Halloween: Sticky Toffee Surprise

 

Lovisma was planning a big surprise for Halloween night.

Last year Breeze spoiled her surprise, this year she was being very careful.

He won’t ruin my Halloween night.” She muttered watching her cauldron carefully. She sat on a fat mushroom watching her spoon do laps of the pot.  “Hmm vanilla toffee apples who can resist them?” She giggled. On hearing a twig snap she looked up, then relaxed as one of the Muppet Bunnies dashed past her.

“Nothing will spoil this surprise. That stupid Ogre is helping Elegant and the Fairies make bobbing marshmallows.” She said.

Breeze was standing a short distance away disguised as a giant pumpkin.  He got the idea from Bob (click here to see him as a pumpkin.)  Hamish had helped Breeze get ready.  Everyone knew Lovisma hates pumpkins.

While  the children were dressing up as witches and ghosts, Lovisma placed buckets of her special toffee apples around the party tables. Her apples sparkled and glowed. “What child or ogre could resist these?” she muttered.

Meanwhile Breeze was holding a meeting with the other adults. “I am not sure what will happen when you take a bite so I took one from her basket.” He stared around at the Fairies and Elves.

Tulip said, “Well we won’t know until you take a bite from it.”

Breeze  didn’t want everyone to think he was afraid. He closed his eyes and took a bite. It did taste lovely but the toffee ran off the apple like a river and lay around his feet. He could not move his feet. “I am stuck.” He groaned.

Elegant said, “I bet she plans on taking all of the children’s treats while they are stuck to the ground. I am sure it will wear off soon Breeze.”

Breeze hoped it would because he didn’t want to miss the party. The fairies and elves worked on a spell to undo Lovisma’s spell. Then they created a spell for her.

The party was great. The children loved the bobbing marshmallows that looked like giant spiders. They laughed when Matt tried to eat a real spider thinking it would taste of marshmallow. The spider was  not happy as he scuttled awayinto the dark night.

The children noticed the toffee apples. Lovisma held her breath and waited.

Matt grabbed an apple. It  fizzled and sparkled sending shooting stars into the night.

Lisbeth, Lillian and Daisy-Lyah’s apples played a musical tune  the minute they held them.  Children were dancing and laughing.  Lovisma was angry.

“Give me one!” She grabbed an apple and instantly the ground beneath her feet began to shake. Everyone ran for cover as two tall scarecrows appeared carrying pumpkins. They placed the pumpkins on the ground and rolled them at Lovisma.

She was knocked off her feet and landed on a huge pumkin. Her feet and arms, and head was visible. Lovisma screamed. She was trapped in a pumpkin. She waddled off into the wood crying, “I bet you did this Breeze.  I will get out and then you had better watch out.”

Lisbeth was sitting beside Breeze shivering. “You don’t look worried Mr. Breeze.”

He smiled and said, “I am not, because Elegant added her forgetful potion to the spell so Lovisma will escape from the pumpkin but she will have forgotten everything and we will have a great party.”

Daisy-lyah and Lillian were kind Fairies and they filled a basket full of treats for the naughty witch.

 

 

How a rainbow was rescued.

 

Daisy-lyah and Lisbeth were playing. They saw a quivering mess of colours on the grass. They crept close.

“Its a ball with the air escaping” Lisbeth stated.

“No, its not cos it is a animal in trouble. We should do something, but what?”

Daisy-lyah sat on the ground and touched shaking colors. It quivered like jelly. She whispered, “don’t be afraid we will sort you out.”

“Breeze would want to help.” Lisbeth said.

“But he has no magic. We need someone with magic.” Daisy-lyah looked sad. “I have a little magic but not enough.”

“We need someone.” Lisbeth said with certainty. “Elegant will help  but…I don’t want to meet Lovisma. She twisted my pony tail into a tight knot once and mum had to cut my hair.”

Daisy-lyah sighed. “I will speak to Elegant you can hide. ”

“I like your plan.” Lisbeth whispered. “I will be look out and hoot like an owl if I see her.”

They ran to Elegant’s house and hid in the tall grass. Lovisma was sitting on a fallen tree infront of the house , flicking twigs into the river at the ducks and birds.

They decided to go to the back door. When they knocked they hid behind a rose bush just in case Lovisma heard and came around the side of the house.

Elegant came to the door. She looked out and said, “Hmm strange wind about today, it did sound like someone knocking on my door.”

Daisy-lyah flew up to Elegant and explained their problem to her.

Elegant said, “I saw this problem once before,  I need to collect a few items. We need to hurry.”

When they got to the wood, the muddle of colors had shrunk to the size of a tennis ball.

Elegant said, “hold this please Lisbeth we don’t have much time left.” She held a small cauldron out and poured a few drops of a golden liquid into the pot and then added a dash of silver. She said, “I need you both to stand beside the river out of the way.” When they ran to the river Elegant began.

