TENTH STORY BOOK

WHY THE SEA DISAPPEARED AND OTHER STORIES

BY

TAO TAMMES

CONTENTS

I A BOX OF STARS PAGE 3

II BRAIN-FISH PAGE 6

III WHY THE SEA DISAPPEARED PAGE 8

IV OVER THE EDGE PAGE 10

V THE TEAPOT TREE PAGE 12

VI SNOW-CHICKENS PAGE 14

VII STANDING STONES AND WALKING STONES PAGE 16

VIII CARROTS AND APPLES AND LEAVES PAGE 20

ON A TREE

IX THE FIVE WAYS TO GO PAGE 22

X KING’S WAYS PAGE 24

XI STARLITE PAGE 27

XII THE COW WHO LOST HER BITS AND PIECES PAGE 28

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO ROSIE

Finished in 1997

Revised and rearranged in 2003

©

COPYRIGHT BY TAO TAMMES

MADE IN SOUTH UIST BY

RIVERHOUSE PUBLISHERS

TAO TAMMES

Casa Azul

Porto do Paul

Pernes

2000-500

Portugal

I A BOX OF STARS

Once upon a time there was a country which was covered in darkness. When the sun shone it was hardly visible at all, night was blacker still than day, but even if there were any stars to be seen, there was hardly any light coming from them.

The poor people in this country suffered a lot. Not only did they lack light and the warmth of the sun, the plants and the trees found it hard to grow under such conditions, and food was scares. “Not a very nice place to live in”, I can hear you think. So why did people live there at all? Possibly because they were born there and just stayed. But people can be fond of their country, even if it doesn’t give them all that they want or need.

In this country lived a woman who had seven stars in a box.

She kept them hidden away, and only in the complete darkness of the nights did she ever glance at her stars. And then she enjoyed her stars, let their sparkling light fill her heart, and at those times she would be one of the truly happy people in this country. “Shadowland”, they called it.

She kept her treasure very, very secret; she didn’t want anyone to know she had those stars, for fear others might want to take them away. Sharing was not one of her strengths; she just wanted to have those stars all to herself. But as always secrets are found out sooner or later, and as so often falling in love was the stumbling stone.
For she fell in love one day, as is perfectly normal and desirable, and then –for the first time- she felt the wish to share her stars with her lover. She should have known better, but she didn’t.

After she showed the box of stars to her lover everything changed.

For he was all for sharing, in general. Apart from his private love, he would share almost anything. So they had their first big row, and the darkness of the country seemed twice as dark yet. The woman tried to persuade the man to keep the stars, so they could give them to the children they might have together one day. But he was adamant. Hers was quite a good idea, but her man was having none of it. He wanted the stars to be put on high buildings around the big square of the city, so that as many people as possible could see them and enjoy a little light.

It was a noble thought; it showed that the man had a great heart

and cared for others.

But his woman was angry with him, very angry indeed. She regretted bitterly her folly to show her stars to anyone at all, even her lover. The stars meanwhile didn’t like fights, and the longer the argument lasted, the bleaker they shone. And when she took the box out late at night to have a last look at her stars before her man would take them away, she didn’t see any light at all. She couldn’t even see the stars!

Big tears came running down her face and full of self-pity she wandered through the vast darkness, her mood equally black as the night.

But finally she calmed down and went back home.

He had meanwhile bitterly regretted their argument, and finding himself at fault for her misery, decided to forget about the stars and let her do whatever she wanted with them.

So when they finally came together again very late at night, he told her to keep her stars, and she told him to take them anyway but they weren’t any use, since they had stopped shining.

Both of them went to have a last look at the box of stars, and they were gladly surprised to see that one of the stars shone again with a bright light.

They decided to keep the stars until they would all shine again, if that were ever to happen.

And indeed, in the years after, every time they had a child together, another star would start to shine from the moment of conception onwards.

So they gave one star to each of their children, and they all wore them like necklaces.

The last two stars they took for themselves.

