SIXTH STORYBOOK
THE WITCH AND THE STRING AND OTHER STORIES
BY THEO TAMMES
CONTENTS
I THE WITCH AND THE STRING PAGE 3
II THE WILLOW ROOT MEN PAGE 5
111 THE HORSE SHOE PAGE 7
IV THE BALLOON PARTY PAGE 9
V THE PURPLE SHEEP PAGE II
VI THE BUCKET PAGE 14
VII THE RAIN MOUNTAIN PAGE 17
VIII THE ROSWYTH GAME PAGE 19
IX THE ELEPHANT AND THE ZOO PAGE 22
X THE GOLDEN UMCORN PAGE 24
XI THE RAINBOW BUSSES PAGE 26
XII VOICES IN MY HEAD PAGE 27
Finished in June 1995,
Second edition in January 1996
©
COPYRIGHT BY THEO TAMMES
Casa Azul
Porto do Paul
Pernes
2000-500
Portugal
I THE WITCH AND THE STRING
Once upon a time there was a witch. And she was a real witch. Wicked and evil as anything.
Nae greater pleasure then causing problems to her neighbours, pains to the rulers around her and putting bad spells on every living thing around her that she could think of.
People hated and feared her. They stayed away from her as far as they could, but they were never sure she wouldn’t cross their ways. She was friends only with other witches that were almost as evil as herself. A gruesome company it was.
When they had their parties, in full moon nights, even the werewolves and the serpents disappeared, because nothing and no-one was save for them. This witch had a very strong magic, and so far she had never come across anything that could withstand her power.
Until she came across this piece of string.
It just looked like an ordinary piece of string, you know. There didn’t seem to be anything special about it.
But it didn’t react to her magic at all. There was just no response? She got really upset about it, got even her magic-spell book out and tried any spell she could think of. To no avail.
She called her friends and they tried their own magic, but that didn’t help either. The witch got so angry, she almost exploded. She shouted and swore at the piece of string, banged it, slapped it, She stretched it as long as she could, and she even tried to burn it in the end. But the string would not burn. At her wits end, she decided to bury the string, for as long as she could see it lying around, it would upset her.
And you know what?
Oh yes, the next morning the piece of string was lying exactly at the same spot on the table where she had picked it up previously to burying it. A little fear began to stir in the witch. Drop after drop. By nightfall there was a lot of fear in her. For, if this string could deny her magic, it might have a stronger magic then her own. But there was more to come.
Next day somebody came and knocked at her door!
Now that hadn’t happened for ages. No one had wanted to get near her for ages. Never the less this traveller knocked at her door again, and then simply opened it and entered. A bonnie young lad he looked like, and after saying “Hello” he sat himself down at the table. The witch was furious, she was boiling with rage! But before she could express her anger a most amazing thing happened.
The young man saw the string lying at the table, stretched out his hand and said:“Come”. And the string came and stayed in his hand. Oh, you should have seen the witches face! Sheer terror seized her.
Sure enough, if this person had power over the piece of string, she wouldn’t have any power over him. And he might well have power over her. But before she could do anything, the young man smiled at her and said:”Sit yourself down. I’ve come for retribution, for the list of your sins is the longest I’ve ever come across. And now is the time to make up the balance between your good and evil deeds.”
The witch fainted, I dare say for the first time in her life.
And when she came to, she was securely bound with the piece of string, and she couldn’t even move a finger.
Although the string felt loose, it followed all her movements, and there seemed no chance at all to get rid of it.
She was in a nasty position, and fear started to paralyse her.
There was no sign of the young lad, but there was a message clearly within her own mind. It told her that she didn’t have a chance. She could only he as good as possible from now on, to everyone and anything and help with her magic whereever she could, or she would go straight to the devil.
And the devil sent his love. Oh, what a message!
So, if you come across a witch who is almost like a fairy, warm and friendly and helpful, well you can see for yourself if she is as good as she can.
For if she is, she will life happily ever after.
II THE WILLOWROOT MEN
Once upon a time there was a willow root man, and he was all alone.
Once upon a time there were a lot of willow root men and they were not alone at all. They were all together.
The lone willow root man knew about the others, but the others didn’t know about him. Willow root men are maybe a little bit strange.
You might not know them, and they might not know you just as well. Anyway, they are there; they are what they are and where they are. As their name tells you, they live under the roots of the willow trees, in the empty spaces. They are small, very small indeed compared to you and me. Yet they can be so strong and powerful. Normally they would appear to be only the seize of your hand. Wee, sturdy figures, with long bony hands and feet.
Their extremities look like willow branches, strong and bend, and the colour of their skin is the same brownish green as young willow branches.
And of course they are very special. But you all know that.
One of the strangest things about them is the fact that there are no willow root women or children. And don’t you ask me why, because I just don’t know. Also, they seem to be quite old. Most of them look like fifty or sixty years old. Their moment comes when the moon is full, and their power is strong. It is then that they go out and put the trees in their right places. Come on, you didn’t know that, did you?
Well you see, sometimes people plant trees in the wrong places or in the wrong soil, and the trees end up growing in places not suitable for them. It can be the soil, it can be the weather. It can be other plants or trees in their surroundings that don’t agree with them. And all those trees growing in wrong places or under wrong conditions are put right by the willow root men, in full moon nights.
They also look after the sick and diseased trees, after the damaged ones, and- generally speaking- they do a marvellous job.
Most of the time they work together in small groups, for a willow root man on his own can’t really do that much.
Our lonesome willow root man knew all this very well.
Not only was he frustrated by the knowledge of being unable to do all that he could do; he also missed the company of other willow root men.
You know, they love socialising a lot, and they just don’t care being on their own at all. Our little willow root man had done all he could think of to find his way to the others. He had walked far and wide, always in the dark of night, for daytime is when the willow root men sleep and rest.
They observe the trees and the plants in daylight, but it is in the dark that they go out and do their jobs.
