Gumdrops, Sugar Candy and Chocolate Bonbons

Once, in a far away village in a small part of the land of gnomes and elves and goblins, also called Zephrak, lived, Marty Bart, the Mayor of Penciltown, where witches, warlocks and wizards lived. Marty Bart was a plump man with light blue eyes and a small nose. He was always cheerful and happy and liked to drink chocolate milk shake. Now, the Zephrakians thought this a real threat towards them as they only ate gumdrops and sugar candy and thus, their teeth were all black. So, they thought of playing a nasty trick on the Mayor of Penciltown.

One day, as Marty was putting on his Bermudas and a blue T-shirt with Jadish fruits all over it, the Zephrakians sneaked to the front door, put a banana peel in front of it and poured two buckets of muddy water in the driveway. The Mayor, not knowing this, got dressed, stepped out of his house, slipped on the banana peel and fell straight in the muddy water. The Zephrakians were watching from behind Yula bushes which gave them nice protection and were laughing so loudly that Marty heard them. And so, he hurriedly got up, took out his wand and cast a spell at them to make them do summersaults over and over again…

He reached Town Triangle in Penciltown where The Law of Magic Association was situated. He ran up the stairs and reached his office just in time for his important meeting with the Chief of Woojuloosaz, Zulu Ku Rasa. He was a tall man with round spectacles and no hair who wore orangish-pinkish-brownish robes with the Woojuloosaz’s flag’s picture-a sphinx standing on the moon with phoenix-shaped clouds behind. He and Marty were about to discuss the strange case of gumdrops and sugar candy falling from the heavens.

They went into the meeting room where they spoke about important matters and slowly about the raining of gumdrops and sugar candy. They came to the conclusion that when people are making up bedtime stories, gumdrops and sugar candy are showered all over the citizens. They finished their meeting and were heading out of the meeting room. At that moment, Barty Mart, Marty Bart’s assistant, came up to them and said with an enthusiastic voice, ‘Sir, the spaceship, Victory, is almost complete. We will be off to space in a couple of days. Is it not great news?’ To this, Marty replied contently, ‘Oh! That is, of course, glorious news.’

Marty was impatient. He wanted to take-off as soon as possible. So, on Thursday, they took-off in the spaceship, Victory. They went on and on and on for miles and miles to reach the planet of Ozox. They passed billions and trillions of stars, including the sun and all the five planets, Waterhook, Prottyfad, Staplefaw, Knawz and Oeutribaffles to reach Ozox. They got off the spaceship and walked for three kilometers, Marty sitting down on the green sand every few minutes. At last, they reached the Toffee Facility where they were taken by two violet-coloured aliens to the chief of the Facility. The chief was a thin, orange-coloured man with three pimples on his left cheek and two on his right cheek and freckles on his face. He asked Marty the reason for his arrival. Marty said that he had come to request them to also shower upon them chocolate bonbons. The chief thought about this and said that he will gladly take up the job. After saying this, Marty and Barty took their absence and headed for the ship. They got in and were off to Dewhue, the planet where they lived.

The very next day, Marty woke up and went straight to the window, only to find that the street was covered with not only gumdrops and sugar candy but also chocolate bonbons. He ran out quickly, collected some of the chocolate bonbons, went back to his house and made chocolate milk shake. The Zephrakians were spying on him and saw that he was drinking chocolate milkshake. At seeing this, Higgle, a gnome, said, ‘We will get him next time!’ and they slowly walked away.

The Pink Elephant

There once lived a boy of ten years named Mark Hawk. He lived in a small, cute cottage with a beautiful garden. His family grew all sorts of animals including elephants. His favourite animal was an elephant, Greymore. Everyday a cuckoo would come and sit on his left tusk and sing mellow tunes.

One day Greymore came down with elephant flu which appeared once in a blue moon. Mark understood this and went to the provision store to buy the elephant flu-cure pill.

He reached home just in time to see his favourite elephant lying down and trumpeting to ease out the pain. Mark quickly put the pill in the elephant’s mouth and waited to see what will happen as a result. In sixty seconds, Greymore was transforming from a grey elephant to a light pink elephant and then to a rosy pink elephant.