And this family of star-bearers brightened the darkness of the land, and slowly but steadily the sun seemed to become stronger, and there was ever more light in this formerly so dark country.

Nowadays the people hardly remember the dark days of the past, but the seven stars shine bright from up high.

For the souls of the star-bearers went up to the Heavens after they died.

It happened all a very long time ago, but you can still see the seven stars of Orion, helping to chase the darkness from our souls when we need it most.

THE END

II BRAIN FISH

Somewhere in the depths of our lovely galaxy, there is a star-system which is rather strange.

A vast amount of planets tumble around two suns, and the conditions on those planets are thus determined by rather unusual effects. One of the suns is big, the other small. They should not be there anyway, for according to the scientist a system like that cannot exist. Two stars slowly rotating around each other, and lots of planets following intricate patterns around their suns. Strange, very strange.

And since there is life on those planets, at least on some of them, life there is strange as well. Life had to adapt to continuously changing conditions, and it did. One of the results is the brain-fish, who lives on the fourth planet. The brain-fish might easily be one of the most intelligent beings in our universe, yet it is absolutely helpless. It has the brainpower to know and understand what needs to be done at any time, and under any circumstances. But it doesn’t have the abilities to do anything.

So the brain-fish has to rely on others. Since the other animals on this planet don’t have the same mental capacities as the brain-fish, they are very helpful. The brain-fish helps them to survive, and in turn they help the brain-fish to survive.

It is a perfect example of cooperation. The brain-fish lives in one of the vast oceans of the planet, but due to the course of the planet around the two suns, now and again the oceans dry out almost completely, and life has to change if it wants to survive. And life always wants to survive.

Here and now, and there and then.

By using the brain-fishes mind and the physical abilities of the others, all of them manage to survive very well indeed. Due to the almost unlimited resources of the brain-fish, they have even managed to construct spaceships to explore the other planets in their system. And they plan to visit other star-systems, just to see how conditions are there, and to see if they might not find another, more suitable planet to settle on.

The brain-fish is sceptical about that. He thinks that without the challenge of their changing conditions they might all deteriorate. Well, we can only wait and see. However, if you happen to come across the brain-fish, you will be impressed by his knowledge and wisdom.

Of course they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

III WHY THE SEA DISAPPEARED

For a long long time the Sea and the Beach got on fine. Not that they were the closest of friends, but they got on and respected one and other. But one day they started an argument, and they both became quite heated and said things to each other that should better be left unsaid. These things happen all the time, and sometimes they can ruin good friendships, or even turn friends into enemies.

The Beach started it, telling the Sea that she was mightier and stronger than her.

Normally the Sea would just have laughed over such a silly remark, but this time she was angry, and she hit back. “What nonsense you are talking”, she said. “Everybody knows that I am the strongest and the mightiest!”

After that they accused each other of numerous things, from being stupid to being stubborn and conceited. Finally the Sea became so angry and worked up that she attacked the Beach with all her might. The Beach managed to hang on by the skin of her teeth, but she was badly shaken, and pleaded for mercy.

After that the Sea calmed down and let her go. “That shows you who is more powerful”, she told the Beach.

The Sea was happy enough with her victory, and did not realize that the Beach had only been testing her. The Beach could be a very treacherous creature, and soon enough the Sea was to learn more about her.

For another long period of time they got on well together, but now the Beach knew how to upset the Sea, and she was preparing for another battle.

When all her preparations were in place, she started another argument with the Sea, and the Sea was a willing victim.

“I am the protector of life!” claimed the Beach.

“And I am stronger and mightier than you!”

The Sea rose to the challenge, responding that she was the mother of all life on the planet, and that every body knew that much, even if they were as stupid as the Beach. But the Beach went on and on to rile her, and in the end the Sea lost her nerves and prepared to attack the Beach.

The Beach even had the temerity to declare that the Sea couldn’t move her one inch.

