by Tom Percival
Then he turned back to the rest of the imps, who were looking nervously at each other and slowly backing out of the hall. ‘Well, this place is going to need a lot of tidying!’ He smiled at Karpit. ‘Do you and your friends want to help? I’ll pay you all the worms you can eat!’
With a relieved cheer the imps set to work. Karpit waved cheerfully over at Wolfie as he found a particularly fat, juicy worm and gobbled it up like spaghetti.
The journey back to Tale Town didn’t take long, but then again, when you’re sitting in the branches of a walking tree that can step over rivers in one stride it doesn’t take long to get anywhere.
‘Can you really can get any tree to do this?’ Wolfie asked the Green Man.
‘Pretty much,’ replied the Green Man. ‘You just have to ask nicely. Wait a minute – I think someone down there is trying to get our attention . . .’ He peered down at a man on the ground who was waving a sword at them and shouting, ‘You can’t leave your tree here! Besides, all strangers have to be assessed by His Worthiness before entering Tale Town.’
‘But we live here!’ yelled Hansel and Gretel. ‘And who’s “His Worthiness”?’
‘The mayor, of course!’ replied the guard. ‘But he’s very busy, so you’ll have to make an appointment.’
‘Trust me,’ said Gretel, holding up the Sacred Shiny Story-Snipping Shears. ‘He’ll want to see us right away.’
It wasn’t long before Wolfie, the twins and the Green Man were waiting in the mayor’s office.
The guard instructed them to sit quietly, not touch anything, and to basically pretend that they weren’t there, then left the room.
‘What do you think of that creepy picture?’ asked Hansel, pointing at a painting of someone who must have been Mayor Fitch’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather.
‘Nice wig,’ said Gretel. ‘I might get one like that!’ She stood in front of the painting so it looked like the curly white wig was perched on her own head. Hansel laughed as he playfully shoved Gretel out of the way so he could have a turn, but as he did, she fell against the picture frame, which tilted to one side. Suddenly there was a deep rumbling as a bookcase behind them swung open like a door.
Hansel and Gretel looked guiltily at each other. Wolfie’s eyes widened and the Green Man shook his head with a smile.
‘Whoops!’ muttered Gretel as she peered through the doorway. It led into a dusty cupboard that was empty, apart from a large stone with text carved into it.
‘Hey, look!’ she whispered. ‘This is where Mayor Fitch keeps the “Live Long the Story Tree” poem.’
‘Wait a minute . . .’ said Hansel. They all peered closely at the stone, and Gretel gasped.
‘The poem’s different!’ she cried. ‘The poem we know goes like this:
‘But listen to what it says on this stone – it’s the rest of the poem!
For a moment everyone was silent.
‘That changes the poem completely!’ Hansel cried. ‘Someone must have broken the stone in half. The Story Tree is meant to be shared with everyone – and Mayor Fitch knows it! He’s been keeping this a secret!’
They were distracted by the sound of footsteps in the hallway. They rushed back to their seats and Hansel tilted the picture straight again. The book case rumbled shut just as the doorway opened and the mayor walked in. ‘What was that noise?’ he asked.
‘That was me – sorry!’ said the Green Man, wafting his hand back and forth in the air.
‘I see . . .’ said Mayor Fitch, his nose crinkling in disgust. Then he remembered what he was doing and put on his biggest, most charming smile. ‘I hear that you have news about our Sacred Shiny Story-Snipping Shears?’
‘Not just news!’ replied Hansel with a grin, as Gretel pulled the shears out and handed them to the mayor.
‘Well done!’ enthused Mayor Fitch, his eyes lighting up greedily. ‘You have done Tale Town a great service. The names Handel, Greta and Wolfo will be remembered as heroes!’
‘Those aren’t our names . . .’ said Wolfie, but the mayor just smiled and continued:
‘What a treat to see such a well-trained wolf! One who seeks to help humans – to serve them. It is indeed a proud day!’
‘Well, I wasn’t exactly serving . . .’ said Wolfie, but again the mayor ignored him.
‘Did you manage to reclaim the cutting that the trolls stole, too?’ he asked, his eyes flashing keenly.
‘I’m afraid not,’ said the Green Man, giving a secret wink to Hansel, Gretel and Wolfie. ‘The trolls were unable to use my magic properly and the cutting withered and died.’
‘Oh that is a shame . . .’ said the mayor, looking as regretful as he could. ‘Still, at least it’s not in the hands of the trolls, eh? After all, the poem does say that the Story Tree must be protected!’
‘Yes,’ agreed Hansel and Gretel. ‘We all know the poem.’
‘Anyway, I’m sure you have lots of very important things to do . . .’ said the mayor. ‘You now have my permission to enter Tale Town.’ He shook hands with the Green Man and Wolfie, then wiped his hand on his trousers when he thought no one was looking.
‘Thanks again!’ he called, his smile falling from his face as soon as they had left the room. ‘My guards will escort you out!’
As they left the Town Hall, Hansel turned to the Green Man. ‘That was quick thinking to lie about the cutting!’ he whispered.
‘Well, I’m not entirely sure that your friend Mr Fitch can be trusted,’ replied the Green Man. ‘I think perhaps it’s a good idea for you to keep the cutting safe for now.’
Although Tale Town was still on troll alert, Mayor Fitch had finally found someone to blame for breaking the Moonstone defences. Apparently it had been someone’s Fairy Godmother (or Godbrother, or Godsister, or Godniece) and the mayor and his guards were busy tracking down as many fairies as they could to try to work out exactly who was responsible.