The lonesome one had been going around, asking the trees and the plants about the other willow root men, but he could not find them. He felt rather lost and lonesome.
Sometimes he dreamed of being with the others, only to wake up quite disturbed. The gods had watched him for a long time, and they felt for sure they needed to help the lone willow root man somehow.
So one day they sent the blue raven to him to bring a message.
He was quite surprised to see the blue raven, since he had never heard of him before. Neither did he know the blue raven was a messenger of the gods.
And he was really glad to hear that help was on its way.
Not long after that the turtle came to take him to the sea, since that was the only way he could cross the water.
I tell you, our little willow root man hadn’t even known that there was such a thing as the sea. No body had ever told him.
He was truly amazed at the amount of water and the lack of plants and trees. On their way the told him many things about the sea and the creatures that lived in there, and he became so interested that he almost forgot to notice how long the journey lasted. And in later years he was the one to start of a whole new branch of willow root men, one that didn’t look after trees, but after a different kind of life that lives in the sea.
Nowadays they are called the seahorse men, and they work closely together with the seahorses.
Sometimes they even ride on their backs, and I tell you, it is a lovely sight! Their shape has changed a lot and they can live in the water all the time if they want to. Seahorses help them in any way they can.
These two kinds of little men keep working together for the benefit of the world, and although few people know about them, they are there, and do a very good and important job. And yes, of course they all lived happily ever after.
the end
III THE HORSE SHOE
Once upon a time there was a horseshoe lying at the bottom of a ditch, under a pile of mud. And this horseshoe wasn’t happy at all.
This was definitely not where she wanted to be.
As horseshoes go, she was a nice one. Still young enough to enjoy life without worries and to expect only the very best.
Just like you and me I would say.
She had been firmly fixed to a horse’s hoof for most of her life, and actually she and the other horseshoes that were on the horse’s hooves were all brothers and sisters.
As usual. Unusual was that our horse shoe was unhappy with the way things were, and that she wanted to be on her own and travel where ever she wanted to go, and not where the horse wanted to go. Och well, stubborn and selfish 1 can hear you say.
No no, no. Not at all. Just a touch of that freedom spirit you can find amongst us all.
For long years she had tried to get off the horse’s hoof, but she was nailed on firmly and couldn’t move. She just had to bait her time. Meanwhile life wasn’t bad for her, since she had the company of her brothers and sister, and the horse went around quite a lot, so she could see places.
One day, as it happened, the horse hit a stone on the road, and two of the nails that fixed the horse shoe in it’s place became loose. Soon enough she could feel herself moving around, and she wriggled with all her might.
Now, it took a long tome before she freed herself completely, but in the end she managed. Hardly did she have the time to say good-bye to the horse or her brothers and sister. And again, hardly did she have time to think at all. With a bang and a clatter she landed on the road, feeling sore and dizzy.
She was as ignorant as a horseshoe can be, and she had never thought how she would be able to move on her own. Well, she found out the hard way, she couldn’t move at all.
Believe me, she felt dreadfully sorry for herself and started weeping. Not that tears helped a bit.
Hit and run over by many different carts and horses, she landed finally in the ditch and remained there helpless and unhappy for a long time.
Life wasn’t pleasant at all, and her dreams of being a free horseshoe had turned into a nightmare. One day the road was being repaired and the ditches were cleared as well. Our horseshoe was found by a road worker and he took her home.
As so many others, this man firmly believed that a horseshoe nailed over the door would keep evil away and bring good luck to the house and all who lived there in.
And he was right of course.
As soon as the horseshoe was up over the door his luck turned, First of all he got promoted and was made foreman. Soon after that he won the jackpot in the lottery and found himself rich. After long years of waiting his wife bore him a child, and his happiness was enormous. They moved to a castle that he bought with part of the money, and believe it or not, no much later he found a pot of gold and silver whilst he was planting some rose bushes in the garden.
Well, I’m not going to tell you much more about this man, for it is well known that everything went incredibly well with him and his family.
He became rich and famous and happy. A very rare and unusual thing to happen! Our horseshoe didn’t like to be nailed to the wall, never mind be it in a house or a castle. She wanted to be free and do whatever she wanted to do and go as she pleased. Also she missed her brothers and sister. And although she was quite pleased with all the luck she had brought to the man who found her, she was not happy.
Many a time silent tears dropped down her face.
One day our man saw a drop of water coming down from the horseshoe. He did think that it looked almost like a tear, but he had never heard of horseshoes crying.
He started to observe the horseshoe more closely, and soon he found that at times it really appeared that she was crying.
He started to worry about it. At night he would dream about her, and those dreams were very strange indeed.
Before long, he couldn’t take his mind of the horseshoe at all, and sometimes he stared at the horseshoe for ages.
A shadow fell on his happiness, and after a while he went to see the doctor. Welt, he should have known better then that! All the doctor did was to send him to a psychiatrist. And he didn’t believe in weeping horseshoes either. Our lucky man felt for sure he wasn’t a mental case at all; he just didn’t like to see the horseshoe over his door crying.
Who would, by the way?
There came a day that he bought a pony as a present to his children, and it turned out there was one horse shoe missing.
He wanted to put the spare horseshoe on the pony. But whilst he took it down from the wall he felt it tremble and big tears came falling down. That night he prayed to the gods for guidance, for he was at his wits end. And soon enough the blue raven came to him. Of course you will all know that the blue raven is a special messenger from the gods?
Well, the blue raven told our lucky man the story of the horseshoe, and then he spoke to the horseshoe.
“In exchange of giving up all the power you have to bring luck to people and make them happy, you can be given the power to do what you want and go where you want,” the blue raven told the horse shoe. Without even thinking she agreed at once.
For our lucky man and his family it meant that they were no longer luckier then others, or happier.
But nothing they had gained already was taken away from them.
They just had no fresh luck coming to them, and life wasn’t as easy as it had been to them before.