Well, the Sea could, and she showed it. With all her fury she pounded down on the Beach, and the Beach started to crumble and fall apart. But that was all just part of her tactics, for behind the Beach was a very big and very deep hole, and sooner or later she opened herself so that the Sea could stream in, and fall into the hole.

And that is just what happened. With all her might and main the Sea couldn’t stop herself from disappearing into the deep hole, and for a while the world was a different place. Without the Sea life wasn’t any fun anymore, and after a while the Beach had to let the Sea back into her place.

Ever since there is a truce between these two, and let’s just hope that will last for ever, because we could not live without the Sea, but we also need the Beach to protect us if she gets too wild.

THE END

IV OVER THE EDGE

For a long time people believed that the world was flat, and when you sailed too near the edge of the world you would fall of and disappear.

Nowadays a lot of folk believe that the world is round and that you cannot fall of, and you cannot disappear in such a way.

Of course they are mistaken, for people disappear all the time, and where else have they gone, if they haven’t fallen over the edge?

To prove all this, I will tell you about our little island.

When I first came, I loved to go down to the beach and I stared at the sea for hours and hours. Beautiful and intriguing, always changing, ebbing or flooding depending on the time of the day.

But never a ship to be seen on the horizon.

An empty ocean, stretching away towards other islands, small or big. For is America not a very big island after all?

Anyway, the sea was empty, and I felt sort of lonely, watching the empty sea, and I wondered why it was like this.

I came back to live here, and still I went down to the shore to watch the sea. Empty, completely empty, no boats to be seen for days on end, even weeks on end.

Imagining rich fishing-grounds out there, I found it very strange that there was never any ship to be seen, and so I waited if I might find out one day why or how come?

Illumination came one day, when I spotted a ship far out to the sea.

Oh yes, it was far out, but it kept neatly in sight of the land.

Clearly there was a reason for that, and thinking it over it dawned on me that all these old stories and believes were true.

Yes the world is flat, and yes, if you sail to near the edge you will fall of and disappear.

Although it was a horrible discovery, it put my mind at ease. Now I could understand why so few fishermen went out fishing near the edge, they had always known of the dangers.

And also, it explains ever so nicely what has happened to all these missing persons. Yes, indeed, somehow or other they have fallen over the edge.

Careful as I normally am, I will not venture beyond these shores, I will not go out in a boat if I can help it.

Life is dangerous enough, and falling over the edge to disappear for good is not my idea of the end.

THE END

V THE TEAPOT TREE

I bet you have never heard of a Teapot tree. Yes, I am sure about it. So let me tell you.

Once upon a time a man came back to these shores after spending most of his life abroad. Of course he had changed a little in the long years of his life spend away from home, and he brought some new habits with him. One of these habits was drinking tea, a thing unheard of in Scotland in those days.

And he really, really liked his tea. As was normal and his duty in those days, the man settled down and took a wife. As she was more normal still, the wife didn’t understand a lot of what her man talked about or was interested in, but she was a faithful and good wife to him.

She put up with his habit of drinking tea, although she believed it to be tasteless and sinful.

If God had wished for men to drink tea, he would have provided it then and there. And in a good Christian country of course.

But that was just her opinion.

The man drank so much of his tea that one day he turned into a teapot.

Yes, that was strange and unlucky, but these things do happen ever so often. His wife was scared and frightened, utterly amazed, as this was not a done thing amongst proper Christians, but there was naught she could do about it.

She invited some of her late husbands closest friends to tea, to inform them of what had happened. Using the teapot her husband had turned into, she started to pour cups of tea for them, but- maybe because she was so upset about it all- the teapot slipped from her fingers and broke in the process.

What an awful thing to happen!

Worst of all was the mess the broken teapot made on her new carpet. That made her angry, extremely angry.

She thought this was the latest piece of her husband’s devilry! For better or worse she threw the pieces of the broken teapot and the tealeaves and all out in the garden, without a proper burial.

That of course, was very wrong of her. But then again, she was extremely angry.

