FIFTH STORY BOOK
THE BANANA BUTTERFLY AND OTHER STORIES
BY
THEO TAMMES
CONTENTS
I THE SILVER DOE AND THE COCONU TREE PAGE 3
II THE SHOESHINE DOG PAGE 7
III THE BASKETRAT AND THE MELON SEEDS PAGE 10
IV THE MOONSHINE SHADOWTREE PAGE 14
V THE GIANT OF THE FENWICK MOORS PAGE 16
VI THE NAKED MAN AND THE SHOE PAGE 19
VII THE TALKING STONE AND THE SHADOW MEN PAGE 22
VIII THE TALKING HORSE AND THE BAKERY VAN PAGE 26
IX NO MORE NONSENSE PAGE 30
X THE RED GIRAFFE PAGE 33
XI THE SUPERGIANT AND THE WOULEYRIBS PAGE 38
XII THE BANANA BUTTERFLY PAGE 42
WRITTEN IN GLASGOW, 1995
EDITED AND REVISED IN 2003
©
COPYRIGHT BY
TAO TAMMES
CASA AZUL
PORTO DO PAUL
PERNES
2000-500
PORTUGAL
I THE SILVER DOE AND THE COCONUT TREE
Once upon a time in a far away country, somewhere on this wonderful planet of ours, there lived a doe. A silver doe.
She was very beautiful, very graceful, and she was very small. Much smaller than most deer, and hardly bigger than an average seized dog.
The silver doe lived in the forest and the wide steppes towards the north of the country, which indeed is a very quiet and sparsely populated country. A lonesome place at times, with the settlements widely scattered, and often many miles between neighbouring houses. There were hunters living in the forest, who sometimes crossed the tracks the silver doe made, but when she went up north farther still, she never saw a sign of humans at all. The land was left undisturbed, as it had been since the first era of the world. The silver doe was of course special, a very special animal indeed. She lived her life in peace and harmony, and she was saved from any dangers as well as by her own skills, as by the magic woven around her by some of her mighty friends. In the middle of her favourite grove there grew a coconut tree, which was strange and most surprising.
Normally they never grew that far up north, but somehow this one had managed to grow and survive under the most unlikely circumstances.
That was of course because it was a magic tree, and its magic spread far further afield than even the silver doe knew. When the ripened coconuts fell of the tree, little miracles started to take place straight away.
It was the blue raven himself that had originally brought the seed of the coconut tree, as a present from the Gods at the birth of the silver doe.
Mind you, when she was born she appeared as normal as anything, it wasn’t until she grew up and started to eat the coconuts that she became silver coloured, and hence turned into a silver doe.
And not only did her colour change when she started eating the coconuts, her strength and health and power increased steadily as well.
In all the surrounding forest she was widely accepted as the queen, and when asked, she could tell the other animals their future, and she had great healing powers, especially over wounds and broken bones. That was of course much appreciated by the other forest dwellers, and over the years she helped many of them to recover their health.
She wove a fine web of magic all around her little country, and since no evil could come to it, every animal and plant thrived there.
One day a family of nomads came near to her country, and settled with their reindeer just outside her boundaries.
It so happened that one of their children was gravely ill, and her life was in danger. Her parents did all that was within their power to help the child, but all their efforts seemed to be in vain.
Since the reindeer of course knew about the silver doe, one of them decided to go and find her, and to ask for her help. The reindeer were quite happy with their owners, they had always been treated fairly, and now they would like to repay their kindness and fairness.
Our reindeer found the silver doe with very little trouble or effort, animals seem to know how to find each other when they need to.
The silver doe promised to come along and try to heal the child.
To get the silver doe near the child, the reindeer staged a big fight and a massive breakout, which needed the attention of all the nomads before the herd settled down.
In that time the child was left alone and the silver doe had her chance. She entered the tent in which the child lay sleeping, and after a quick look she knew what was needed to heal the poor little child. To alleviate the most pressing dangers, she used her magic power, and then she went outside to gather some herbs and plants that she knew she would need. She met up with some of the reindeer outside in the forest and gave them instructions on how to look after the child, then she could finally return to her own quarters.
The reindeer looked after the child as they had been instructed, and from that moment onwards the child started to recover. She recovered so speedily that her parents could hardly believe their eyes. At first they had been very annoyed with their reindeer, for being such problems at a time when they needed to look after their sick child, but now that the child was recovering, coming almost back from death’s door, they relaxed and forgot about the troubles.
The silver doe came home very tired, for she had never before tried to heal a human child, and she felt tired and confused. But she felt also very pleased.
To comfort herself she went to the coconut tree to nibble a bit at the coconuts, when she received a big shock. The tree had started to wilt, and looked very ill itself.
For a long time afterwards there were no more coconuts, and the tree appeared to be dying itself. That upset the silver doe no end, and she started to feel unwell herself.
The only good thing was that she had quite a stack of the coconuts, and they would last her for a good while.
As long as she could nibble the coconuts, she felt her strength revive.
At the same time that the coconut tree was slowly withering away, the child whose life had been saved by the silver doe, started to have nasty dreams. She dreamed of the silver doe, and in her dreams she didn’t look like any other doe she knew of.
Her dreams were always the same, she had to go and find the silver doe and offer something to her. But she was never sure what it was that she should offer, and once woken up, she often forgot her dreams.
But the dreams kept returning, and one night she woke up knowing that she had to go and find the silver doe.
Under a faint moon she could see a path stretching out into the forest, and without even thinking about being properly dressed, she started to follow the trail.
The trees seemed to whisper in her ears:” Go on, well done, this is the way.”
And she went on and on. After a long time she came to the coconut tree and spotted the silver doe laying asleep beneath it.
Then the blue raven came down from Heaven, and landed on her shoulders. “Have you brought a gift? Just put it under the tree.” He whispered in her ear.
And the girl found that she had been carrying her favourite doll along with her, not even knowing that she had.
That doll was her most treasured belonging, but she placed it under the coconut tree without hesitation, and then started to walk all the way back home.
Next morning she couldn’t remember if it all had been a dream, but the doll was gone, no-where to be found.
The coconut tree recovered, and the silver doe reigned in her own country once more in perfect health.
But the child remembered the coconut tree, and began to worship it. She carved her own tree out of a piece of wood, and took the little statue of the coconut tree with her, wherever she went.
And if you ever come across this child and her descendants, and find that they worship a coconut tree, without ever having seen one, then you know that you are near the country of the silver doe, and you might be under her benign influence.
And of course they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
II THE SHOESHINE DOG
Once upon a time there was a dog. And this was a very nice and clever dog. He lived with a family in a rather small house, but with a big garden, on the outskirts of a town in a country on a little blue planet, somewhere in this beautiful universe.
Of course the dog was special, very special indeed. He was even more special than his family knew, although for them he was special enough the way they knew him.
This dog was as black as coal, and quite big, maybe the seize of a goat.
He was a good watchdog, a fine companion for the children, and he was a great help to the adults in the house, since he carried little things for them around, in his mouth.
Things like keys or newspapers. He could also deliver small parcels to anyone he was send to, and never failed at any task he was asked to perform.
The biggest problem with this dog was that he needed to be treated with brush and shoeshine every day.
