The Magic Magpie

An extract

The boys' father loved buying jugs.  Julius said to him: "There are only two things you love: jugs and us."

       One day he visited an antiques fair.  Behind a stall stood a horrid hag.  She had a set of four jugs decorated with monsters' heads.  "Good morning, sir," said the horrid hag politely.  "I see you are a collector.  Would you like to buy these jugs?  For you a special price -  £10."

          It was a bargain.  Quickly the boys' father got out the money.  He bought the jugs and hurried home. "Boys!  Boys!  Come here," he cried. "Look at these fantastic jugs." As he put down the jugs in the Jug Room, the front doorbell rang and he left the room.

          Julius, Alexander and Benjamin looked at the jugs. The rabbit Scrooey-Looey poked his nose inside the smallest one. The jugs began to hum and grow in size.  The boys cried out in alarm as the jugs sucked them inside, and they tumbled head over heels, down and down through long winding tunnels, until with loud burps the jugs spat them out near the ruined tower in the glade deep within the forest.

          Griselda was of course waiting for them. But she had made a slight mistake:  the boys and Scrooey-Looey did not land at her feet; they landed beside the magic cauldron.

          "Into the cauldron!" shouted Julius.  "No!  No!  No!" screamed Griselda.  "Get them, guards."

          The dim daft dwarves were too slow, tripped over each other's feet and landed in a heap.  The boys and Scrooey-Looey jumped in and with loud cries disappeared.  They fell through the void until they landed in a forest where they walked for miles and miles until the trees began to thin. 

          On a hillside just beyond the forest stood a palace with walls of yellow stone and gargoyles in the shape of little girls and boys.  It was an evil-looking place.

          "We can get supper there,"  said Scrooey-Looey, who was always hungry.  The boys were not so sure.  "They won't want boys at a palace," Julius objected. "Nor a rabbit," added Alexander.

          "Rubbish!"  bellowed Scrooey-Looey, running off. The brothers followed slowly through the park and up the steps to the palace.  Two footmen bowed and opened the doors.  "Hurry up!" squeaked Scrooey-Looey. 

          They walked into a hall sixty foot long and thirty foot wide and high.  It had a gilded ceiling of cherubs dancing.  Around the walls were paintings and sculptures: all were of boys and girls. In one corner an artist was talking about his painting to a small circle of admiring men and women.  Scrooey-Looey went up and, looking at the painting, yawned and muttered, "Jolly boring."  He took a crayon out of his pocket and drew pictures of rabbits on the canvas. A shriek of anguish arose from the artist and all the men and women screamed, "Go away, you boys, and you, you rabbit!"

          The boys and Scrooey-Looey wandered through the palace. At the end of a corridor there was a pair of heavy doors where two footmen stood.  They bowed low and opened the doors.

          The boys and Scrooey-Looey entered the room where upon a throne sat a Princess, crown upon her head.   "Come in, dear Alexander.  How wonderful you look!  Come, sit beside me on my throne.  Guards, show the others to the kitchen.  Put them to work."  Julius, Benjamin and Scrooey-Looey were bundled off to the kitchen, Scrooey-Looey protesting, "I can't work.  My beautiful white paws!"

          Alexander looked in wonder at Princess Matilda. When he was seated beside her on the throne the Princess turned to her Steward, Reginald, who was standing by her side.  She whispered softly: "Isn't he a beauty?"  "Your highness has the very best of taste."  The Princess spoke to Alexander: "Would you like a special supper just with me, without your brothers?"  "Yes, I would."  The Princess turned to her Steward.  They exchanged glances and he left the room.

          In the kitchen the cook raised a heavy ladle above Scrooey-Looey's head and shouted, "Get to work!  Boys, you can dry.  Rabbit, you can wash."  "But my paws will get wet," protested Scrooey-Looey.  "Get wet!   Of course they will get wet.  Hurry up or I shall put you in the stew."

          The rabbit and the boys started to wash the dishes.  But Benjamin was not very big and was extremely careless.  After he had smashed three dishes and the cook's best pudding basin, the cook bellowed:  "Stop!  Stop!  Stop!"  "If you wish," said Scrooey-Looey, drying his paws on a dish cloth.  "Not you.  The little one!" shouted the cook pointing his ladle at Benjamin's head.  "Go and stand in the corner."

          Benjamin went and stood in the corner whilst Julius and Scrooey-Looey got back to work. The cook was decorating a cake with squiggles of icing in the shape of little boys and girls.  He did not notice Benjamin creep away.

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