A story retold, The cloud who learned to hug.

(Inspired by a dream from Breeze)

 

Tiny cloud was small and thin.

At first he didn’t notice how small he was.  He dived and soared. When he tired of this he stopped and looked around him.

High above him large clouds rolled in an elegant and smooth fashion. They flowed through the sky.

He wished he  could dance like they could.

A cloud ducked low over the earth and  sat on a mountain.  He must be tired, Tiny cloud thought.

Then as tiny cloud watched the giant cloud hugged the mountain.

He felt sad.

“I want to learn to hug.” He  cried as he whizzed past his bigger friends.

“Slow down, enjoy” they whispered. “It will happen when it happens.”

He didn’t hear them.  “I want to be big and great” he sang.

He dived around the earth, wishing and hoping.

“I want to be big and great,” he shouted in his tiny voice.  No one heard  him.

He moved around the sky looking for clues.

He wanted to be bigger.  He was busy watching everyone else.

One day he realised he no longer soared and dived. He didn’t feel like playing and suddenly he noticed how small the birds, rabbits and trees below him looked.

“I like rolling,” he grumbled. “But I feel heavy.”

Tiny cloud began to sink, slowly at first, towards the earth.  He stopped over a mountain. He saw the stones and grass getting closer.

He wondered if he might swallow the mountain.  Suddenly he stopped grumbling and rolling.

He smiled. “I’m hugging a mountain.” He cried as the rain spilled from him.

With the rain gone, he felt light again. As he flew high into the sky to tell the other clouds he was singing, “I like hugging.”

Advertisement

Doris visits the woods.

Mudpilewood is a calm peaceful wood, despite having a resident childish witch and a playful Ogre who loves climbing trees.

Late one afternoon Breeze was enjoying a nap on his favourite branch high in the tallest tree in the wood when a woodpecker paid him a visit. The woodpecker politely tapped on the tree above Breeze’s head but this failed to wake the sleeping ogre. The bird then flew close to Breeze’s face and gave him one sharp tap  on the nose.

“Owch who did that? ” Breeze leapt to his feet, wobbled, and then slid off the branch to land on the ground with a huge bump. He stood with care and rubbed the seat of his pants. “Why?” he asked.

The woodpecker flew close to Breeze and whispered in his ear, “Doris is coming.”

Those words had a strange effect on the ogre. He began to run in circles shouting, “Tie everything down, Doris is coming.” Rabbits, and squirrels were the first to react but soon every being in the wood was gathering as much of their belongings as they could and they all ran to the witches hut.

Elegant Witch was waiting for them. Her younger sister Lovisma had flown high into the mountain to watch the fun. Everyone began to talk at once. Elegant held up her hand and waited till they calmed and looked at her. “Now, now, don’t panic. We have time. I have a plan and with Breeze’s help you will all be fine.”

Breeze didn’t like the sound of this because usually this meant he would have to be active. Ogres are very good at doing nothing.

But he knew Elegant and if she needed his help then he would do whatever she asked. He crossed his fingers and hoped it wouldn’t mean having to fight the giant Doris. Elegant smiled at him and said, “I need you to help me take the tiny children to your cave high in the mountain, they will be safe there. You are the only one who can do this.”

Can’t you zap us there? Breeze asked.

Elegant said “No. I have to a far more important task first.”

Great thought Breeze Elegant is going to fight the nasty Doris. Three hours later, Breeze was feeling a little tired. He was carrying the last twenty children to his cave high in the mountain. For the first time he wondered how everyone would fit and more importantly what would they eat?

The last time Doris visited, Breeze had been left with nothing to eat for two full days. It had been terrible. He wondered if he should mention this to Elegant. Once he stepped inside his cave he forget everything because there was a huge party happening at his table. He stared at the fried parsnips and wondered where they came from, I had no parsnips he thought. Elegant walked to him saying, “Don’t worry I zapped plenty of food and water, just in case Doris lingers.”

So it was that the biggest party took place that night, the  night that Doris  arrived in all her strength and glory. Doris was a giant spiralling wind sprite that danced about the land tearing chunks from the ground, the trees and anything that stood in its way. Breeze and his guests waited and tried to guess what Doris would do next. To their surprise she changed shape until she looked like a stag with enormous antlers, who tossed and tore her way about the wood.  When the wind sprite grew tired she shrunk to the size of a tiger and simply slithered away.

Breeze made an important discovery that night. Sometimes when you share a fear it can fade to nothing. Next day there was much repair work to do but everyone was happy to see that Breezes favorite trees had survived though many others had been knocked by the troublesome sprite.