Yes, I know, that is quite strange, rather unusual, but what can I do about that? This dog was the shoeshine dog after all.
If no one of the family polished him, he would slowly loose his appetite, lay listless in a corner, and be no good to anyone. Well, I’m sure you can imagine that in a big family there is enough to do to keep everybody busy, and sometimes no one found the time to brush the dog.
And sure enough, the next day they would notice, for the dog wouldn’t even get up. He refused his breakfast, and lay in a corner.
As soon as the oldest girl was old enough to go to school, her parents told her that from now on it would be her task to shine and brush the dog every day. “Make him shine like a star”, mother told her.
She was really pleased with her task, since she loved the dog dearly, but you know as well as me, that little girls sometimes are very busy with their own things, and every so often she would forget to brush and shine the dog.
There were also times that she was away, staying overnight with her friends, or sometimes with her granny.
On such days the parents would take turn in shining and brushing the dog, and even if the daily ritual was forgotten sometimes, all in all everything went fine.
The children grew up, and our dog showed more and more of his special qualities. He always knew where the children were, and when needs be; he would go and collect them. He knew exactly what the mother needed when she went shopping, and made sure she never forgot an item. A most amazing skill of the shoeshine dog was that he could memorize all the important telephone numbers, and he even learned how to dial them.
That was especially handy for the father, since the dog never forgot a number, dialled it, and handed the phone over to whoever’s turn it was to talk.
As long as he was brushed and polished every morning, all was fine. He kept the children out of dangerous activities, and he was, as I’m sure you all will understand, a great benefit to the family. When the shoeshine dog grew older, he became restless. He had strange dreams at night, and sometimes there was a far-away look in his eyes. When there was a rainbow in the sky he would run and try to reach it, just where the end touched the earth. Strange things began to happen, rare animals came into the garden at night, furniture moved itself around the house, sometimes the car wouldn’t start, sometimes the light went off without any apparent reason.
There were strange phone calls, with animal sounds, but no humans speaking. Then one day a letter came for the shoeshine dog. The girl opened it and tried to read it, but she couldn’t make sense of the letters and words.
Although she tried a couple of times, she soon gave up. Our shoeshine dog however, seemed to have understood whatever the girl had read to him, and looked pleased.
Next morning he wasn’t a black dog anymore, but a white dog.
Oh yes, he was the same dog, but his colour had changed completely. The whole family was very surprised at that, as you can understand. After they had calmed down, the mother went shopping to buy white shoe polish and a new brush.
Then the girl went to do her job.
The shoeshine dog looked splendid. He shone like newly fallen snow, and he was as happy and cleaver as ever.
From then onwards the shoeshine dog changed his colours regularly. Soon there was also a tin of brown shoe polish, as well as one of silver. Later there came a one of blue and one of gold. One tin of purple and a tin of green followed.
By now the whole town knew about the dog and his changing colours, and many people came to see him.
Since his colours changed daily, but without an apparent regularity, the family even started to place bets on which colour their dog would be the next day.
By now numerous tins and brushes were all kept in a special cupboard, and our little girl had more than her hands full to keep them all apart. One nice, sunny day, a couple of rain clouds made a huge rainbow appear in the sky over the town, and our shoeshine dog finally managed to reach the end of the rainbow, before it disappeared.
He started to walk up the rainbow, and his colour of the day, a nice soft green, vanished and gave place to the colours of the rainbow.
It became almost impossible to spot him; you could only see his collar, as he climbed higher and higher.
After a while he was out of sight, and that was the last that people ever saw of the shoeshine dog.
But there are stories about this dog coming down from time to time, and working wonders wherever he appeared.
So well, if you ever come across a rainbow coloured shoeshine dog, it may be your good fortune, and even if not, at least you know the story of this shoeshine dog.
And of course, they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
III THE BASKETRAT AND THE MELONSEEDS
Once upon a time a basket-rat lay curled up in his basket, fast asleep. He was dreaming of having a nice dinner with a lot of his friends, and his dream was so nice and so real that he didn’t want to wake up.
But he had to. You see, he lived in a wonderful dolls house, but no one was allowed to know that he lived there. So, in the daytime, when the children who’s house it was, were up and about, he disappeared and went into the basement, where he either slept in another basket, or went on his way to do the things he wanted or needed to do.
I am not sure if you have ever come across a basket-rat, but I can tell you, they are nice and sweet animals, and they don’t look like rats at all. This special one, our basket-rat, was mostly brown, but it was like a tabby, with different coloured patches all over. He had nice white paws, a red stripe around his neck, lovely whiskers, in gold and silver, and clear blue eyes. All of you know of course how clever basket-rats are, and this one was no exception. He actually had a most wonderful life, nights spend in the dolls house, days filled with adventures in the basement and out in the big big world. All basket-rats like to nibble nuts, as you might know, and our special one liked to nibble sunflower seeds, but most of all, melon seeds. And these melon seeds had a strange effect on him. It made our basket-rat know what would happen next. So he wasn’t surprised at all when the postman brought him a letter. The letter was an invitation to a party for home-animals, believe it or not.
Now, you know of course that home animals can be almost anything. People keep even snakes and spiders as pets. They are known to keep dogs and cats and monkeys and even crocodiles. Actually there is hardly an animal that some human or other doesn’t keep as a pet. So this invitation left a lot of questions about the animals that might turn up.
Our basket-rat nibbled away at some melon seeds and started dreaming again. Dreaming was one of the things he liked to do best of all, and sometimes the borderline between dream and reality was hard to tell.
He knew that the phone would ring soon, so he waited. It turned out to be his friend the honey-bird, asking if he was invited too. “Yes, sure”, he answered back. “Shall we go together”? his friend inquired.
And so they arranged to go together and meet in the kitchen beforehand. Since our basket-rat knew what would happen, he could tell what time of the day the kitchen would be empty, and they might find a bite to eat or something to drink.
The party proved to be a great success, it was a stunning, marvellous party. It was held in a big mansion, which looked so grand, it could almost have been a palace. The owners had gone for a holiday, and so there were no humans about to disturb the party.
The rooms were all lit up by candles, fire flies did dances underneath the ceilings, silver and gold chains were dangling down, and in every room some animals were making music. A choir of grasshoppers made a lovely sound in the big hall, a couple of dogs played tricks in another room. It was just brilliant. All sorts of animals put up different shows, there was food and drink in abundance, and you could meet any animal you wished. The basket-rat knew of course that he would meet some very special animals at the party, since he had been eating melon seeds all afternoon. His friend, the honey-bird, kept near him in the beginning, but soon she was engaged in a musical event with some parakeets, and she enjoyed herself.
After talking to the shoeshine dog, the blue raven, the seven-legged spider and the five-legged pussycat, our basket-rat met the parachute-mouse. Or rather, he was knocked down by him, as he came sailing through an open window, and landed on top of our poor basket-rat.
In no time at all they were talking and soon they became the best of friends. It was arranged that the basket-rat would come for a parachute jump as well, and he really looked forward to that!
But the biggest event for our little friend was when he met another basket-rat. She was a female, and she was just lovely.
More than that, she was gorgeous.
He immediately fell in love with her, and she seemed to like him too. She had only recently come to live in this area, and that is why they hadn’t met before.
