Hannah and the wolf

A script for a 32 page picture book

by

Jonathan Shipton

Not so very long ago, when the snow was deeper, the winters colder and the woods were much, much wilder, there was a village and in that village there was one big house and a few smaller houses; and in the smallest of those small houses, lived Hannah and her mum.   

In the day, it was good but sometimes in the night, it was quite difficult to get to sleep because of the white wolf.

This wolf didn’t live in the village; he lived just outside in a hollow place underneath a funny looking rock. And there wasn’t a mum wolf or a dad wolf. He lived out there all on his own.

Now Wolfie the wolf looked big and bad.

And he howled big and bad.

And he probably smelled big and bad!

But honestly he wasn't!

He didn't like pigs

Or sheep

Or grandmas.

His worst colour was red, 

He was terrified of duffle coats, cloaks, and hoodies;  

Really and truly all Wolfie wanted to do was muck about and play.

The trouble was nobody believed him.

Whenever they saw Wolfie they either, ran away screaming,

Or chased after him with axes, pitchforks, and spears.  

And it hurt!

In the end, poor Wolfie decided enough was enough and he gave up.

He slunk away over the hills

And through the woods

And up the lonely mountainside

Until he found a nice, cold cave.

There he stayed and licked his wounds and

That was the end of it.

No-one in the village ever saw him again...

Although once in a while, in the middle of the moonbright night,

Hannah thought she could hear howling.

But it wasn’t very long

and it wasn’t very loud. 

Her Mother gave her a cuddle and told her not to worry; it was probably just the wind.

So Hannah stopped worrying and started growing. 

And when she was big enough she went off to school and learned about

Who and what

When and where

And good and bad.   

Then she came home and helped her mum cook fairy cakes, weed the garden and look after the goat and chickens.

And all was good and everyone was happy until one summer’s day Hannah came home from school and found her mum fast asleep in the garden.  She was just about to pick up a chicken feather and tickle her awake when she decided instead to give her mum a nice surprise; she would pick some blackberries for their supper.  

So she put on her boots, picked up her basket and off she wandered.

It was only supposed to be a short wander.

But you know how it is when you're having a nice time

And the breeze is soft and the grass is whispering...

Somehow, the wander grew longer.

Suddenly Hannah found herself on the edge of

THE DARK and GLOOMY WOODS!

Now children weren't supposed to go anywhere near the

THE DARK and GLOOMY WOODS!

(not on their own anyway). 

But

they didn’t look dark and they didn’t feel gloomy…   

Anyway

 there was such an interesting wriggly path leading into the trees…

And

you know how it is when birds are singing, and bees are bizzing

and the sun is warm...

It was wonderful. There were handfuls of fat juicy blackberries to put in the basket. She saw squirrels, rabbits and a small green lizard lazing on a rock.  There were twisty knobbly trees to climb and a little rickety bridge over a stream. Hannah skipped along the path as it wound its wriggly way deeper and deeper into the woods. She was really enjoying herself, until she noticed that the shadows were getting longer and the path seemed to be getting narrower and scratchier.   

Hannah decided it was time to turn back.

But somehow, she must have missed a turning, because she found herself on the edge of a small grassy clearing.  Had she walked through it earlier on? She could not remember. There were several hopeful looking paths but which one lead back home?  Not one of them seemed familiar.  She started off down one but after a few minutes changed her mind and ran back. She tried another but the same thing happened. And another.  .   

Over and over.

Backwards and forwards.

It was no good.

She was lost and tired.  

Hannah put down her basket, sat down on a mossy tree stump and felt very lonely.

She didn't cry hard

She didn’t cry long

She didn’t cry loud

But

It was enough....

Far, far away, up in his cave a big white wolf pricked up his long pointy ears!

In a flash he was on his feet

Bounding down the mountainside!

Crashing through the trees!

Until finally

With one enormous leap Wolfie skidded to a stop

Right in front of the stump!

Now Hannah had been to school so of course she knew all about wolves. Wolves eat people.

At any moment, she expected him to open his big scary mouth and gobble her up, basket, boots and everything.

To be honest he did look quite scary with those big hairy feet

And those big scary teeth.

He sounded fairly scary with his hot panting breath.

Wolfie looked at Hannah. She looked so helpless and sad but he knew all about people. People hate wolves. At any moment, she was going to leap up, grab something out of her basket and shoot him or stab him.

They both waited for each other to do what they were supposed to do.

But they didn’t…

So then, very slowly and carefully, Hannah reached out her hand and patted the wolf’s soft white head.

Wolfie was astonished!

Nobody and nothing had ever been that nice to him before!

He was so thrilled that he ran round the clearing, bounced himself up in the air and landed upside down in a pile of leaves!

He looked so big and silly that Hannah burst out laughing!

Wolfie couldn't believe his luck!

After all these years somebody thought he was funny!

In a flash, he was back up on his feet, running in circles chasing his tail.

The faster he chased the louder she laughed.

In fact, Hannah completely forgot about being lost,

Until an owl shouted out Hoo! HOO! HOOO!

Now the woods definitely were dark and gloomy. 

And shadowy.

And squeaky.

And there were one too many rustles.   

‘I want to go home Wolfie.’ She whispered.  

Now Wolfie wanted to help.

But he knew what would happen if he did.  

There would be shouting and screaming

And those nasty sharp sticks!

And those hard, hurtful stones!

So with a long sad sigh

Wolfie sank back down onto the ground

And rested his heavy head on Hannah’s feet. 

Then something made the white wolf change his mind.  

He stood up again.

Hannah scrambled up onto Wolfie’s back,

she held tight onto his fur 

And off they galloped,

Along the wriggling

squiggling track,

out into the silver moon-bright night.

And when at last they arrived back at the village,

safe and sound, Hannah ran up to the front door, found her mum and got                

a lovely warm hug!                                                           

But Wolfie had to stay out in the cold, hiding in the bushes,                

Because everyone knows there's no such thing as a good wolf.

All Wolves are big

and bad

and grey

and scary.

They have huge scary mouths

Long scary teeth

And great big scary feet.

They gobble up pigs

and kids

and hoodies

And grandmas.

Because that’s what wolves do.

Everybody knows that.

Well…

Nearly everybody!