Mark just stood there, stunned. He rubbed his eyes three or four times to make sure that he was not hallucinating. But every time he did that, he could see the same thing- a pink elephant. He stayed glued to the spot, trying to take in what had just happened.

Without a second thought, he ran as fast as he could to the provision store to give the salesperson a good scolding. He was so angry and sad at the same time. He was angry because the salesperson had given him the wrong pill and he was sad because he was wondering if Greymore could ever be restored from a pink elephant to a normal grey elephant. He got to the provision store and told the salesperson everything that had happened right after he bought the pill and gave it to Greymore. The salesperson was frowning. He thought he had given the right pill for sure.

He asked Mark, ‘I did give you the elephant flu-cure pill, didn’t I? Can you show me the bill and the pills?’

To these requests, Mark gave him the bill and the pills without any hesitation. The salesperson took the pills and the bill the boy gave him and examined it closely, even smelling the pills to make sure that he had given the right ones.

Then he said, ‘No, I have given you the right pills.’

Mark said, ‘How come? When I gave my elephant the pills, he turned to a pink colour in just one minute. How can he be turned to his normal self?’

The salesperson said, ‘Yes, that is what the pills should do. Don’t you know that? And then, you should go to the Lake of Thousand Waters near the Wishful Meadow where you shall take two teaspoons of water from the lake mixed with the sparkling grass of the meadow. And at last, you give this to your elephant so that he can be his normal condition. Giving the pill is just part of the treatment.’

Mark was confused. So he asked, ‘Oh? Where is this Lake of Thousand Waters and Wishful Meadow?’

The salesperson said, ‘You have to go to the sea and try to get to the Saccapocco Island. Then you reach the Wishful Meadow and near that is the Lake of Thousand Waters.’

With a vague ‘Thank you’, Mark was off to start on his task-finding the Lake of Thousand Waters and the Wishful Meadow.

He arrived at home five minutes later and went to see his poor elephant’s condition.

Mark did not want to tell Greymore that he was leaving him in search of the Lake of Thousand Waters near the Wishful Meadow. So without uttering a word, he went to his room to get the necessary supplies needed for his trip- water, food, extra clothing in case the one he was wearing got torn, a vessel in which he can mix the water and the grass together and a small tea spoon to measure the water. He got ready for his mission and was off like the wind of the willows.

He went to the harbour to see if he could get a ride to the Saccapocco Island where the lake and meadow were located.

He asked the captain of the ship named The Oasis if he could get a ride to the Saccapocco Island for a ten-year-old boy’s hard work.

The captain agreed by saying, ‘Yes, of course I would like to give a ride. You will get ten dollars for one hour. What do you say? You up for some rough hard work?

‘Yes, I am ready for some hard work’, replied Mark.

‘By the way, kid, what’s your name?’ asked the captain.

‘My name is Mark Hawk.’ said Mark.

After answering some more of the captain’s questions, he hopped on the ship and was off, in hope of curing Greymore’s terrible disease.

They had covered three-quarters of the distance when a dreadful storm broke in. The captain was trying as hard as he could to steer the ship but it was no use. At last, the storm stopped and the first ray of sunlight touched the ship.

The ship went a long way and finally reached the Saccapoccan bay where they found a lot of dolphins playing and splashing in the water.

Finally they reached and docked the ship in the bay encircled by a few rocks.

Mark alighted from the ship and went in search of the Lake of Thousand Waters and the Wishful Meadow. He walked a long way until he saw a field stretching out for miles. He walked the few miles till he saw the sparkling waters of the lake. He went up to it, took the small vessel and collected two teaspoons full of water. He then walked back to the meadow and plucked some grass from the ground. At last, he had the requirements needed to cure Greymore’s disease.

He reached the ship, got in and was off to Mergia, the place where Mark lived.

When The Oasis docked at the harbour, Mark got off and ran to his cottage.

He reached his house where he found his elephant lying down. But when he came nearer, the elephant sprang to its feet and ran towards Mark.

He put the water mixed with the grass into the elephant’s mouth and waited. Before his eyes, he saw Greymore being restored to its normal self and tears filled his eyes. He was very happy and he hugged Greymore so hard that it could not breathe for a while until he stepped back. It was the happiest day for both of them.

And after that, Mark never went to the provision store to buy any type of tablet or pill which will change his elephant’s condition!