Paws & Tales

Dave Carrol: Hi, this is Dave Carrol, creator of Paws & Tales. You might be surprised to know that each and every episode of Paws & Tales, the audio series, requires a bunch of actors, a writer, a score composer, a songwriter, singers, genius web people, and a master of snacks.

Okay, there is no master of snacks. That was just in my head. To get Paws & Tales out to the world, we are in need of folks who have a vision to reach families for Jesus just like we do.

If you’d like to help, just log on to pawsandtales.org and go to the donate button. A gift of any size will help us to introduce Paws & Tales to families around the world. Thank you for joining the club by helping us invite more folks to imagine God's love.

Insight for Living: Previously on Paws & Tales.

Guest (Male): We just finished a fortress here. Let me hear it!

Cindi: Daddy, what is it? What can make a noise like that?

Guest (Male): Lord have mercy. It's him. Forgive me, Lord. Protect my family.

Pastor Flint: Name's Pastor Flint, and this is my son-in-law. Everyone calls him Papa Chuck.

Papa Chuck: Good morning.

Guest (Male): You! It was you! Let me explain. Do you not know who your daughter has married? This grizzly is Goliath!

Cindi: Yes, Cindy. Why do they call Papa Chuck Goliath?

Papa Chuck: Just a minute, son. Hon, I guess I have to tell the kids. When I was a young bear, Wild Mountain was dangerous. It was overrun with bandits. I was young, and I thought that I knew everything.

I took a friend of mine, and we went looking for the bandits. I was living wild. No one was going to tell me what to do. It was the worst time of my life. The second worst.

CJ: And you've been afraid that we'd be afraid of you or not trust you anymore.

Papa Chuck: There's more to your story, isn't there?

CJ: Yeah, a lot.

Staci: When did you become Papa Chuck?

Papa Chuck: That's enough for now. I'll tell you more when you're ready, when I'm ready.

Insight for Living: Welcome to the world of Paws & Tales. Wild Mountain can be a pretty dangerous place. If you stay on the trails and stick with me, there's adventure to be had there too.

Staci: Come on, CJ, jump!

CJ: It's too far!

Staci: It wasn't too far for me!

Insight for Living: Insight for Living is proud to present Paws & Tales.

Howdy and welcome to Wildwood. On a cool and windy fall day, there are few things cozier than working away in the fix-it shop with a fire going in the potbellied stove.

The whole club is here, and Papa Chuck is quietly watching over their work. Each of them are working on presents for their folks, and each of them are, of course, talking as they work.

CJ: Denny was caught throwing rocks through Madame Voltaire's windows.

Ned: Yep, he was a bad one. He always seems to get caught.

CJ: I know. He's bad. He's bad at being bad.

Staci: You know, my mom calls you a hoodlum.

Gooze: My mom says if he isn't careful, he's going to end up in jail.

CJ: Yeah, but he could still straighten up. He's been close before.

Ned: Yeah, but he's even bad at trying to be good.

CJ: He's bad at being bad, and he's bad at being good. That's pretty bad.

He still could come around. We just can't give up on him.

Staci: Yeah, anybody can change.

Ned: I think the only change he will ever see is the spare change he steals from the general store.

Gooze: Yeah, Hugh's never going to change. He is a bad seed.

Ned: What does that mean?

Gooze: It means that he will always be bad. It's who he is.

I say don't knock yourself out trying to help him, Staci. It won't make a bit of difference.

CJ: No difference at all.

Papa Chuck: Anyone here ever done the same bad thing over and over?

CJ: I have.

Staci: Yeah.

Ned: What? What's everyone looking at me for?

Papa Chuck: No matter how bad a person is, they can always choose to change. If they ask God for mercy, He'll give it to them and forgive them.

It's what God does. He's done it for all of us. We need to not give up on Hugh. Don't give up on anyone.

CJ: Yeah, but he's actually getting worse. He likes being bad. He doesn't want to change.

Papa Chuck: I didn't want to change either. Maybe now's the time to tell you the rest of my story.

Staci: About when you were Goliath?

Papa Chuck: Yeah.

CJ: It's definitely time. I'm dying to know how it all turns out.

Ned: Tell us the rest!

Staci: Did you get all the bandits?

Gooze: How did you come to Wildwood?

CJ: Tell us about the battle!

Papa Chuck: Hold on, all of you. This is no picnic for me. I'd much rather not tell you any of this.

Staci: No, tell us, please!

Ned: Yeah, tell us!

Papa Chuck: Well, I hope you're ready for this. I hope I'm ready for this. I'll pick up where I left off before.

CJ: You were Goliath.

Papa Chuck: Sit still and be quiet.

CJ: Sorry.

