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.
Mudpile Wood 