Muskrat Lodge and Other Stories: Redberry Tales, #1

By Valerie May Kingsmill

Redberry Tales are children's stories suitable for youngsters in pre-school to grade four. They feature a toy sailboat and its family of four little people whose travels intersect with the lives of the woodland creatures and the children who possess the little boat throughout its journeys.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Kingsmill
• Release date: Jan 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393276135

Book preview

Acknowledgements

There are no substitutes for having beautiful and peaceful surroundings, a warm and friendly community to call home and the support of loved ones, along with sufficient food and an interesting life. I have been blessed with all of these.

For the inspiration afforded by my children and grandchildren I will be eternally grateful. I also want to acknowledge the support and assistance of my husband Peter for his technical skills as an editor and as my I.T. and Marketing Guy. A special thank-you, too, goes out to Tory Moses for kicking me in the behind to actually take the plunge into publishing my stories.

All sketches by Valerie May Kingsmill

Cover photos credit: Peter Kingsmill

'I am looking,' said the Mole, 'at a streak of bubbles that I see traveling along the surface of the water. That is a thing that strikes me as funny.'

from The Wind in the Willows

by Kenneth Grahame

MUSKRAT LODGE

The leaves had once again turned gold and red, and as it happens every fall the human family had worked on the summer cabin at the lake, putting things away and tidying up for the long winter months ahead. When Hanna’s father had bought the cabin earlier that summer, it was very close to the lake. Hanna had spent a lot of time exploring the area that spring and summer, and every time she was exploring the shoreline was like a new adventure. She would miss that, over the winter.

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When spring finally came once again, it was a very rainy wet one. To Hanna, it seemed the rain would never end and on top of all the snow from the winter, she heard her mother and father talking about the lake and how high it would be once all the ice and snow had left. They had hoped that when the ice melted and the water ran into the lake, it would not come too close to their new cabin.

It was on one of her adventures, as she liked to call them, that she spotted something in the tall grasses along the shoreline.

Walking slowly and peering hard, she could hardly believe her eyes when she discovered it was a small toy plastic sailboat. It was quite complete, with two white sails with large letters S85 and seagulls printed on the sails.

ML1.png The boat was simply beautiful, with its orange bottom and yellow tiller and rudder. Hanna was delighted to see it had four plastic people sitting on seats near the stern, or back, of the boat. She studied the little family: a mother, a father, a boy and a girl. They were all dressed for sailing, each one wearing a life jacket and a tuque. Well, you should keep warm with your hats on, she said to the little family, with a smile on her face. I wonder, little family; who do you belong to? Hanna said quietly to the little family, but mostly to herself. She looked around at the other cabins along the lake front. From what she could tell there was no one else there, as most of the cottages were still boarded up for the winter.  She looked back at her wonderful find. Well, she said, I don’t know who left you here but you are mine now, she said, and with that she picked up the small craft and carried it along the