Flyaway Tales

by Stefano Amadei

  “Now that you have told me these things I am even more certain we will be able to succeed, thank you Peel.”

  “Now that I think about it...” said Peel “... there is someone who could help you. Go up to the little lake for the swans, there you will find a small cave. Inside there is a man. He’s been here longer than I have, tell him that I sent you and he will certainly help you!”

  Tommaso thanked Peel again and headed in the direction shown by the tortoise.

  When he arrived at the little lake Tommaso quickly found the shelter, but he soon realized that it was quite different: it was a cell. It had been carved out of the back of a small hill, and there was only one window, without bars.

  Tommaso went up to the opening and looked in. He was struck by something unusual. The cell door was wide open. Certain of not finding anyone Tommaso shouted “Hey!” addressing himself to the possible occupant. He was greatly surprise when, out of the darkness, someone answered.

  “Who is it, who is it?”

  Tommaso, still in doubt introduced himself by saying who sent him. It turned out that the man in the cell’s name was Franz and he was the miller in the village. He had gathered up all his courage to enter the garden to argue with the Ogre. In fact, the Ogre had diverted all the water used to irrigate the fields for his garden. In this way the farmers no longer went to the mill, because they no longer had anything for him to grind. Mocking him, the Ogre had locked him up telling him that the last one to attempt to leave the cell had been instantly turned into stone. That was why the door was wide open and there were no bars on the window.

  Then the Ogre, to make his prisoner more desperate, made sure that food appeared magically in the prison twice a day.

  Tommaso asked Franz’s permission to enter, to stay there that night and to see what happened.

  The prisoner replied that he would feel fine with that, because the locusts never came in as there was nothing there for them to eat.

  Evening came, and, as Franz had said, dinner appeared in the prison. Tommaso ate little and reluctantly, as he was curious to see the locusts at work.

  As soon as the sun went down, his curiosity was rewarded. At first there was a resigned buzzing, then the sound got louder and louder preceding the swarm. There were not many locusts, but they were very hungry. They went from tree to tree, from hedge to lawn, as Peel had told him, when they rose, everything was freshly cut or pruned.

  Tommaso did not like this situation, but seeing the locusts had given him an idea.

  “Franz, I have an idea to get us both out of here, but to do this you must leave first.”

  “No...” replied the prisoner, believing that Tommaso wanted to sacrifice himself in his place “... I have been here so long and to remain would change nothing for me.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll not stay longer than necessary. Now go out, go into those bushes where the locusts have already passed, for sure they will not return there” said Tommaso, showing Franz where he had to go.

  The man thanked him and left the cell, as fast as his legs could carry him, as he had stayed still for so long.

  Tommaso picked up the fruit that was left over from dinner, then went to the window and called the locusts to him.

  “Locusts, look down here. I have good fresh fruit for you! Red apples, red and white grapes, juicy pears. Aren’t you tired of all that grass?”

  It was like giving honey to a bear. All the locusts swarmed towards Tommaso, towards the window, leaving their work unfinished.

  As soon as they entered the cell to eat, Tommaso slipped out of the prison.

  When they had finished the fruit the locusts left the cave, but just outside all were turned to stone. The magic of the prison had not spared any, taking them all indeed to be one being.

  Then the garden trembled, the earth under Tommaso’s feet split open and he barely had time to jump aside.

  Out of the pit came the Ogre of the Blades. He was more than three meters high and had two large swords in his hands like the one Tommaso had seen at the entrance.

  “Now that’s enough!” roared the ogre turning to Tommaso. “You think you’re so smart, you think you’re crafty do you? You think you can defeat me. But you’re wrong. One word from me and you’ll join my swarm. I can undo the magic of the cave at any time. Or I could turn you into a statue. Or I could just chop off your head and make it roll out of the gate.”

  But instead of becoming scared, as the Ogre expected, Tommaso yawned. Then he looked at the Ogre and said, “Well, what are you waiting for? You’re boring me to death. You had only one good idea in all your prattle. Whatever you want to do, you do it in front of the villagers, so that everybody knows what you know how to do.”

  “Ha, ha, ha, I have never seen such a fool before now!” laughed the Ogre and instantly materialized near the entrance of the garden that, magically, had become visible.

  People on the other side, who saw the Ogre, cried and hid behind their shelters to see what would happen.

  “And now you will die,” cried the Ogre raising his swords and crossing them in the direction of Tommaso’s neck.

  “Wait,” said Tommaso. Surprised the Ogre stopped. “You’re too strong, you’re right. I was a fool to challenge you. But even fools have the right to one last wish.”

  “Well, it makes no difference, you have to die and you will die. Wish or no wish. Granted.”

  “I would only like to try to solve the riddle in your garden and see what happens.”

  The Ogre laughed out loud holding his belly and said to Tommaso, “You know what will happen? You will die, you will turn into a pillar of stone, and I will put you in my garden as with the others who have tried. Fine by me, at least I will not waste time cleaning your stupid blood off my swords.”