The boy that water hated.

 

Noah,  collected his name as he was born during a rainstorm.

The rain pounded down on his parents. If you had been able to wring their clothes, you would have collected enough to fill three barrels.  Everyone except Noah was wet that night.

As his mum held him close to her, she noticed that the rain did not land on him or her. So it continued as he grew, water did not linger on him. Bathing Noah was a puzzle until the accepted a simple truth – water did not like him!

His world was different to yours, soaps and creams were his way of bathing. Drinking was not a problem. He loved to drink water but whenever he held his hand out to catch some it skirted around his outstretched hand.

At four years of age he was walking with his mum. They watched other children splashing about in puddles on the ground. Noah tried to do the same and the water simply jumped away from him.

“I don’t like water.” He moaned.

“It might not always be like this, Noah, things happen for a reason.” She consoled him.

When Noah was six he went to swimming lessons. His instructor stood on the side of the swimming pool and asked everyone of the new swimmers to sit on the edge of the pool. They did. When Noah dipped his foot in, the water ran away from him. He scratched his head and tried again. Where is the water going? He wondered.

A loud shout from beside him answered that question, “Hoi, Stop splashing me!” The boy scowled at Noah.

“I didn’t do anything.” Noah told him as he got up and left the class.

Noah envied the other children. He never arrived at school with wet shoes or clothes, he was always dry.  His hair was shiny because it was washed in shampoo and conditioner with a thimble full of water added. Dogs loved to follow him and lick his skin because they loved the fruity taste of the creams he used.

He was ten years of age when it happened.

However one afternoon on his walk home from school he heard a cry for help. It was coming from the river that ran close to the road. Noah raced to the bank and stared in horror. A tiny girl had fallen in and was being pulled away by the current. Without thinking Noah ran along the bank until he reached the bridge, then he watched until he saw she was being carried close to the bridge. With one jump he fell from the bridge and landed on the soft muddy riverbed. The water had stopped flowing and a giggling sound alerted him that he was no longer alone. Noah opened his eyes and saw the very wet smiling toddler lying on the muddy river bed before him. He scooped her up and carried her to the bank.

Much later he walked home feeling very happy. He could not wait to tell his mum, but he did wonder what other adventures were lying in wait for him.

A rainbow called Ernest

 

Large grim clouds rolled past, Ernest but he didn’t listen to their grumbling. He was tired of the sameness of his days. He wanted an adventure. No, he decided I want to do something wonderful for someone.

Then to his dismay he heard laughter around him. Stars peeped out from their hiding places to mock him,  birds joined in as they flew high into the sky to see what was happening, “you can’t do anything more wonderful than existing. You are a mish mash of colours. A rainbow to brighten peoples days.” On and on went the comments all insisting he was crazy to dream of doing great deeds.

“Not deeds,” he mumbled. “Just one act of kindness, to help someone somewhere.”

As the moon rose and sank to be replaced by the sun over and over again, Ernest began to believe he was wrong and they were correct. He would never be more than a blur of colours flitting about the earth. So, he learned to stay quiet to keep h is dreams hidden, afterall they cannot mock me if they don’t know what I am thinking, can they?

Feeling a little sad and useless he hovered above the earth only appearing when the sun bellowed for him to come out from his hiding place. Then one day he grew tired of this manner of behaviour. He decided to go off on his own and see what he could do.

He used the large grumbling clouds as his cover. This allowed him to zip past huge mountains, vast cities which frightened him with their loudness and false lights. He wondered about people. He didn’t understand them but still he stuck with his idea. Somewhere, he thought someone is looking for help and maybe I am the one to do it.

What this it was he had no idea but it was a comforting thought that he might only know it when it happened.

A child sitting on top of a bale of hay caught his attention. The child was crying. Not a loud harsh cry but a soft whimper, as an animal would do if it were in pain. Ernest let the clouds go on without him he went lower and lower until he could see the child. It was a young boy. He was  talking to himself.

“I am not stupid. Someday I will get it right. Anyway they are only sums, not important stuff like bringing Annie home from school safely with me. I didn’t mean to get them wrong. No, I am not stupid or an idiot.”

Ernest felt sad for the young boy. He whispered to him. “No one is truly stupid, I mean some of us are silly sometimes we do the wrong thing without thinking, I think they are called accidents. Anyway I think you are clever if you manage to get Annie home safely.”

The boy stopped sniffling and looked about him. “Where are you?” When he didn’t see Ernest he said, “I am not only stupid I am crazy, talking to myself and answering myself.”

