Here Germany will write their part of the story by December 13.

Escalation
the problem gets worse!

To present the story to our children we first made rod puppets. With the help of the rod puppets Carmen und Robert told the story to the children. Afterwards they helped the children to be creativ and to continue the story.

“First of all you have to win an eating contest against our invincible monster.” The eyes of the four friends were filled with fear and shock. How should they be able to win the contest? Meanwhile the octopus disappeared into the house. Wouldn’t the four friends felt so shocked they could have heard the octopus rattling and swearing in the kitchen. After a short time the octopus came back carrying two big cakes on its tentacles. Alfons, the donkey, the yellow mouse and the ugly dug followed the octopus to a picnic area. The movement was able to end the state of shock and everybody talked at once. You heard the donkey whine: “We will never make it!” Alfons was very despaired and spoke with shakier voice: “I’ll never see my dad again! What shall I do?” “Oh, don’t worry. It won’t be so bad because the monster also has just one stomach.” meant the yellow mouse delighted. “Just one stomach?” asked the ugly dug to be assured of it. Everybody believed the yellow mouse and now they discussed which one should compete against the monster. The yellow mouse was quite sure of itself that it could win against the monster. The others trusted the mouse and so it was decided. The cat, the monster and the octopus looked very amused as the yellow mouse faced the monster. It didn’t let itself be irritated by the laughter and asked the monster innocent: “Tell me you lovely monster could you show me how fast you can eat a cake? I would like to know if I even have a chance to compete against you.” “That I can show you!” answered the driveling monster and ate the cake as big as a cartwheel in five seconds. The yellow mouse clapped it hands and said dignified: “You are a real winner at the eating contest, but I still want to try my luck.” Meanwhile the octopus replaced the cake with a new one. The eating contest could begin and the cat shouted out loud: “Ready! Steady! Go!” The yellow mouse started to eat its cake with small bides while the monster took big pieces out of its own cake. However the spectators could observe that the monster had its problems. It was getting slower and slower till it had to stop at all and moaned: “I can’t go on! My stomach is full and hurts a lot! Ouch!” And so it happened, that the mouse was the first to lick the last crumbs from its lips and won the contest.

The four friends felt very happy and embraced the mouse warmly. The cat felt angry and hissed: “You were lucky the first time. At the next task you won’t be so fortune. You have to race around the pond to the wooden house. Who will run against me?” Alfons, the donkey, the yellow mouse and the ugly dug looked into their faces and thought about, who could most likely win the race. “Let me full fill the task. I already have an idea how I can defeat the cat.” With these words the ugly duck went to the start line which was just some meters from the pond. The octopus gave the signal. The cat whizzed with no sound on all four paws and after some seconds was out of sight. On the contrary the ugly dug shambled as fast as it could to the pond. Once arrived at it element it swum like lightning through the water. To everyone’s surprise the ugly dug finished first. Alfons, the donkey and the yellow mouse – last one was sitting between the ears of the donkey – arrived out of breath by the ugly dug and embraced it. Two tasks were already complete. The third one would probably be the hardest of all. The cat was still out of breath and not amused. With just a bitter look it conferred the talking to the octopus.

This took a step forward and spoke with a dramatic voice to the four friends: “One of you will FIGHT against ME. If you win you will receive the magic word. If you DON’T than you can go home!” The yellow mouse held on to the ears of the donkey and leaned forward until it could see into the donkeys eyes. “It seems that it should be a nice task for you, shouldn’t it?” “You’re right! I always wanted to try my abilities against so many arms.” responded the donkey. Alfons said very quietly to himself: “These are no arms! They are called tentacles. But who cares.” The yellow mouse jumped from the head of the donkey to the shoulder of Alfons. From there it would have a clear position to watch the fight. The donkey and the octopus faced each other and bowed their heads. On the command of the cat they started the fight. Tentacles, hoofs and ears flew through the air and often you could hear a grunt or a painful outcry. The octopus seemed to have a big advantage in this fight because of it eight tentacles but after a while an idea formed in the head of the donkey. Momentarily the octopus had two tentacles around the ears and two tentacles around the hind legs of the donkey. The donkey used the opportunity to roll forward. Again and again the donkey rolled and pulled with his whole body the tentacles till in seconds the octopus was entangled. This way the four friends won all three tasks. Now they looked anxiously to the cat and waited for the magic word. …