Most amazingly of all she just loved to nibble melon seeds, just like our basket-rat, although they had a different effect on her. She didn’t know what important things would happen, but she could tell who would be happy, fall in love or have offspring.
That night, when they were curled up together in a basket, he looked her deep in the eyes, and asked her about themselves and having children.
Her answer was the sweetest smile he had ever seen, and then she raised five little toes of her front leg. Our basket-rat jumped for joy.
And indeed, it wasn’t long before their children were born, and our two basket-rats were not only extremely happy, they were extremely busy as well. You have no idea how much work is involved in bringing up five young basket-rats!
Ach, there are numerous special things to tell about those five youngsters. Their colours were splendid, but all different. One was bluish, one was purplish. One was reddish, one greenish, and the last one was goldish. All of them had of course patches of various colours in their fur, and they looked lovely, very lovely. And then there were the talents they had inherited from their parents. They all loved melon seeds, but they had a different effect on each of them. There was one who knew the exact time, always. Another could tell if any humans were around or would be in the next ten minutes. One knew exactly which food was in the house and were it could be found, and another one could tell anytime who was asleep, and where the sleeper was.
And the last one knew perfectly well if anyone was telling the truth or a lie. Between the five of them and their parents, there wasn’t a thing they could not know, if they wished to know about it.
There was no more danger for them, because one would always know if humans would come, and so on. They were save in dealings with the world, with all the skills and talents they shared between them.
Because the basket-rats and their descendents were never seen again by humans, most people believed they had become extinct. But I can assure you, that they are very much alive and thriving.
Of course there is much more to tell about the basket-rats, but for now it is enough to know that they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
IV THE MOONSHINE SHADOW TREE
Once upon a time there was a moonshine shadow tree. As the name tells you, the moonshine shadow tree only grows in the moonshine shadow. In fact, it only grows underneath other trees, in the shadow they cast when the moon shines bright and clear.
And now be honest, how many of you go out for a walk in the shadows of the moonshine? See, it is no wonder that so few people know at all about the moonshine shadow trees!
It appears to be quite small at first sight, but the nearer you come, the bigger it gets. Or maybe you get smaller?
A very strange tree it is indeed, but a very wonderful one as well. Anyone who has ever rested underneath a moonshine shadow tree can tell you, for you can go and rest underneath it, and really relax and forget all about your worries and problems. The moonshine shadow tree just welcomes you, it makes you feel safe and comfortable, and most people find themselves falling asleep after a while. The tree murmurs and sings to you, in a soft, dreamlike voice. It rocks you gently, as a mother rocks her baby in the cradle, and that’s just the way you feel, like a newborn babe.
You feel better than at any time before, and that is why the moonshine shadow tree is so important.
People used to go for long walks in moonlit nights, just to find a moonshine shadow tree, and they would tell each other where they had found one.
This tree would also free them from jealousy and greed, and make people want to share. I tell you, as long as there were enough moonshine shadow trees, people hardly needed doctors at all, or any sort of healers, because the trees would do their bit, and make the people relaxed and happy.
How it came to be that there are so few moonshine shadow trees left nowadays, nobody seems to know. But we all know that so many things have changed, and not always for the better.
Anyway, tonight I am going to take a walk and find myself a nice little moonshine shadow tree and have a good rest underneath it, and I’m sure I will feel perfectly all right when I wake up again.
THE END
V THE GIANT OF THE FENWICK MUIRS
Once upon a time there lived a giant in the Fenwick Muirs. It was long before our time, in another era of the world, when witches, dragons, elves and the likes were abundant.
Our giant was big of course, he was one of the biggest of his time, and a church tower would not reach up to his breast. He was not too clever, and most of his days were filled with roaming randomly, causing havoc wherever he appeared. Since the Fenwick Muirs were scarcely inhabited at that time, most of the damage he caused, was done to the land, but once in a while he would wander down the coast for a swim, and then anybody might be in danger for his life.
It wasn’t though as if he was a clean sort of person, not at all. Quite the contrary, he hardly ever cleaned himself at all, and there were times he was outright smelly. But since there was no one around to ever tell him, the giant didn’t know or care.
But he love to go for a swim and catch a couple of seals for his breakfast. Many times he had been to the beach without causing much harm. He stepped on some sheep occasionally, flattening them like pancakes, he had destroyed a couple of sheds, but up until now he had never killed anyone at all.
But as it happened, one day he stepped upon a cottage, where a poor family lived. Without even noticing what he did, the giant killed the father and mother, crushed the little baby boy under his big feet, and moved on as if nothing had happened.
There was also a young lass who just came back from fetching water, when she witnessed the giant stepping on the cottage. Terrified she dropped her pail and ran to the little house. Weeping she searched through the ruins, but all that she could find alive was her wee baby brother, and he was badly injured.
Heartbroken she went to the neighbours and told them what had happened. Secretly she swore to herself that she would take revenge on the giant one day, and kill him. She was young, maybe too young to feel like this, but the killing of her parents in front of her own eyes made her feel so much hatred and the need of revenge.
The neighbours took them in, as soon as they heard what had happened, and looked after the children as if they were their own. For a long time our lassie cried every day, and in the night her pillow was soaked in tears, she missed her parents enormously. And always she thought of ways to kill the giant, to make him pay dearly for murdering her parents. It was many years later that she went to work on rebuilding her parent’s cottage, with the help of neighbours and friends. Soon she would be old enough to live on her own, and look after herself and her wee brother. She was now big enough to want her own home back. By the time she was fifteen they moved back into the cottage, and managed to make a living by keeping some cows, sheep and chickens. She sold herbs and ointments, and she also started to mend clothes for others. And she turned out to be a good weaver, and earned many a penny with her skills.
But through all her busy days, her mind was obsessed by the wish to take revenge on the giant. One day she took a long walk by herself, and when she came to a clear spring in the middle of the forest, she knelt down to drink. But before her lips touched the water, she heard a voice saying:” Don’t drink, don’t drink!”
Amazed she looked up and saw a little robin sitting on a branch above her. With a sweet little voice it told her that the spring was a magic one, and all who drank from it, would shrink.
Startled as she was, a quick idea came to her mind. So she ran home to fetch a pail, and returned to fill it with the clear spring water. From now on she walked every day to the giant’s lair, and put a few drops in his drinking water jar.
It was a dangerous thing to do, and she knew it well. But she still desperately wanted to take revenge on the giant, and this was the only way she could think of.
The water from the magic well showed it’s effect soon enough. Very slowly but steadily the giant began to shrink. Day after day he became a little bit smaller. It took him a while to notice it, since he wasn’t too bright, and when he finally understood that something was happening to him, he was not very pleased. He was not pleased at all!
He was not sure if this was a thing that happened to other giants as well, or if it just happened to him.
By the time the giant had shrunk to the seize of a shoe, our lassie stopped giving him any more of the spring water.
Just as she was about ready to make up her mind what to do next, a hawk came down from the sky and caught the giant, rather, the ex-giant.
The hawk seemed to enjoy his meal, and took of after his dinner was finished.
Since that day there were never more giants spotted in the Fenwick Muirs.
The lassie and her wee brother lived happily ever after.
THE END
VI THE NAKED MAN AND THE SHOE
Once upon a time there was a tiny man who lived in a shoe. He had lived there for most of his life, and he was quite happy about it. Oh yes, you are right! He was naked.