Ernest chuckled and as he did his colours began to grow stronger until the boy could see him.  He looked at Ernest and said, “I am Steve, how do you do?”

 

Ernest didn’t answer for a minute. He was thinking. Steve interrupted his thinking time by asking, “What are you doing here.”

“I came to help you feel better.”

How can you do that? I am stoopid and that is the end of the matter.”

“No you are amazing most people don’t see me unless the sun shines on me. They think the colours just appear they don’t know it is my job to make them appear.”

Steve asked, “can you feel colours.”

Ernest replied, “I do but I don’t know about you but we can test it.”

“How?”

“Like this.” Ernest gathered all of his colour bands close to him and swooped gently down beside Steve then very slowly Ernest wrapped his many colours around the tiny boy.  As he worked he asked, “Well can you feel anything?”

“I feel wonderful, happy and warm. I feel ….” Steve was struggling for a word.

Ernest whispered in his ear. “Remember you are clever to have spotted me, clever to have felt the warmth of the rainbow colours, hold that warmth within you and take these feelings and memories out on days when you feel sad.”

From then on Steve learned to smile from the inside out.

The Munchin Family Part 2

Note:

The two children are Junior and Baby.

Junior (named Alfie) looks and sounds just like his dad. Baby, is small and roly-poly like his mum. His real name is Greg but everyone is used to calling him Baby despite the fact he is eight and goes to school!

 

Our story begins on a pretty normal day; the family were enjoying a relaxing few moments after lunch when the doorbell rang.

‘Whatever is that?’ Granddad asked scratching his beard and sending crumbs flying about the room.

Baby Munchin, grinned. ‘Doorbell’ he told them. Then he went back to licking his bowl clean.

Mother Munchin smiled. ‘Well fancy that! We have a genius in the family. Baby, however did you know that?’

Baby was thinking, I can’t tell the truth, I promised Fred I wouldn’t tell.

He and his best friend, Fred play a game after school most days. Fred does most of the work because he is the fastest boy in the whole school. He races up to a door, rings the doorbell and runs to where Baby is hiding. Together they watch the people of the house come out and look for the caller. People always walk outside. Next they look up and down the street, under bushes, in cars, behind pillar-boxes for the person who rang their doorbell.

Fred and Baby are so successful at this they have made the headlines in the local paper.  The big print on the front page this morning asked, ‘Are the invisible door bell ringers really aliens?’

Baby remembers what Fred said to him, ‘be careful do not tell anyone it was us or we will get punished.’

Baby had no idea what punished meant. He asked Fred who waved a long finger at Baby saying. ‘Well my dad said he used to get beaten with a stick, my mum used to get smacks of a wooden spoon and my aunt used to get grounded.’

Baby thought this last bit was funny but after some reflection he decided that spending your day with your head stuck in the ground would not be so funny.

So he simply said, ‘Don’t know, must have learnt it at school.’

‘Clever boy,’ his mum said patting the top of his head fondly.

 

Chapter 3

The doorbell rang once again. ‘Well come on in’ Father Munchin yelled.

A deep voice shouted back, ‘I would if I could find a door handle.’

‘Just pull or push.’ the whole Munchin family shouted. Their shout whipped up enough wind to knock the birds out of the tree and to blow the door open. They could see blue sky and green grass but not a visitor or any birds.

Junior Munchin stood up and walking over looked outside. ‘There is no one there!’ He said in a puzzled voice and turned to go inside.

They heard a painful whisper, ‘I’m crushed to a pulp behind the door, help, please.’

There was a thunderous noise of trampling scampering feet as the rest of the Munchin Family arrived to rescue him.

Granddad was rubbing his hands together in anticipation of seeing a squished body.

‘Oh my, Oh my.’ Father Munchin said over and over again as he twisted a hanky in his hands. He wasn’t good at looking at blood and gore.

Baby wanted to see what a squashed person looked like and he peeped behind the door. He was disappointed there was no blood or mess. Sighing loudly he said, ‘He’s ok. He looks a funny color and is a bit squished. But he will live!’

‘Come on in and have some tea, ‘Mother Munchin said staring at the visitor.

He was a very peculiar looking fellow. His face was long and thin with a short bulbous nose set right in the middle. His eyes were huge, one was brown and the other blue. His mouth was thin and small. His hair was so tightly curled it looked like a helmet sitting on his head.

Baby Munchin stood on his head and asked, ‘Were you punished, is that what happened?’

