Fearless Susan - Part 3: Susan Meets the Kraken 🦑

This week, we have the conclusion to the current story of the would have been Cinderella who wasn’t – Fearless Susan, who so far has helped a troll with a sword stuck in its foot and rescued a dragon who was trapped under a boulder. She hasn’t felt scared yet, but she has picked up some new friends and special gifts – including the ability to talk to animals and monsters. She’s on her way with her horse Saoirse to the land of the sea queen to see if they can help deal with a kraken (a giant squid) who is breaking all the ships in the harbor.

I'm recovering from laryngitis which you may notice in the intro - just call me a little horse ;)!

New intro

Transcript

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♪ Foggy Oak Farm ♪♪ Foggy Oak Farm ♪♪ Come on down to ♪♪ Foggy Oak Farm ♪- Hi friends. Welcome to Foggy Oak Fairy Tales. Each week, we'll bring you a new story. Some weeks, we'll share a story based on what's been happening on our real-life Foggy Oak Farm, where we have all sorts of animals and adventures. Other weeks, we'll use our imaginations and create new adventures together. I'm so glad you're here. This week, we have part three of the would-have-been Cinderella who wasn't. Fearless Susan, who so far has helped a troll with a sword stuck in its foot and rescued a dragon who was trapped under a boulder. She hasn't felt scared yet, but she has picked up some new friends and special gifts, including the ability to talk to animals and monsters. She's on her way with her horse, Saoirse, to the land of the sea queen, to see if they can help deal with a kraken, also known as a giant squid, who is breaking all the ships in the harbor. Let's rejoin them now. After many days of traveling, they crossed into the sea queen's kingdom. A vast expansive ocean shone below them from the hill that they were on, and a harbor stretched out below them before the wide expanse of sea. Susan and Saoirse immediately understood the problem. In the harbor was very visible, the tentacles of a giant kraken wrapped around two ships that were attempting to move the tentacles off and clear the kraken out of the harbor. As they watched the two ships were snapped in two, as Saoirse jumped into the water to swim away from the sinking ships. It did look like a problem. Susan and Saoirse quickly made their way towards the queen's castle, the queen, who had cast calls for help far and wide, immediately admitted them. She was happy to speak with any adventurer who was willing to attempt to manage the kraken, and she confirmed that she was, indeed, offering part of her kingdom to anyone who was able to stop the kraken's attacks. Now Susan, I want you to understand, this is not for the faint of heart. I cannot imagine you're brave enough to tackle this issue. But of course, if you do it successfully, you will be as eligible as any other person to receive part of my kingdom and my eternal gratitude. Good luck! The queen said, dismissing Susan. Susan smiled, made a bow to the queen, pointed out this was precisely why she was here, and went back out to castle walls to reflect upon how she might be able to tackle this problem of the kraken. A little later, Susan and Saoirse made their way down to shore near the harbor. Susan had decided she needed some extra help. She pulled the dragon's scale out of her pack, and dipped it into the sea water. As she washed the scale in the lapping waves of the sea, she sang to call the dragon. Dragon, dragon, here my plea, hurry now and fly to me. She sang. In almost no time her friend the dragon appeared. Well, Susan, I was pleased to hear from you. How can I help you? The dragon said to Susan as she landed. Susan explained her plan, and shortly she had climbed on the dragon's back, and they were flying over the bay towards the kraken. Good luck! Saoirse called to them as they flew away. Susan and the dragon soared out over the shining harbor to the kraken. When they reached the area where the kraken was lurking, ships still bound in its tentacles, they carefully hovered above it, well out of the reach of its other tentacles. Susan called down to the kraken. Hello, kraken! Can you hear me? Me and my friend, dragon and I are flying up above you. Can you see us? Slowly, the kraken's body rotated in the water, until a gigantic eye was looking up at Susan and the dragon through the water. Then a rumbling rolling voice from deep within the water, spoke. What do you need of me? Susan was glad the kraken was talking to her and said,"The dragon and I are here to find out what's going on, and why ships keep getting destroyed in the harbor. It's very upsetting to the queen and the people of the sea kingdom is there something they could do to help you stop attacking ships?" Susan asked. There was a pause as the kraken took in this information. And then its voice rolled and rumbled out over the air again. As it turned out, the unfortunate kraken had been sent from its normal home, deep deep deep in the far sea, by a wizard who planned to take the sea kingdom for himself. The kraken was unwillingly transported to the harbor, and when it found itself there, it was beginning to try to leave when it was attacked by ships and guards who thought they were protecting the harbor, and the kraken needed to protect itself, so it had tried to clear the ships and guards away, but they kept coming and kept attacking. And as far as the kraken understood, any ship coming towards that meant pain and danger. So although it wasn't trying to hurt any people, it wasn't going to let any ships get close to it at this point. The harbor mouth was too narrow, and the kraken was afraid to try to slip out into the deep ocean by itself because it would be vulnerable and near the surface when it tried to leave, and it had no intention of coming into contact with more ships and people attacking it if it could help it. Susan and the dragon understood the problem. The kraken hadn't wanted to be there, and it didn't want to stay, but it couldn't leave