For a while she believed that now her husband had left her for good in whatever form, and she wouldn’t have to worry anymore about him or his wishes, but alas, life isn’t always as easy as that.

For in the garden, from the remnants of the teapot, a bush began to grow. And it grew fast. It turned into a tree, almost overnight. One springtime came when little flowers crowned the tree, and they looked very lovely.

The flowers took on the shape of little teapots, and came the autumn and harvest time, lo and behold, they were ready. A tree full of teapots!

Of course the widow tried to ignore the Teapot tree at first, but word spread about and some of her late husband’s friends came to see it, and demanded a teapot for memories sake.

So they got their teapots, and started drinking tea. After a while the widow started to sell the teapots to anyone who wanted one. That’s how the habit of drinking tea spread all around Scotland. Although it all happened a long long time ago, there are still people alive who have known others who had one of the original teapots, from the Teapot tree.

And yes, of course they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

VI SNOWCHICKENS

Ach, I know fine well that you are wise and know a lot.

But I dare say that even you haven’t heard of snowchickens.

No? Well, that is just what I thought.

So let me tell you then, for it is the right time of year. For it is only in winter that you might come across a snowchicken.

As for me, I have seen them numerous times, but only lately mind.

Like anybody else, I didn’t even know they existed. Now that I know and have seen them and hunted them, I dare say that they are the hardest birds to hunt. They are not that rare though, I mean there are plenty of them in the winter.

But they are so hard to find. Almost invisible to spot.

They come along with the snowflakes, and only go about whilst it is snowing. So mind, how many of you ever go out in a snowstorm? And of those who do, how many are there who know about snowchickens and look for them?

Nae wonder then, nae wonder at all there are so few people who have ever seen them.

To catch a snowchicken must be one of the most difficult things on earth. You need to work both with light and shadow.

Even if you spot one - which happens if you can see their empty form amongst the snowflakes across the background- I say even if you spot a one, you will never get near enough to catch it.

And if they stop moving, you can’t see them at all. If they move too fast they disappear in a flurry of snowflakes.

So it takes both cunning and patience to find one, and more cunning and a dose of good luck to catch one. But it can be done.
They are useless though, for as soon as you manage to get a hold of one, it starts to dissolve.

Lovely birds to see for a fleeting moment, a thing you may catch but you can’t hold.

Some say they were here from the beginning of time, and all the other birds descended from them.

Now I don’t know about that, it might well be.

If you are ever as lucky as to spot a snowchicken, count your blessings. They are said to bring good luck!

And everybody can use a bit of that.

Fleeting and un-catchable like love and life itself they are, and spotting one is a sign that love will come your way.

And of course they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

VII STANDING STONES AND WALKING STONES

There is so much that we don’t know, there is so much more than we ever thought possible.

Out there in the great blue yonder there are planets we haven’t even heard of.
Once upon a time a big space ship went out into what is called the Deep Range. Far away from pour little Solar system, far away from any stars known to mankind.

And they found so many new planets, life so different from what we know, that it seemed to be unbelievable.

As the Space Agency offered some of them for sale- for they couldn’t see any other way of making money out of them- Tim O’Hara bought a relatively cheap planet, with the help of a lot of his friends and relatives. And his life’s savings.

Not really knowing what he had bought in the end, he just had the feeling that something good would come out of it all. Something good for himself and others.

It proved to be the best thing he had ever done in his life, and he had done many things.

They set sail for the Deep Range as soon as possible. Not on the newest and fastest ship, oh no! They sailed on an old battered star-ship, chartered just for the one flight. It cost them deep in the purse, but still, somehow they managed all together to raise the money.

Travelling this way took a while, and the comforts of modern life were lacking on a grand scale. The newest space ships could have brought all of them much, much faster to their new home.

But you needed either be part of a scientific expedition, or belong to the Space Navy. Or of course be a millionaire.

And none of them belonged to the right club.

Well, Tim O’Hara arrived in due course, with his friends and relatives.

