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Mouldy Magic.
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Bern's Fairy Tales.
- Mouldy Magic.
- I had never been to this part of Fairyland before. There was a smell of rotting dampness; it offended my nose. I looked about me hoping to see something or someone that I knew. There was nothing just this horrid damp smell of foulness. No birds, no wild animals not even the buzzing of an insect. I became more and more uneasy as the seconds slowly passed. Where was I? How had I strayed so far away from the Fairyland that I knew? Questions nothing but questions and an uneasy feeling that someone or some thing was watching me.
- The feeling became more intense as I slowly walked on my way. I was not frightened just very uneasy. I had after all my magic wand and a good sack full of magic dust with me. As my eyes became more accustomed to the darkness that seemed to hang over the whole area, I noticed that the trees held no leaves. There were no flowers nothing but this smell of dampness and foulness.
- After an hour or more I saw in front of me a large cave. The entrance was half blocked by stones that had fallen by a landslide or placed there by purpose. The cave was not easy to see. I had by chance seen it out of the corner of my eye. I slowly approached the entrance my magic wand held out in front of me. I had no idea of what I expected to see. The smell of foulness was even more present the closer I got to the opening.
- The cave was dark. As I moved on deeper into the gloomy place a saw a faint shimmer of light. The cave opened out into a large cavern. Around the walls of which were torches that gave off a flickering light that made the place look even more mysterious. Fully alert I walked slowly into the cavern. At first I thought this was just a rubbish dump that had been placed deep here in the woods so that it would be out of the way. Then I saw two long tables full of cauldrons and dried herbs. In one corner from floor to ceiling were piles of rotting herbs and small animals. This was what was causing the most horrible smell.
- I heard voices behind me. I looked for a place to hide and found a niche in one of the walls. I made myself as small as I could and waited for the voices to come nearer. Then they appeared twenty Witches and twenty Sorcerers. All dressed in black robes with tall pointed hats. On the clothes there had been sewn stars and moons. On the chief of this band there was a sun that shone. It got brighter or darker as he moved around.
- They all gathered round one of the tables and took all kinds of plants and small animals from their pockets. I must admit I had not seen the pockets when they entered the cave. Each went to a cauldron and the chief sorcerer spoke some words in the most ancient of languages and a fire appeared beneath each cauldron. From the shelves behind the tables various bottles and phials were poured into the big pots with the leaves herbs and small animals.
- When all were finished each came to the cauldron of the chief and carefully poured their evil looking brew into his pot. A loud noise filled the cave and the smell got even worse. Then a burst of light and a most ugly creature appeared out of the pot. The creature had the legs of a man with hoofs as feet. The body of a snake with the arms and head of a man I had never seen such a weird creature before in all of my life. Not even in my worse dreams had I seen anything like this. The witches and the sorcerers all fell on their knees chanting some old chant that made me feel quite ill.
- I decided it was time for me to report these strange happenings to the Fairy Queen. A wave of my wand and I was transmitted directly to her Majesty. I asked her Majesty to read my mind, as I was sure I would forget something important if I were just to tell her what had happened.
- Her Majesty told me the meaning of the weird chant that I had heard the witches and sorcerers sing. They were asking the powers of darkness to take over Fairyland and do away with all of the Fairy folk. I could not imagine that there would be no Fairyland. No more Fairies and little folk. Who would paint all the flowers and butterflies and all the other creatures living on this earth?
- The Fairy Queen spoke in the ancient language for over an hour then turning to me she told me that all danger had now been banned and the Witches and Sorcerers had been cast away on the moon where there was no plants or small creatures to enable them to cast spells. On the moon one day we will find the twenty Witches and the twenty Sorcerers they are now very deep craters filled with the dust from centuries.
