

A travel story for children

Once there was a monkey called Seamus on holiday with his monkey friends. You say his name shay-muss, not sea mouse. A sea mouse is a mouse who hides in the sea away from the cats.

There he was drinking Greek milk on the beach and going as red as a pillar box with the heat. Over in the sea there is a speedboat going past towing a monkey on a parachute with a long bit of stretchy string.

Being in the sky being pulled by a boat looked like a lot of fun and Seamus wanted to try it straight away. He went over to the water and paid the owner of the boat some money to pull him along.

First they got the parachute on the ground behind him, and they tied it to his body with stretchy ropes. Then he had to run towards the water as fast as he could so the parachute could catch the wind and lift him up.

"On your marks" Said the boat man.. Seamus got ready..

"Get set.." Seamus got ready to run, and took a deep breath.

"Go!" Said the driver, and set off, fast in the boat.

Seamus ran as fast as he could towards the water, dragging the parachute behind him, closer and closer to the water then suddenly..

"Ooh!" He looked down and his feet were dangling in the air. The parachute had caught the wind and was now high above him. He was still tied to the boat by the stretchy string and it was pulling him along through the air.

"Wooww" Seamus was really excited, he looked down at the beach where the other monkeys were watching and waving. They looked so small now, as they were far away down on the ground.

He was in the air, he was flying through the air!

Suddenly there was a creak, then a crack and the string holding him to the boat began to strain and then to snap.

"Oh no!" Seamus cried in fright, there was no way for him to get back down. He could see the boat in the sea far below circling and waving at him. "Heeeellppp!"

Up and up he went, through the clouds and over land and over sea. Luckily he kept a banana in his cardigan and some coconut milk to drink in case he was thirsty. He passed a huge boat where there was a party going on. He waved at people below enjoying themselves. They waved back, they thought he was enjoying the ride.

"Help me down!" He shouted, but the people didnt speak like him. They thought he was saying hello and shouted "Help me down" back at him again and again and waved.

Suddenly he saw a big wellington boot in the sea. What a silly place to leave it, he thought. No it wasn’t a boot it was a big bit of land. When he got closer he saw loads of people down there singing songs about ice cream. Everywhere he looked he could see people walking around eating ice cream or driving fast red cards. When he got closer he saw a big tall tower, only somebody had bent it sideways. Thats a bit silly, thought Seamus. Why do they build sidesways towers like that? Maybe the people inside had one leg shorter than the other.

He had heard of this place before, it was called Italy, and the people who lived there were called Italians. They liked the letter o so much they put it on the end of every word. A bit liko thiso? Yeaho somathingo lika thato. Sometimes they eat spaghetti, which is like soft string you can eat. They really like it there, and it is warm, like where you go on holidays.

But off he went up the snowy hills, watching people go down on skis, and he waved at them. In fact they were so busy waving that they were not watching where they were going and nearly went into a tree.

He shouted down at them "Hellooooo..."

and somebody shouted back "Yodelayyeeeeeee!" He heard it echo around him, when you hear the same words again once or twice after you say them

"Yodelayyyeeehooo" The voice came again. It was a man in strange green shorts and a pointy hat on the hill top. With him he had a shaggy dog called Saint Bernard who always carried a little barrel of brandy around his neck in case he was found anybody who was thirsty on a mountain.

"Get me dooowwwnn!" Yelled Seamus back at him.
"Yodellayyeeewhhhaaatt??" Said the man. Oh heck, another one who couldnt understand him. Off he went again.

Seamus flew on down nearer to the ground. It was nice and sunny down here, but it smelled a bit funny, like onions or something. He came near a big city with a metal tower right in the middle of it. He thought if he could reach it he could climb down inside to the ground.

Could he do it? The wind was blowing him nearer to it.. and nearer. On the ground he could see people wearing striped tops and black hats, waving long rolls of bread at him.

"Hello! Can you help me?" He yelled. The people on the ground shrugged their shoulders and sat down to watch him.
"Ello.. can we elp you mankey?" They said back.

Mankey, who's manky? Thought Seamus. "Help. Me. Down!" He yelled.