You see, he had tried numerous times to put on some clothes, but the only garments that fitted him, were doll’s clothes, and they turned out to be so scratchy and itchy to our little man, that he had given up on the idea. So he just lived without any clothes on at all.
The shoe he lived in, was a walking shoe. She loved to go around from one place to another. Since most of the time that the little man had lived in the shoe, they had travelled through warm countries, there had not been much need to put clothes on anyway. On the rare occasions that he had felt cold, he had wrapped himself in a handkerchief, which acted for him a s a blanket. Our little man slept at the bottom of the shoe, amid some rags, but when he was awake, he spend most of the time leaning out the heel, and looking at the world going by.
They had a good life together, although you might think it a bit strange.
Of course they had lots of adventures as well.
There was the time that someone found the shoe and wanted to try it on. Our little man had to crawl all the way to the bottom, and shove the rags in front of him. And when the person who had found the shoe, couldn’t put it on, he picked the shoe up, felt inside and took all the bits of rag out! In the last bit of rag he found our little man.
That was a disaster. He was put in a little cage, and the big man now started to travel the world, to show the little man to anybody who would pay for the privilege of seeing the little man.
It was a horrible time, and our little man was terrified of all these giants staring at him. First he became very angry with them, and had he known a way, he would have killed them all.
Later on he just huddled in the corner of his cage and tried to ignore them all.
One night he managed to escape with the help of a basket-rat. Our little man was very very grateful for that! Over the years he remained close friends with the basket-rat, and they exchanged many letters and postcards.
After that adventure he always kept a needle in the shoe, just in case anyone would ever try to grab him again.
Walking through the land they met many nice animals and people. Lots of things happened to them, and many a story and a song resulted from their journeys.
Our little man never forgot his first balloon flight. In a balloon that looked like castle inside a shoebox. It had been build and designed by the opera mouse, a very famous singer, they met on the road one day.
He never had to worry about food, since he needed so little, and there were always enough crumbs to be found.
One day the walking shoe started to travel North, towards colder countries, and our little man began to worry.
He would like to go there on the one hand, but on the other, he was used to being naked and living in the warm sunshine.
He just couldn’t imagine how he was going to survive the cold.
But there was no need to get upset, because soon they met the five-legged pussycat, and she took them to a spider friend of hers, who wove our little man a perfect set of lovely clothes. And the spider web clothes did not scratch him at all!
Now he could keep himself as warm as he wanted. The spider even wove him some spare jumpers, and a warm blanket.
The shoe was getting a bit worn out, and wanted her soles replaced. So they entered a shoe-repair shop one night, and our little man put the new soles on her.
From now on the shoe always went into warm and sheltered places at night, to keep our little man warm. They slept in railway stations, hotels, and in houses.
The shoe was a bit nervous that they might be found, but it was worthwhile, for the warmth in the sheltered places they enjoyed, kept our little man happy and healthy.
They visited the palace of the sad prince, and heard a lot of stories about him. They crossed the sea on a turtle’s back, and met the frog who could also live in saltwater.
Then they came one day to the faraway island.
For some reason our little man became more and more nervous. A little voice within told him that something important was going to happen soon, and he didn’t know what it would be.
Weel, you and I can guess what would happen. And yes, we are right, he met a little woman one day!
She lived in the pockets of a prince, and they where very glad to meet each other.
They did not fall in love straightaway, oh no. They were very glad with each other, the talked and laughed and sang songs .
After a while they thought it might be nice if they could live together, but living together in the one shoe would be a bit cramped. So they decided to look out for another place to live. It was not easy, not at all. For the time being they did not want to travel a lot, and so they thought about living in a house.
But where to find a house that was right for them?
Then one day they met the blue raven, who told them about the toy museum in the next town.
“You will have to hide yourselves during the opening hours2, he told them. “But apart from that you should have a great life there!” Our two little people were happy enough with that and made their way to town. They chose a wonderful dolls house to live in, a three-storied mansion with balconies, a huge garden, and every kind of luxury you could think of.
Lots of others where already living in the toy-museum, and they soon made many new friends. A basket-rat family lived in the castle nearby, three grass-mice lived in the barn belonging to a farm, and there where even birds living in the museum.
You might even go to the toy-museum yourself one day, but it is unlikely that you will see our little people. But that doesn’t matter, as they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
VII THE TALKING STONE AND THE SHADOW MEN
Once upon a time the star chaser was walking home after a long and busy day. He was tired, very very tired, and he was hardly watching his way on the last couple of miles. His nets hung over his shoulders, full of the stars he had caught that same day, and on his boots he had stuck some pretty little stars to decorate them. Softly singing to himself he came around a bend in the road, when he almost ran into a big boulder that almost blocked the road. Perplexed he halted, and tried to figure out how to get past this enormous stone. Thinking back, he couldn’t remember having seen it on the road this morning, or at any other time. As he walked past the boulder he heard a voice saying:” Nowhere, nowhere”.
He stopped again, amazed, and looked around. But soon it was clear to him that the stone was talking. Hm, strange, very strange.
The star chaser watched the stone for a while, and listened. But it only kept repeating:” Nowhere, nowhere.”
Well, he did just what you and I would have done. He asked the stone:” What is nowhere, or who is nowhere?”
But he got no response apart from the perpetual:” Nowhere”.
He considered for a while, and then decided that he could not leave that big stone blocking the road, and he had to move it. That was easier said than done. But then again, a star chaser has some skills in dealing with problems, and without much ado he looked at his shadow and said:” Come on, I need your help.”
And his shadow got up from the ground and stood up behind him. Seven times he made his shadow come alive, and they all stood lined up behind him, waiting to be told why he needed them.
So he told the seven shadow men that he wanted the talking stone removed from the road, and they set to work.
Without any problems they managed to move the big boulder of the road. Then the star chaser told them to lie down again and be just shadows, and they obeyed.
Our star chaser went happily on his way home again, and forgot all about the talking stone, for he had many other things on his mind.
But when he passed the same spot the next day, the boulder lay there as if it had never been mover. Coming closer, the star chaser heard:” Everywhere, everywhere.”
He was tired again, for he had travelled wide and far, and he started to get annoyed with this talking stone. So, quite harshly, he told the stone to shut up, or talk some sense. But he got no answer at all. Again he got his shadow men to help him, and soon the boulder was cleared of the road once more, and was no more hindrance to the traffic.
Deep in thoughts the star chaser walked the rest of the way home, and went to sleep. He was so tired that he forgot to tell the wife about the talking stone.
Ah, but what happened next? Indeed, the very next day when the star chaser came walking down the road, the talking stone was back in place, again almost blocking the road.
He stopped to listen for a while, but all he could hear was:” Somewhere, somewhere.”
He tried to talk to the stone, he asked it several questions, but he got no reply, apart from the ongoing: Somewhere.”
As the talking stone blocked the road again, he made his shadow men once more to remove it, and then he went home, for the time being forgetting all about it.
But that was not the end of the story yet, for the next day it happened all over again. This time the star chaser heard the stone say:” Where, where?”
Again he tried to talk to the stone, but to no avail.
