The Bes Omnibus

By William Forde

In the year 2000, when this book was first published, I wanted to create a book which could be given to a child who was starting school at the age of 5 years and which could be read by them progressively until the age of 13 years when they either moved up to ‘Middle or High School.’ I also wanted to mark their memory of the New Millennium with their own special book.
Because the reading age between all children of between 5 years of age and 13 is so vast, this project naturally involved the writing of a number of stories that catered for children of different chronological ages and reading abilities.

The outcome of this idea was the publication of the book ‘Bes’; which contains four interdependent stories that links in theme. The four stories would concern four types of creatures, a bear (for 5-7 year old readers), an elephant (for 7-9 year old readers), a sheep (for 9-11 year old readers), and a New Millennium spiritual creature called ‘Bes’, who was part bear, part elephant and part sheep in both appearance and disposition( for 9-13 year old reader).

Bes is a story suitable for the New Millennium reader aged between 9-13 years. It tells a story that loosely links with the three character types I introduced in ‘The Bear with a Sore Head’, ‘Solo and Solomon’ and ‘Elephants Cry Too.’ It is the first day of a New Millennium and the ‘maker of all time’ who is disappointed with the humans of the earth, sends a three dimensional spirit to the earth in the form of a strange looking animal. that is part bear, part sheep and part elephant.

The three-dimensional spirit is ‘Bes‘, whose form is in the shape of part bear, part elephant and part sheep. Bes is given 40 years in which to spread a message of peace and love to all of the earth’s creatures. If Bes can persuade the animals to live in ‘peace and love’ its purpose will have been served and as a reward to the animal kingdom, the ‘maker of all life’ will give all animals supremacy and rule over all humans.

‘The Bes Omnibus’ contains all four stories that can travel with a child’s reading development through their First School, Middle School and into High School. The four stories are also suitable for the different age ranges of different children within the same family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Forde
• Release date: Sep 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301783502

William Forde

William Forde was born in Ireland and currently lives in Haworth, West Yorkshire with his wife Sheila. He is the father of five children and the author of over 60 published books and two musical plays. Approximately 20 of his books are suitable for the 7-11 year old readers while the remainder are suitable for young persons and adults. Since 2010, all of his new stories have been written for adults under his 'Tales from Portlaw' series of short stories. His website is www.fordefables.co.uk on which all his miscellaneous writings may be freely read. There are also a number of children's audio stories which can be freely heard.He is unique in the field of contemporary children's authors through the challenging emotional issues and story themes he addresses, preferring to focus upon those emotions that children and adults find most difficult to appropriately express.One of West Yorkshire's most popular children's authors, Between 1990 and 2002 his books were publicly read in over 2,000 Yorkshire school assemblies by over 800 famous names and celebrities from the realms of Royalty, Film, Stage, Screen, Politics, Church, Sport, etc. The late Princess Diana used to read his earlier books to her then young children, William and Harry and Nelson Mandela once telephoned him to praise an African story book he had written. Others who have supported his works have included three Princesses, three Prime Ministers, two Presidents and numerous Bishops of the realm. A former Chief Inspector of Schools for OFSTED described his writing to the press as 'High quality literature.' He has also written books which are suitable for adults along with a number of crossover books that are suitable for teenagers and adults.Forever at the forefront of change, at the age of 18 years, William became the youngest Youth Leader and Trade Union Shop Steward in Great Britain. In 1971, He founded Anger Management in Great Britain and freely gave his courses to the world. Within the next two years, Anger Management courses had mushroomed across the English-speaking world. During the mid-70's, he introduced Relaxation Training into H.M. Prisons and between 1970 and 1995, he worked in West Yorkshire as a Probation Officer specialising in Relaxation Training, Anger Management, Stress Management and Assertive Training Group Work.He retired early on the grounds of ill health in 1995 to further his writing career, which witnessed him working with the Minister of Youth and Culture in Jamaica to establish a trans-Atlantic pen-pal project between 32 primary schools in Falmouth, Jamaica and 32 primary schools in Yorkshire.William was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List of 1995 for his services to West Yorkshire. He has never sought to materially profit from the publication of his books and writings and has allowed all profit from their sales (approx £200,000) to be given to charity. Since 2013, he was diagnosed with CLL; a terminal condition for which he is currently receiving treatment.In 2014, William had his very first 'strictly for adult' reader's novel puiblished called‘Rebecca’s Revenge'. This book was first written over twenty years ago and spans the period between the 1950s and the New Millennium. He initially refrained from having it published because of his ‘children’s author credentials and charity work’. He felt that it would have conflicted too adversely with the image which had taken a decade or more to establish with his audience and young person readership. Now, however as he approaches the final years of his life and cares less about his public image, besides no longer writing for children (only short stories for adults since 2010), he feels the time to be appropriate to publish this ‘strictly for adults only’ novel alongside the remainder of his work.In December 2016 he was diagnosed with skin cancer on his face and two weeks later he was diagnosed with High-grade Lymphoma (Richter’s Transformation from CLL). He was successfully treated during the first half of 2017 and is presently enjoying good health albeit with no effective immune system.