During the long months of travelling the Deep Space they were busy. Although a lot of them had specialized in different sciences, they had felt the need to a wider and better education, to brighten the horizons of their education, and so they all studied, learned and discussed all the knowledge and wisdom they had between them. And of course they studied all the material available in the ship’s gigantic computer database.

They simply wanted to be prepared for anything they could encounter. Well, they sure encountered numerous strange and unknown things, apart from all the things they could comprehend. It was the oddest congregation of emigrants ever to leave Earth, but that proved to be just as well.

Upon arrival at their destination they were first of all impressed by the beauty of their new planet.
Arith- as they called it- was indeed a lovely planet. Mountainous landscapes gave way to endless plains and lovely beaches. Hills embarked on the grassy slopes, but there were no forests at all.

They didn’t know at the time they landed on their new planet, but it was spring, and cool breezes kept them fresh under the hot sun. Of course they were happy, very happy.

It did appear that they had come to some sort of paradise.

After unloading the ship, they started to erect simple shelters.

So far so good.
There were of course a lot of things they didn’t know about Arith yet. Important things.

Yes, it was established that they could breath the air and drink the water after sterilization. No dangerous animals had been spotted so far, but there might be dangerous viruses.

There would be minerals, oil and gas possibly, and a fairly steady climate.

Never mind, they settled down, build houses and roads, erected a small hospital and various others communal buildings. A solar generator was put into working order, communications systems were established, and before they knew it a couple of months had passed and spring had turned into summer.

At their regular meetings big plans for the future were discussed. Small plants would start to produce the necessary technological devises; food crops would be sown on arable land and all the rest of it. Everything went fine until the stones woke up.

Unlike stones on other planets known to mankind, the stones on Arith moved around. Not only moved around, but grew as well, living of grass and bushes.

For some months every year the stones fell asleep, and rest and don’t move. In that time the grass grows again and the bushes stretch their branches as quickly as they can.

Life grows and expands, because it knows the rocks will be back, threatening them.

But until it actually started to happen Tim O’Hara and his friends knew nothing about it.

So they were shocked to the core of their beings when one day the roads began to crumble, rocks appeared in the fields, and the whole landscape seemed to have changed completely. Everything moved!

They had to do something, or their whole future would be at stake. So they all had a big meeting, decided to live on floating houses in the lochs and sees immediately. And they made lots of decisions, driven by necessity. Roads were useless as long as the stones were awake and walked about, and to grow anything at all proved to be impossible.

They organized a sort of nomadic life-style based on fishing, for the time being.

The walking-stones never attacked a human being, but houses were easily damaged.

After a couple of years studying life on Arith, they learned how it all functioned. And then in their turn, they attacked the stones.

In some areas they cleared them all in the wintertime, and installed laser-rings to keep them out.

They developed all sorts of movable houses, buildings on rollers, and travelled only in flying vehicles and hovercrafts.

As no pipes or cables were safe to use, they developed whole new systems of wave and wind transport and communication.

The walking stones caused numerous problems, but one after the other they were sorted and overcome.

Then Tim O’Hara had another brainwave.

“Let’s open up our planet for tourism”, he said.

“There is nowhere else anything like Arith.”

And so they did.

With careful planning and excellent marketing, they slowly but steadily became one of the top holiday planets.

From there on there was no stopping them. One of Tim O’Hara’s sons started an inter-galaxic transport consortium, and it prospered.

That makes it all so easy these days to go to Arith for a wee holiday, and it is worthwhile going.

Of course they all lived happily ever after,

THE END.

VIII CARROTS AND APPLES AND LEAVES ON A TREE

Once upon a time a field of carrots was ready for harvesting, and so the farmer came and pulled them all out.

He was going to put them in bags and take them to market the next day. But he never had the chance, for that very same evening one of the carrots stood up and said to the others: “Let’s go, let us see something of the world. This is our big chance. If we don’t go now, we will never.”