She poured her mixture from the pot over the shivering shrinking mess of colors reciting a spell as she did so.

Suddenly they heard a happy song being played, as they watched the colors rose from the ground one by one high into the sky to form one glorious bright arching rainbow.

“It’s a rainbow.” Daisy-lyah and Lisbeth shouted.

When they calmed down Elegant explained what had happened. They looked sad when they heard how Leprechauns sometimes get tired of minding rainbows and simply walk away from them. Without a caretaker the rainbows become starved of love and attention, no one usually notices them shrink until they vanish.

“That is sad,” Lisbeth said. Daisy-lyah looked as though she might cry.

Elegant noticed and told them. “Today is a great day because you saved a rainbow. Come on lets tell everyone.”

As they walked into the forest the kind witch pulled two giant rainbow colored lollypops from her pocket and handed them to Daisy-lyah and Lisbeth.

A Fairy Princess lands in the wood.

Breeze was woken by a strange noise, he sat up and looked around him.  He checked to make sure the world was okay. The sky was blue, in the distance he saw a lot of sleeping sheep and down below the wood was as he last saw it, green and quiet.

Then he heard it again.  He wondered had an elf come to play a trick on him. He decided to check it out. Elves, like his friend Ainion (which sounded like Eye-nee-on) tended to be a bit nasty with their tricks, they had a love of seeing misfortune happen to others which meant others ended up wet or cold or frozen solid for a while.

He crept through the wood and finally spotted her in a large clearing close to the center of the wood.

It was a fairy. She had light brown hair, twinkling eyes and a huge smile. Her wings were gossamer light and her skirt was colored like a rainbow. She was playing in the sunlight chasing a large butterfly. Breeze watched her for a while and noticed the most extraordinary thing. A sunbeam was following her!

When she moved to the left of the clearing the sunbeam danced after her, and when she walked forward the sunbeam danced after her. He smiled. A pair of blackbirds landed on the branch beside him and came to watch. Soon others joined them. The wood was filling up with birds, rabbits and then the branch groaned as Lisbeth and Matt climbed alongside Breeze.

Lisbeth said, “Is she a nasty witch in disguise? Maybe it is Lovisma.” Lisbeth shuddered.

Breeze said, “You stay here and I will find out.”

He slid down the tree trunk and said, “Hello. I am Breeze. ”

The fairy stopped moving and stared at him. She looked frightened.

Breeze said, “We were wondering who you are? We know the other fairies in the wood.” As he spoke he sat on the ground.

The tiny fairy seemed to relax when Breeze sat down. She said, “I am Daisy-Lyah. My job is to catch sunbeams and deliver them to woods. I do this every day. It is a tiring job. I stopped for a rest and found him.” She pointed at the large butterfly.

Lisbeth came to sit beside Breeze. “I never heard of a Fairy who was allowed to catch sunbeams.” Breeze said. “I thought only Princess’ were allowed to do that.”

“My full name is Princess Daisy-Lyah.” Daisy-Lyah said. “But if I say that people laugh. And I don’t like people laughing at me.”

“I won’t laugh cos it is a beautiful name. I’m Lisbeth. Can I play too?” Lisbeth asked.

Daisy-Lyah said, “Yes please it is always better when more people play.”

And so it was that Lisbeth found a new playmate. Daisy-Lyah came often to the wood after that and Tulip always made sure there was plenty of toffee topped fairy cakes for Daisy-Lyah to eat and take home with her.

 

Story inspired by comment from blog site; little things and me

Breeze’s Haiku

Dancing, diving

across the blue sky

Giant marshmallows

The Tale of the Curious Tree as told by Breeze.

Breeze was left in charge of  Mrs. Groundsels Grandchildren.  “Tell us a story, please.” Lisbeth demanded flashing her dark blue eyes at him.

Breeze sat and stared all around him. In the distance an old twisted tree caught his eye.

Lowering his voice he said, “A tiny oak tree was planted in the wood many years ago by a kind and friendly witch. ”

“It wasn’t Lovisma then.” Lisbeth said and moved closer to him.

Breeze smiled then said,

“The tree was planted in a good place. It began to grow. A rabbit stopped one day beside the tree to scratch his ear. The tree bent sideways to  ask the rabbit what it was doing. 

“I am itchy. So I am scratching the itch.” The rabbit said and then he hopped away.

The tree decided it was good to know answers to simple questions.

Whenever an animal stopped close to the oak it would move its body to look at the animal and ask a question or two. Over time the tree grew very knowledgeable about everyday things.

It knew why the clouds danced across the sky on sunny days and why they emptied buckets of raindrops on the forest on dark cold days. It also learnt the names of all the plants and animals in the forest. “

“Really?” Lisbeth asked.

Before Breeze could speak, Matt said, “That is rubbish there is no twisted oak tree in this wood and if there was it wouldn’t know anything about anything. Trees are just trees.”