He told his shadow men this time to stay right beside the talking stone, after they took it off the road, and to keep it in place. Then he tossed a bright star in the sky, so his shadow men could have some light, and went home.
This time he remembered to tell the wife, the snow princes, about the talking stone.
He believed quite firmly that his shadow men would keep the stone in place over night, and so you can imagine his surprise when he stumbled over the same talking stone the next morning as soon as he came out of his front door! Being used to unusual things, this time it proved to be too much.
He swore, he used an awful lot of bad language, and then he started looking around for his shadow men. But he could not find them anywhere!
He could only hear the talking stone saying:” There, there.”
It was annoying and absurd. He was busy, he had lots of things to do, and here he was pestered by a talking stone that only talked nonsense!
He went back into the house, and asked the wife what she thought about it. But she only knew about talking snowflakes, and she assured her man that they never talked nonsense.
She couldn’t be of any help to him in solving the problem of the talking stone, so he finally send a message to the gods.
Well, everybody knows that it might take a long time before you get an answer from them, and indeed, our star chaser waited forever and ever.
Meanwhile the talking stone lay on his doorstep, murmering:"Here, there, everywhere.”
Then one day the blue raven came and spoke to the talking stone. Although the star chaser tried to listen, he couldn’t understand a word of what those two where whispering.
When they were finished, the blue raven told the star chaser not to worry, the stone would talk properly from now on!
It had just been confused.
The star chaser tossed some stars over to the blue raven as a thanks, and the blue raven spread his wings and took of to heaven.
He sat beside the talking stone and wondered what to do or say. As soon as he opened his mouth to start speaking, the talking stone said:” Oh yes, I know. Your shadow men are inside me. And yes, by the way, I must tell you something. Inside me there is a big room full of stars, and I want to get rid of them. Could you please take them out?”
This time it was the star chaser’s turn to us only a few words. “How?” he asked.
“Smash me up with a big hammer”, the talking stone told him.
So the star chaser went to the smithy and borrowed an enormous sledgehammer. He set to work, raining blows onto the stone. Soon a crack appeared.
Out of the crack came his shadow men, all seven of them, and they lined up behind him. They formed themselves into one proper shadow again, and the star chaser set to work once more.
Another couple of mighty blows was needed before the talking stone split in two, and to make sure the stone was really smashed up, the star chaser never stopped hitting it, until there were hundreds of small fragments all over the place.
Then all those little pieces of stone started to talk!
What a noise, and what nonsense they were talking.
The star chaser swore again. What a bloody nuisance this talking stone proved to be.
Of the promised stars inside the talking stone there was no sign.
But from then on, the star chaser always carried a big hammer with him everywhere, to smash up any stones he might find. After all, he was still looking for those promised stars.
And what became of the all the small fragments of the talking stone?
Well, they are spread all over the planet by now, for people used to pick them up, intrigued by the talking, but soon enough they would throw these fragments away as far as they could, for the stones only talked nonsense and gobbledygook.
But the star chaser and his shadow men lived happily ever after.
THE END
VIII THE TALKING HORSE AND THE BAKERY VAN
Once upon a time there was a horse. It used to pull the bakery van when the baker went on his daily rounds to deliver his bread to the customers.
The baker was a nice man; he got up in the middle of the night to have his bread and rolls ready for sale early in the morning.
To the ones that for one reason or another could not come to the shop, he delivered his produce. Well, you know of course that the horse was a special horse? I mean, she was a nice grey-silver mare, healthy and all that, but she was not only as clever as any horse, she could talk as well! And she sure did.
In fact, she loved to talk. For hours at a time she could talk to the baker, and she used to remind him of any special requests
his customers might have made. She knew all the people too, and would greet them most politely.
Not surprisingly, there were lots of people who preferred to have their bread delivered, even if they were perfectly capable of going to the shop. And would not anybody enjoy a nice conversation with such a polite horse?
She was often asked to pass on messages to friends and neighbours, and all the customers enjoyed getting their extra orders delivered straight away.
At night the children of the village would come to the stables, to talk to the mare. If she wasn’t too tired, and in a good mood, she would allow the children to have a short ride on her back, and they all had a lot of fun.
Our horse was very popular! The baker went to bed very early himself, to get enough sleep, but since she didn’t have to get up so early, she quite enjoyed having visitors.
News about the horse of course spread wide and far, and one day even the king heard about her. He got so interested that he wanted to see the horse for himself. So the baker was ordered to come to the palace in the big city with his horse, and present themselves.
But he could not leave his customers without their bread, and so he send word to the king, explaining the situation, and instead inviting the king to come and visit them.
At first the king was not very pleased with this kind of reply, but his wife and the children persuaded him that it would be a great reason for a short holiday, and they would like to go!
So arrangements were made, and one nice summer day, the royal household went on its way to the village. The excitement of the villagers knew no bounds, for never before had the king visited their village.
The houses were repaired, roofs were fixed, walls were painted, broken windows were finally repaired, a new pavement was installed along the main road, and where ever you looked, you saw people busy painting and decorating, gardening and cleaning. The whole village shone like a pearl in the warm summer sun. The musicians wore their best uniforms, and played the nicest tunes that they knew.
It promised to be a day never to be forgotten in the village. And grateful, they came one after the other to thank the baker and his horse, for they all understood that it was because of them that the royals were coming.
The baker asked his horse if she was nervous, but she shook her manes, and answered no, why should she be? The baker admitted that he was a bit nervous himself, since he had never met a king face to face before. “Ach, don’t you worry”, said the horse. “It is probably all going to be good fun!”
And our horse proved to be right. The king was extremely pleased with the talking horse, and the little princes and princesses simply adored her.
They were allowed to ride on her back, and they told each other jokes and stories. It was wonderful.
As a special surprise the bakery van had been done up, it was decorated with flowers, and our horse took the whole royal family in it for a trip around the village. Cheers and hurrahs went up where ever they passed, and on their return to the village green the band played the national anthem. They all enjoyed themselves immensely.
The king ordered free meals and drinks for everybody, and the people feasted and danced until far after midnight.
It had been a fantastic day!
Ever after the return to their palace, the princes and princesses kept asking about the talking horse. They had grown that fond of her that they would now prefer to have her living with them. The king discusses the idea with the queen, and they thought it was a good idea.
So our horse was duly invited to come and live with the royal family, and the baker was asked to give his permission.
The poor baker was shocked! What would he do without his horse? Suddenly he started to realize how much he loved her, and how dependent upon her he had become. And our poor mare was shattered. Of course she wanted to stay with the baker, and she wanted to live in her village, where she knew everybody.
At the same time it was a wonderful opportunity to become a royal horse, and live in a grant state at the palace with the nice royal children. And she had liked talking to the king ever so much!
The poor thing didn’t know what to do at all. It was easy to understand how hard it was for her to have to make a choice. But she need not have worried, because her whole life changed from one moment to the next.
One night the blue raven came and warned her that all was going to change completely, and very soon as well.
And indeed, not long after this visit, a war broke out, and the king had more than enough other things on his mind then to remember to invite the horse to come to the palace again.
Many men from the village had to become soldiers, and went of to the war. Strict regulations about the use of flour and other foodstuffs were introduced, and there were no more deliveries to be made!