So the carrots got up and they all walked in a nice straight line into the world. Whilst the farmer got a big surprise the next morning, and went to fetch his dog to go carrot hunting, the carrots had a great time. They loved everything they saw, learned soon enough to stay away from cows and the like, less they got eaten.

Sometime they passed an orchard full of apple trees and stopped for a while to talk to the apples. They liked each other, these carrots and apples, and so the carrots wondered if the apples couldn’t be harvested and join them on their walk.

After hearing that the wind shook the apples loose in the autumn, they were disappointed. “Or the farmer comes to pluck us of the trees”, the apples told the carrots. “But then we get put in boxes and taken away.”

The carrots walked on, after promising the apples they would come back and harvest them if they could.

They came upon a cotton field and wondered what it was. The cotton explained that it could be made into string and fabrics, and so the carrots took some cotton to make string, and then they all went fishing.

Not being very good at it, they didn’t catch much, but they caught a snapper.

The snapper didn’t want to die, so he promised to do anything for the carrots if they saved his life. Well, of course the carrots took the snapper straight to the apple trees, and soon the snapper snapped, and one apple after the other was harvested.

The carrots brought the snapper back to the river, and then the carrots and apples set out to discover the world together.

Meanwhile the farmer was on their track. With his dog.

But little did the carrots know!

When the farmer found out that all his apples had gone as well, he had a fit. His wife had to get the doctor, and for a while it looked nasty.

The carrots and apples walked and walked, and saw more of the world than they ever knew there was.

When winter came they decided they would need shelter, and wondered where to find it.

The wind blew the leaves of the trees and gathered them in big heaps. Thankfully the apples and carrots buried themselves under the leaves and thus survived the winter quite happily.

They liked the leaves and wondered how the leaves on the trees would look like.

Early in spring they found a tree with some leaves on it, and talked to the leaves.
They decided to all go and live together, but just as they went on their way, the farmer and his dog finally caught up with them.

No pleading from the carrots and apples, nor the leaves could soften the angry farmer’s heart, and so they were all piled into the trailer and taken to the market.

But nobody wanted to buy apples and carrots and leaves on a tree, so at the end of the day the farmer had to take them home.

He dumped them in a corner of one of his faraway fields, and there they all lived happily ever after.

THE END.

IX THE FIVE WAYS TO GO

Once upon a time some folk met in one of those inns that were the backbone of society in those long gone days.

As men always do, and always have done.

They started talking to each other, ending up with a real debate about directions and ways to go.

Afore long they had established four main directions, North, South, East and West.

Another man joined them, explaining he couldn’t help overhearing their dispute.

He observed that you could also go up and down. That opened a whole new dimension to their discussion, and it took quite a while and a good number of pints and drams to talk everything over properly.

Some stated that you really couldn’t go up and down, apart from climbing a mountain or descending in a cavern.

Our newcomer agreed that it might be difficult to go down, but he was adamant that you could go up.

But he could not explain why or how.

After meeting at the same inn on another couple of occasions, they decided to prove the directions they believed in, and accordingly they each choose either North, South, East or West. And they decided they would travel in their own directions for a hundred days and one, before returning.

Our last member would travel up.

So it was all organized, routes were planned, tickets bought, and they all set off.

Many were the adventures they had. East and West met each other on the other side of the planet, South got married and returned with his bride, but North was missing for a long time.

When he finally turned up he told tales of ice and snow, making all travel impossible for months at a time.

They waited a long time for Up. For years they met daily at the inn, waiting for a sign of the man who had gone up.

I think that people are still waiting for Up to return one day, meeting at the inn, just in case.

And they all lived happily ever after,

THE END

X KING’S WAYS

All right then, sit yourselves down and be quiet.

You want to hear this story, you’re sure?

Once upon a time there was a king. In a kingdom of course, on a tiny blue planet somewhere in one of the galaxies.

This king was quite clever as kings go, but he had a great advantage over other kings and queens. He could listen.