Our horseshoe enjoyed her freedom, and a far as I know she still roams the world. I think she lived happily ever after, and when you ever come across a horseshoe that doesn’t bring you any luck, you have found her.
the end
IV THE BALLOON PARTY
Once upon a time on a small blue planet, a planet that was like a bright pearl in the ocean of space, there was a country where the balloons came from.
Ach of course you know what a balloon is, don’t you?
You know these big vessels that float in the air, go with the wind. The passengers and the pilot sit in a basket underneath and enjoy themselves.
Well, you know these kinds of balloons are not the original ones, they are men-made copies. They can fly either because the air inside is heated up, or a gas is used that is lighter then air. And yes, they are sure marvellous.
But you should see a life-balloon, a real one! I tell you.
See, the balloons in this country were beings, not contraptions. And they were as different from each other as you and me. There were balloons in all kinds of shapes and seizes. Every colour you can think of was represented, and they were just plain beautiful. They all could fly high and low, they have a way of knowing exactly which way the winds are blowing in the different layers, and so they can steer themselves towards almost any place they like to go to. They are lovely beings as well, very friendly, and one of their nicest qualities is having an annual balloon party. There is a kind of race as well, but the fun aspect is the main important one. Animals and people come from all over the planet to visit the land of the balloons every year to partake in the party. Seven balloons were chosen each time, including the winner of last year. And the party started at the spot where last years winning team had come down.
Each life-balloon would take passengers, in a basket hanging down from ropes, just like our balloons now a days, and they all carried a number of guests according to their seize and abilities.
The guests of last years winning balloon could chose who was to come this time, and so it was assured that as many different people and animals could take part in the race. The dragon-balloon had been last year’s winner, so he had the first choice.
This dragon-balloon was enormous, I tell you. He looked like a real dragon, with big big wings.
His head was orange with white stripes, his body greenish and bluish; his legs were dark velvet and his wings shone like pure gold. He was fantastic!
Because he was so strong and big, he could carry loads of guests, and the number of animals and people wanting to fly with him was endless, The parachute- mouse, who had been one of last years winning team, choose his friends to come with him, and they all came.
The basket-rat and his wife and children came. The Siamese twin-camels and their master. The reverse-time coyote and her hunter were there. And of course the banana-butterfly and the soft-frog.
On board came the red-giraffe with some of his friends, as well as the shoeshine-dog with his family.
And, best of all, the blue raven came!
But before the race started there was a balloon party, going on for three days.
All the life-balloons from the whole country were there, and offered free flights to every one. You could hardly believe how busy they were. There were marquees and tents, the nicest food and drinks for all, and at night fire-works and fairy lights illuminated the sky.
The sweetest music for the romantic ones, as well as dance- music for the dance lovers. The balloon party was so brilliant that every single soul amused themselves, every one was happy and in a good mood. There were endless games, competitions for young and old, big and small, and you should have seen some of them!
The red-caribou gave a hunting show with the wolves, the old turtle told stories from far away places and rare animals. And the parachute-mouse showed off like anything.
The mice that lived in the giant’s breast wanted to take the giant on board as well, but that proved impossible.
Instead they invited the silver-doe to come.
Ach, so much happened in those three days and nights of the balloon party. Even if I had all the time of the world I couldn’t tell you half that happened. And then the race started.
Apart from the dragon-balloon there was a seahorse-balloon, all in silver with blue stripes and orange spots.
The flower-balloon, in brilliant pink, and the teapot-balloon, that even smelled like a teapot. There was the starship-balloon as a big surprise, and it did look magnificent and very alien. It had lights all over that kept switching on and of.
They all looked magnificent. Those ones amongst the visitors who were chosen to be this year's guests were absolutely delighted. The little seahorse-balloon, with the famous singer-mouse on board as well as the sugar-snail and a rollabout, won the race.
They sailed through the heavens as if they never were going to stop and come down, and they landed that far away that it took them ages to come back at all.
The parachute-mouse, aboard the dragon-balloon, became so exited that he jumped out, forgetting his parachute, and he might easily have been killed or badly injured were it not that he landed- just to show his fabulous luck- in a big birthday cake.
And although shocked and surprised, he found himself being licked clean of the icing and the crumbles by the five-legged pussycat, whose family was having a birthday party for their youngest daughter.
Life can be miraculous, don’t you think so?
I don’t know why now a days we see so few life-balloons, but as far as I know they all lived happily ever after.
And if you ever have the opportunity to go to a balloon party, just go. For it will be the greatest party in your life!
the end
V THE PURPLE SHEEP
Once upon a time there were six sheep. Purple-sheep.
I know, I know, you just don’t want to believe me. Well, I’m sorry, I know very well that the kind of sheep you know aren’t purple at all.
But these sheep were purple, and they weren’t just coloured or turned purple by any odd means.
Apart from their colour they weren’t that unusual. You know, they had four legs and just the one head like any other sheep.
A bit strange was maybe the fact that they could talk. It was their own language, mind you, and you would have to learn it like any other language if you wanted to talk to them, but that would be perfectly possible.
These purple-sheep now numbered six, and they wanted to be seven. And please, don’t ask me why, because I just don’t know, I would say a group of six sounds all right to me, but they just wanted to be seven. By all means.
So they did their very best to find another sheep that wanted to join them, and they were even prepared to ignore its colour, just to be seven. But somehow they couldn’t find a single sheep that wanted to join them. Ach, of course they asked every one, they phoned around, put adverts in the local paper, went to visit the farmers and talked to all the sheep they could find.
There were enough offers of two or more sheep that wanted to join them together, but that wouldn’t do.
So our six purple-sheep were quite upset about it and they were slowly getting desperate. They held another meeting still, to discuss their tactics and opportunities. And they decided that they would all go out in the world for a week and a day, by different means of transport, to find the one single sheep that was missing. Some idea, he?
One went to the nearest bus stop. The next went to the nearest railway station.