Their visitor’s whole body was shaking from the incredible experience of being flattened and meeting the entire family.

‘Baby, get the nice man some hot tea and a sandwich.’ Mother Munchin said as she patted the man’s hand and led him to a chair.

Baby ran to do as she asked and wished Fred were here, because Baby didn’t know how to make a sandwich. All he knew about sandwiches is that he loved them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kite with a sting in its tail

 

It was hot. There was not the sound of a single bee buzzing. The wood appeared to be empty of animals, and magical beings.

Breeze was on his way to the river. He wanted to paddle his feet. A loud rustle among the leaves above startled him. He spotted a long tail and wondered if it was a giant mouse. It darted away from him. Breeze followed. He ran from tree to tree, staring upwards. Suddenly he tripped. He hit the ground with a loud thump.

Breeze discovered he had fallen over Hamish.

“Have you no manners?” yelled Hamish. “What are you doing squishing Elves?”

Pulling himself to his feet, Breeze replied, “Sorry there is a giant mouse in the trees.”

“Don’t be silly. They live on the ground, not in trees.” Hamish lay back on his bed of moss. “Go away, it’s nap time.”

Breeze decided to leave because a grumpy elf is better left alone. He walked on looking for the mouse and Tulip stopped him to ask why he was looking upwards. He told her about the mouse.

“Lets look for it together.” She said and then they heard it.

When they looked high amongst the trees they spotted a tail with ribbons on it, in a tree.   “If it is not a mouse, what is it?”

Tulip said, “It’s a kite.” she said and flew high above him to release it.

The kite landed at his feet. “What does it do?”

“I’ll show you.” Tulip took the kite and flew a short distance away. The wind caught hold  and the kite flew after her, swooping and diving. With it’s long tail dancing in the wind, it attracted a lot of attention.

Mrs. Groundsel and her grandchildren came to watch the fun.

As the kite tumbled about in the air something strange happened.

Each time it danced in a certain direction so did everyone on the ground.

If the kite dived to earth, everyone watching fell to the ground.

When the kite flew high into the sky, then everyone jumped off the ground and they rose high into the air.

Lily, a tiny ogre, was screaming, “make it stop, I don’t like it.”

The kite began to dance as it moved.

“This is not funny.” Mrs Groundsel puffed as she jigged about.

“I think I know who did this.” Breeze said and marched into the wood.

Tulip couldn’t pull the kite down. It continued to dance in the sky. Everyone watching danced on the grass.

“I’m too old for this.” Mrs. Groundsel said.

Breeze arrived back with a squealing young witch called Lovisma, tucked under his right arm.

“Let me down you oaf.”

He plonked her on the ground, saying, “Lovisma, I’m not an oaf. I’m an ogre.”

Lovisma saw the dancing crowd before her. She cackled with delight. “Oh you do look funny. My friends would love to see this.”

Breeze said,  “make it stop or I will lock you in with Hamish’s pet skunk, Smelly.”

“No, No, No.  You can’t. He stinks.”

“Why shouldn’t we? You have been nasty.” Breeze said.

“You are nice.” She looked at her feet. “You don’t do stuff like that.”

Breeze said, “Lovisma, make it stop.”

She clicked her fingers and the kite raced landed on the ground. Everyone sat for a rest.

“You are one mean witch,” Tulip said.

“But it was funny, wasn’t it?” Lovisma whispered.  “It wasn’t that nasty. Maybe I should try it in another part of the wood and tell my friends to come watch.”

Breeze said, “No you won’t.”

Lovisma trudged away saying, “Breeze is an oaf, a big spoilsport oaf.”

Everyone shouted after her, “No he is an Ogre!”

 

 

Lilian’s Friend : Part two.

Tulip was surprised when Breeze offered to mind Lilian the following afternoon. “I won’t have time to bake you pies or cupcakes.” She told him.

“I don’t want any pies or cupcakes.” Breeze said.

Tulip frowned. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I am fine. Lilian is helping me with the ducks. They are not running away from me anymore.” He told her with his fingers crossed. And it was sort of true. They weren’t running away from him because he hid behind the biggest bramble bush he could find.

Much later when he was sitting with his back to a tree he asked Lilian to tell him more about the angel called April.

“I don’t know anything else except she is nice. But why don’t you ask her yourself.” Lilian said and moved closer to the pond to chat with the ducks. Breeze smiled as he heard her talking to the ducks.

Breeze looked around the woodland and the pond. He could see nothing but Lilian, ducks, ducklings, trees, water and the clouds. “I don’t know where she is.” He muttered.