Really listen, I mean.

As you all know people with a lot of money and power tend to do what they think best, regardless of others, and most of them never seem to listen.

Oh yes, they want to hear advice, but only the advice that suits them.

And that is the reason why so many countries have followed disastrous ways all along throughout history.

Now then, this fine young king went to church one day, as usual on a Sunday, and he heard this incredible priest talk about his faith, the bible, Christ and all that.

Quite normal and nice, you might think, but there was more to it.

He talked about the message of love and explained how loving people wasn’t meant to be a distant thing, no it meant much more.

It meant taking a real interest in the lives of the people around you, in their fate and their hopes and their dreams.

And it meant that if you can help anyone in whatever way to make their lives easier or more pleasant, then you do just that.

The priest added that it was often little things that gave others great pleasure and happiness, and our king was deeply touched.

Touched deep down in his royal soul, and so he started to think about all this.

He thought long and deep and a bit slow, and then he invited the young priest to come and talk to him.

The priest duly came and talked a lot. He explained that for all the good you do unto others in the name of God, good will be done to you.

And not only in the afterlife, but also here and now.

The king was stunned, he had never thought about life and what we do in it, in this way.

He resolved that from now onwards he would try to be as nice as possible to all his people. He would be helpful and good, and once his resolve was made, he set about it.

After thinking long and hard he had come to some conclusions. Like: Everybody should do the job they liked best and could do best.

He also concluded that if people don’t have worries about money, taxes and rents, they would live happier lives.

Slowly but steadily he set about to change life in his kingdom for the better, for every body.

And there were results.

When his people found that they could do the jobs they really liked best without having to worry about house and home, they did not only become happier, they also became healthier.

So the cost of healthcare went down, paying nicely for the reduction in taxes and rents.

After a couple of years of this sort of wise treatment of his people, the country seemed changed.

Laughter ruled the streets, crime had almost disappeared, and everyone could appreciate a good joke or a song.

Feeling appreciated seemed to mean much more to people than anyone had ever noticed before.

People cared for each other and the feeling of love and like was often so strong that it almost became touchable.

You might now say: “What nonsense, impossible”, but it truly happened that way.

This kingdom had of course a neighbouring kingdom, which was very different indeed.

It had a very strict and strong king, who ruled without questions and with a closed fist. Since his people had heard about their neighbours, and their happiness and freedom, many had become aware of their own hardship, and thus discontent and unease had grown to an enormous amount.

The strict king blamed his colleague for all the malcontent in his Kingdom, without even thinking about the real cause.

As so often.

War threatened, and the emotions ran high.

Then one of these nice things happened.

Every single person who was asked to fight against their happy neighbours decided not to join the army, but rather disappear and run for their lives.

And they all ran to their neighbours!

The war was finished before it even started, since there was a lack of soldiers, and the strict king had hardly any people left in his kingdom.

Very conveniently he died shortly afterwards, succumbing to the injuries he sustained when he fell of his horse.

Nobody knew if somebody pushed him of his horse.

His people started to return home after this strict king died, and with them they brought the new ways of living together they had learned from their neighbours.

Of course they all lived happily ever after.

THE END

XI STARLITE

Once upon a time a star came down from the Heavens to Earth.

He was very weary and tired of always being up there, and he really badly wanted a drink.

So he came down to Inverness of all places, and made his way straight to the Station Hotel, to order a pint of Guinness.

The folk, not being used to seeing stars down here, never mind how much they had been drinking, looked and stared. But our star just quietly drank his pint and then had another one.

His eyes fell upon one of the lassies, a truly beautiful dark little woman, and she smiled back.

Before long they were talking, and before much longer they both disappeared.

God knows what happened, but ever since you will come across one of those lovely, very attractive people who shine all by themselves.

Like the stars.

Some say they are descended from this first couple, but who knows?

As long as they all live happily ever after.