One walked and one took the nearest ferry. One went to the airport and the last one went to a garage and rented a car.
After a week and a day they were all supposed to be back. And all of them had different adventures. They spoke to lots of people and animals, and word went out in the world that they were looking for one single sheep that wanted to join them, so as to complete their numbers. You wouldn’t believe how hard it proved to be to find that one!
The various reasons given to them for not joining would fill many pages in this book, but all that didn’t help our purple sheep.
Once upon a time there was a girl.
She could become whatever she wanted, for she was a fairy.
So far she had been quite happy just to be a young girl, and she couldn’t find one reason to become anything else. But then she heard the news of the quest of the purple-sheep, and she thought about it a lot.
It might be good to become a purple-sheep and join them, and to be the number seven and make them complete. But then again, she might not like to be a sheep and turn into something else. And they would be terribly disappointed!
She couldn’t make up her mind, but she wanted to do something to help them. So she asked a cloud to come down and carry her over our beautiful planet, so she might go and find that one lone sheep that sure must he somewhere.
And she found it. Not like that, just counting one, two, three. No, no, it took some more time and effort then that. She finally found a mother sheep whose young lamb had died in a terrible fever, and she was now so unhappy with her life that she was willing to take a chance and become the seventh sheep.
But she lived far away in a country called Afghanistan.
Far away, across deserts and over mountains, and it would take almost forever to join the six purple-sheep if she would have to walk all the way.
Ach, you know what happened, don’t you? Just one of those little miracles again. The fairy girl talked to the raven, they talked to the coyotes, they talked to the wild horses and within a week and a day the horses came with a wagon.
Six young, strong horses pulled the wagon, the reverse-time coyote took the reins, and our seventh sheep climbed on board.
And even nowadays the people and animals in all the kingdoms and queendoms they passed on their way remember that journey. For the six horses went so fast that it was like lightning, and they passed the countries with such a speed as there hasn’t been since either. Fire struck from their hoofs, and even the swiftest birds had to hurry when they wanted to keep up with them. They crossed the river Time, and that was a big thing. They climbed the mountain High, and that was unheard of.
They passed the Lonesome Forest and they went through to Endless Gate. But after a week and a day they had to rest.
On the Plains of Now they stopped, and the seventh sheep climbed down from the wagon to stretch her legs and eat and drink.
The fire-hawk flew on as fast as an arrow, to tell the six purple-sheep that their number seven was coming soon, and they grew all excited and started to prepare a big welcome party. As things go, sometimes everything looks to be OK, but somehow something goes wrong. It wasn’t the black horse’s fault, I’m sure, but somehow he strained his ankle and couldn’t pull the wagon anymore. Nobody knew what to do. But the girl who was a fairy used her brains! The silver-hawk was asked to go to the Queen of Persia; to see if she could maybe sent one of her flying carpets. And, believe it or not, the flying carpet arrived the very same day! You know them Persian carpets of course? They are all very beautiful and well made, and last forever. Oh, but you should have seen this one. The colours shone like a fresh rainbow. The patterns were a delight to anyone’s eyes and it could fly as swift as a cloud on the breeze.
Our seventh sheep went on board and laid down in the middle. Then they took off, and under the flickering light of the stars they passed over the silent and sleeping lands, as fast as a shooting arrow. The seventh sheep was so impressed by this journey that she never forgot it for the rest of her life.
Many a night she would dream about it again. And she told all the other purple-sheep about it as soon as she was recovered and had the time.
But first she had to be the hero at the welcome party, and that was some party! By the time they went to sleep, the sun was up already.
The seven sheep were all very happy now, and feasted for a week and a day. Together they set up a school to teach others their language, and you can still hear it spoken on many of our beautiful islands and in remote areas. It is a wonderful language, it sings along and touches the soul. And the songs in this language are the most wonderful songs on our planet.
Why most of the other sheep never learned it remains a mystery, since communications would have been so much easier if they would have learned it.
Our seven purple-sheep lived happily ever after, and you can still come across some of their children and children’s children. Say hallo to them if you find them!
the end
VI THE BUCKET
Once upon a time six children were playing on the beach.
It was the first nice day after a long spell of rain, and they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. They ran and sang and build sandcastles. They collected shells and driftwood and strolled along the beach. Amongst a lot of other things, they found an old bucket, with the bottom missing. As you never know when things might come in handy, they took it along. The youngest of the children started to play with it. He put the bucket down and started to throw little stones and mussels in it, from a short distance. He was really quite good at it, for more stones landed inside the bucket than outside. After a while most of the others joined him in the game, and they had good fun, I can tell you. They played for a long time, until they had to go home. After collecting their finds, the oldest girl lifted the bucket to take it home with them. To her big surprise something unheard of happened. All the little stones and shells they had thrown into it fell through the hole in the bottom, and changed.
Before her very own eyes they changed into pieces of candy! They kept their shape, but changed in colour and substance
And when the girl knelt down and picked up a piece, it felt and tasted like candy. She knew well enough what candy was, even if they didn’t get to eat it that often. So she picked up another piece and tried it. To her never ending joy and amazement it was candy! She shouted for joy and the other children surrounded her quickly. “Taste this”, she said, and gave them all a piece of candy. Every single item that had fallen through the bucket had changed into candy. And there was loads of it, more then they had ever seen in their lives.
In their happiness they danced and jumped and shouted around, but soon they calmed down. The oldest girl put the bucket down again and threw a piece of driftwood into it. And as she lifted the bucket, out came another piece of candy.
Well, I don’t know what you would do with a bucket like that, but to them it was a treasure and they immediately decided to keep it secret and hide it from their parents.
They could have all the candy they wanted, without having to ask for it. And they went home in the very best mood, nibbling pieces of candy on the way. They hid the bucket in the shed.
Ach well, you know how things go. It is difficult enough to keep a secret between two friends, but somehow it seems to be impossible to keep a secret when there are so many involved. See, they had to give some candy to their best friends!
