Lost Roald Dahl manuscript sells on eBay

The original typed manuscript of a previously unseen children's short story fragment by Roald Dahl was sold last night on the auction website eBay. The highest bidder paid $1,900 (£1,200) for the two-page, 400-word piece, titled The Eyes of Mr Croaker.

Dahl wrote the short piece in 1982 for two young American publishers who were planning a book designed to encourage children to write. Jerry Biederman and Tom Silberkleit successfully approached a range of high-profile authors, including Richard Adams, Joan Aiken and Mary Poppins creator PL Travers, to write the openings of short stories that children could then finish themselves. The duo planned to publish the book under the title The Do-It-Yourself Children's Storybook, following the earlier example of The Do-It-Yourself Bestseller, which had invited adult writers to complete stories begun by authors such as Stephen King and Ken Follett.

Dahl was paid $200 for his contribution, but Biederman and Silberkleit ended up being distracted by other projects and the planned volume did not see the light of day. For some years The Eyes of Mr Croaker was stored, forgotten, in Biederman's parents' garage in California.

The story-starter Dahl provided shows the author writing in characteristically creepy mode. "Not one single person in the whole neighbourhood liked old Mr Croaker," Dahl began. "It wasn't just the way he looked, though that was bad, nor the nasty way he talked, though that was worse. It was not only his strange dark house on the edge of the woods that put people off. It was something frightening about his eyes."

Two children, a girl and a boy, decide to go for a picnic in the woods even though they know they will have to pass Mr Croaker's house, and one of them has once seen Mr Croaker carrying into the house "a sack that wriggled". But as they pass the house, the children's pet dog Scruff goes running up to the house and ... Dahl ends, leaving it to the young readers to continue the story.

Biederman, who now works as a writer and Hollywood producer, says he plans to resurrect the idea of The Do-It-Yourself Children's Storybook and is approaching publishers with a proposal, which includes an interactive competition and story openings from contemporary authors as well as those he and Silberkleit originally obtained. Dahl's literary agent, Anthony Goff of David Higham Associates, has said the Dahl estate will respect the original agreement made for The Eyes of Mr Croaker, provided the writing is used in exactly the way it was first intended.

Kate Agnew of the Children's Bookshop in Muswell Hill said she thought schools would "love" the book, if it did come off. "There's such a current focus on children's writing, and the stories will be much more exciting as a stimulus than anything you'll find on a SATs paper," she said. "It would be great for getting children thinking about authors' different styles."

Dahl died in 1990, but his bestselling children's books, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, remain hugely popular. A musical adaptation of Dahl's book Matilda performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company opened in Stratford-upon-Avon in November.