Mr. Nosey's New Stilts is a story from the 1980 Annual.
Plot[]
Mr. Nosey was that someone you now who cannot resist poking his/her/their nose into other people's business. Mr. Nosey can't resist looking through a keyhole, or a windowpane, or over a fence in Tiddletown; which is where Mr. Nosey lived. One day, Mr. Nosey was walking around town when he saw a poster outside of the Town Hall. Reading the poster twice, he saw something that caught his eye: A man walking on stilts that made him as tall as the lamp-posts on High Street. Seeing the stilts gave Mr. Nosey a grand idea.
Mr. Nosey immediately went to Mr. Trick's toyshop and purchased the tallest pair of stilts he had. That's right! Mr. Nosey was going to use his stilts to see what everyone in Tiddletown was doing! He decided to try his new stilts when he passed Mr. Plank's timber-yard and wanted to know what he was doing. But walking on stilts, especially ones incredibly tall, is not easy. In fact, it's rather difficult. Mr. Nosey just couldn't get the hang of balancing on the stilts. He kept falling flat on his nose! It wasn't long until Mr. Nosey finally managed to stand on the stilts but they were too far apart and Mr. Nosey ended up in an uncomfortable position!
It was at that exact moment when Mr. Plank saw the two pieces of wood sticking up over the fence. Mistaking them for wood he failed to brought in, he lassoed the stilts and hauled them over the fence. Mr. Nosey was also tangled up in the stilts and rope and wound up riding the conveyor belt leading the the mechanical saw! Oh my! At the last second, Mr. Plank saw Mr. Nosey and pushed a button which stopped the conveyor belt. That was too close! MR. Nosey explained that he was testing out his new stilts outside the timber-yard and, despite Mr. Nosey stating that they were for fun, Mr. Plank quickly figured out why Mr. Nosey wanted them. Mr. Plank decided to take Mr. Nosey to the carnival and show him how a professional stilt man does it. After the carnival, Mr. Nosey decided that stilt-walking wasn't his thing and gave them to Mr. Plank. Much to the pleasure of everyone in Tiddletown.
List of Characters[]
- Mr. Nosey
- Mr. Trick
- Mr. Plank