Papa Chuck: I was getting more proud and more angry every day. I hadn't one single thought except to destroy every bandit I could find.

We started out just wanting to help the folks the bandits stole from. We intended on giving the stolen stuff back, but we never got around to that. We ended up keeping it for ourselves.

The better we got at attacking them, the less I thought about the families they had hurt. I loved the power of being Goliath. I didn't just fight them back; I hunted them down. I was looking for them all the time. I even slept in my armor. I was always ready for a fight.

Staci: You wore armor?

Ned: Body armor!

Papa Chuck: Not like a knight of the round table. I made a crude vest of leather and sewed pieces of metal over it. It wasn't anything to look at, but it would stop an arrow cold.

Ned: Body armor!

Papa Chuck: We'd attacked them again, and they were on the run. I'd paused for a moment to catch my breath. That was the first time he came.

Gooze: Who came?

Papa Chuck: My tempter. The owl was there. I was at the height of my pride. Everything was going just as I wanted it to.

The bandits were being pushed ever deeper into the mountains. My name sent fear into their hearts, and my roar would stop them in their tracks. I was the mighty Goliath.

Dave Carrol: Hello, Dave Carrol here. Where does your kid listen to Paws & Tales? We'd love to know. You can upload a photo of your kids listening to Paws & Tales in the car, half buried in pillows, while coloring, or doing a puzzle.

So many ways to listen. We will be posting a bunch of these photos on pawsandtales.org. Just think, your kid's photo could be on the wall of the clubhouse in Wildwood.

The Owl: Finally, I meet the great Goliath. An honor, sir, a real honor.

Goliath: I've got business to attend to.

The Owl: Your friends have it well in hand. You can leave it to them. Can I not? Goliath, I would like to make you an offer.

Goliath: Whatever you're selling, I don't want any. I'm a little busy.

The Owl: Oh, I'm not selling anything. Really, I've a proposal for you.

Goliath: A proposal?

The Owl: I am an emissary from Shadow Valley.

Goliath: Shadow Valley? You're kidding. That's a wife's tale.

The Owl: Oh, I assure you it is ever so real. We, my people, have heard of your greatness. We have heard of your fierceness in battle. We offer you Shadow Valley as your kingdom.

Goliath: Kingdom? You want me to be king of a fable?

The Owl: Everything you ever wanted would be yours in Shadow Valley. For instance, you would be able to wipe out the bandits entirely if you were king.

Goliath: Wipe them out? There's no way.

They've shot at us! Seems you were wrong. The battle's not over. Maybe some other time?

The Owl: Indeed, we will talk later.

Staci: Arrows? What, where were the guns? Why weren't they shooting guns?

Papa Chuck: Well, it may be hard for you to grasp just how wild Wild Mountain was back then. There was no train yet. Everything that came in, came in by wagon.

Guns were hard to get at all. And one of the things we stole most from the bandits were their guns. They mostly had to make their weapons from whatever they could.

Ned: Ah, then you could go after them with all of those guns! Oh, I love it!

Papa Chuck: No, we didn't use guns at all. Ever.

Staci: Why not?

Papa Chuck: We didn't just want to get rid of the bandits. I wanted to terrify them. I wanted them to fear even being on the mountain.

I wanted to be in their nightmares. We used swords and bows and arrows. They knew we had their guns, but we never used them.

This made them uncomfortable, and it fed my pride. The fact that we could beat them back with nothing but crude and barbaric weapons made me feel powerful.

CJ: Whoa.

Papa Chuck: That winter, we found almost no bandits at all. We thought that we may have moved them out of the mountains altogether.

We were wrong. That winter they did something they had never done before. They joined together. They joined forces for one reason.

CJ: To get Goliath and his men.

Papa Chuck: That is exactly right.

Staci: But they never did.

Ned: No, they did not!

Papa Chuck: Actually, they did.

Staci: They did?

Papa Chuck: They came from every direction. There were 10 of us by then. They had us cornered near the mouth of a cave.

Bandit: My leg!

Goliath: You're going to be okay. It went almost all the way through. Pull it the rest of the way. Well, hang on to something.

Bandit: (Screams)

Goliath: You okay?

Bandit: I've just got to stop the bleeding. Get back in the cave and catch your breath. They're done for now, but they'll hit us hard when it gets dark. I'll get Smedley to come fix you up.

Goliath: All right. I staggered back into the darkness of the cave and slumped against the wall, trying to bandage my leg. None of us said it, but we all knew that this was the end. We would not walk away from this fight.

The Owl: Pity that. Must hurt terribly. You can put that away. I'm on your side.

Goliath: How did you get in here?

The Owl: The back door. There's a way out if you know it.