And the few times their parents bought them some candy they didn’t seem that eager at all. So, in due time their parents started to notice that something was going on. They started to observe their children more closely, and noticed that they seemed to spend a lot of time in the shed.
One day the father inspected the shed while the children were at school. But he couldn’t find anything unusual, just the normal old rubbish and junk lying around.
What secret did those children have? He wondered.
For weeks on end the parents tried to find out, and one day their mum found out. She was washing one of the children’s coats, when going through the pockets; she found a handful of candy.
And she knew perfectly well that they hadn’t got the candy from her or their dad.
And when she questioned the child, it confessed in the end, telling her a weird story about a bucket with a hole in it that turned stones into candy. Well, she wouldn’t believe the story until she saw it with her own eyes. And even then she found it very hard to believe. The child demonstrated to her how to throw a pebble in the bucket, lift it up, and there it was, turned into a piece of candy.
When their dad came home that night, he got to hear all about this magic, but he too had to see it with his own eyes before he believed it. The parents had a lot more trouble to come to terms with this miracle then their children had.
Och, for children the world is easy and straightforward.
They can believe in anything that happens without thinking why and how?
From now on the bucket was kept in the house, in the living room, and the amount of candy the children got was strictly regulated.
One day their mum wanted to have some candy herself, so she took the bucket and put a little piece of wood into it.
When she lifted the bucket to retrieve what she thought would be a piece of candy, her eyes grew wide.
For the piece of wood hadn’t turned into candy, but into silver. It lay there shiny and sparkling.
She was so astonished that she didn’t know what to do. So she waited until the children got home and told them about it.
They couldn’t believe it either, and then, they had never seen a piece of silver before.
In turn they wanted to try their luck again, and soon enough little items were dropped into the bucket, But when they lifted the bucket everything had turned into candy just as before.
Now they made their mum take a turn, and her piece of wood turned into silver again! They all just marvelled at this bucket and found it most amazing. When their dad came home he found a house full of excited children, and an equally excited mum. You think the dad could believe his ears? Or for that matter his eyes, when he saw a piece of wood turn into a piece of silver? Och well, even if someone doesn’t believe what he sees or hears, that same person might still accept what happens. So the next morning he was off to the local jeweller with the pieces of silver in his pocket. And believe it or not, the jeweller not only affirmed that it was silver, he bought it too.
Things began to change dramatically after this. The dad started to bring loads of silver to the jewellers, and soon he had to go to town to sell more. He made a fortune and increased their living standard enormously. The house was rebuild and new furniture came. But the dad did more than that. He shared his new fortune with his neighbours, his relatives and everyone in the village. For there was no end to the amount of silver that came out of the bucket. Everybody prospered, and still there was more silver then anyone wanted or needed. Things went well for a while. But when there is sudden richness anywhere, you will find that the human vultures of society come along just as fast as the authorities.
Attempts were made to steel the bucket, and the dad had to keep a close watch. And then the king somehow got news of the prosperity of the village, and had inquiries made. When he heard about the unending amount of silver coming from this bottomless bucket, he wanted to have it of course.
Our dad called a meeting for all the villagers and explained what the king wanted. Och, that was some meeting, I can tell you!
Heated debates and arguments flying around all over the place. In the end it was decided that they would make a huge amount of silver, to keep them all going for a long time, and everyone was to have a fair share of it. Then the bucket would be given to the king. This king now didn’t believe in miracles, Not at all.
So he wanted to see with his own eyes, and he wanted to test the bucket himself. And he did.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. For all the news he had heard so far, had told about the bucket changing any items into silver.
But when the king put a little piece of coal into the bucket and lifted it, it turned into gold. Solid gold.
And whatever the king put in his bucket, out came gold, not silver, and certainly not candy. Our king was not only amazed, he was highly pleased!
Well, this kingdom turned out to be the wealthiest country soon enough, and because there was no end to gold, the king spent his newly won wealth equally amongst this people. You must have heard about this country, where everyone is rich and happy.
Of course other kings and governments tried to get hold of the bucket, but they all failed. For our king was so rich that he could buy whole armies to fight for him if necessary, and soon his enemies found he was unbeatable. This king and his people prospered for a long long time. They were all good to each other, welcomed strangers and supported the poor very generously. When one day the bucket disappeared, it was hardly noticed. Nobody needed gold anymore.
The king’s palace had a golden roof, his chambers were full of gold, and everyone had his own big pile of gold at home.
So much that nobody thought about gold anymore. The bucket disappeared as I just told you, and no one has seen it since. But who knows, you might stumble upon it one day, or it might be washed ashore again somewhere else.
Anyway, the king and his people lived happily ever after.
the end
VII THE RAIN MOUNTAIN
Once upon a time there was a mountain that the people called the rain mountain, because the rain clouds always covered its peak and the people believed the mountain made the rain.
They were very wrong of course, and I will tell you soon enough why.
You see, a little man lived in a small hole near the top of that mountain, and he was a rainmaker. It was he who attracted and directed all the clouds to the mountain peak.
This mountain had a brother who was just a little bit smaller, but didn’t attract half as many rain clouds. And this brother mountain was getting a little bit jealous. In the end he got very jealous. So he decided to do something about it. He honestly believed that when he would be bigger than his brother, he would attract more clouds around him. You must excuse me, I can’t see the point in all that, you know. Just having more clouds covering your head. What good does that do?
These two mountains had also another brother, who was smaller still, but very respectable by all means.
And this one was the funny brother. Sometimes he just couldn’t stop laughing. Then the whole mountain would shake and shudder. The poor people in their ignorance thought this mountain was a volcano, and thought it might erupt anytime.
That’s why nobody ever climbed the laughing mountain.
In the dales below there lived a young man who was a fire-maker. A very unhappy fire-maker at that, since the rain that came down from the rain mountain so often spoiled his efforts and killed his fires.