Book preview

‘BES’ OMNIBUS

by

William Forde

Cover Illustration by Joel Stephen Breeze

Copyright December, 2016 by William Forde

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, Licence Notes

Thank you for downloading this e-book. This e-book is licenced for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Contents

Author’s Foreword

‘The Bear with a Sore Head’

‘Elephants Cry Too!’

‘Solo and Solomon’

‘Bes’

Author’s Background

Other Books by this Author

For the General Audience

Romantic Drama Strictly for Adults

Connect with William Forde

Author’s Foreword

In the year 2000, when this book was first published, I wanted to create a book which could be given to a child who was starting First School at the age of 5 years and which could be read by them progressively until they either moved up to ‘Middle’ or ‘High School’. I also wanted to write a book for the home with two or three children, which would contain at least one story for the reading age and ability of each child. Because the reading age between all children of between 5 years of age and 13 is so vast, this project naturally involved the writing of several stories that catered for children of different chronological ages and reading abilities.

The outcome of this idea was the publication of the book ‘Bes’, which contains four interdependent stories that links in theme. The four stories concern four types of creatures, a bear (for 5-7-year old readers), an elephant (for 7-9-year old readers), a sheep (for 9-11-year old readers), and a New Millennium spiritual creature called ‘Bes’, who was part bear, part elephant and part sheep in both appearance and disposition (for the 9-13-year old reader).

Bes is a story that is suitable for and celebrates the New Millennium. It tells a story that loosely links the three character types I introduced in the stories entitled, ‘The Bear with a Sore Head’, ‘Elephants Cry Too’, and ‘Solo and Solomon’.

It is the first day of a New Millennium and the ‘maker of all time’ who is disappointed with the humans of the earth, sends a three-dimensional spirit to the earth in the form of a strange looking animal that is part bear, part elephant and part sheep (bear+elephant+sheep = BES).

This first story is entitled, ‘The Bear with a Sore Head’, and its overall aim is to remind the young reader that ‘how’ one gets out of bed each morning will depend ‘how good or bad a day one experiences’.

‘Elephants Cry Too’ is the story of the development of the elephant species in a mythical world. It traces the elephant from being its original size (no greater in size to that of a common field mouse) to the mighty and magnificent beast it looks like today. The leader of the original herd of very small elephants makes a ‘Faustian’ pact with the ‘Sorcerer of the Forest’ to become a larger and more spectacular animal, and discovers that with every decision one makes in life, there is a consequence.

‘Solo and Solomon’ is a story about a rebellious sheep who wants to go her own way and uses every opportunity to flout the rules of the flock and instead assert her total independence from the rest of the flock. It is an ideal story to use as a discussion starter with pupils in the classroom about, identity, rule following, leadership, and independence. The overall message reminds the reader that just as in every ‘Solomon’ can be found a ‘Solo’, then so it is that in every ‘leader’ can be found a ‘rebel’ and vice versa.