Goliath: Excellent. I'll get the others.

The Owl: I'm not showing you the way out.

Goliath: I'll have you for dinner. It would be your last. You'll never find the way without me.

What do you want?

The Owl: I think I've made that quite clear. I, we, want you to be our king.

Goliath: In Shadow Valley.

The Owl: In Shadow Valley.

Goliath: Why would I want to be king?

The Owl: The fulfillment of your greatest desire.

Goliath: And what is that?

The Owl: Your pride has been growing of late. You want to be known and feared throughout the mountain. Your pride is growing ever more hungry.

It wants satisfaction. But you can't satisfy it, can you?

Goliath: So how do I do that?

The Owl: You hunger for the destruction of the bandits. Is this not your greatest desire?

Goliath: Okay, maybe it is. What can you do about it?

The Owl: You've been holding back, Goliath. I want you to embrace your pride. After all, that's what drives all the great ones, isn't it? Pride.

Let it grow. Let it be hungry. And if you want it badly enough, if you want greatness with everything you have, I can give it to you.

Goliath: Give me what? You keep talking, but you don't tell me what it is you can give me.

The Owl: As king, you can muster an army. This army will be at your beck and call.

You'll be able to wipe out or chase every bandit from these mountains. What do you think of that?

Goliath: That would be satisfying.

The Owl: Do you want it with everything you have? Would you not give anything you have to command such an army?

Goliath: I believe I would.

The Owl: So then we are agreed.

Goliath: And then you'll get us out of here? Us? My friends? You'll show us how to get out of here?

The Owl: Oh, your friends. Yes. About your friends... You'll need to leave them behind.

Staci: Staci here from Paws & Tales. Hey, Dave. So that Flat CJ, Ned, or Gooze? I don't get it.

Dave Carrol: Well, we're asking kids to download a coloring sheet of their favorite Paws & Tales character from our website, pawsandtales.org, and color it in.

Then we're asking them to send in a photo of them holding it up so we can show it off to the world.

Staci: That's so fun. Go to pawsandtales.org and pop into the clubhouse to upload.

Goliath: I am not leaving them behind. We fought together and lived together.

The Owl: But for what purpose? To beat back the bandits?

Goliath: Yes!

The Owl: They are prepared to give their lives to this cause?

Goliath: We all are.

The Owl: Consider it done. You and your army will dispose of the bandits. You have no need of these friends.

Goliath: I won't do it!

The Owl: Then you will all die here, and the bandits will own Wild Mountain again. There will be no one to stop them.

An opportunity like this occasionally requires a sacrifice. You need to leave your friends to the bandits, or the deal is off.

Goliath: How big an army?

The Owl: Thousands. Thousands of the most ferocious and battle-ready troops this mountain has ever seen. They will be unstoppable.

Goliath: All right.

The Owl: So, in order to be king, you give your friends as a sacrifice?

Goliath: Why are you making this so hard?

The Owl: The great ones all have been able to make difficult decisions. There will be others to be sure.

Are you ready for greatness? Are you ready to make the necessary sacrifice?

Goliath: All right, I give them as a sacrifice. Now, take off your armor. My what? Why?

The Owl: The bandits are coming. Do you want to die here bickering about your wardrobe?

Goliath: All right!

Papa Chuck: I struggled to take off my leather vest. Once I got it off, I turned around.

Goliath: (Screams)

Papa Chuck: He'd stabbed me with a small stone knife right over my heart.

Goliath: What was that? I'll kill you!

The Owl: Calm down, you won't die. It's how you get marked, branded. Now, you are king of Shadow Valley.

Goliath: You never told me I was going to get stabbed!

The Owl: You fool. When it comes to satisfying your pride, you're never told the cost.

Goliath: I'm not going! I quit!

The Owl: You are no longer in control. You cannot quit.

Goliath: I'm the king, and I quit!

The Owl: You are the king, but you are not in control. Good night, mighty Goliath, king of Shadow Valley.

Goliath: What's happening to me?

Papa Chuck: I passed out. I dreamt I was drowning and falling and moving too slow to run away. I think I had every nightmare that there was. But then things got worse.

Staci: How could things get worse than that?

Papa Chuck: I woke up in Shadow Valley. You need to know that folks here in town, a lot of them don't believe this part of my story.

Ned: Why not?

Staci: Yeah, why not?

Papa Chuck: Well, because it's pretty difficult to believe. They think I was sick and lived wild in the mountain, crazy from my wounds.

I talked with your folks about this some time ago, and they're fine with me telling you. Here goes.

I woke up in a huge beautiful bed. There was soft music being played. I was in the bedroom of a king.

Minister Squeen: He's awake! Bring us some food! Good morning, sire!