The metal tower was closer and closer, he could see people on it drinking coffee and waving at him. He reached out to grab a railing, stretching his long monkey arms..

And suddenly the wind changed dragging him off again.. Over hills and through valleys, past trains and cars and lorrys on the road. Past houses and farms, past sheep and cows that said moo, past goats and horses that wanted a lift to a race.

Over the next hills he found himself in another country, warmer even than france or italy. People sat outside in the sun and enjoyed cold drinks and big sausages and tomatoes.

He slowly drifted down near a town square where people were gathering. Was something going to happen there? He watched as people lined up by a big lorry and took handfuls of tomatoes. Everybody took a handful. Mums and Dads, Children, Grandmas and Grandads, Uncles and Aunties each took an armful of tomatoes. A big man in a fancy suit came out on his balcony and waved. Then he blew a whistle.. and everybody started throwing the tomatoes at each other!

Splish! Sposh! Splat! Plop! Tomatoes were everywhere, some even hit Seamus, and he was really high up. Suddenly a Bull, like a big cow with huge horns charged down the street giving a big scary MOOOO and chased everybody down the streets till they ran indoors.

Seamus picked the tomato up that had landed on him and threw it at the Bull. It said MOOOO at him, and Seamus yelled "AArrgghh". Luckily he was getting higher and further away so the Bull couldnt get him.

It was afternoon now and Seamus was getting to the end of his banana. His Coconut milk was getting low too. If he didn't land soon he would be in real danger.

Suddenly he saw something on the seaside at the end of Spain. It was a big big rock, almost the size of a mountain. And on the top of it, was the last Big Red Phonebox in the world. This place was called Gibraltar.

The phone box was left on top of the mountain by the queen, just in case all the mobile phones in the world stopped working and she needed to ring somebody.

This was Seamus's last chance. As he drifted closer he got ready to grab the receiver, Nearly there, Seamus, don't miss it mate. He put his paw out and grabbed the receiver. The cord holding it to the phone stretched, and stretched and stretched. Through the reciever Seamus could hear the Queen saying "Hello.. is somebody wishing to speak to One?" One what? Strange woman.

The Cord began to twang back, launching Seamus back another way, towards the North, that’s upwards towards the North Pole. He went back over Spain, where people with mops and buckets were mopping up all the tomatoes and Bull poo, back through france where the people on the tower waved their bread sticks at him, up over the seaside where there were big lorries and supermarkets, back over the sea towards some big white cliffs. Now as every Monkey knows, when you get to the white cliffs, you are nearly home and your troubles are nearly over.

Below people shouted up at him, and he could understand them! They said "where are you going Monkey?"

"Home I think!" He shouted back. Somebody threw a bottle of nice cold water and a mars bar up to him, which he scoffed down in one gulp.

He flew past Buckingham palace where the Queen came out to watch, past the Houses of Parliment where they took the afternoon off to wave to him.

He flew past Piccadilly circus where the cars didn't seem to want to do any tricks, he passed a big clock called Ben, who tells the time every day.

Then suddenly he saw his own house high on the hill, nearer and nearer it came and finally he was home. He grabbed his telly ariel and hung the parachute on that. He climbed down to the ground like all monkeys can and let himself in the front door.

The other monkeys had been home ages and gave him a big cheer when he came in. They fed him bananas and ice cream and told him he had been on telly all day. All the other channels had been following him and they all talked about him in foreign languages on telly.

First the Italian news "Senoro Monkeyo makea da flightover da roma, den heada nort to pisa." The man said. Eh?

Austrian news was next "Das Eins Munky lieben up up away danka zweinzig lief Yodayel." What on earth were they talking about?

Then the french "Mis-yurr Minkey le appoachamont le tower eiffel quatre deux alpemant" Gosh, he had been around a few places today.

Finally the Spanish news "Senor Monkey latetette grosso paragliden up away rock de la gibralter"

Seamus Monkey was amazed! He had travelled around nearly six countries. The other Monkeys made some toast with jam and butter and to celebrate held their toast up together.

A Toast! To Seamus Monkey, traveller of the World! Hip hip Hurrey!