by Mandy Olina
Copyright © 2013 Mandy Olina
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or in any means – by electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without prior written permission.
Discover new, wonderful stories weekly at: www.wonderfulroundabout.com
Book illustrations and cover design by Șerban Gabriel. www.serbangabriel.com
To my extended family of lovable smarty pants, who have made the roundabout wonderful.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The roundabout of friends and friendships
The mouse who loved his bicycle
The panda that never lost a friend
The bear and the book
The Bubble Boy and his flying machine
The magical house of doors
Magical journeys and adventures
Climbing the magic mountain
The lizard prince and the fire frog
The pirate’s tale
The boy who chased the sunset
The unusual adventure of the wild chicken
The life of the elements
The magical melody from the village of trees
The mountain that built a world
The boat builder from the mountain village
THE MOUSE WHO LOVED HIS BICYCLE
PPart I
‘Mouse! You don’t look yourself today. Is something the matter?’
‘I’m hungry. I couldn’t find anything to eat today. Nobody leaves anything outside the fridge anymore. I’m starving.’
‘Oh, Mouse! I’m so sorry. Want me to recite a poem to you?’
‘Yes, Topsy. Please let me hear a poem.’
‘Once there was a tree,
Who wanted to be a bee.
And every time he went to sleep
He dreamed he went off his feet;
Flying high above grass
Like a turtle in a glass.’
‘Topsy that’s wonderful! It makes no sense whatsoever.’
‘Lovely, isn’t it?’
‘It is. You are.’
‘Oh, Mouse!’
‘I wish you had feet and we could travel the world together.’
‘Well we do travel the world together.’
‘Only when Maria takes you out and I climb into the basket. I’m sure she can see me in there, but I think she likes it.’
‘Of course she does Mouse, you’re adorable.’
‘No I am not. I am a silly, powerless mouse who loves your poems. But you know what? Nora the blackbird told me a secret. She said that she heard of a witch who can turn anything into anything. So I was thinking…’
‘You were thinking about turning me into a mouse?’
‘Well, not necessarily a mouse. Almost any other walking, reasonable creature would do.’
‘Are you tired of visiting me, Mouse?’
‘Of course not, Topsy. I just want to do what’s best for us. I want us to be together all the time.’
‘So what else did that Nora hear about the witch?’
‘That she lives in an old, run down house up the hill, by the river fall.’
‘Oh, she’s living in that creepy old house between the walnut trees, isn’t she?’
‘Yes she is. And I was thinking of visiting her.’
‘Oh, Mouse, but do you think she’ll turn me into a mouse just to do us a favor?’
‘I don’t know, Topsy. But whatever she wants me to get her, I’m going to get it. I want us to be a happy family of mice.’
‘Oh, Mouse! You are an unbelievable creature.’
‘Topsy, I can hear footsteps. I think it’s Maria. If she takes you out I’m coming into town with you so I can go talk to the witch.’
‘Quick, climb in!’
As soon as Mouse tucked himself under a pink scarf, a little girl came into the room eating a giant peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
‘Oh, yum! Peanut butter! I love peanut butter crumbs!’ Mouse thought.
Maria climbed on the bike and placed the remaining half of her sandwich in the basket for safe keeping. She then pedaled to the gate and out of the yard.
‘What luck!’ Mouse thought. ‘She’s heading straight up the hill. Walking over there would have taken me at least a couple of hours. I can almost smell the breeze of the river fall.’
‘Topsy! We’re almost there.’
‘I know, Mouse, but Maria always makes a left at the next intersection, you know that. You’re going to have to jump off and carry on by yourself. I wish I could come with you. I hate leaving you alone.’
‘Don’t worry, Topsy. Just slow Maria down so I can jump safely and afterwards I’ll take care of everything!’
‘Please be careful. If the witch puts you in danger just run away and come back home. I couldn’t stand losing you!’
‘You won’t lose me, Topsy. I’ll be careful and I’ll get the witch to help us!’
‘We’re almost there. Climb down my fork, and I’ll shake my chain off so Maria has to stop.’
‘I love you, Topsy!’
‘I love you, Mouse!’
THE MOUSE WHO LOVED HIS BICYCLE
PPart II
The mouse ran to the witch’s house as fast as he could. He was sure she’d say yes. After all, why wouldn’t she help them? There was no harm in it.
He dashed through a grove of walnut trees until he was nearly at the witch’s front door. When he was almost at the door, a ray of sunlight bounced off of the silver door knob and the reflection blinded him. He stopped confounded for a second and raised a paw to his forehead.
‘What? What is that? Oh… oh, no. No, it can’t be! Aaaaaaah!’ Mouse yelled and started running as quickly as possible, back towards the walnut trees. He reached a little burrow under one of the roots just in time.
‘You can hide, little white mouse. But you can’t hide forever. I know you’re not from around here. When you decide to leave, I’ll be right here waiting.’
‘I have no business with you! I’m here to see your master!’ Mouse said bravely. ‘I have something to ask of her!’
‘Do you know what my master does with little white mice? She saves them a nice cozy spot… in her jars of magical ingredients! I want to catch you first, so I can eat you before she rips you apart!’
‘Oh, dear me,’ the mouse thought to himself. ‘What on earth am I going to do?! I promised Topsy we’ll be together. How am I ever going to get out of here alive, let alone help us? I’m a silly, silly mouse. What was I thinking? Why didn’t I ask if she had a cat… I’ll be here for hours!’
The hours went by, just like that. The cat watched outside the burrow and Mouse stayed huddled and worried inside. When the sun started to set, Mouse convinced himself to make a run for it. His chances were not good, but he couldn’t stay trapped there forever, either. So he thought up a plan and found the courage inside himself to just go for it. Mouse waited for the cat to turn its back for an instant. As soon as he saw its back, he jumped out of the burrow and ran as quickly as he could towards the gate.
Now this is where a bit of real magic happens. When the cat saw the little white spot of fur moving quickly through the grass, it wasn’t bothered. ‘The little squirt actually had the courage to run away,’ he thought. Pretty brave for a mouse. Most of them just waited around until they almost fainted with hunger and then became easy targets. But not this one. This mouse was either really determined or just plain crazy. So the cat, being a curious animal as you may expect, suddenly called:
‘Waaaait! I’m not going to eat you. I promise. Please stop! I want to talk to you!’
The mouse couldn’t make out the first few words so he just kept
running for his life. The cat raced after him but couldn’t catch up with him before he got to the street.
‘Well I’ll be. That’s a fast, determined little mouse,’ the cat thought. ‘I have to talk to him. I’ll follow him, he must live close. I’ll just wait for him outside his house and then he’ll listen to me.’
Mouse ran all the way home, crawled right under the wall of the shed and right into Topsy’s basket. She was asleep.
‘Topsy! Please wake up, Topsy! Oh, I missed you. I thought I was never going to see you again!’
‘Mouse… what did you say? I’m awake. Please say that again.’
‘Topsy, I got so close to the witch’s house when…’ And then he stopped. If he told the truth, she’d never let him leave again.
‘When what, Mouse?’
‘When I… tripped on a twig and fell in the river. It’s lucky I’m a good swimmer! But it dragged me downstream…’
‘Oh, Mouse, do be more careful.’
‘I will, I will. I’m going back tomorrow and I’ll keep my eyes open this time. I was just so excited to be there, you know.’
‘I understand.’
‘Would you please tell me a poem?’
‘I will.
All the brownies in the den,
Say they’ve made friends with a hen.
But I say it’s really silly,
And that they should all free Willy!’
‘Lovely!’
‘Let’s go to sleep now mouse, shall we?’
‘Let’s, my dear, Topsy.