He had a heavy grief against this rain mountain.
Many a time he had thought what he could do to get rid of the rain clouds, hut he hadn’t thought of anything so far.
When the second mountain started to grow, trying to become the biggest, our fire-maker noticed it of course. A big struggle was going on between the two mountains, and the third one just rumbled and shook with laughter, because the funny mountain thought that his two brothers were hilarious.
So well yes, there was a lot of activity. And the fire-maker’s sympathy went out to the second mountain. For he hoped that the clouds might be more evenly spread and his fires wouldn’t be at such a risk of being put out by the rain.
Ach, you should have seen those three mountains!
One was shaking with laughter, the middle one was shaking and trembling because he was growing, and the first one was vibrating because he tried to soak up all the energy he could to prevent his brother from growing.
The mountains shook and shuddered, the earth was rumbling and the poor people of the island were very unhappy.
They believed their last moments had come, and they might have to move away from the island.
They feared the mountains could explode any time. And our little rainmaker was getting very uncomfortable in his little hole on top of the highest mountain. So far he had lived and worked in peace and quiet, but this rumbling and shaking proved too much for him. He left his hole at the top and moved away from these shaking mountains.
On his way down, he met the fire-maker, who was on his way up, to support the second mountain. They had a long talk together, and although they met as enemies, they parted as friends. Yes, they made a deal, these two.
And from now on there was always a balance between rain and fire on the island. Of course I know the names of the mountains and the island, but I don’t need to tell you, for you will sure have heard all about them
And yes, at some point in time these three mountains calmed down, although the smallest brother still shuddered with laughter once in a while.
And, why not, they all lived happily ever after.
the end
VIII THE ROSWYTH GAME
Once upon a time, a log long time ago, on this beautiful blue planet, where our origins lay, there lived a man who was called James Roswyth.
He came from the wonderful County Claire in God’s own blessed country of Eire. This man, whom little was known about, invented the Roswyth Game.
The one that had such a big impact on our society over the past few hundreds of years. Of course you all know the Roswyth Game, and many of you will have played it or may be planning to play it sooner or later.
His idea was born out of stubbornness and pride, a strong will and a lot of daring and fantasy. As far as the story goes it started of when one day he wanted to hold mass in the local church. In those times, just as nowadays, there were different religions and rites on planet Earth, as you may well know.
Since he wasn’t a fully ordained priest, it was denied to him.
You see, he had studied to be a priest, but never finished because of a love affair, and in those days the priest were not allowed to have love-affairs.
Ach well, that was indeed very strange and unreasonable. But he had this strong wish to play the role of a priest, in his own local church, and he just didn’t take no for an answer. He was set to do what he wanted, no matter it was allowed or not. So he planned to capture the priest who was to read mass and replace him. He couldn’t figure out what to do with the mass-boys who usually helped the priest. Should he take them in his confidence, or should he ignore them and just offer them some kind of explanation?
Often enough other priests came to read mass, so they wouldn’t be too surprised to see a new face. But then again, normally they would be introduced to the new priest.
I tell you, it was a dilemma, Finally he just got on with realising his dream, and waited one morning in the church for the priest to arrive.
He followed him inside in his office when he went there to put on his robes, and he locked the priest up for the duration of mass.
He dressed himself instead and held mass without any problems. He just ignored the bewildered stares of the mass-boys.
After mass he changed back into his own clothes, unlocked the door of the room he had kept the priest in as a prisoner, and went home. Without being found out, he had gotten away with it. And that was the beginning of the game. You see, the game expanded and changed over the years, but the rules are still simple and easy. Any person or group of persons that can take over any organisation, office, shop or restaurant, and keep it working in good order for at least twelve hours without anybody finding out what was going on, was a winner.
You could then enter your name in the Roswyth Game list over the Internet. There were numerous failures in the beginning, but more and more people became interested in the game and before long single persons and groups took over smaller shops and businesses very successful.
Next on the list were bigger organisations, offices and even headquarters of the army and such like. Because the players of the game were so successful in their take-overs, a new rule was established. You had to take over for at least twenty-four hours, before you were eligible for the list. The people playing the Roswyth Game became better and better at it. And the longer you could hold your position without being found out, the higher on the list you came.
Since so may people had plenty of spare time, and no harm was done, there was a general approved of the game.
You see, to take over an organisation without being found out, you had to maintain the same standards, and the same behaviour towards clients. You had to have inside knowledge of how that organisation worked, and to be very careful in all your dealings.
So it could be quite a challenge.
Actually, this aspect of the game became more and more important.
People began to study and learn at random, because any skills and knowledge you could acquire might be useful sooner or later. And people learned to be very good actors, and gained a lot of self-confidence. There was and is no limit to the knowledge and skills you might need in a successful take-over.
So that’s why the people on planet earth started to develop their real potential, and why they became so good at adapting to all kinds of different environments.
The take-over of a whole hospital for thirty-six hours was a major break-through, and soon enough you could never be sure if any dealings you had with a company were for real or if you were dealing with impostors.
Ach, it was and still is very nice that it doesn’t matter at all, for the impostors had to be just as good and normal as the people they replaced, otherwise they would be found out soon enough.
And a deal is a deal, business is business.
When one day it was announced that a major international computer company had been taken over for more then two months, a wave of excitement went around the world.
The people involved in this game must have been excellent players. Sooner or later whole governments were taken over, some for a long long time. Nowadays of course, you never know with whom you are dealing.
The take-over of the whole government of Astra Betta, just over a hundred years ago - for more then five years - was the most spectacular one so far. The people involved in that game are still on top of the list, and no one knows what will happen next.
We all know that especially the army and the navy didn’t like the Roswyth Game too much, but they have profiled from studying successful take-overs, to raise their own security standards for preventing take-overs.
But as always, as soon as a game becomes more difficult to play, some bright individuals find ways around each new difficulty. And I firmly believe that the challenge of the Roswyth Game has been the major impulse for the development of human society over all our inhabited star-systems.