THE END

XII THE COW WHO LOST HER BITS AND PIECES

Once upon a time there was a cow called Maisie. She was a very nice shorthorn-cross, handsome and tame, but she had this streak of stubbornness in her, which would remind anyone of a donkey.

For she loved to go visiting, and since her friends and relatives were many, and spread over a wide area, she could be found wandering all over the neighbouring townships.

It became so bad that her poor owner, old Mary Macaskill, hardly ever saw her. What was far worse, she hardly ever got to milk Maisie, and she needed that milk badly for her crowdie and butter. She was only an old widow, and Maisie was the only cow she owned, so when Maisie went gallivanting day after day, Mary was hard up.

One day the widow decided that enough was enough, and she needed to do something about her one and only cow. Wise in the ways of the world, as she was, she knew where to go, to the local witch.

The witch duly put a spell on the cow, and Mary went home to see what would happen next.

She did not have to wait for long, because the following morning Maisie, who cared nothing for the troubles of her owner, decided to go for a visit to Stoneybridge, to see a cousin of hers. After a bit of grazing around the village of Howmore she went on her way, following the track past the school. The children, who all knew Maisie very well, saw her go past, and told each other that old Mary wouldn’t be pleased at all. “There she goes again”, said little Tommy.

Maisie was completely unaware of the doings of her owner, she had never even heard of spells being put on animals or people, so she just sauntered off. But today she had a big surprise coming to her. Hardly had she reached the outskirts of the village when she grinded to a halt. Something was amiss, she could tell that much. Carefully she studied herself as good as she could, and found that one of her horns had fallen of. Turning back she could spot it, lying on the track, so she went back and carefully tried to put it back in place. Nothing like this had ever happened before to her, and she wondered vaguely what was wrong. But she managed to put her horn back on and turned around once more, for she was going to Stoneybridge. Hardly was she on her way again then she felt something was amiss again, so she stopped.

This time it was easy to tell what was wrong, for one of her legs was missing, and she had great troubles to balance herself.

Looking back to the village she could see the leg lying on the track, so she turned round again and hobbled back.

By now the children had their lunch-break, and they were all watching her. Maisie put her leg back on, and started once more down the track to Stoneybridge, the children following her and telling her to go home. But Maisie was very determined, and paid no heed to them.

A loud shout from the children stopped her in her tracks however; ”Maisie, stop, you have lost your tail!” shouted the children.

Maisie stopped and looked, the children were right, her tail was missing, and by now she already knew where to look for it, just outside the school building. She turned round once more, and fashioned her tail back on as good as she good. Then she looked angrily at the children, wishing that they would leave her in peace.

She grazed for a bit, and slowly sauntered down the track to Stoneybridge.

“Maisie, stop, you’ve lost your udder!” shouted the children. Really annoyed by now, Maisie turned round and hastened herself back to the school. And right in front of her she found her missing udder lying on the ground.

With all the patience she could muster she put her udder back, stared menacingly at the children, turned her tail and set off once again.

This time she was doing fine, and it was not until she was halfway down to the loch when she felt something was wrong, very wrong. For she found herself stumbling and falling down, and this time she did not need to look what was missing, she knew. Her two front legs had just disappeared!

It was awful, and she didn’t know how she could get back to look for them. There was no doubt in her mind that she would find her missing limbs in front of the school-house, but how was she to get there?

After trying for a while she found she could push herself, but it took her ages to return to Howmore.

The children were all inside by now, for their lessons had started once again.

Maisie managed to put her legs back in place, but by now she was exhausted. She wasn’t even surprised to see her owner, and meekly followed Mary home.

Mary said nothing about missing bits and pieces, she just led the cow home to be milked, and then let her graze outside the garden for a bit.

At night Maisie was locked up, but the next morning she was let out, and she war ready to go visiting again.

But every time she tried to leave the village, some bits and pieces started to fall of her, and she soon learned that she just couldn’t leave the village. She never understood why, but she accepted the fact and became a very well loved and respected cow in her own right, and they all lived happily ever after.

THE END