The people did not exactly go hungry, but there was an end to luxuries. The bakery van was confiscated, and used for transport in the war. Even our poor mare was in the end requisited by the army, to help pulling heavy wagons, and to do her share in the war.
It was all very horrible and sad. Everybody’s life was uprooted, and no one knew from one day to the next what would happen.
Our poor mare pulled heavy loads day after day, and had no one to talk to. She was afraid to talk to strangers, and there weren’t any children around.
Slowly she started to suffer, and her health declined. But in the end that proved to be her saviour, for she was declared unfit to pull the heavy wagons, and she was given to a colonel instead, as his personal riding horse.
She became good friends with him, and before long she started to talk to him as well. After his initial surprise, the colonel became very fond of the mare. He was glad to talk to her too.
Soon he found out how much she missed her master, and her friends in the village, how she longed for home.
Finally he managed to get her discharged, and she was send back.
You should have seen the baker’s face when she arrived back home! He was so overfull with joy and delight that he couldn’t speak. But the mare got him talking soon enough, and their happiness at being reunited was tremendous.
The war came to an end, and the survivors came home. Life slowly resolved its former pace.
And I am sure they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
IX NO MORE NONSENSE
Once upon a time, in our own beautiful country, there was a boy. I am not too sure that you would have called him a nice boy; seeing that he was up to all kinds of mischief, and his poor parents certainly had a hard time with him.
It was not as though he was a bad boy, not at all. Just that he was up to no good half the time. Sometimes maybe even a bit more than that. Just little things, mind you. Like putting a spoonful of sugar over the tatties whilst they were boiling, or putting a spoonful of salt in his daddy’s coffee.
Wee, irritating things by all means. Never any worse than mislaying the house keys, his mum’s purse and such things.
Every time his dad caught him at one of his “mistakes”, he would scold the boy, and tell him:”Nae mere nonsense”.
When our little boy was finally old enough to be sent to kindergarten, he was asked for his name. “No more nonsense”, he replied. And the name stuck with him from then on.
So that was that, the question of his name was settled for once and all, and anyone who knew him for a bit longer than say, a couple of minutes, understood why he had this name.
If somebody had paid his dad a pound for every time he had to say:”Nae mere nonsense, boy”, he would have ended up a very rich man indeed. As it was, his dad had to work hard, and watch the pennies very carefully.
No more nonsense had a sister, a wee lassie called Sunshine.
I couldn’t tell you why she was called such a funny name, but she was a bonny enough wee lassie. It would have been most likely because of her smile.
Anyway, at certain times these two did not get on.
Since No more nonsense was bigger and stronger, he won most of their arguments and fights, and Sunshine was often in tears. Ach aye, the poor lass.
But she wasn’t altogether daft, and soon she learned to out trick her big brother. She could be as cheeky as anything.
If No more nonsense put a wet, slimy frog under her bedcovers at night, he was sure to find his pyjamas sewn to his pillow the next day.
If he sprayed her all over with ice-cold water by mistake, sure enough he could only find one of his shoes the next.
Sunshine got so good at paying him backing in her own subtle ways that No more nonsense started to think twice before he did anything nasty to her. Ach, it was good for the lad, you know. To learn to do a bit of thinking before acting.
Their parents were completely unaware of their fights and the tricks going on, for the weans never told on each other.
It was on the day that Sunshine nearly drowned, that No more nonsense found out how much he really loved his sister, and from then on he was like a changed person to her.
Now there was really ”Nae mere nonsense” in his behaviour towards her, and that was just as well. He kept close to her, helped to protect her against other weans, when necessary, and in turn she started to help him with his schoolwork.
And that was quite necessary.
It was all for the better that these two got on well now, for bad things were to happen soon enough.
Their dad broke a leg, and couldn’t go to work. Money became scarce, and their parents fell behind with the rent.
From worrying too much, the mum became ill as well, and she was unable to do her normal housekeeping.
Silently and efficiently Sunshine and No more nonsense took over her tasks. But worse was to follow.
They were dislodged from their home, for not paying the rent, and they had to move in with their granny, who lived in a wee cottage, miles away from anywhere.
It was hard and bitter to have to live in a place so far from all that they knew and loved. But that didn’t get these two down, oh no! They took it all in their stride.
No more nonsense found himself a wee job, delivering the daily papers. He also found odd jobs here and there, helped the fishermen at times, and earned himself quite a few pennies.
Sunshine went out in her spare time to help clean other people’s houses. She was good at ironing and sewing, and at looking after the weans. Somehow they managed to scrape through. Sunshine wrote stories and poems, late at night, when all the others were fast asleep. She kept it all very secret, and only No more nonsense knew about it. He was very impressed with her, since his own writing skills were very limited.
One day he secretly send away some of her stories, to the local newspaper.
Before long a journalist came to see Sunshine. He was amazed to find a young lassie, telling him that it was really her who wrote the stories.
After talking to her, he was deeply touched, and did what ever he could to help them.
And so, before long, Sunshine found herself to be a well known writer, her stories were published, and money started to come in as well.
No more nonsense was so proud of his little sister!
Most of all he loved the stories about themselves. And yes, they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
X THE RED GIRAFFE
Once upon a time there was a red giraffe. Its lines were white, and he looked quite beautiful if not a bit strange.
I know, I know, giraffes aren’t red normally, but this one was.
It lived in a far away country, somewhere in the southern hemisphere of our planet. All the other giraffes around it were the normal yellow, with brown patterns, and because he was different in appearance, the other giraffes did not like the red giraffe. Although he was nice and friendly, they didn’t want to play with him, they didn’t want to talk to him, they just didn’t want him at all! So our poor red giraffe was lonely.
His own mum had loved him as any mother loves her child, but she had left him as soon as he was big enough to look after himself. Just like all giraffe mothers do.
He missed her something terrible, the more so since she had been the only one to show love and care to him. I am sure you will understand how hard life was for our red giraffe.
There were times when he became moody, sometimes even desperate, and life hardly seemed worthwhile to him.
Then, one night, towards the break of down, when he was resting, standing upright on his four legs, still being sleepy, a little bird came to him.
Our red giraffe was amazed, for the bird told him that there was a country where all the giraffes were red with white patterns. He could hardly believe it!
And the bird also told him that he could go there, if he had enough courage and strength, for it was a long and dangerous journey.
“But how do I get there?” he asked. And the bird explained to him. In the morning the red giraffe went on his way. Sadly enough there was no one to say goodbye to, and so he just started to walk.
Following the bird’s instructions he went down to the river, ate and drank his fill, and then turned left, following the river upstream.
The bird had told him to follow the river until it came to an end. Then he would have to go on for a long time, across a barren land, until he came to the mountains. Over the mountains he would have to go, and then he would come to a road that looked like silver, but wasn’t silver. There after he would come to a lake that looked like gold, but wasn’t gold. He could either walk around it, which would take a long time, or he could swim across it. Then he would come to a forest that looked blue but wasn’t blue. Behind the forest he would see the land of the red giraffes.
So our giraffe followed the river for days and days. He ate and drank every day as much as he could, for he knew that there would be the barren lands to cross. And there he would find little food and less to drink still.
All day long he walked, and all night long he rested.
Giraffes don’t sleep like you and me, you know. They hardly ever lie down, they prefer sleeping upright, like a horse.