The knowledge, skills and wisdom that people acquired to become good players at the game have led to an unheard of expanding and developing of the human race.
That’s why mister James Roswyth is now considered as one of the most important people in our history.
Anyway, I’m of now; we’re going to take over a publishing company, so that I can get my books published.
the end
IX THE ELEPHANTS AND THE ZOO
Once upon a time in a town in some small country on a tiny little planet, there was a Zoo. A nice Zoo to look at and visit, but not a very nice one for the animals to live in. The whole Zoo was designed for the visitors, not for the sake of the animals. Many of them suffered, especially the wild animals like tigers and lions that are used to roam about, and the elephants that walk so many miles a day when free.
The animals didn’t have any ideas that they could change their conditions, and mostly suffered silently.
One day an elephant was bought for the Zoo and brought over.
She was to be kept in the compound and from the very beginning she wasn’t happy about it. Not happy at all.
She was a particularly bright elephant. You know of course that elephants are clever?
Their knowledge and memory are incredulous, and they amaze us humans again and again. Our elephant was not only bright and beautiful, she could also organise herself and other elephants, and she could talk.
She could talk all the different animal languages too. She was just amazing! For a couple of days she kept quiet, but she was gathering information all the time. Within hours she knew how many animals actually lived in the Zoo.
She could tell all the different species and where they all lived.
Over the next couple of days she got information about how the place was run by the humans, how many visitors there came per day and week and month and all that sort of things. Then she started to compile lists of complaints and ideas how to improve the situation. After being in the Zoo for less then a fortnight, she had a whole range of plans ready to change and improve the Zoo completely.
The next step was to realise all her dreams and plans, and to get the help from the humans as well as from the animals.
And I can tell you, that took considerably longer than thinking out things.
That she managed at all in the end just proved how good she really was in organising and influencing others.
She started to talk to her warden, who was very surprised in the beginning to hear an elephant talk.
This warden had some ideas of his own that he had kept to himself for many a year. The ideas of our elephant how to run a Zoo, were very similar to his own, and he wasn’t surprised at all by them. He could agree with most things she told him, and he was only amazed at her knowledge and understanding.
They had long talks together and after a while our warden began to talk to the other wardens about his and her ideas.
He found that most of them could sympathise with them. To approach the directors of the Zoo proved more difficult. Any official will want to see documents of some kind before they even consider thinking about ideas or plans, and our elephant knew it well enough. Soon she got the help of a woman who could write shorthand and type, and she volunteered to help our elephant. Together they compiled long lists of complaints and grievances, and plans to improve the conditions of the animals in the Zoo.
One day this was all done and duly presented to the head-office. Our elephant prayed in silence and hoped for the best. But it didn’t happen straight away. The directors didn’t show any consideration at all. They believed their Zoo was well run and kept, and they didn’t want to change a thing. It proved that even wars can have some good effects, for when the war started soon afterwards, the whole management of the Zoo was called to arms.
The running of the Zoo was left to the wardens and some lower officials. Now the time had come for our elephant and her helpers to realise their plans. And with a lot of cunning and very well planned and organised steps, they went ahead. Before long the Zoo had completely changed.
Most of the cages were abandoned and the animals worked side by side with the wardens to rebuild their quarters, and to make this Zoo into a wonderful animal-friendly and people-friendly place.
I don’t know what happened to our elephant in the end, but you can still visit the Zoo and it is very famous by now.
Its principles are recognised and used by most other Zoos nowadays, and everyone has benefited by them.
And yes, they all lived happily ever after.
the end
X THE GOLDEN UNICORN
Once upon a time there was a country that didn’t have a name. Rather, it did have a name, hut nobody knew it.
To be honest, some knew it, but they couldn’t tell.
They kept the name secret, as the whole land was a secret land.
The ones that lived there knew the name of course, but they kept it to themselves. And because no one that went there ever came back, there is just no one to tell us the name of that country.
Not that it matters at all, since the country exists all the same, and it is a wonderful country. It is a land where all different kinds of people and animals live together, where the fairies and wizards all mingled freely with the others.
Dwarves and elves live there side by side, and they all use their powers and abilities to the welfare of each other and their land.
Does that seem strange to you?
Well, to them it seemed the only right way to live. And they lived well, very well.
The weather-makers made the weather for the best of all, and there was plenty of sunshine and mild rain.
All the plants, flowers and trees, and all the different animals from this country were perfectly healthy and in a brilliant shape.
They flourished like the people and the children. Food and drink of the best quality were abundant, the garments of the people were colourful and nice and soft, and of the very best quality.
The days were full of sunshine and laughter and light, and the rainy nights were spent beside open fireplaces, with songs and games in the most wonderful dwellings.
Oh, you should have seen their houses
For the houses in this country were marvellous.
They all fitted so well in the landscape, they were all so special and beautiful and so well built for their purposes. Each house was unique. They were all spacious and very comfortable.
Little streams ran through the pastures and gardens, and at night the shadows of the birds were cast upon the ground by the silver light of the stars.
I’m sure that every single one of you would like to live in this country. The artists were all highly appreciated and very well looked after, and the finishing of a new work of art - be it a song or a painting, a sculpture or a dance - was greatly celebrated.
Some of the fairies made the most wonderful sculptures, and one of them created a golden unicorn one day. It was an absolutely gorgeous sculpture, perfectly made, and the gods were so pleased with it that they gave it the gift of life.
That was a big day for this country, and you could only encounter smiles and happy faces that day.
The wizards bestowed special gifts and talents upon the golden unicorn, and so it became the most amazing creature that ever wandered on this planet
It was just miraculous! To see it wander about under the soft glow of the sun, to see it roaming in the night under the silvery light of the moon was a wonderful sight. And the golden unicorn was the pride and joy of the whole country.
