Ongo Bongo Island part 2

Draft of part two of a children's story, for part one of an unrevised draft go here:

The Ongo Bongos were very frightened by the news of the storm coming and hid in their huts.. The storm blew very hard, much harder than any storm any Ongo Bongo could remember. Some of them hid under their beds and some hid under their tables. Some hid under chairs and some hid in cupboards. The storm lasted all night but as the sun came up in the morning the storm went away. When the Ongo Bogons went of their huts they found that the storm had caused a lot of damage. Some huts had their windows broken and some had their roofs broken. Some of the huts had been blown away all together and all that was left was some very frightened Ongo Bongos sitting in a pile of broken wood.

Illustration – devastation people looking sad

Clive had built a very sturdy hut and it wasn’t damaged too badly so after he tidied up he decided to go to Ongo Bongo Bay and see if he could catch some fish. He found his boat where he had left and he was about to take the stones out of it when he saw something very strange.

Clive looked at the the shore where the bay should be and saw it wasn’t there. It had completely disappeared and In its place was a big pile of sand. “Oh dear” cried Clive, “the storm has blown all the sand here and now Ongo Bongo bay has disappeared.”

Illustration – Clive looking at a big pile of sand where bay should be

Clive went back to his hut and he their he met the Baker who’s name was Sarah. Clive told her what he had seen, Sarah gasped, “Ongo Bongo!” with great surprise and held her hands up to her face. When people around heard they looked at her to see why someone should shout “Ongo Bongo” in such a way.

Clive told the other people what they had seen and very soon a large crowd of people could be heard crying out “Ongo Bongo” and the news spread that something very strange had happened during the storm, even if most people weren’t quite sure what it was.

It wasn’t long before the Mayor arrived at Clive’s hut looking very concerned, when he saw the people talking to Clive he went over to him and said, “Ongo Bongo” in a very important way. Clive told the Mayor what had happened, “Ongo Bongo,” said the mayor as if he could believe his ears.

Illustration – Mayor, Clive, Baker, Crowd

“This is very Ongo Bongo” said the mayor “we must find the professor and Ongo Bongo him what he thinks we should Ongo Bongo about Ongo Bongo.”

When the the crowd that had gathered heard this they were not sure what the mayor was saying but they though finding the professor would be a good idea so they all nodded their heads and said “Ongo Bono”.

They mayor, Clive the fisherman, Sarah the baker and the crowd all went to the professors house. When they got there they found that his house was very badly damaged. It was completely destroyed. They found the professor sitting in the rubble, he looked very sad and distressed. What happened?” he said, “someone Ongo Bongoed that I should Ongo Bongo because of an Ongo Bongo.”

Clive and some other people helped the professor up and Clive told him about the storm. “There was an Ongo Bongo?” asked the professor, “that Ongo Bongoes why it was so windy”.

The mayor tried to tell the professor about Bay disappearing but although he said, “Ongo Bongo” as importantly and seriously as he could, the professor could not understand him. So Clive told the professor what had happened. 

 

At first the professor did not believe Clive and asked to be taken to Ongo Bongo Bay to see for himself. So all the people gathered followed Clive to the shore to see for themselves. When they got there they saw the huge pile of sand where the bay should. The professor shook his head in a very wise way, “This is very Ongo Bongo” he said, “I’ve been Ongo Bongoing something like this for Ongo Bongo time, I’m afraid this is something called – Island Shrinking.”

Illustration Crowd Professor center looking sagacious or professor in broken house

Ongo Bongo Island part 1

Draft of part one of a children's story

Once, not so long ago and not so far away lived a people, who were called, by the people who met them, the Ongo Bongo people. The Ongo Bongo People lived on an island called Ongo Bongo Island. The Ongo Bongo people were very simple people, they did not have cars and they did not have phones. They did not have computers and they did not have television. They lived in huts they built themselves with the wood from the Ongo Bongo Tree. They ate the fruit that grew on the Ongo Bongo tree and they ate eggs laid by the Ongo Bongo Bird. They drank milk from goats that lived on the island but because they were very simple and could not remember words for different things so they called goats, the Ongo Bongo Beast.

Illustration - Ongo Bongo Island

Not many people visited Ongo Bongo Island so the Ongo Bongo people didn't know about cars or phones or computers or television, so they didn't miss them. When people did come to the island they found the Ongo Bongo people very peculiar and did not stay long. Why other people found them so peculiar was because the Ongo Bongo people were very simple and they could not remember many words. When an Ongo Bongo Person wanted to say something that they couldn't remember the word for they would say, “Ongo Bongo” instead. They would say Ongo Bongo in a way that sounded like the thing they were talking about.

If they wanted to say something happy, they would say, “Ongo Bongo!” happily and loudly.

If they wanted to sound serious they would say, “Ongo Bongo” very seriously.

And if they wanted to say something sad they would say, “Ongo Bongo” very sadly.

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The Ongo Bongo people forgot words a lot, especially if they got confused or upset and if they got angry, some times they forgot words forever. This was very confusing for people who did not live on Ongo Bongo island so they preferred to stay away.

Illustration - ship sailing past Ongo Bongo island.

The Ongo Bongo people were very busy and there were lots of jobs for the them to do. They built houses from the Ongo Bongo tree, they collected eggs from the Ongo Bongo bird and they milked the Ongo Bongo beast. These were jobs that all the Ongo Bongo People did but some had other jobs. They had a man whose job it was catch fish and they had a man whose job it was bake bread. The two most important jobs on the island were the Teacher and the Mayor. There were only a few special jobs and lots of people who wanted to do them so when someone new was needed to do a job the Ongo Bongos had to decide who would do it.

The way they decided who would do a job was also very peculiar they would ask the person to talk about the job but because the Ongo Bongos could not remember many words, most of the time they would just say, “Ongo Bongo”.

The fisherman would be be the person who could say, “Ongo Bongo” in a way that made them sound like they could catch more fish.

The baker was the man who could say, “Ongo Bongo” in a way that made them sound like they could bake bread.

The teacher would be the person who could say, “Ongo Bongo” in a way that made them sound very wise.

The Mayor would be the person who could say, “Ongo Bongo” in the way that made him sound very honest.

Illustration - Ongo Bongo jobs

Asking someone to say, “Ongo Bongo” isn't a very good way to decide who does which job. Luckily the baker and the fisherman both worked hard and were good at their jobs so the Ongo Bongos did not get hungry.

No one really knew how good the teacher and the Mayor were at there jobs because it’s not so easy tell. Sometime someone would think the Mayor the or teacher was not doing their job well but they were both very good at saying, “Ongo Bongo” so they kept their jobs.

The Ongo Bongos didn’t need cars or computers and for along time, were quite happy, living in their huts. They ate their eggs and fruit. They ate the fish that the fisherman caught and bread that the baker baked.

Then one day the fisherman, who was called Clive, saw something very strange as he took his boat to the bay to go fishing. It was a dark cloud in the sky over the sea, it meant a storm was coming so Clive went home and told the others about what he saw. They thanked Clive and all went home so they would be safe. None of them knew that the storm would change life on Ongo Bogo Island forever.

Illustration – Clive looking at storm cloud