Good Afternoon Bloggers,

A little more of the book for your pleasure, still waiting for comments please:




GThe fairies had forgotten all about the competition with all the excitement of the chickens and the goblins returning.

“No, we are not frightened of the competition, we shall be entering. We will be there,” replied Petal.

The lark bid farewell and flew away.

The fairies called an emergency meeting at the pine cone.

“My goodness, we forgot about the competition, and it’s in two days time. We haven’t been over to see the chickens either, they will hate us!” said Blossom.

“I will go over and talk to them” offered Petunia.

“I will come with you” said Blossom.

“Ok girls off you go and report straight back” demanded Lilly.

The two fairies flew straight over to the chickens.

“Hello there” said Blossom.

“How are you settling back in?” Petunia said to Delia. No answer.

“Hello!” Blossom repeated, this time a little louder.

Nigella spoke “I’m sorry, the girls are busy trying to get back to a normal routine after all the recent disruptions, and so, if you wouldn’t mind leaving us alone we would appreciate it.”

“But the competition is in two days, we need to get ready!” replied Petunia. “There will be no competition for us” said Delia. “Please leave us alone.”

The fairies were about to leave when they heard Mariah call out, “I wanted to sing”,

“I did too!” said Whitney.

“And me” shouted Celine. The fairies looked at each other, grinned and looked back at the chickens.

“Let’s practice then” said Blossom.

“You are forgetting one small problem!” said Nigella “WE CAN’T GET THERE!”

“I will use one of my pockets of fairy dust to get you there.” Blossom said.

“If Blossom gets you there I will get you home.” said Petunia.

“Well, that’s settled then, lets practice girls.” squealed Whitney.

“NO!” said Nigella. But the other chickens were so excited and chattering about the event, the chickens never actually heard her. They started to practice their routine immediately.

Blossom and Petunia went back to the hedgerow to tell the other fairies the good news. Lilly was very concerned,

“It will make you both a lot weaker you know using a pocket of fairy dust!”

Jack said “You could die Blossom!”

“It will be worth it just to have the lark beaten once and for all; it will take that smirk off his face.” replied Blossom.

“But, I can’t live without you Blossom!” said Jack, “I Love you!”

Blossom couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Oh Jack, I have always loved you” she said with little teardrops rolling down her delicate face.

“If you are going to do this thing for the chickens we better get married!” said Jack.

“Is that a proposal?” asked Blossom

Jack looked into Blossoms eyes, took her hands in his and on a bended knee, he asked Blossom, “Would you do me the honour of being my wife?”

“Of course I will” replied Blossom as she hugged him with delight.

All the fairies jumped for joy.

“It will have to be tomorrow then; the competition is the day after.” said Blossom.

“I will make the dress.” Said Petal,

“I will make the cake” said Daphne excitedly.

“I will do the rest of catering” announced Donnella. Everything went quiet.

“Would you really do that for me?” said Blossom to Donnella.

“It would be my pleasure.”She replied.

Drake approached Jack and Blossom. He addressed and asked; “May I give you away at your wedding? “

“You may.” Blossom said with a beaming smile.

“Thank you so much” replied Drake.

There was a lot of love and happiness in the hedgerow that day

Chapter Five

The Wedding

Drake and Donnella were sat in their retreat which the fairies had made for them. The hideaway was at the base of the hawthorn tree. The fairies had twisted together loads of sticks to make a canopy like structure, almost like a tent. It was big enough to sleep in and they had made themselves nice comfortable beds with the fallen leaves from the trees. The fairies had made them very welcome, which was not at all expected .Usually, fairies and goblins never mix. Drake and Donnella were talking about the wedding, Donnella had offered to do the catering, but she only knew how to cook with worms.

“I think I shall have to have a talk to Lilly and ask her for some advice about the wedding food.

” No! I think Daphne is the one you must ask.” replied Drake

” But she is making the cake for today, she will be very busy.” Insisted Donnella

“Just do some of the recipes you know, the fairies like worms don’t they?”

