by Joe O'Brien
But now, on this very important night, Henry had to try and squeeze into this most uncomfortable suit that, quite frankly, made him look like an oversized penguin.
‘Josh,’ Henry called out with a hint of frustration and pain.
Josh was in the living room being lectured by Nell over his disappearance at the manor.
Mr Higgins hadn’t fallen for Josh’s story about being sick in the toilet.
‘Josh,’ Henry called out again.
‘Go and see what your uncle wants,’ insisted Nell. ‘But I’m not forgetting about today, Josh. We’ll talk more when I get home tonight.’
Josh ran into the kitchen.
‘Yes, Henry?’ said Josh, trying to hold back a smile as he watched Henry’s face turn a hint of blue, trying to close his top button.
‘See if you can do this last button.’
Henry sat on a chair and Josh tackled the button, thinking, Should I tell Henry about the book and what happened in the manor today? Would he believe? Surely he would!
Nell walked into the kitchen, her coat already on.
‘All done,’ smiled Josh. He decided not to say anything, especially in front of Nell.
Josh stood anxiously at the window and waved out, as Henry and Nell drove off into the twilight.
He reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out the page.
Sitting on the edge of Henry’s old armchair, he began to read the glistening words that riddled on the page:
Trail through the woods and a little farther,
Follow the silent path to the lily pond,
Stand beneath the willow that arches the water,
Take the golden branch and wave the Willow Wand.
‘Pathway be there to the Cherry Tree and beyond’
You must say not once, but twice.
Be brave, young traveller, with your first step,
Without faith you will pay the ultimate price,
For to find your destiny
With the water, you must bond.
A mist will appear,
But do not be blind,
Listen and you will see,
Believe and you will find.
Before you awaits an adventure,
But one more task you must achieve;
Beyond the Cherry Tree you will travel.
To reach your destiny that awaits you,
Not only you, but others must believe.
Josh’s stomach danced with all sorts of feelings: excitement, fear, happiness and confusion. They were all partying inside him, and this made him really feel sick. Over and over again, he read the enchanting words.
What will I do? he thought.
Up to now, Josh Bloom was neither adventurous nor brave, yet this page begged to differ. He paced up and down the room. This was indeed the strangest and biggest thing that had ever happened to him in his entire thirteen years of life. He thought about his life in Charlotty. It was sometimes a little boring and other times a lot interesting. But never adventurous!
Finally, Josh stopped pacing.
I’m going, he thought. I have to go! But what about Nell and Henry? What would they do if they found out?
His thoughts rattled on in his mind.
Why would they ever find out? he then thought. I could just go and see, and get back before they do.
That was that!
Josh put on his jacket, and grabbed the torch from his shoebox under his bed. He tucked the page back into his pocket and closed the hall door behind him. He ran around to the side yard and unlocked his bicycle, then cycled off into the darkness, heading for Gorse Hill.
Gorse Hill was no easy cycle, but Josh had cycled its steep roads many times before and that had rewarded him with extra-strong legs and excellent fitness. Fitness, however, doesn’t help much on a dark journey and Josh was more than happy when the moon appeared from behind a cloud every now and then to highlight some of the many treacherous hollows in the road.
Every bend that Josh cycled around was taken cautiously as he knew that Henry’s old Ford would surely struggle with the merciless hill and he didn’t want to bump into his aunt and uncle. It had let Henry down several times before, and Mr Farrow would have to come in his tow truck and haul the car back to Number 7, Fennel Row, where Henry would tinker under its bonnet way into the early hours of the next morning until, finally, its engine would splutter a breath or two.
Josh sighed a breath of relief as the muscles in his legs once again began to relax and Gorse Hill levelled out just past the last bend. Straight ahead, he could see the old oil lamps on the two entrance pillars that had been lit to welcome the evening’s guests.
As he approached the main gates, he jumped off his bike and wheeled it around the back of a large cluster of neatly-clipped spotted laurels that gathered in groups on the top of a mulched slope, just inside the left gate.
Josh rested his bike on its side. It was well out of sight.
He kept his torch off as he walked along the near edge of the woods that wound around the left side of the manor. He could see shadows of people near the brightly-lit windows in rooms downstairs. As he trekked farther into the woods, he glanced back to make sure he was well out of sight. Then, with a sigh of relief, he switched his torch on. Josh looked back once more at the manor, then turned away and headed into the dark woods.
Every few minutes, as he ventured deeper and deeper into the woods, Josh stopped and shone the torch down at the page that trembled in his hand. He had walked a long way through the woods, and still there was no sign of the lily pond mentioned in the riddle.
He was quite familiar with most of the grounds of Cherry Tree Manor from helping Henry in the summer time, but he knew nothing of a lily pond beyond the woods. Henry had never spoken of such a place.
Still, he kept walking. It was a cold night and the crunchy twiggy floor of the woods was beginning to hurt his feet. All of a sudden, Josh was walking on softer ground. There was no crunching noise anymore.
He stopped and re-read the riddle.