Then he heard it. A soft giggling, gurgling sound,  like water flowing across loose gravel. “So you are here. Can I see you?” When he got no answer he said, “Please, can I see you.”

She appeared as slowly and gently as a Summer mist. The air shimmered and he saw a pair of tiny feet encased in green slippers, a long flowing dress and finally her smiling face framed in chestnut coloured hair. Her wings were glimmering in the light.

Breeze thought she looked very frail. He stared at her. “You are tiny. How can such a tiny angel mind so many trees and keep them happy?”

She shrugged her shoulders and whispered, “Angel dust.”

Breezed nodded. “Ahh, I understand, ” he said though he didn’t really understand.

She smiled. “I will show you, when Lilian is ready to go, there is a sad lonely tree living near Lovisma’s house. I think the tree is afraid of the troublesome witch.”

“April, you came to see me.” Lilian ran up to them and hugged the fairy.

“Of course I did, now would you like to help me?”

“Yes, please.” Lilian danced about them as they walked.

They stopped before an odd looking tree. “It looked bigger yesterday.” Breeze whispered.

“Yes he is trying to make himself small and invisible.” April replied.

She walked towards the tree and slowly flew upwards to the very tip of the tree. As she moved upward, there was a gentle rustling noise as the leaves in the tree sprang to life, catching the sunlight and dancing about. The movement crept along the branches making them stretch outwards and upwards. Then he noticed the trunk of the tree grew broader,  and moved towards the sky.

“It is growing,” Breeze said.

Lilian giggled. “No it is stretching and wait for it.” She stood pointing at the tree.

As each branch bent gracefully towards the sun high above it looked to him like the tree was – smiling.

“It is smiling.” He said and noticed April was back at his side.

“Yes it is. That is what my fairy dust does. ”

Breeze smiled. “Thank you for showing me. I never knew it until now. I will try to h elp by telling the trees jokes and talking to them.”

“Thank you  Mr. Breeze that would be a great help.” With a wave and a smile she left them.

7 Ways to avoid becoming an Ogre’s snack.

1. Look Happy.

Ogres’ love happy people and beings. Grumpy witches make them itch.

2. Sing soft lullabyes, Ogre’s love music and have a penchant for napping.

3.  Smell like a bar of chocolate. They love smelling chocolate but hate eating it. The downside of this is if you are a slow mover you may be caught and given a cuddle,  which is tantamount to being squished.

4. Tell them you are Breeze’s seventh cousin. By the time they figure it out you will be long gone.
5. Offer them the book you are reading. They will read it first then eat it, giving you time to run away.
6. Admire their clothes. They are highly fashionable and will rush to the nearest mirror to try and see what they put on that is so stunning.
7. Bring a politician you don’t like with you, they can munch on them instead of you.

Star the Duck who was allergic

Breeze loved watching ducks and geese down by the pond because though he loved swimming his splashes tended to empty the pond.

One afternoon he spotted a visitor who arrived to the pond. The tall thin duck sat close to the bank and would occasionally dip his beak into the water, take a drink before resuming his chat to the occupants of the pond.

Over the next few days he noticed the same duck was always sitting when he arrived and never swam in the pond.

He decided this was a mystery begging to be solved. Before he got a chance to approach the newcomer and ask if all was well. The duck got to his feet and waddled away.

That was when Breeze made a startling discovery, the duck was wearing a very

snazzy pair

of boots!

The mystery of Gypsy Pixie

One morning Daisy-lyah and Lilian brought some drawings to Breeze.

   

He was a little surprised. “They are beautiful.”

“We think so too.” Daisy-lyah said.

Lily smiled at him.

“Who did them?” He looked from one of them to the other.

“Gypsy Pixie!” They said.

“There is no such person.” His words brought a scowl to their faces.

Lily looked at Daisy-lyah,  “I told you he wouldn’t believe us.”

“Well we will just have to prove it to you so.” And they stomped off into the wood.

Breeze met Elegant some time later. “Daisy-lyah and Lily have left my drawing at your cave.  All I will say is she is a beautiful woman.”

“WHo?” Breeze said but Elegant just smiled and left him alone.

When Breeze arrived home this is the drawing that sat on his table.

“Gyspy Pixie,” he whispered. He read the note the girls left for him it said,

“She makes and repairs cobwebs for elderly spiders. Isn’t that a great story Mr. Breeze?”

That night Breeze dreamt of a flying pixie who was helping all of the spiders in the wood. In the morning he woke to find his cave door was covered in cobwebs.