Goliath: If you say so.

Minister Squeen: Yes, your injuries have been attended to. You should feel better soon. Might I say that it is an honor to have you here? The entire kingdom is beside itself with excitement.

Goliath: Who exactly?

Minister Squeen: Forgive me, sire. I am Minister Squeen, your minister of finance. Consider me your most devoted servant, sire.

As she rattled on about her devotion to me, a young servant brought in a platter of food. I was starved. He saw my eyes light up, and he came right towards me with the platter. Just then, Minister Squeen was swinging her arms in a ridiculously dramatic way.

Oh, I'm so sorry. You stupid clumsy thing! Beast!

Goliath: Stop! I tried to get up and grab her by the throat, but the wound in my chest sent a shock of pain through me. Stop! I fell back in the bed, unable to get up.

The Owl: Everyone out! Out, all of you! Here, sire, drink this. It will help the pain.

Papa Chuck: Whatever it was that I drank, it knocked me right out. I must have slept for hours.

You got rid of her, Minister Squeen. You got rid of her for beating the servant, right?

The Owl: I had every intention. When I woke up, my six ministers were waiting for me. They were all, each and every one, the most corrupt and wicked bunch that I'd ever come across.

I wanted to get rid of them all, but then there wouldn't be anyone left. Two of them, Squeen and Minister Vitten, gave me a tour of my kingdom. The first stop was the celebration stone, sire.

Goliath: What do you celebrate here?

Minister Vitten: The arrival of new subjects. Each day at sunset, when there is a new subject, we celebrate. But today, today we celebrate the arrival of our new and glorious king.

Goliath: That was it? That was a celebration?

Minister Vitten: It is a celebration for us, and it is a message we send to our guide. We tell him when another has joined us.

Goliath: Who's your guide?

Minister Squeen: He is the one who is preparing us for the coming swarm. He will tell us when we have sufficient numbers.

Then he will lead us out to swarm over the mountain and make it ours.

Minister Vitten: Our little valley, you see, is a sort of holding tank until we're free.

Goliath: You mean there's no way out of this valley?

Minister Vitten: I lament to tell you, there is not.

Goliath: There has to be!

Minister Squeen: There is the labyrinth.

Minister Vitten: Well, yes, there is that, but...

Goliath: Show me the labyrinth.

Minister Vitten: This way, sire.

Papa Chuck: As we rode, I looked at the walls of the valley. They were straight up and sheer rock. There was no way anyone could climb out.

It took me to the far side of the valley, and we stopped, looking at a path that disappeared behind a wall of stone.

Minister Squeen: This is the only way out of the valley, but it is certain death to those that go this way.

Those who have gone in have never come back, and the sounds that echo through are certainly the sounds of monsters, sire.

Minister Vitten: It's really quite thrilling to hear. Perhaps we should send someone in so you can hear for yourself. Um, you there! Go into the labyrinth!

Goliath: What? That won't be necessary.

Minister Vitten: No one makes it through alive. The legend is that you become forever lost or food for the unspeakable beasts that live there.

Goliath: So how do we get out?

Minister Squeen: We can't, sire. Our hope is in the guide. We wait for the swarm.

Goliath: He lied. He told me I could muster an army.

Minister Vitten: Well, you can do that, sire. But we can't get out.

Goliath: If I ever get my hands on him... How high are the valley walls?

Minister Vitten: I don't know, sire. Thousands of feet.

Goliath: What if we built a tower? A series of platforms that pyramid right up to the top of the valley?

Minister Vitten: I don't think anything like that has ever been tried, sire.

There are those who have tried to climb out, but they have all fallen to the end of their climb.

Goliath: I'll sketch something out. I've been lied to. Nothing makes sense here.

Minister Squeen: I wish I could tell you that it will get better. The last stop on our little tour, sire, is for you to visit Ava.

Goliath: Who's Ava?

Minister Vitten: She has been here the longest. She's a little crazy as a loon.

Minister Squeen: Yes, she is crazy, but she is wise too. She will fill in some of the blank spots for you.

Goliath: That sounds like someone I need to talk to. Which way do we go?

Minister Squeen: Back to the palace, sire. She lives in the palace.

Goliath: Palace? Did I meet her?

Minister Vitten: Oh no, you wouldn't have met her. She is kept in the tower.

Goliath: She's kept in the tower?

Minister Squeen: Sire, she's not entirely safe.

Insight for Living: To order a copy of the Goliath Collection, Goliath, King of Shadow Valley, just log on to pawsandtales.org.

Shadow Valley, part one, was written and directed by David Carrol. Music was by Tim Hosman, and our sound designer was Jerry Swafford. Paws & Tales is an Insight for Living production.