because it would have to go by those ships and people when it tried to leave the harbor. They said a polite goodbye to the kraken and assured that they would be back soon. They immediately flew back to the palace and Susan went to the queen to explain what was going on. The queen understood and was horrified by the whole situation. She immediately issued orders for all ships and guards to move out of the harbor and down the coast well away from where the kraken would need to depart. Susan and the dragon flew back to the kraken to report this news and they were explaining the plan. The kraken was skeptical. It had already been attacked too many times. I've been attacked by too many ships at this point. The kraken rumbled. For me to go along with this plan you must ride on one of my tentacles. I will hold it above the water, but this way, if I am attacked, you are attacked too. You will ensure my safe passage out of this place. Susan as usual was not afraid and more than happy to do this for the kraken. Susan jumped into the sea. She swam over to one of the kraken's tentacles. It made a seat for her and lifted her gently out of the water. The dragon flew alongside them and with the size and speed of the gigantic kraken, they quickly exited the harbor and moved into deeper water. Well past anywhere the ships could get to them before the kraken could get away. The kraken raised its tentacle further so that Susan returned to the back of the dragon. She climbed from the crack-in onto the dragon's back and waved as they prepared to fly away. One moment, the kraken rumbled and disappeared deep under the dark water. In a few minutes, the kraken resurfaced."Because you helped me and got me away from this place so that I can return to my home, I will give you a gift that you can use to call me, should you have need of me." The kraken reached up with one of its long tentacles, offering Susan a beautiful shimmering shell."Turn this shell to your ear and call me and I will come wherever I may be. Thank you, Susan, and dragon." the kraken said, "And disappeared again beneath the surface of the ocean. It was gone." Susan and the dragon flew back to the castle and the dragon dropped Susan at the entrance. She went in to share the good news with the queen and explained what had happened. The queen, smiled, and praised Susan."Thank you, Susan. You have done precisely as I have asked. Not only that, you saved my people from a terrible battle with the kraken, and solved our problem efficiently. Clearly, you are a good candidate to receive a portion of my land as I promised. I'm offering you a choice of where you would like to be. I look forward to being near you so that we can rule together. The queen looked at Susan expectantly. Susan thought carefully about the offer. It sounded like settling down and it didn't sound like something that would teach her about fear. She had taken this journey because she didn't want to be come a princess ruling over others. In fact, the more she thought about it, Susan wasn't sure she agreed at all with the idea of ruling over other people and controlling their lives and ways that she didn't think any other person should be able to. No, she thought it really was time for another adventure. Perhaps that wizard who had dropped the kraken into the harbor would be someone who could scare her. And if not, surely a wizard who dropped krakens into the harbors of innocent people was someone who needed dealing with. Susan knew what she was going to say. Thank you. I appreciate the offer your majesty. I thought that was what I wanted when I came here, but I think I want to keep having adventures and trying to learn how to be scared. That's been pretty interesting so far and instead of giving me part of your land, I wonder if I can ask you for a favor instead. There are a lot of issues with controlling other people and controlling the land and resources that they need to make a life. I wonder if you would consider a different path. I started on this journey because I wanted to find my own way and be free from the expectations of others to not have to follow the path that was being laid out for me. Or be bound by the constraints that would have made me a different person and put me in a life I didn't want. I wonder if you could make changes so that the people of your land would have the same chance to define their own path and rule themselves. I know it's a big ask. I hope I can visit again and see how things have changed. Throughout this speech, the Queen looked rather taken aback and unsettled. There was a very long pause while she considered it. Susan, I owe you a great debt and I made you a commitment. What you're proposing is different than losing part of my land, but it goes against the entire nature of a monarchy. I owe you this much. I promise to consider what you're saying and I promise that I will do what I feel is best factoring in the guidance you've given me. It's going to take time. Please, go on your next adventure and I would enjoy having you here again to visit when your next story is concluded. Queen dismissed Susan. Susan felt like all in all she had tried and she was ready to move on. Susan walked out to see her, mounted up into the saddle and headed off to try to learn how to be scared and to make an adventure. We'll see Susan again along with Saoirse and her friends in another story. Perhaps we'll even see how the Queen tries to address changing things. Until next time. Remember, your part of the story, too. What did you think of this story? What did you imagine when you were listening? We'd love to hear your part of the story. If you and your grown-up want, you can share your thoughts or a picture you drew with our foggy oak podcast family. You might find it easiest to share with us on Facebook at foggy oak farm. But we have lots of options on our website foggy oak fairytales.com. You can also check out pictures from the farm and learn more about us. Thanks for being part of the story and I hope you'll join us next week.[MUSIC][MUSIC PLAYING]