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Hoot! Hoot!
Hoot!
Crunch! Crunch!
Crunch!
Chigga-ligga!
Chigga-ligga! Chigga-ligga!
“The woods are
noisy tonight, aren’t they, Mac?” Ian leaned over the branch and looked at
the ground below.
“Nighttime is when
all the creatures come out to hunt and to play,” Mac said.
“What do you mean,
to play?”
Mac scratched his
belly. “What I mean is that fairies and elves and goblins and gnomes and
such thing come out at night and dance around fairy circles and all that
fantasy stuff.”
“Then I say you
tell me a story about that,” Ian said.
“You’re not afraid
it might scare you?”
“No way. I’m never
afraid.” Ian pulled a funny face.
“All right. I’ll
tell you one that will make your claws curl. It was a dark, stormy night,
pardon the lame beginning; and a wind blew through the forest, across the
loch and down through the glen. Sara and her three sisters, Bella, Inga,
and Julia, went for a walk.”
“Why did they go
for a walk at night when it was cold and windy? That doesn’t make sense.”
Ian’s eyebrows narrowed.
“It makes sense if
I want it to. Stop interrupting, Ian. They were out for their nighttime
walk and got lost in the forest. They walked through the trees and all
they saw were more trees. After an hour or so they came upon a hole in the
ground. They stopped and looked down into it. It was dark and deep and had
no bottom. Bella picked up a stone and dropped it and they never heard it
land. Sara told her three sisters to stay there. She was curious and
wanted to check it out. She tied a rope around her waist.”
“Where did she get
the rope, Mac?”
“They found it
lying near the hole. She tied the rope around her waist and her sisters
lowered her into the hole. She went deeper and deeper and deeper. Suddenly
the rope went loose. They pulled it up and there was no Sara on the end of
it. Bella wanted to find her sister, so she tied the rope around her waist
and went down into the hole. She went deeper and deeper and deeper.
Suddenly the rope went loose again. Inga and Julia pulled it up. There was
no Bella on the end of it. Inga decided she’d go and find her sisters. She
tied the rope to her waist and went down, down, down into the hole. Little
Julia was left at the top. She lay on her tummy and looked down. Suddenly
the rope went loose. When Julia pulled it up, there was no Inga on the
end. Julia wasn’t about to go down into the hole, so she ran home to get
her four brothers, Sam, Tom, Bob and Ned. She took them to the hole and
showed them the rope. Sam dropped the rope back into the hole. Something
grabbed onto the end of it.”
“What was it, Mac?
Was it Sara, Bella or Inga?”
“No, Ian. It
wasn’t. When they pulled the rope to the top of the hole, Julia screamed.
Instead of her big sister, Sara, there was a big green monster with pokey
ears, a yellow feather on top and two buck teeth. The monster said she was
really Sara, but had turned into a monster in the hole. Julia took monster
Sara and sat under a tree. The brothers dropped the rope down into the
hole. A few minutes later they pulled out another monster. It was Bella.
She looked like an ugly bird, but was very large. Bella cried and said she
didn’t like being an ugly monster. She went to sit by Sara and Julia. A
few minutes later they pulled Inga out of the hole, but she didn’t look
like Inga. She was fat and ugly and had a big yellow head and arms and a
red and purple tail. She sobbed and ran over to sit by Julia and the
others.
“Julia didn’t like
being the only one who wasn’t a monster so before her brothers could stop
her, she ran and jumped into the hole. A while later the brothers pulled
her out. She looked like a pink worm. The brothers didn’t know what to do.
Their mama and papa weren’t going to be happy with ugly daughters. Sam ran
off to find a fairy. Tom ran off to find a gnome. Bob ran off to find an
elf and Ned ran off to find a goblin. The four brothers returned an hour
later. Sam took the fairy over to where Sara sat and showed the fairy. Sam
thought the fairy was going to turn Sara back into a girl, but instead she
turned Sam into a lizard. Tom brought the gnome back, but instead of
turning Bella back into a girl, the gnome turned Tom into a pig. Bob came
back a while later with an elf, who didn’t turn Inga into a girl, but
turned Bob into a cow. When Ned came back with the goblin, instead of
turning little Julia back into a cute, adorable baby sister, and the
goblin turned Ned into a raccoon.”
“Uh, Mac, this
story isn’t scary at all,” Ian said.
“What if I told
you my real name is Ned?” Mac leaped at Ian, who jumped high off the
branch and nearly tumbled to the ground. “Got you!”
“Mac! Now that was scary!” Ian curled up in a ball and closed his eyes.
Mac did the same. Ian peeked now and then to make sure Mac didn’t turn
into a boy. |