But, as it happened, this unicorn was prone to travelling, and after it had travelled in its own country for long enough, it wanted to go elsewhere. And so it did.
To many different places did it come, and faced lots of adventures and dangers, but thanks to all its special gifts and talents it escaped every time unhurt.
Once it came to the silver-land, where all the animals were made of silver. It was a wonderful country too, I can tell you, but they wanted the golden unicorn to stay and become king. And that was absolutely not what the golden unicorn had in mind.
It wanted to be free of duties and roam the world.
Well, it did take a lot of cunning and courage to escape, and our golden unicorn vowed never to return.
When it came to the purple-shadow land it was mesmerised.
The strange melancholic beauty of this land touched it’s soul and made it soft like butter. Our golden unicorn could easily have stayed here forever, but always in this half-state between dream and reality.
It had always felt very rare and special, because it was the only golden animal amongst so many others, and it proved to be a big shock when it came to the gold-state, where being golden was the rule for all the animals.
Still, unicorns were rare, even there, but no one took a second look at its colour. Its luck never left the unicorn, for when the Queen of the gold-state organised a big hunt to catch the best and the strongest of the wild horses and our unicorn was captured as well, it was recognised as being special.
And it was not tamed or used as a carthorse like the others, but brought before the Queen. She was a strange woman, very strong willed, and of a fierce temper.
At times she was uncertain and very angry.
Our golden unicorn cured her from her bad tempers with the help of its special talents, and it found a grateful friend in the Queen afterwards. So it got it’s freedom back, but didn’t want to stay in the gold-state.
I heard that our golden unicorn went back to its own country one day, after visiting our own country as well.
It seemed to be dismayed with a lot of things it had seen in different countries, and it could neither accept nor tolerate the way people treated each other and their animals in our country. So, if you haven’t met the golden unicorn yet, you will have to find your way to this country without a name, and that might be a hard thing to do.
I wish you all the luck in the world, for it is known that in this magic country everybody lived happily for ever after.
the end
XI THE RAINBOW BUSSES
Once upon a time on a great little planet, in a country that we all love so much, there was a city where all the busses were green.
Oh yes, a lovely green, but nothing else.
And there was another city where all the busses were orange.
Yet there was another town where the busses were blue.
Actually, there were lots of towns in this county, and they all had different coloured busses.
Busses of all sorts. Big ones, small ones, mini-busses and double-deckers.
They all had their own colours, each bus according to the place where it came from, and the company it belonged to.
It was easy for the people you see, for they could tell with one look where a bus came from. But the busses didn’t think it was fair. They would prefer to be more diversified in their
colours. As so often, nothing really happened for a long time.
In silence the busses moaned and protested, but they did nothing to change their situation. Not until a golden bus fell in love with a blue one and they wanted to get married,
The bus-companies objected, for they feared their offspring might be multi-coloured. Our golden bus was a very determined young one though, and didn’t give up.
She started lobbying for the freedom of all the busses to marry and choose their partners, as they liked. And you should have heard the response she got! All the busses got excited and talked about nothing else.
Before long there came a day when all the busses of the whole country had a big demonstration. Thousands and thousands of busses from all over the country came to the capital.
Well, I can tell you, there wasn’t any other traffic that day.
And when the busses threatened the government to go on strike if they didn’t get their freedom of choice about their partners, the government gave in soon enough.
That’s why you can find busses in all different colours in this country nowadays.
A lot of them in the colours of the rainbow, for the busses seem to like them best.
And they do look fabulous. The busses are happy too.
The people have got used to it and seem to like all those wonderful colours.
They use the busses more and more, and their cars less and less.
It is needless to say that they all lived happily ever after.
the end
XII VOICES IN MY HEAD
Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived in a busy town in a crowded county. She was nice enough as little girls go; actually she was very nice and beautiful.
So she had lived a kind of normal life, with parents looking after her, plenty of friends and neighbours, and going to nursery and primary school later on and all these things. One day she heard voices, in her head.
She was scared, of course. Who would not be scared? She tried to stop them, but she couldn’t. Ach, the tears she shed. The long nights when she dreaded to go to sleep. And all those mornings when she didn’t want to wake up for fear the voices might be there again. Can you imagine that?
Luckily her parents didn’t think she was mad, as so many others do when children show signs of being receptive to what is often called “the third eye” or “the second sight”.
They knew that these things existed, that there are many skills and manifestations people are generally not aware of.
And they knew that in all these things there was nothing to be afraid of. So they did take her to the doctor, who could only state that there was nothing physically wrong with her. And then they explained to the child, to their best abilities, about super-natural phenomena and powers. Her dad himself had had some strange experiences when he was young. He could read peoples minds from miles away, and he had been very scared by this ability, until he had learned to handle it. Actually, having “the third eye” was very common in this family.
His brother could see “auras”, their grandmother had been a fortune-teller, and their mother could tell when people would die. Their father had prophecies in his dreams, and there were numerous other strange abilities amongst their cousins.
It can take a long time before we get used to our “ super-natural “talents, I know. But they are like any other abilities we have, and there is nothing to be afraid of. When we sleep and dream our souls travel through time and space, so there is an experience for you that all of us share.
The number of people that instantly know who is phoning them as soon as the phone rings, mind you, before lifting it up, is amazing. Almost every one of us knows the feeling of a “good” or ‘ bad” day. You either know that nothing can go wrong at such a time, or everything will go wrong and you better stay in bed and do nothing.
The full moon influenced people all over the world and makes them do things they wouldn’t do otherwise.
Some people can tell the future, or can tell your whole past without knowing you at all. Others can heal by just putting their hands on you, and many people can perform minor or major “miracles”. There are people with “green” hands. They can get the flowers and plants to grow and flourish.
And the more you get aware of these things, the more people you will meet with special talents.
Our little girl is fine now.
For the moment the voices in her head have stopped.
They may come back, they may not.
Or she might find other talents within herself
Anyway, I’m sure she will live happily ever after,
the end