  “I have seen the village, I saw how you treat people and your prisoners, I saw how you use your power only for your own ends and I have had all the feelings that are written under the sword. And the only word that comes to mind is injustice. The solution is INJUSTICE!”

  Like lightning the sword darted away from the pedestal that was at the entrance to the garden and cut off the Ogre’s head who fell down, lifeless.

  Ogres, you know, live from the suffering of others and therefore the Ogre was full of joy, happiness and love of life that he had stolen from others a little at a time.

  So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to find there was one spell after another.

  The Ogre’s blood turned into a source of the purest water, every blade of grass in the garden became a ready ear of wheat for reaping or a corn plant ready for harvesting. The fountains became wells, all the statues came back to life, the locusts became boys and girls again who returned to the village to hug their parents. And even the turtle Peel turned back into a beautiful maiden who was Alba, the daughter of the man at the inn.

  Tommaso fell in love at once and decided to stay there: he had found his fortune.

  T-REX

  Meals for Ettore were always a problem, one of the serious ones at that. His Mum had explained several times, but he only knew that, for some strange reason, his “grown up” teeth had not yet grown and his “milk teeth”, however, continued to sway and fall with, for him, a quite worrying rhythm. So he found himself almost without teeth, with a few incisors, a couple of canine survivors and those flat teeth at the bottom of the mouth that luckily were still in place.

  We add that, like all children, Ettore had his own favorite food and it will be easy to understand how a dish of pasta became an impossible mountain, a dish of rice a desolate steppe and a slice of meat a desert full of pitfalls.

  Every night, ended in untold hardships, Ettore got up from the table alone. Mom and Dad had already been in front of the television for a long time to watch the news, for a while they had tried to wait for him.

  So the little boy found he did not have much time left to play. It always happened that just when the game had started and he had really begun to play, Dad (or Mom) were sayi
ng “Come on, let’s go brush our teeth and go to bed, tomorrow you must get up to go to school.”

  Complaints and firmness had produced poor results for Ettore: after all rules were rules.

  Mind you: dad Dino and mom Rosaria were very good. They patiently put up with all his whims, played with him and read him bedtime stories when he was not too tired to listen.

  However Ettore never felt comfortable when he was left on his own in his bedroom. How he wanted to be big already and to stay up with Mom and Dad.

  For some reason it seemed that the best films were always on when he had to go to bed...

  Ettore often tried to feel, at least in his imagination, to still be in the living room.

  Usually he heard the voices of his parents muffled and distant as they whispered so as not to disturb him.

  Even the television volume was turned down very low.

  But sometimes, there were nights that, as much as he was tired, he felt wide awake and just couldn’t fall asleep. Indeed, the more he tried the less he was able to fall asleep.

  And it was on one of those nights, when the grown-ups thought he was asleep, that he heard a sound.

  At first he didn’t care, then he thought it was the television, but he had to think again. The noises, or perhaps I should say the sounds, came from the living room, he was almost certain.

  They were deep and guttural, almost low roars, and they kept coming, sometimes overlapping each other, as if talking.

  Ettore paid even more attention, but the voices of his father and mother had disappeared, as if they had been replaced by those horrible sounds.

  It seemed as though the beasts, of whatever kind they were, attempted to keep their growls and hold their roaring and the wild shrieks chased back twisted in the throat.

  Needless to say, for little Ettore, sleep had completely disappeared.

  The child was in his bedroom in the dark his eyes wide and ears on the alert, waiting for the next sound.

  Then he thought something else. It was an absurd explanation, but the facts were clear.

  And if, it was his own mom and dad to make those stifled gasps and muffled roars? If by chance wild animals had been in the house (for example, if two large alligators in the river had somehow jumped out from the toilet bowl and were watching them from the top looking down clutching drooling standing on its hind legs throughout its stay) of course mom and dad would scream and would somehow hit them and make them go away and he would have an excuse to slip out of bed and go and see what was happening. Indeed, though, none of this had happened. The voices were like transformed, replaced!

  Ettore came to a decision: his parents had turned into wild beasts!

  The little boy took a very big breath and jumped out of bed and headed, as quietly as possible, into the living room, quietly, stealthily, with his heart pounding in excitement and perhaps a little, from fear.

  Applause came from the television: a quiz contestant had guessed the answer.

  He pulled open the door ever so slightly and looked inside...

  “Ettore, what are you doing here, still awake?” said his Dad telling him off.

  Ettore watched amazed as his parents quietly sat at the table drinking coffee. Also there were no signs of saliva on the ground or signs of scratches on the furniture. No hair, no scales, no quills. Nothing at all.

  Mom patted him on the head, and took him back to bed. She read another story to him to help him get to sleep and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Then dad pulled up his blankets.

  Surely he had imagined it all. He didn’t need to think about it anymore, it was time to sleep.

  The bedroom door opened and closed. Someone had come to see if he was asleep.

  Ettore pretended to be deep asleep and went back to listening.

  At first there was only the music of the TV announcing the advertising. No reassuring voice, as if talking at that time meant in some way to betray itself.

