The Red Horse by Robin Wilcock - Age 7
Once upon a time there was a girl called Scarlet. Her family was very wealthy and she had a horse called Chilli. It was a red horse as you might expect. They lived in a place called Tysoe and they had a huge vault which Scarlet had the key to.
The year was 1666, while the Fire of London was burning. Scarlet rode to school on her horse but they didn’t quite get there because Scarlet was kidnapped! There were four robbers, they trapped the way by using their horses on all sides. They snatched Scarlet off her saddle and rode away with her.
Now there’s something you need to know about Chilli. She was a talking horse! But no-one knew that except for Scarlet and her family. So Chilli went back to the village and told everyone. The grown-ups fainted. All except for Scarlet’s parents. So all the kids and her parents gathered up their horses and rode off to fiind her.
Scarlet was very clever. She studied so many subjects at school that she had a lot of books. As the robbers carried her away, she ripped pages from her books and dropped them on the flloor, leaving a trail for her rescuers to fiind. They followed the trail up the hill to the woods, which is where the robbers had a den. Scarlet was tied up to the tree. As the rescuers peered in, they saw the robbers examining the key to the vault, until they realised it was a FAKE!
“Where is the real key!” they screeched at her. But while they were looking at Scarlet, the horses had sneaked up behind. They grabbed the ropes in their mouth and nibbled them until Scarlet was free. Everyone leapt into action. Scarlet jumped on the back of Chilli. Her family grabbed the robbers and tied them up with the ropes. They called the police and the robbers were taken away to prison.
The villagers were so amazed by the talking horse and her bravery that they carved a picture of Chilli into the ground. And the real key to the vault? It was nowhere to be seen. It was lost, years ago, somewhere in the fiields of Tysoe. If you fiind it, you could unlock the vault and discover what treasure it holds…