by Sally Odgers
Percy backed away.
“These are my friends, Olive and Tweet,” Pearl said.
“Lovely to meet you,” Olive said in her politest voice. “Are you going to help us get rid of the gobble-uns in the pond?”
Tweet flew up. She tried to land on Percy’s head, but he moved away.
“Pearl said you do magic just like her,” Olive said.
Percy tossed his mane. “I do proper magic.”
“You do it your way. Pearl does it her way,” Olive said.
“Just watch, Olive,” said Pearl. “Percy will get rid of those gobble-uns.”
Olive grinned and blew her horn. “Let’s go, then.”
Olive and Tweet raced toward the pond.
But Percy didn’t move.
Pearl wanted to run after her friends, but she also wanted to get rid of the gobble-uns from the pond. She looked over at Prince Percy. What was she going to do?
Chapter 7
Pearl raced after her friends. She was happy to see that Prince Percy soon trotted behind her.
When they arrived, the gobble-uns were still being stinky. The pond was full of garbage, and the gobble-uns were cooking something horrible in the big pot.
“Stinky stew!
Stinky stew!
All for me,
None for you,” they sang.
Then one of them turned and spotted Pearl and Percy.
“Ooh, look! Let’s make ’em stinky!”
The biggest gobble-un grabbed a rotten turnip and threw it at Pearl. It splattered all over her white coat.
“Get the other one!” howled the big gobble-un.
The gobble-uns scooped up green glop and threw it toward Percy.
Percy backed away. “Ew! Ew! Ew!”
“Do your proper magic,” Pearl said. “I’ll stand in front of you so they don’t splatter you.”
Pearl moved in front of Percy. A mushy lettuce leaf hit her in the face and dangled from her horn. A squashed toadstool hit her shoulder. More and more stinky things came flying toward her.
“Hopping hogs, Percy! Say the words!” Pearl cried, ducking as a mushy mushroom came flying her way.
“Um … gobble-uns…” Percy began. “I—I can’t think of a rhyme!”
“I can!” said Tweet.
Pearl and Percy looked up to see Tweet swoop into view above the trees.
“Wobble-un!” she cried.
That was it!
“Gobble-un! Wobble-un!” Pearl yelled. She added a prance-flick-kick-wiggle-hop as more sloppy gobble-un garbage flew her way.
Suddenly the gobble-uns stopped throwing things. They froze, and then one of them wobbled. Another one fell against him. Soon they were all stumbling around.
“Wobble!” Tweet squawked.
The gobble-uns were wobbling all right, but they weren’t going away. One of them wobbled right into the pond!
Pearl tried to think of some more words to use, but all she could remember were the lollipop words Percy had used.
A stinky gobble-un wobbled toward Percy and tangled his stinky fingers in the unicorn’s mane.
“Argh!” Percy cried. Then he turned and galloped away.
The wobbling gobble-uns wobbled backward as Olive ran toward them, blowing her horn.
Every time Olive blew the horn, the gobble-uns wobbled a few steps away.
Olive was blowing them back. Pearl gave up trying to think of rhymes. What could she do?
Aha! She remembered. Gobble-uns loved stink and hated pink! And Pearl knew just how to magic up something pink. Wiggle-wiggle-stamp.
A shower of prickly pink roses fell out of the sky and landed on the gobble-uns.
“Ugh! Pink! Yuck! Icky flowers!” The gobble-uns tried to get rid of the roses, but the prickles stuck to their clothes.Wiggle-wiggle-stamp.
More roses rained down, sweetly scenting the pond.
Olive blew her horn as loud as she could.
The gobble-uns stuck their dirty fingers in their ears and ran away, covered in roses.
Tweet swooped after them, giggling. “Gobble-un, wobble-un! Pink stink! Run run run!”
Olive blew one last blast and then put down the horn. She grinned from ear to ear.
Pearl looked at the pond. It was still full of garbage and roses, but the gobble-uns had gone.
“Jiggling jelly, Olive, we did it!” Pearl said. “Tweet thought of the rhyme, and you blasted your horn.”
“And you covered them with roses,” Olive said. She started to do the ogre stomp, her favorite dance.
“And I didn’t do anything,” Prince Percy said as he walked up to them, looking sad. “I’m sorry, Princess Pearl Pretty Pants. I just couldn,t think of the proper words in a hurry.”
“Your proper magic almost worked,” Pearl said. “It just needed some help.”
“From friends,” Olive said. Then she hugged Percy.
“Gobble-un run,” Tweet said. “Wobble-un, gobble-un.” She walked along Pearl’s back, wobbling and giggling.
Pearl sighed. “There’s still a problem. The pond’s all garbagey. I don’t know how we’re going to get it clean.”
Percy raised his head. “Make the pond as clean as we’ve ever seen,” he said.
And it worked! All the garbage disappeared!
“Cleaning the pond is a good quest,” Pearl said.
“Yes … but I think I found something better,” Percy said. “I found out there’s more than one way to be a proper unicorn.”
Pearl smiled.
Tweet giggled.
Olive blew her horn and continued to dance the ogre stomp.
Pearl joined in. Hoppity-stamp-swish-wiggle-swish!
Oops!
Pearl’s magic had turned Prince Percy’s blue mane …
… pink!
About the Author
SALLY ODGERS was born in Tasmania, Australia, in 1957, and has lived there ever since. Sally began writing as a child, and her first book was published in 1977. More than 250 books have followed, including Good Night, Truck. She is married to Darrel Odgers, and they have two adult children, James and Tegan. Darrel and Sally live in a house full of books, music, and Jack Russell terriers.
Visit her online at SALLYODGERS.WEEBLY.COM, or sign up for email updates here.
About the Illustrator
ADELE K THOMAS is a Melbourne-based illustrator, director, and art director with over ten years of design experience in animation production, TV, children’s books, advertising, and apps.
Visit her online at ADELEKTHOMAS.COM, or sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
About the Author and Illustrator
Copyright
A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK
An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271
PEARL THE PROPER UNICORN. Text copyright © 2019 by Sally Odgers. Illustrations copyright © 2019 by Adele K. Thomas. All rights reserved. Printed in China by RR Donnelley Asia Printing Solutions Ltd., Dongguan City, Guangdong Province.
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945 ext. 5442 or by email at [email protected].
Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto
Originally published in 2019 in Australia by Scholastic Australia under the title Pearl the Proper Unicorn.
First US edition, 2021
eISBN 9781250235558
mackids.com