  Then Mom asked softly: “What movie is it this evening, Dino?”

  “I don’t know I’ll look in the newspaper!” replied father.

  Ettore breathed a sigh of relief! Probably it was all a figment of his imagination, or maybe he was already dreaming. He pulled the sheet up over his ears and turned on its side.

  Satisfied, he was about to enter the muffled world of dreams when he heard again that horrible grunting.

  He stared at the lamp amazed and confused. It was all true then! But what could he do? Perhaps the beasts had taken possession of his parents, perhaps threatened them and forced them to become and do what they wanted only at night, maybe they had smelled him the first time he had approached them and then they had changed back for a while. Who knows how many more times this had happened without him noticing it...

  He had to be brave and solve the mystery once and for all. He could not live with that thought for a lifetime!

  Ettore turned frowning toward the wall... and he had an idea. He could not approach the beast without them changing back into human form, but he could always try to see them with his secret television. How had he forgotten?

  He had discovered that wonder when he was sent to his room in punishment. He had put a hand on the wall next to his pillow, a small window had opened in the plaster and a small screen had come out that simply showed him anything he wanted. There was no remote control, because you could change the program with a thought. And then one channel is sufficient if you look at exactly what you want to see. No sound is needed: you could hear everything in your head at the exact volume you needed. And there were no interruptions. Once you had finished using it, or if those who were watching fell asleep, all on its own it would return to its compartment without leaving any signs to betray its presence.

  Ettore did not remember any technician or builder who had installed it. It was simple to find it there when it was needed.

  He pressed on the wall and mentally asked for the monitor to show him the living room.

  The image wobbled, then came into focus with all the colors in their place.

  Instead of the two people Ettore knew he saw two dinosaurs.

  Two Tyrannosaurus moved, quite naturally, between the table and chairs. They had scaly tails, tiny little arms and sharp teeth!

  The little boy swallowed, then looked back at the screen and...swallowed again! A cold shiver ran up and down his back and goose bumps broke out all over his body. The hair on his head seemed to stand on end!

  The reptiles had not disappeared.

  “And now what?” he wondered, “... and now what do I do?”

  He concentrated and forced himself to look more carefully. Those dinosaurs had too many things in common with Mom and Dad: the same clothes, same height and, somehow, did the same things as his parents did. Thinking again, well maybe these two T-Rex had not eaten his parents... THEY WERE his parents!

  Well, then, perhaps, there was nothing much to worry about. Those two would never hurt their beloved son, flesh of their flesh. He could do nothing but trust, he had to follow his instincts and go back into the other room.

  While Ettore went down the hall, this time much more relaxed and confident, he felt something pressing under his pink gums. Two rows of pointed and sharp teeth sprouted in his mouth.

  A short itching went all over his body and a moment later he went through the living room door.

  “Finally, my boy, it was time that you would get your first row of teeth. Teeth and scales!” exclaimed Daddy Dino happily closing the newspaper with his short front legs.

  Even Mummy Rosaria looked at him proud and happy. She took his toothed big head between her little arms and hugged it joyfully beating the ground with her tail and then asked, “You’re hungry, right? I’ll go and get you a nice rare steak, Ettore!”

  “Honey, call the little one with his real name, isn't it Ettorex?”

  The little dinosaur roared loudly.

  “Quiet dear...” his Mummy snarled... or they’ll hear us!”

  THE GOLDEN BELL />
  In the small rural village life went by quietly; people were happy with their work and carried out their occupations with the ease of those whose hearts are free of all evil thoughts that too often find space in the human soul.

  It is therefore of no surprise that, passing by, the young devil Badwinter had decided to upset the peacefulness of that community.

  He had felt a sense of unease, like a vise that gripped his stomach and goose bumps had even made the hair rise up on his hairy back. It was always like that: that sense of weakness hit all the devils when they found themselves in front of something good.

  Or worse still, pure.

  It was then Badwinter decided he must take care of it.

  He stroked his forehead hopefully, in the place his third horn would grow, if everything went as planned.

  He arrived in the middle of the village square and stood looking around.

  It was night and nobody saw him pull a small seed out of the small pouch he wore at his belt. On the bag you could read the inscription “DISCORD”.

  He carefully placed it on his curved and pointed nail of his middle finger and, helped by his thumb, catapulted it toward the stone facade of the village church, just above the arch of the main entrance.

  Confident and grinning he walked near the fence that bordered the cemetery, placed right next to the church, taking care not to go into it, being that it was hallowed ground.

  Then he put his thumb in his mouth and sucked strongly, shrinking to the size of a cherry.

  He hid behind a rock and sheltered in some nettles and began to look, he was certain he was going to have a lot of fun.

  The next day Don Carlo, the old parish priest, got up as usual very early to recite the morning prayers.

  Despite the time he noticed that a small crowd of peasants had already gathered outside.

  Don Carlo followed the gaze of his faithful and realized that, something round and shiny was sticking out exactly from the stone facade of the church.