Lisbeth looked sad. “Mr. Breeze, that is not true. Is it? Your story is beautiful. I think trees are great.”

“Thank you Lisbeth. Matt will discover the truth some day soon.” He hoisted her on his shoulder and said, “we are going to visit the tree.”

He walked a long way then stopped before the tree. Lisbeth ran her hand along the bark.  “You are a super-duper old tree. ” Breeze placed her on a low branch and jumped up beside her.

“Does it know everything?” She asked Breeze.

“Maybe not everything but it does know a lot of stuff.” He looked at her. “Why?”

“I would like to know what there is far beyond the Sugar lump mountains. Please Mr. Tree can you tell me?”

Breeze looked at her and said, “why don’t you write a note and pin it to the tree?”

She grinned at him. “Trees can’t write.”

“No but fairies can and I bet Tulip or Izzy could talk to it, or Elegant. I will ask them. They could write the answer down for you.”

So Lisbeth left her note pinned to the tree.

Next day she woke Breeze from a nap by shouting at him, “I got an answer.” Lisbeth read the note: “Beyond the Sugar Lump mountains lies a green valley. It is filled with cows grazing, sheep sleeping and lambs having fun. There is no river but there are many different types of flowers and trees. The air is filled with humming birds who sing as they collect pollen from the plants. ”

Lisbeth was smiling when she finished the note. “I am never going to tell Matt about this. It is great to know something he doesn’t. Someday when he walks miles and miles to find out what is over the mountains I can say, I knew all along because the kind oak tree told me.”

When she left Breeze slept, dreaming of dancing trees who became so knotted they fell over and grew on the ground.

 

 

Breeze lists his top five foods.

My five favorite foods.

1. This is easy everyone knows I love cakes and biscuits.

  

2.  I love green salads, I put a whole lettuce into a bowl and add in green pepper, parsley, chives, and eat it all in one go.

3.  Nuts. I am lucky living in a forest. Hazelnuts are my favorite.

4. Mrs. Groundsels home made soups.

5. Carrots. They help me see better at night.

 

My top five most hated foods.

1. Chocolate.  Yuck hate the stuff but oddly I love smelling it.

2. Cream – some people put it in their cakes. I think it ruins the flavor.

3. Sea-weed. My cousin Bertie brought some back from his holiday by the sea. He thought it was delicious. I  buried it in my garden.

4. Pumpkins.  I hate them so much I don’t use them at Halloween.

5. Mushrooms.  They taste slimy to me. Though Spike my pet frog likes to sit on them and sing.

A puzzle lands in the field beside Mudpile Wood

Breeze was dreaming of butterfly – cakes.  All of his dreams lately were filled with cakes of one type or another.

His dream about Hasty fairy Cakes was so frightening he hadn’t told asked anyone about it, yet. He decided to forget about it and perhaps some day ask for advice.

His nap time was interrupted by a very high bossy voice saying. “I told you to pack cucumber sandwiches.”

Breeze pulled a yucky face. He hated cucumber and the idea of sandwishes with just cucumber in them was not nice.

The woman who spoke looked very un-happy. He wondered if Tulip could wave her wand and make the lady look a little happier.

Then he heard another voice say, “But last week you scolded me because I brought cucumber sandwiches.” The second lady looked much nicer, she looked like a lady who smiled a lot.  She was taking out a cup and saucer and laying them on the ground.

“Why is she doing that?” Breeze whispered. But there was no one to answer him. “And what are they doing? ”

Breeze scratched his head and decided this was one question too many. He slid down the tree and went to ask Tulip for advice.

“Maybe they are having a picnic.” Tulip said.

“What is a picknicky?” Breeze asked.

“Not picknicky a picnic. It is when you have tea and sandwishes outside.” Tulip told him.

“Maybe we should have one.” Breeze suggested.

“We do that every day. Show me where they are.”

Breeze brought Tulip to the field. He spent a long time looking under briars, giant strawberry leaves but he didn’t find them.

Tulip smiled and said, “You were dreaming there was no strange women.”

“If I could draw I would draw them for you.”

Tulip flicked her wand and handed him a giant piece of paper and a pencil.

She decided to have a nap.

When Breeze woke her he showed her his drawings.

 

 

 

“They look real. But why can I see two of them on one sheet of paper?” Tulip asked.

Breeze’s face went very red.

“I made a mess of the first sheet and drew one on each side.”

“They are very strange women. I think they are ghosts.” Tulip said. She turned around to see Breeze running to his cave.

She shouted to him. “Where are you going?”

“Home. I have enough trouble with witches. I don’t need two ghosts to mess up my nap time as well.”

Tulip watched him run and thought, for an ogre he is very fast on his feet. Then she decided she might as well go home as well.  “Perhaps I will give them to someone to color in.”