People were once again allowed to move around Tale Town as they pleased, so Hansel and Gretel called for a TOP SECRET meeting with their friends later that day.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Anansi as soon as he saw the twins, his eyes bright with excitement.
‘I’m so glad you’re OK!’ cried Red.
‘What happened?’ asked Jack.
squawked Betsy.
‘Sorry, Betsy!’ laughed Gretel. ‘We didn’t get you a present, but we have got an incredible story to tell.’
‘But we need to go somewhere really private first . . .’ said Hansel. ‘Come on, let’s go to the beach.’
Between them, the twins, Wolfie and the Green Man explained the whole amazing story. Anansi clapped Wolfie on the back when he heard how Wolfie had risked his life to save the twins. Jack and Red gasped when they explained about the secret second half to the Story Tree poem, and everybody had been astonished to see a tiny silver shoot sprout out of the cutting that held all the details of their recent adventure.
The only person who hadn’t really warmed to Wolfie was Betsy. She kept looking sideways at him with her beady little eyes and muttering under her breath.
‘What’s up, Betsy?’ asked Red and jumped as Betsy clucked a very loud, very threatening .
‘Oh, come on, Betsy!’ Jack said with a laugh. ‘So what if he’s the Big Bad Wolf’s son? That whole business with Red’s nan was probably just a big misunderstanding – right, Wolfie?’
‘Um . . .’ Wolfie blushed. ‘Well, not exactly . . .’ He noticed that Red was looking a bit nervous. ‘But that’s my dad,’ he added firmly. ‘I’m me! And I can promise you that I’d never do anything like that. Besides,’ he added pulling out a little bag of nuts, ‘I’m a vegetarian. So what are we going to do with this tree cutting then?’
‘I’ve got an idea . . .’ said Red, looking relieved. ‘How about we pay our Sea Witch friend Lily a visit?’
‘I’m sooooo hyped to see you guys!’ exclaimed Lily as she flicked her fishtail to swim around her cave, deep under the sea. Wolfie was lookin
g around in wonder as a school of fish drifted past him. It was Lily’s magic that had brought them all down under the sea and somehow that same magic meant that you didn’t do anything horrible like drown, either – though as Lily was only an apprentice Sea Witch, her magic didn’t last for very long.
‘So . . . what can I do you for?’ asked Lily. ‘You need to buy some spells?’ Her luminous eyes shone even brighter.
‘Not today, thanks,’ explained Jack. ‘We need to ask you a favour, actually . . .’
Lily’s face flickered through a hundred different expressions as they told her about the cutting from the Story Tree and why they needed to hide it.
‘Sure, I mean you can definitely try to grow it down here,’ said Lily, ‘though I’m not very green-fingered . . .’ She looked at her green-tinted webbed fingers and sighed. ‘You know what I mean? I’m not very good with plants!’
‘It doesn’t matter!’ explained the Green Man. ‘I can put a spell on the cutting so that it will grow here, regardless of what you do to it! Besides, it’s not like you can forget to water it!’
Together, Lily and the Green Man cast a spell to transport a small section of the woods from just outside Red’s garden down into Lily’s cave in a huge bubble, which he placed in the middle of a bright beam of sunlight.
‘That should do nicely!’ he said as he planted the cutting inside the bubble. ‘I’ll check in every now and then,’ he added, ‘but you shouldn’t have any problems.’
‘Awesome!’ exclaimed Lily breathlessly. ‘An underwater tree! I’ve always wanted to try climbing a tree! And riding a bike! And trampolining. Any of you guys got an old trampoline you don’t want?’ Everybody shook their heads. ‘Well, you’d better head home now! My magic’s about to run out and then it would be “drowny-wowny” time!’ She laughed brightly and waved goodbye as the whirlpool that had brought them down to her cave carried them all back up to the surface.
‘See you soon!’ she called out through the rushing bubbles. ‘Adiós! Au revoir! Auf Wiedersehen . . .’
And that was it. It was done: the cutting from the Story Tree was safe. Wolfie and the Green Man were taken to see all the amazing things that Tale Town had to offer – including Greentop’s Cafe, where you could eat happiness-flavoured toast; the market stall where you could buy a (temporary) flying potion; and the brand-new X-TREME petting zoo, with its baby dragons, griffins and a phoenix.
Wolfie looked round at his new friends and smiled. He’d never really felt like he fitted in anywhere. But now – for the first time ever – he felt like he’d come home.
The End
Endnote
1 The important royal engagement was actually a royal camping holiday – although, as Rapunzel’s mother was a very light sleeper, she had ordered some servants to take apart their private bedchambers and rebuild them on the campsite, including all their furniture and bathrooms, so it wasn’t really camping.
Tom Percival grew up in a remote and beautiful part of south Shropshire. It was so remote that he lived in a small caravan without mains electricity or any sensible form of heating. He thinks he’s probably one of the few people in his peer group to have learned to read by gas lamp.
Having established a career as a picture-book author and illustrator, Little Legends is Tom’s first chapter-book series for young readers. The idea for Little Legends was developed by Tom with Made in Me, a digital studio exploring new ways for technology and storytelling to inspire the next generation.
MACMILLAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS
This book is dedicated to Gastrells School and everyone in it, for being generally AWESOME!
First published 2016 by Macmillan Children’s Books
This electronic edition published 2016 by Macmillan Children’s Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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ISBN 978-1-4472-9216-6
Text and illustrations copyright © Tom Percival 2016
Characters and ‘Little Legends’ world copyright © Tom Percival and Me Studios Ltd 2015
The right of Tom Percival to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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