The three-dimensional spirit is ‘Bes’, whose form is in the shape of part bear, part elephant and part sheep. Bes is given 40 years in which to spread a message of peace and love to all the earth’s creatures. If Bes can persuade the animals to live in ‘peace and love’, its purpose will have been served, and as a reward to the animal kingdom, the ‘Maker of all Life’ will give all animals supremacy and rule over all humans.

Copyright: William Forde, December, 2016.

‘The Bear with a Sore Head’

by

William Forde

(This story content is suitable for the 5-7-year-old reading age)

‘Boris the Brown Bear’ was a most troublesome bear. Over the years, he’d become an inconsiderate, ill-mannered, and bad-tempered creature who made his neighbours lives a misery.

Boris stood 2 metres tall and weighed half a ton. When Boris growled in anger, his neighbours shook in fear. Nobody wanted to live near him or to be in his company.

Boris lived in ‘Marfield Meadow Vale’. This was an upmarket neighbourhood in the North American National Park. ‘Marfield Meadow Vale’ had been built to house well-to-do, well-mannered creatures who were responsible enough to look after themselves without the interference of humans.

Overall, it was the place to live. It was a place of breath-taking natural beauty, wild yet safe, peaceful, and much sought after. Being a resident in ‘Marfield Meadow Vale’ and a member of its select community was the dream of every creature in America. Having a home there was the highest of status symbols. It meant that you had made it in life and were a success.

The residents of ‘Marfield Meadow Vale’ were very proud to live in the poshest community in America and once they got to live there, most of their time was spent keeping out the riff raff. There was no such thing as criminals or litter louts. Everyone kept their neighbourhoods tidy; everyone kept their noise down and nobody was ever impolite, unhelpful, or aggressive towards their neighbours – nobody that was, except ‘Boris the Brown Bear’!

‘Marfield Meadow Vale’ was run by a ‘Committee of Clever Creatures’ of which every resident was a member. The ‘Committee of Clever Creatures’ met once weekly beneath the oak tree and was led by the wisest of all the creatures, ‘Olive the Owl’. The job of the committee was to discuss problems, resolve difficulties, make rules, and set standards of behaviour, which all residents were expected to keep.

There were 10 rules. All of them were simple, everyone understood them and everyone, except Boris, kept them.

Rule one: Be a good neighbour.

Rule two: Be a tidy neighbour.

Rule three: Be a quiet neighbour.

Rule four: Be a friendly neighbour.

Rule five: Be a polite and courteous neighbour.

Rule six: Be a considerate neighbour.

Rule seven: Be a kind neighbour.

Rule eight: Be a helpful neighbour.

Rule nine: Be a generous neighbour.

Rule 10: Be a happy neighbour.

Having made these 10 rules, the ‘Committee of Clever Creatures’ was satisfied that so long as every community member kept them, ‘Marfield Meadow Vale’ would continue to remain a happy and peaceful place to live.

In the beginning, ‘Boris the Brown Bear’ kept the rules and was one of the best neighbours anyone could hope to have. He was one of the most popular creatures around and everyone loved him dearly.

As he danced merrily through the woods, his broad smile and cheerful disposition would brighten up the day of anyone who passed his way. His happy personality made it a pleasure to be in his company. He would go to any length to help a neighbour in need, and the thought that Boris would ever hurt another creature was simply unthinkable!

But all that was before Boris became ‘a bear with a sore head’. Once Boris became ‘a bear with a sore head’, he quickly became the neighbour from hell!

He stopped being the kind of bear that everyone admired, loved, and respected. Instead, he became unhappy, untidy, noisy, unfriendly, rude, inconsiderate, unkind, unhelpful, mean, and very angry. He was always unhappy.

Instead of his neighbours seeing him smiling and singing, they now saw him scowling and growling. Boris became a constant moan and groan. He became a bear for whom nothing was right. He saw everyone else as always being in the wrong and everything else as being unsatisfactory. When his tummy wasn’t full with food, Boris filled it with anger, and a nasty thought was never far from his mind or a nasty word from the tip of his tongue.

For a long time, the creatures of ‘Marfield Meadow Vale’ waited patiently for Boris’ behaviour to improve, but it didn’t! Instead of getting better, his ‘bad bear behaviour’ quickly got worse!