After what seemed to be ages the river became smaller and smaller, and one day it came to an end.
There our red giraffe rested, for he knew he would need all his strength for the next bit.
Because the heat was so intense, he decided to travel by night from now on, under the bright starlight of the southern heavens.
The moon waxed, and the moon waned, and still our red giraffe had to go on. The day came when he could see the mountains rising up over the plains in the far distance, but he was getting hungrier and thirstier all the time, and sometimes he wondered if he was ever going to make it.
Luckily his longing to be with the other red giraffes gave him the strength to go on, but he was really suffering now.
Skinny, bone-tired, with the very last bit of his strength, one morning our red giraffe arrived at the bottom of the mountains. Here there were trees again, and plenty nice long grass, and the land was crisscrossed by little streams. Now he could recover.
It was a lush, wonderful country, and if he hadn’t known about the land of the red giraffes, he might well have stayed there.
But he knew he had to go on as soon as he was able to. So, after a few days, he started to climb the first mountain. He came to the top of the first hill, and took a look around him. Oh my! There was range after range of mountains to be conquered, and he felt his heart sinking in his breast. Had the little bird not warned him that he needed strength and courage?
There was only one thing to be done, he had to continue.
When he had climbed two more mountains, he was so tired that he needed a rest. Standing upright in the shadow of an enormous tree, he fell asleep. And that proved to be very dangerous!
For nearby lived a lion and his family, and this lion just loved giraffe meat. When he woke up after his siesta, he sniffed the air. Then he sniffed again, because the wind brought him a very nice and welcome smell.
The smell of a giraffe! Ah, he could tell what his dinner was going to be like tonight!
And off he went to stalk the giraffe. Our red giraffe was saved by a monkey, who jumped upon his back and climbed all the way up on his long long neck. He tapped the giraffe gently on his head to wake him up. “Wake up, wake up!” he told the giraffe. “You are in great danger, for the lion is after you, and already nearby.”
Without having the time to thank his saviour the red giraffe began to run. It is hard and difficult for a giraffe to climb a mountain at the best of times, and harder still to descent, but that day he must have been the fastest giraffe on our planet!
Running and running he climbed one mountain after the other, until he couldn’t move anymore. He stopped for a rest and looked around. There was no sign of any pursuit, so he started to climb the next mountain a good bit slower. It proved to be the highest mountain of them all, and he decided to take a good long rest on the top.
By nightfall he was resting in a nice hollow, surrounded by ancient trees. He felt a lot better, but he was very tired.
Time and again he told himself not to fall asleep, but in the end he did fall asleep, and again that was a very dangerous and stupid thing to do.
For nearby lived a bear, a huge brown bear. She had been asleep herself, and when she woke up she was hungry. She could smell the giraffe straight away, and licked her lips. Hm, that promised to be a nice evening meal!
Carefully she made her way up the mountain to stalk the giraffe.
If it hadn’t been for a tiny bird, the blue mountain bird or tikishiwi as it is called, our red giraffe might well have seen his last moments.
This bird knew the danger, and went to warn the red giraffe. It flew up to his head, and picked his skull until he woke up.
She warned him to run for his life, and it was not one moment too late!
The bear was already jumping when our red giraffe started to run. And how he ran! Fire struck whenever his hoofs touched rock, and he was gone like a flash.
Never ever had anybody seen a giraffe run that fast. Until today the mountain animals tell each other about the fastest giraffe in the world, and they didn’t even know that he was red, for they had no time to observe his colour.
At the end of the mountains he came to a road that looked like silver, but wasn’t silver. He followed it for days on end, advancing slowly now. Crossing the barren lands and the mountains had taken a heavy toll on him.
Then he came to a lake that looked like gold, but wasn’t gold. It was wide and deep, and he could see for himself that it would take ages to walk around it. So he decided to swim across.
How strange that lake was! Of course you know that swimming isn’t easy for giraffes, having such long necks. As it was, this lake was so special that swimming in it was almost like walking, but easier still.
And so our red giraffe crossed without any difficulties.
On he went and came to a forest that looked blue but wasn’t blue.
It was the most amazing forest, for inside everything looked different from what it was.
Without having a clear goal in mind, it would have been impossible to cross this forest. For when nothing is as it appears to be, you get confused and loose your bearings. And when you loose your bearings, you loose direction.
And without following the right direction you would never get out of the forest!
But our red giraffe managed, his wish to be with the other red giraffes was so strong that he marched trough the forest without any mishaps.
Coming to the end of the trees he could see the land of the red giraffes in the distance.
How relieved he was! As he arrived there, he was welcomed and greeted by masses of red giraffes. He could hardly believe his eyes, for they all looked just like himself.
He felt so happy, so welcome. He felt like he belonged for the first time in his life.
And of course they all lived happily ever after.
THE END
XI THE SUPERGIANT AND THE WOULEYRIBS
Once upon a time on a far away planet, somewhere in this wonderful galaxy, there lived a giant. And this giant was a real giant, a super giant.
You think you know how big a giant is? Something like a church tower, or even bigger? Well, this giant was as big as the highest mountain you can think of, say Ben Nevis. It was maybe because the world he lived on was so big as well. A real mountain on that planet would make the highest mountain on earth look like a mere hill.
The super giant had lots of problems. One of them was that he could hardly ever find a place to sleep. If he wanted to stretch out and lie down, he needed a flat space of about three thousand feet long! And absolute level, flat spaces like that were very rare on this planet. Another problem was his food. Because of his sheer seize, he needed such quantities of food, and there were so few big animals on this planet, that he had to make do for most of the time with an elephant-seized animal. But he needed to eat at least ten of them each day!
And catching them was a hard job, for they were clever enough, and absolutely brilliant in hiding. Sometimes he would catch fish in the oceans, and to his luck there were a sort of whales, some even bigger than on planet earth. Those would keep him going for a while.
Ach, you can well understand that life was not easy at all for our super giant. And he was lonely too. He often had bad dreams. He felt he was chased and persecuted by something enormous, in those dreams, and he would wake up covered in sweat and shivering. One night he had a dream in which he wasn’t even half his normal seize. Life seemed to be so much easier in this dream. And when he woke up remembering his dream, he just wanted to be smaller. This became an obsession with him, and he never stopped thinking about it. On this planet lived a lot of beings unbeknown to us. There were the wouleyribs, and they were very special.
A sort of witches, we would call them. They had a lot of magic. They could be anywhere they wanted to be on their planet, and instantly as well. Very handy indeed.
I think it is called telekinesis or something, and it sounds just fine to me. You know, that when you are in danger, you just wish yourself to be somewhere else, and presto! That’s where you are.
Of course they knew the super giant. Long ago he had learned that he could never catch them, and he had given up trying. They knew they were quite safe with him. One of the wouleyribs was talking about the super giant’s wish to be smaller. “We could do that”, she said.” Make him as small as a mouse if he wants!”
“But he would have to pay for any big change like that”, another one said.
“You think he would be prepared to do that?” a third one asked.
“Well, let us see what will happen, and find out”, said the first one. So the wouleyribs contacted the super giant and explained to him that they could change his seize, but that there might be a high price to pay for it. He thought about it for a long time, since he was busy and also because his mind didn’t work that fast. Every time he met a wouleyrib, he would ask some more questions. What did they mean by paying a high price?
