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The Spooky Trick on Old Mother Hubbard

The tale that earned me a Principal’s Award

By Sandy GillmanPublished 4 months ago 2 min read
Here’s the original title page for my childhood horror story, 'The Spooky Trick on Old Mother Hubbard.'

This is the third and final instalment in my series of childhood stories brought back to life.

You can check out my other stories here.

I must have written this one when we were talking about Roald Dahl at school, because it's giving off some major George’s Marvellous Medicine vibes.

I was a little worried as the main character’s name is Old Mother Hubbard, but after doing some research, I discovered that the nursery rhyme, Old Mother Hubbard, is now in the public domain, so I’m not breaking any rules there.

If you have read my other two stories, you might have also noticed that each one has the word “Spooky” in the title. I have always been a horror-movie lover and I obviously developed a healthy taste for the macabre at a very young age.

I even wrote the title with one of those vibrating pencils from the 90s to give it an extra spooky feel. You put a battery in, flipped a switch, and it shook while you wrote making your writing all wobbly.

The cover with my wobbly vibrating-pencil writing, it’s faded now, but you can still just make out the spooky title.

This one’s a little shorter than my other stories, but I make up for it with the illustrations.

As always, this story has been edited for minor spelling and grammatical errors, but it remains as close to the original as possible to preserve the charm and authenticity of my childhood writing.

The Spooky Trick on Old Mother Hubbard

Old Mother Hubbard dropped a bottle with a potion in it.

I picked it up and got a big, big bowl and put a cat’s eye in it, a dog's tail, and a rat’s tailbone.

Potion ingredients: one cat’s eye, one dog’s tail, and a rat’s tailbone.

I got my mother’s big wooden spoon and I mixed and I mixed and I mixed until it was orange, white, purple, and blue. Then I put blue shoe polish in it.

The potion in progress: eyeballs, colours, and a dash of blue shoe polish.

I brought it into Old Mother Hubbard and said, “I have a drink for you.”

The mean old horrible lady said, “Thank you.”

She said “thank you.” I’m starting to wonder if she even was that mean and horrible.

I said to her, “I’ll pour it down your throat.”

The mean old lady said, “Grrrrrr,” and, “Ooooooo,” And turned into a ghost. I ran and hid under my bed.

I waited for her to explode. It took about five seconds. She went boom and I went, “Ha ha ha,” and I sang, “Ha ha ha he he he, I killed the mean old Mother Hubbard.”

I picked up one of her eyes and said, “That eye will be good to use sometime.”

I looked at the clock, it was three o’clock and Mum was coming home at four.

I sat down and had a biscuit and watched the clock.

The End

Did anyone else find that ending a little disturbing, or was it just me? The main character just killed Old Mother Hubbard, and the next thing they do is eat a biscuit and stare at the clock. That’s not psychotic at all.

It’s ok, my teacher was obviously not concerned as there is a note on the front cover from my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs Lawrence saying, “I loved your story.” I also received multiple stickers which is already a treasure trove for a child.

My treasure trove of stickers, complete with a handwritten note from my teacher.

But then I received a gold Principal’s Award sticker which was like winning a Pulitzer Prize for children.

Here it is, the most highly sought-after sticker in all of primary school: the Principal’s Award. Forget Pulitzers this was the real deal

Life

About the Creator

Sandy Gillman

I’m a mum to a toddler, just trying to get through the day. I like to write about the ups and downs of parenting. I’m not afraid to tell it like it is. I hope you’ll find something here to laugh, relate to, and maybe even learn from.

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Comments (7)

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  • Nicki3 months ago

    If I ever see blue shoe polish I'll be reminded of this tale! And yes, definitely a psychotic ending haha. Love young Sandy's work!

  • Your writings, your real life experiences, always have this nostalgic feel to them Sandy, which I just love. Amazing as always @Sandy Gillman

  • Hahahahahahaha "What a psycho!" was what went through my mind while reading your ending. It indeed was disturbing and that's why I love it even more!

  • Julie Lacksonen4 months ago

    How wonderful! This has been a treasure trove of material. Fun stuff!

  • Imola Tóth4 months ago

    I think this is simply great! Children have great fantasy and I love to see what lives in their little head. I loved the laugh "ha ha ha he he he". thank you for sharing your childhood work with us. Now I kinda wish I'd find mines, but my best bet is that it was thrown away 30 years ago.

  • A. J. Schoenfeld4 months ago

    I love everything about this! I've been meaning to dig out my old childhood stories and finally finish them, but instead wrote a story about my unfinished tales haunting me. But back to your story. First, thanks for including those precious illustrations. They are fantastic. Next, you clearly have had amazing story telling talent from the beginning. I'm glad the teacher and principal recognized that and encouraged you so that we eventually got to be blessed by your stories. And your ending was perfect, disturbing yes, but what else would you suggest after ridding the world of the mean Old Mother Hubbard? The moment clearly calls for a snack. Just curious, what was your beef with her? Was it all about the dog not getting the 🦴?

  • Caitlin Charlton4 months ago

    The vibrating pencils sound so cool. Ooo she put many things in that big, big bowl. I like that when it's the present. You used italic font. And when It's the younger you, you took it off 👌🏾 Oh so that's why she hid under her bed. I can't believe she sat down and had a biscuit after all of that. I am glad you interrupted it with your own thoughts about the ending. Because on my end, my lips were sealed. You were a great story teller. Even as a kid. Fantastic final instalment. You definitely deserved those stickers 🤗❤️

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