ALPINE TALES: Fantasies in the Swiss Alps

By Gaynor J Greber

A chapter book suitable for confident readers aged 8 -10 years. Set in true locations in the beautiful Bernese Oberland. Fantasy stories that excite the imagination, stir emotions and deliver a few fascinating alpine facts.

Learn about a wondrous winter wonderland, ice tunnels, grottos and deep blue caves. Meet an Ice Queen and

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alphorn Press
• Release date: Jun 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9783952528099

Book preview

ALPINE TALES

Fantasies in the Swiss Alps

Gaynor J Greber

Paperback Edition First Published in the

United Kingdom by Alphorn Press in 2021

Copyright © Gaynor J Greber

Gaynor J Greber has asserted her rights under ‘the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988’ to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Author.

Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Gaynor J Greber

www.gjgbionutrition.org

Illustrator: Fleur A Boyle

www.fleurdeloom.co.uk

ISBN: 978-3-9525280-9-9

Alphorn Press

DEDICATION

For young people who enjoy the magic of fantasy rooted in reality: and believe anything is possible.

‘Logic will get you from A to B.

Imagination will take you everywhere’

Albert Einstein 1879 – 1955

Mathematician and Physicist

Gaynor Greber is a British born Nutritionist and author, who, after a long career in Functional Medicine in UK, has settled with her Swiss husband in Beatenberg, an alpine village 1200 metres over Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland.

Surrounded by spectacular landscape and natural beauty, exposed to fascinating myths, traditions and local legends, her imagination knows no bounds. With Welsh/Irish roots, she feels a deep connection with the history of the ancient Celtic Helvetians in Switzerland. Her love of animals shines through in these locally based tales which highlight the bond of harmony and balance between all living things.

Contents

Böögg the Bogeyman

TROUBLE IN THE ICE PALACE

TRESPASSING AGAIN

DRAMA ON THE GLACIER

FIXING GAZI

The Giessbach Undines

MISSING SOULS

EMIL FINDS COURAGE

THE CRYSTAL PALACE

THE OPEN DAY

The Hollow Mountain

MOVING UNDERGROUND

THE MAGIC LANTERN

THE CAVERS

RACE AGAINST TIME

Dredd the Grindelwald Griffin

DRAMA IN THE RIVER

SUSPENSE AT THE QUARRY

A DILEMMA

DREDD AND THE MOUNTAIN GIANT

Alpinia the Ice Queen

DANGER IN THE ALPS

JACK FROST

THE PERFECT SOLUTION

THE SNOW FESTIVAL

Böögg the Bogeyman

CHAPTER ONE

TROUBLE IN THE ICE PALACE

Böögg the Bogeyman was used to the cold, but not all this waiting around – he started to shiver and quiver as he gathered his slippery self together. It was mighty uncomfortable squidging around on the floor, trying to keep his melted self in some resemblance of shape – he couldn’t do this for much longer . . . 

Where were they? He had a job to do!

He was well concealed, but he needed to morph into a floaty spook to do his job properly, and that took a bit of preparation.

He was hidden in melted ice on the floor of the Jungfraujoch Ice Palace – in the Aletsch Glacier, at the highest train station in the Alps.

It was a wonder of the Oberland.

The Ice Palace was carved inside part of the twenty-two-kilometre-long glacier – the longest in the Alps.

Böögg had an important job to do, and everything he attempted was planned in detail. Hanging around in melted form was OK for a short period, between jobs, but not when it dragged on endlessly.

He felt frustrated being kept waiting like this, but he must learn to keep calm. Life did not always run according to plan.

Looking around to pass the time away, he thought back to days of old. He was lucky to be here at all!

No one originally planned jobs for Bogeymen.

Years ago, in 1935, bored mountain guides waiting for clients, decided to start carving figures out of ice. It was just for fun at first, but soon turned into a booming tourist attraction, called The Ice Palace.

On the summit, temperatures keep below freezing in the Palace tunnels. But on a sunny day, and with body warmth from visitors – the air inside warms up. Sculptures can start to drip and may need touching-up or even re-building – if the shape becomes too squishy.

Fascinating carved ice creatures can be seen snuggled into nooks and crannies – bears, squirrels, eagles and penguins. Visitors shuffle down the tunnels in a fantasy wonderland.

If they were extremely lucky, they may even be terrified by a Bogeyman.

Böögg just loved working here, it was alpine bliss. His passion was spooking visitors, and he was fully trained from The Institute of Spook – what better life could there be?

Visitors needed to be spooked to keep them coming back! Every Bogeyman knew that.

But now, he had a problem . . . 

It was a Friday afternoon, and the message in the control room from Europe’s highest train station was not good. The Jungfrau train coming up from Grindelwald was stuck in the tunnel, and although the engineer was on his way to fix things, it might take a while.

Böögg was anxious his routine would be disrupted, and that he would miss his last spooks of the day. He knew the train was packed with tourists, as he had sneaked a look at the office screen – but time was marching on, and Böögg was getting jittery – he had to report back soon to The Institute of Spook down in Kleine Scheidegg.

He squirmed around, sighed and pouted.

At the end of every week, he had to hand in his report. He may even lose his job if the train couldn’t be fixed, as his final spook of the week depended on suitable visitors.

The very thought made him tremble.

What’s the good of having the best job in the world, when he could lose it through poor time-keeping and lost opportunities?

To keep his yearly badge up to date, and to renew his licence – he had to have a certain number of spooks reported weekly. The season lasted six weeks over summer, and a total of sixty spooks were required. If he had less than ten spooks weekly, he had to work harder on other weeks.

He was always nervous on a Friday.

So far, this year he was doing very well: he was only twenty spooks away from completing the season. But there were only a few weeks left before autumn when visitor numbers dropped – so every train load counted.

What would he do if he lost his licence? He wasn’t trained for any other job: he had no other skills. He was the most enthusiastic Bogeyman in the whole of the Bernese Oberland. He would hate to have to move away, there was no other place in the world like Jungfraujoch.

He peered anxiously down towards the tunnel again.

His spook gear was becoming tangled, and he was quickly losing energy, so he decided to morph into his spook form. At least he was now more comfortable, he hated dribbling around on the floor.

‘Come on!’ he yelled when he saw the engineer heading for the tunnel. ‘You’re late!’

‘Oh, stop being so bossy, Böögg,’ the engineer shouted back. ‘You can’t always have it your way, learn some patience.’ It wasn’t the first time he had had words with Böögg.

Böögg felt worried he may get sick – he had been wet, damp and icy cold – it didn’t do a Bogeyman any good! He had to do a lot of jumping around, banging his arms and blowing hot air for at least ten minutes, to get his circulation going again. He also had to take care that nobody spotted him.

How long does it take to fix a