He is simply becoming intolerable! complained ‘Lizzie the Lizard’ to her neighbour, ‘Tommy the Toad’. This morning, he actually stepped on me for no reason at all, and then, when I protested, instead of apologising, he added insult to injury by growling, ‘Crawl back under your stone, you slimy snake in the grass before I jump on you and crush you beneath my feet!’

Lizzie’s eyes filled up with tears as she said, This can’t be allowed to continue. I’m going to put a stop to his bullying ways. I’m going to place the matter before the next meeting of the ‘Committee of Clever Creatures’ and demand that Boris be evicted from our community for being a bad neighbour. He’s broken every rule in the book. We simply must put a stop to his nasty ways before he kills someone!

I agree, croaked ‘Tommy the Toad’ faintly. Why, only last week he throttled me in a fit of anger, just because I was singing. He nearly choked me. I told him that every creature had a right to sing if he or she wanted to. ‘Not in my neck of the woods,’ he growled back, ‘and not when I have a headache!’ He said that if he heard me croak once more, he’d make sure that I’d never croak again!"

The following evening, the ‘Committee of Clever Creatures’ held their weekly meeting beneath the oak tree. Every creature in ‘Marfield Meadow Vale’ attended the meeting; all except ‘Boris the Brown Bear’.

Boris had stopped attending the meeting some months earlier. When ‘Olive the Owl’ had asked him why, Boris rudely replied, I have better things to do with my valuable time than attend your stupid meetings. Besides, all you do is talk, talk, talk! All that talk makes my headache worse!

When all the creatures were gathered, ‘Olive the Owl’ called the meeting to order.

Quiet everybody! Olive requested. We have a lot to talk about tonight, and in particular, we need to decide what we’re going to do about the brown bear’s bad behaviour?

I say we evict him! ‘Lizzie the Lizard’ tearfully replied. Let’s get rid of him before he hurts anyone else! Just look at what he’s done to me. He’s broken every bone in my body!

Lizzie was heavily wrapped in bandages from top to tail and her eyes were still watering with all the hurt that Boris had caused her.

He has broken every rule in the book, Lizzie added. I say we kick him out now!

I agree with ‘Lizzie the Lizard’. Kick him out now! ‘Clarence the Cuckoo’ echoed. He’s nothing less than a home breaker! Let evict him now before he establishes squatters’ rights.

What’s he done to you, Clarence? ‘Olive the Owl’ asked.

He stole my nest, Clarence replied, and then he began to kick it around like a football. When I asked him why he had wrecked my home, he told me to ‘shut it’! He just kept repeating himself like a broken record, ‘Shut it! Shut it! Shut it!’ That’s no way for a good neighbour to behave. I say, get rid of him now! Get rid of him now! Get rid of him now!

Upon hearing the Cuckoo’s repeated complaint, ‘Red Robin’, ‘Timothy Thrush’ and ‘Nancy Nightingale’ told the meeting, We three say evict him! He’s always telling us to ‘Shut it’ whenever he hears us singing. He says that it gives him an almighty headache!

He was extremely rude and offensive to me when I last saw him, said ‘Walter the Woodpecker’. He called me a ‘head banger’ and ‘a raving nutter’. He said that if I didn’t stop picking the bark off the trees trunks, he would head butt me and tie my beak in a knot. I say we exile him!

And he called me a buck-toothed monster! added ‘Elizabeth the Elephant’, whose ivory tusks had always previously been a source of great pride to her. I wouldn’t have minded as much if I had done anything to offend him, but I hadn’t! I say we evict him from our happy community. We don’t need the likes of him around here!

You don’t have to do anything to offend him, said ‘Horace the Hyena’. He’s always nasty and aggressive these days. He’s like ‘a bear with a sore head’, sounding off at everyone he sees. He has become a proper misery. I can’t remember the last time I heard him laugh. I say we vote to get rid of him!

I’ve got to agree with that, said ‘Micky the Monkey’. "Boris had become a right party pooper! Why, only the other morning while I was enjoying a banana breakfast,