What would happen, what kind of price was it?
They could not tell him, they could only warn him that you never get anything for free, especially big things.
He kept on thinking, but the idea obsessed him so much that one day he decided just to go ahead with it, and he asked the wouleyribs to make him smaller. They made their preparations and told him that on the night after the blue moon and the red moon would be together in the sky, the change would happen. Then they warned him not to eat or drink too much on that day, for they could not make the food he had inside him any smaller, and his organs might just burst.
He would never have thought of that himself, and he was grateful for their advice. Sure enough every thing went fine, and when our super giant woke up, he was only three-quarters of his former seize! He felt great; life was going to be that much easier! But he was itchy, and something was wrong with one of his eyes. His vision was poor, and the eye was sore.
Tears kept coming out of his eye, and he kept rubbing it. Even you know better than that! His upper body was covered in a rash, and he felt like scratching all the time. So, he thought, was that the price he had to pay?
Anyway, he got used to his new seize and his little misfortunes soon enough, and all in all life seemed a little easier.
But he kept thinking that he was still too big. Sure, there were more places where he now could lay down to sleep, and he needed less food. Out of a special kind of soil that he had heard of he made mud-covers for his itchy breast, and they helped a lot. At least the mud felt cool and nice whenever he put it on. The wouleyribs came by often, to see how he was doing. “You’re small enough now?” they would inquire.
“Or would you like to be as small as a mouse?”
They thought the whole thing was ever so funny! Then, in a flash, they would be gone. The super giant kept dreaming about being a lot smaller, and when his wish became overpowering, he went again to talk to the wouleyribs. They assured him that they could easily make him smaller, but warned him again about the price he might have to pay. Our super giant didn’t care; he was obsessed by the idea of getting smaller.
So this time he was turned into half his former seize, again in a night when the full moons were both visible in the sky at the same time. When he woke up he felt O.K.
Actually he felt great. But those mountains were so big all of a sudden! And yes, everything looked double its seize.
It took some time to get use to that. But more time it took him still to get used to his new physical problems. Apart from being blind in one eye, having his whole upper body covered in rashes and scar tissue, one of his legs was considerably smaller than the other. He walked with a limp!
Hm, was that the price he had to pay?
Ach well, things that start tend to keep on going until they stop, and it was not any different in his case. Our dear giant found life a little bit easier every time he became smaller, but his body wasn’t perfectly healthy anymore like it used to be.
By the time he was as big as you and me, he was not only half blind and limping, he also had only one arm left and he was covered in rashes all over! By now he was in deed a pitiful sight.
He found it easy enough to find sleeping quarters, and he hardly needed any food, but climbing the high mountains was out of the question. Crossing the rivers proved impossible at times.
You think he was happier now?
The wouleyribs just laughed about it all. Hadn’t they warned him? They weren’t especially nice or friendly, you know that. How could any sort of strange, magical beings be kind and normal?
The little giant now found his planet too big for his taste. He thought about all what had happened to him, and that kept him busy for a good while. Thinking still wasn’t any of his strong points. After a while he came to the conclusion that he would like to live on a smaller planet!
And of course you know what happened next?
Oh yes, one day he was send to planet earth.
A flying kitten came to take him to our planet, and maybe you will meet him somewhere, sometime.
Since all his wishes were fulfilled, I am sure he lived happily ever after.
THE END
XII THE BANANA BUTTERFLY
Once upon a time there was a butterfly. An amazingly beautiful butterfly. Ach well, you know of course that it was a special butterfly? Yes, she was.
She was very special, and she looked like a banana! Her body was just that kind of mellow yellow that ripe bananas are, and the shape of her wings were just like the shape of banana leaves! Even the colour of her wings was just that shade of green that banana leaves are. In fact, if she sat still, without moving, she looked exactly like a banana. Ach, I can hear you say:”So what!" Nothing all that special so far!”
Well, you are right, and you are wrong, for the most amazing thing about the banana butterfly was the fact that she lived no-where near bananas. She lived in a moderate cold country, near the Baltic Sea. And it was certainly amazing to see a banana flying around there!
She was sucking away at the flowers of the honey tree when the green rabbit came to see her. Our banana butterfly was relaxed, in a dreamlike state. It was almost as if she were slightly drunk from the liquids of the honey tree. Lazily she winked at the green rabbit with one of her wings. He smiled at her and sat down next to her. He was quiet too, since he had just had a long and busy day, and he was filled to the brim with a nice dinner. Dreamily he stared at the banana butterfly and thought how wonderful she was. A though crossed his mind. “Have you never been nearly eaten by mistake?” he asked her. “Well no”, she answered. “I guess that is because so few animals around here know what a banana is”.
The green rabbit nodded his head, scratched himself leisurely and yawned. “Tell me a story”, he asked her.
Pleased with his request the banana butterfly told him the story of the mice in the giant’s breast. Ach, she enjoyed it so much! “Would you come home with me tonight and tell the children a story?” he inquired of her.
And the banana butterfly agreed of course.
Since she only wanted to tell a story when the little bunnies were ready for bed, they were eager to go to bed that evening! They got their story, and more, and a song as well, that the banana butterfly used to sing to her own children when they were little. It was a great evening.
Our banana butterfly went to sit on the railing of the bridge that crossed the little stream nearby, to get some peace of mind. The sound of running water always soothed her, and prepared her for a good night’s sleep.
And sleep she did! In fact she fell asleep right there and then, on top of the railing, and she was quite astound to find herself still there when she woke up. She woke up because she was getting wet. It had started to rain. She was just about to fly away to find some shelter, when the frogs started to sing. How fascinated she was by them! Not minding the rain now, she sat and listened to their concert.
All of a sudden a frog leaped out of the water and landed right beside her. It was the soft-frog.
You don’t know what a soft-frog is? Well, I better tell you.
A soft-frog is a frog like any other frog. It can be smaller or bigger, more or less green or brown or whatever colour they are. But they are of course special. They can sort of melt away, and take on any shape or colour they want, for a while.
That might be the reason why you can see lots of soft-frog without ever knowing it. It is very handy to be able to melt into the background and freeze in any position you like. You certainly won’t get eaten when you look for instance like a heap of cow dung!
Anyway, the soft-frog started talking to the banana butterfly, because he had heard about her but never seen her. And she was fascinated by the soft-frog. “Show me how you melt and change”, she demanded. And the soft-frog obliged.
He looked instantly just like the stone he had been sitting on, and she could not spot him until he moved and started to talk again.
It was amazing. They talked for a long time, and then the soft-frog asked the banana butterfly if she would like to change as well?
Holding on to the frog, they changed together.
For hours they took on different shapes, and no one would have been able to spot those two, for they always melted into the background.
It was a great experience for the banana butterfly. The soft-frog took her swimming as well, taking the shape of a fish.
For the first time in her life the banana butterfly swam and dived. She was thrilled!
And from then on she came back again and again, to meet the soft-frog, and change together in whatever way they liked.
So, if you ever visit the country where the banana butterfly lives, and you can’t find her, she might just be away with the soft-frog, and you would never be able to spot them unless they want you to.
And of course they all lived happily ever after.
THE END