Follow the silent path …
Josh walked a little farther. He noticed that everything was quiet now. No owls hooting from the trees. No badgers brushing through the ferns that lined the floor of the woods, and no crunching beneath his feet as he walked.
He shone the torch along the soft, thick, mossy, silent path until finally it led him out of the tall, dense woodlands and through a cluster of smaller, thinner trees that bordered the path all the way to flickering water.
The lily pond, he thought.
The full moon came out from behind a cloud to greet Josh and shine its light down on the pond, as if the dark sky had reached into its pocket and switched on its torch, too.
Leaning over the water in front of Josh was a large willow tree with no leaves. Its golden branches arched over the pond and glistened beautifully in the moonlight.
He slowly walked under the weeping arch of the tree and noticed that all the branches were golden.
‘Which one do I choose?’ he whispered.
Then, as if on purpose, the moon retired behind a cloud.
It was dark again.
Chapter 6
The Willow Wand
Josh started to wave his torch, bouncing its light from branch to branch, but still he noticed nothing special about this tree.
I wonder if the riddle is mistaken? he thought.
Suddenly, he heard a whisper coming from behind him. It came from the water.
He turned swiftly and dropped the torch. He knelt down and frantically searched the ground beneath him. It was pitch dark now; Josh had neither the light from the moon nor his torch. Then to his great relief, his fingers rolled over the torch and he grasped it. Just then, he heard the whisper once again.
Take the Willow Wand, were the words that waved across the water.
Josh jumped up, his heart racing and his fingers nervously twitching. He tried to switch the torch back on, but it wouldn’t work.
Then, it appeared, ri
ght in front of his eyes.
He could see a glistening, golden, long, narrow end of a branch of the willow tree, slightly dipping in the water.
He walked over to the light. It was radiant and magical. Tiny bugs and insects danced in its light above the water and their reflections looked like magical miniature fireworks exploding up from the bottom of the pond.
Is that really a magical wand? he thought.
Very gently, Josh wrapped his fingers around the golden wand. It simply left the branch and was no longer a part of the tree. Standing upright at the water’s edge, Josh raised the wand above his head.
At first he felt a little silly, doubting what he was doing.
I must believe, he kept thinking over and over in his mind.
‘Pathway be there to the Cherry Tree and beyond,’ he announced not once, but twice. He swiftly waved the glistening golden willow wand down and pointed it at the still water.
Nothing! Not a sound or a sign.
Everything was as before the boy had spoken.
This is crazy? I’m crazy! he thought.
Without thinking about it too much, tremendous courage came over him as he raised his left foot forward toward the water. He wasn’t going to give up. He didn’t want to turn back. He had come this far and he wanted this adventure, this magic, to go on. This had happened to him and it made him feel special. This was special. Something that Aunt Nell couldn’t forbid him from doing.
Josh repeated the words through his mind, and then blurted them out just as his foot touched the water of the lily pond.
‘Pathway be there to the Cherry Tree and beyond.’
There was no splash, no chaos, no dreadful disaster.
Josh’s left foot stood firm on the surface of the lily pond as if it was on solid stone.
It worked! he smiled.
Quickly and excitedly, worrying that it might not last, he put his right foot forward, and that too felt like walking on stone.
The path was laid before him. It was a path of faith. Josh’s faith, and he wasn’t going to hesitate in taking it. One foot after the other, he walked across the water for a distance until he was met by dense mist which enveloped him like a blinding cloak of fear that couldn’t be shaken or shed. Josh walked through the blindness for what seemed like ages. He could not see in front, behind, above or below and he was cold. He was colder than before and afraid. The sense of excitement, adventure, and jubilation of his achievement up to now was beginning to wane.
How long does this go on? he thought. This is a very big pond.
After such a long silence, he heard a noise.
Not a voice or a whisper like the one from the water, but a distant and faint repetitive noise, coming from the right, deep within the mist.
Josh stood still, his ears cocked.
What’s that noise? he thought.
He turned towards the direction that the noise was coming from and started walking towards it, through the mist. As he got closer and closer, the noise became louder and clearer. Josh was beginning to think that he knew what this noise could be.
Could it be a frog or maybe a toad? he thought. It sounds like a toad! Surely I haven’t wandered in search of a toad?
Josh was annoyed with himself.
I should have kept going the other way!
Just as he was about to turn back, the toad made a big, noisy croak. As it did, Josh found himself stepping out of the blinding mist and onto thick lush grass. His heart raced as he began to panic and he wondered if he’d gone too far.
Yet still he found courage to keep going as he thought of the general’s great words in Henry’s story – Adventures are not for going backwards.
He walked five steps, the flowery grass brushing his legs like a cat would brush against its master.
Then he stopped and looked up.
He was standing in front of a gigantic tree. Josh recognised this type of tree. There were many of its kind in the grounds of the general’s manor. It was a cherry tree.
It must be the tree from the riddle! he thought.
