Rupert and the Christmarsh Quest
Waking up for Christmarsh fun, Rupert finds it has not begun.	The front room is so very bare. Decorations and presents no longer there.
Christmarsh morning. Rupert woke early and hurried downstairs, looking forward to the start of the day's festivities. He found his mother staring into the front room. Looking in, he saw that all the presents, Christmarsh Reeds and even the decorations had disappeared overnight. Rupert smelled a mystery . . .
Wrapped in scarf and winter gear. He will track down Christmarsh cheer.	A piece of tinsel on the rail, Shows the start of a glittery trail.
Getting dressed quickly, Rupert looked out as dawn crept over Nutmarsh. Below, a flash of light caught his eye. Putting on his trusty scarf and overcoat, he ventured out into the cold. At the gate, a strand of tinsel had been snagged and left behind. Pocketing his first clue, Rupert scanned about for the second.
Rupert Delves Deeper
A bauble, a fairy light dropped in haste, Lead him onwards into the waste.	The trail ends at a stunted elm. An entrance to the Bog-hoblin realm.
Another glint further along the path led him onwards. Keeping an eye out for the Elves (prime suspects in Rupert's opinion) he moved out of the Nutmarsh city limits. Eventually, further into the bog, the fairy from the top of the reeds pointed her wand towards a tree, with a doorway that Rupert recognised - a way down into the lands of the Bog-hoblins.
Descending into the nitre gloom, Rupert moves from 'room' to 'room'.	Ahead a Bog-hoblin pushes a sleigh. Someone's Christmarsh stolen away.
Carefully making his way down the winding steps, a faint luminesence lit the way as he moved quietly through the tunnels and 'rooms'. Ahead, a scraping sound made him peer cautiously around the corner. A Bog-hoblin struggled with a sleigh overflowing with festive treats. Rupert followed, silently.
Rupert Discovers the Truth
A cavern full of Christmarsh plunder. Rupert gasps - Oh No! A Blunder!	Out of the dark, trapped in a ring. Rupert is dragged before the King
Coming up behind the Bog-hoblin, Rupert stepped into a huge cavern, piled wall to wall with Chrishmarsh booty. Amazed by the sight, Rupert could not help but gasp out loud. Suddenly, a dozen Bog-hoblins appear from the shadows. Surrounded, he was 'escorted' deep into the cavern. There the Bog-hoblin King sat upon his throne.
"No one thinks of us at this time of year. So we 'found' our own Christmarsh cheer."	"These items do not a Christmarsh make. We learn it's better to give than to take."
Rupert asked why the Bog-hoblins had been stealing Christmarsh. Listening to the King's explanation he realised that the Bog-hoblins were not evil, but felt left out. They just needed to be told the true meaning of Christmarsh. Rupert waited until the King had finished, then made his own speech . . .
Rupert Put Things Right
"I think you're probably right there, boy. These trappings have not brought us joy."	Bog-hoblins hurry to return the goods. Armfuls of presents and Christmarsh puds.
Rupert stood patiently while the King thought long and hard. Finally, the Bog-hoblin monarch spoke, agreeing with what Rupert had said. Acting quickly, he ordered the Bog- hoblins to return all the Christmarsh items they had stolen, and also to offer the King's apologies for any inconveniences caused.
Rupert's Christmarsh is amongst the rest. The Bog-hoblin King sees off his 'guest'.	Back at home Christmarsh is under way. Rupert has once more saved the day.
Soon the only items left were Rupert's. Coming down from his throne, the King offered his own guard to escort Rupert and thanked him for the enlightenment. Saying his goodbyes, Rupert made his way home. Christmarsh was re-established in the Frog household. Sitting down to lunch, Mr. and Mrs. Frog are proud of their son.

To tell the truth, the two 'Tales' before my Rupert Christmas (Christmarsh) Special were not really tales - just collected snippets from papers and files, initially set up as a way for me to provide more information about the background of characters from my comic strip Frogs in Space without having to do too much info-dumping within the strip itself. This background had hints of what had happened and links to what was to come (as by this stage I had actually been thinking about the longer term detail of the strip).

Neil Legstrong's (First Frog on the Moon) and Professor Heinz von Frog's (scientist and savior) entries from Tales will make an appearance when the time is right (i.e. when the relevent episodes are also displayed - which should be reasonably soon - honest).

But, back to this, true, tale . . .

Of course, I had read Rupert the Bear as a child. The annuals; my sister had the small yellow hardback versions and even, occassionally, in the Daily Express newspaper if this was delivered instead of my mother's, usual, Daily Mail. There was also the TV series, and we even had a story on LP (that's a pre-CD for our younger audience) (with the immortal line "That's not Double Dutch, it's Chinese!" - they don't write them like that any more . . .)

However, it was more the format of those annual stories - a line at the top, four pictures a page, rhyming couplets beneath each picture, and then two paragraphs at the bottom of the page (a prose precis of a pair of the pictures - so to speak) that really attracted my attention as I have always been fascinated by the format and layout of a page (probably why I am a sequential art fan (okay, I like 'comics')). It also has to be said that I am a bit of an alliteration addict and, although I don't have to make my poetry rhyme . . . I just tend to find it happening.

Anyway, 'Bear' becomes 'Frog', 'Christmas' becomes 'Christmarsh', 'Nutwood' becomes 'Nutmarsh' (rather than Nutbush . . .) and 'Hob-goblins' become 'Bog-hoblins' in my witty re-naming of places, people and objects into swampian sound-alikes (even changing a 'Christmas Tree' into 'Christmarsh Reeds'). Neil becomes a poster icon and the HVF Spaceracer (a forerunner to the Frogs in Space Spacehopper) also gets its place on the wall of a well adjusted young frog.
 

And that is basically it. Except to say give the 'real' Rupert his due - especially as he has just reached his 80th birthday.Created by Mary Tourtel in 1920, he gained his most familiar style (and the annuals) in the 1930s under Alfred Bestell's stewardship. Rupert the Bear and, I assume, all other related characters/settings TM and (c) Express Newspapers PLC - and series copyright 1998 Nelvana Ltd.
 

Rupert appeared again - this time on my 1995 Christmas Card (an ongoing series I subject my friends and family each yuletide)

The other 'chap' is my 'assistant' Sod. Who had taken over the role of Father Christmas the year before, and would get rid of the suit to Mr. Fenn in the 1996 card.

Mr. Fenn gets a mention within the main Frogs in Space strip, but of his adventures on the Frogs' home planet of Swamp . . . Well, there is a tale to tell.
 
 

Tales of the Swamp may continue . . .