Josh had never seen such magnificent beauty. This tree was quite different to the others he had seen. It was bigger. Enormous! And it sounded alive – just like the general’s house. Of course, all the other trees were alive too, but Josh felt that he could actually hear this tree. There was a calming, humming sound coming from its trunk. Every now and then, a sudden adventurous gust of breeze would swirl through its leaves and Josh could hear the most beautiful and enchanting music echo from branch to branch.
This tree was so magical and here it was hidden away behind the mist that stopped at the water’s edge, right behind where he was standing.
Josh looked over his shoulder at the mist. It hovered over the water’s edge as if it was guarding the tree, protecting it from everything and everyone on the far side of the lily pond.
Should I go back? he thought again.
‘Why me?’ whispered Josh, looking up into the tree as soft petals fell from its flowers. They whispered soft answers in some language he didn’t understand as they passed his face.
‘This is not a question worthy of an answer on this side of the tree,’ said a deep, croaky voice.
Josh took a few steps back, away from the tree.
‘Did you say that?’ he asked, all bewildered.
First, there was a laugh, and then there came a rustle in the grass near Josh’s feet.
He looked down.
Beneath him was a toad.
It smiled up at Josh then climbed its fat bulging body up onto a large mushroom at the foot of the tree.
The toad laughed again.
‘Of course it didn’t. Trees don’t talk. But I am quite sure if they did talk, they would have very little to say,’ said the toad. ‘Mysterious and magical things are trees, but not talkative.’
Josh gazed in awe at the creature in front of him.
Thoughts filled his mind.
Where has this riddle led me? Where is this strange place of talking toads and stony water paths and things that just aren’t real back home?
The toad smiled at Josh, widening his big bulging eyes as if he was expecting conversation.
Josh shook his head in disbelief.
‘Careful!’ warned the toad. ‘Your journey has not yet begun, and disbelief only leads you down a short and regretful path.’
Josh felt his right hand tingle. He looked down and noticed that the willow wand was glowing.
He had totally forgotten that he was holding it. He reached into his pocket and took out the crinkly page.
To reach your destiny that awaits you,
Not only you, but others must believe.
These were the last two lines of the riddle.
Is it really glowing or is it just the moonlight playing tricks on me? he thought.
‘I must believe,’ whispered Josh.
The toad perked upright on his stool.
Suddenly, everything flashed in Josh’s mind like a memory that was real.
It is real! he thought.
Josh looked at the toad and raised the willow wand above its head. It began to glow stronger.
‘I do believe,’ he heralded.
The toad smiled, but shook its fat head and said nothing.
‘I do believe my destiny,’ stuttered Josh. He was trying so hard and yet the toad still smiled, shook his fat head and said nothing.
With one final burst of words from Josh, he waved the wand again and pointed it at the toad with great intention.
‘I do believe my destiny is beyond the cherry tree.’
The wand discharged golden sparks that crackled through the air, and Josh fell back onto the grass, his whole body tingling from head to toe. He lay flat on his back, staring up to the sky. It was snowing petals from the tree.
When the tingling left his body, Josh grabbed hold of the flowery grass and pulled himself back up. He was soaking wet. He looked around for the toad, wondering what harm he might have caused it.
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The toad was nowhere to be seen.
A cloud of sparkling, golden dust spun and danced over the mushroom where the toad had been sitting.
Josh was stunned.
What happened to the toad? he wondered looking down at the willow wand. It was no longer glowing.
The dancing golden cloud began to slow down and as it did, it grew larger and larger.
When it was about half Josh’s size, it stopped spinning.
Then, it happened: it spoke again.
‘You do believe, and so do I,’ said a voice.
‘Is that you, toad? asked Josh. ‘Where are you?’
The sparkling cloud exploded and standing on the toadstool was a small, skinny and twig-like creature with great big green eyes and large round ears that curled towards its face. It had a flat stumpy nose that looked like Henry had just snipped it with his clippers.
‘Who are you?’ asked Josh. ‘What have you done with the toad?’
The creature raised its hands in the air and smiled.
‘I am the toad, but the toad is no longer me,’ it riddled. Then it merrily hopped and skipped on the mushroom. ‘It was a necessary disguise on this side of the Great Tree – always good to fit in with one’s surroundings, although I take no pleasure in being a toad.’
Josh was confused.
‘I don’t understand.’
The creature stopped dancing and jumped onto the grass, which reached up to its ears.
It waved its way over to Josh and put out one of its hands.
‘Bortwig,’ announced the creature. ‘Tree elf.’ It smiled while still holding out its hand.
‘Tree elf?’ repeated Josh.
‘That’s right,’ said Bortwig, moving his hand away. ‘Tree elf or tree keeper or door master or ninth servant of the Great Tree after Hamvelin, number eight, who died at the young age of one hundred and eleven.’
‘One hundred and eleven,’ laughed Josh.
‘It’s not funny, you know,’ insisted Bortwig. ‘I’m one hundred and forty-two this year and not getting any younger. Now, are you going to shake my hand or not, Master Bloom?’