”I don’t think fairies eat a lot anyway, the majority will be for the guests.” Said Drake

“Ok, I’ll do my best.” replied Donnella.

The fairies were all very busy organising the hedgerow for the wedding.

“Are you going to ask the owl to marry you?” Lilly asked Blossom.

“No, I think Jack wants the blackbird to perform the ceremony!” replied Blossom. As they were talking, the tawny owl descended onto the hedgerow.

“I believe my services are required, I heard a rumour that someone is getting married today” hooted the owl.

“Oh, er, I’m not sure, erm, well you see...and it’s not just my decision.”ood Afternoon Bloggers,

Tomorrow I'm going to be 50 so a few comments would be a nice Birdie pressie please

Polly x

Good Afternoon,

Getting exciting now, here is some more of the book :

*****The lady from the house at the top of the garden still hadn’t noticed there was a chicken missing, or, if she had, she hadn’t done anything about it.

Jack, not knowing what to do about the goblins, had flown off alone to seek some help and advice from the elves. He had gone alone, but as a precaution had told Blossom of his plans. It had taken him half a day to find exactly where the elves were living. He knew it was by the big old oak tree, but, did not know the exact spot. He had quietly flown off as the other fairies were milling about keeping busy and trying to act as normal as possible.

Blossom kept regular checks on the chickens, they still didn’t know about the goblins. Lilly had told them that they were going to keep going down the tunnel looking for Delia.

Jack eventually found the old oak tree and was constantly buzzing around trying to find out where the elves were hiding. Suddenly, out of a hollow in the tree he saw a face.

Jack shouted, “Hello are you one of the elves?”

The little man replied “What do you mean are you one of the elves! I am the elves. What is your business little sparrow?”

“Erm, I need to speak to erm, your leader please.” replied Jack sheepishly.

“You can,” said the elf, “When you tell me your business.”

“I need to know, if you know, how to deal with goblins.”  Jack told him.

“Ok, little sparrow, I’ll go and ask” said the elf to Jack.

With that he jumped   down to the ground and started speaking to an invisible person.

“Hey! Do you know how to speak to goblins?” said the elf, with his back towards Jack.

It appeared he was talking to thin air, he then jumped around and faced Jack and said, “Yes of course I do, who wants to know?”

The elf jumped back again with his back again facing Jack and said,

“Who are you, our leader wants to know?”

Jack then said, “Excuse me, are you teasing me? I have come a long way to find you, I need your help. Will you help me or not? Because, if you do not want to help me I will go back right now!”

He was very tired, angry and hungry all at the same time and not in the mood for this nonsense.

“Ok, ok, I’m sorry” said the elf. “Yes I am an elf, but I am on my own and a bit bored to be honest, the other elves are helping the pixies to move into a new home. The elf beckoned Jack into his hollow in the big old oak tree, he said, “Tell me what is your dilemma, little sparrow, what is it you want to know about the goblins”.

Jack was so relieved to hear this and followed the elf into the hollow. Inside the hollow was very homely it was a lovely home with beautiful homemade decorations and plush seats made of all sorts of feathers.

There were shelves with little trinkets on them. The hollow was lit all over by fire flies.

“Ok” said the elf, “Let’s start off properly by introducing ourselves. I am Elgar.” “Hello Elgar my name is Jack.”

With the formalities out of the way Jack started to tell the whole tale, about the chickens and the competition, and how they had dug a tunnel, Delia going missing. He was just starting to tell Elgar about the town and the goblins, when suddenly in the distance, he heard Blossom calling his name.

“Jack,” she called, “Come quickly we need you back immediately.” she shouted repeatedly.

Jack turned to Elgar and said “Sorry I have to go now, but, I will return, I promise, thank you for listening to me.” He quickly left the hollow and flew towards Blossom.

As soon as he was by her side he asked.

“What is it Blossom? What is so urgent, I was just telling Elgar the elf about the chickens, the tunnel and the goblins!”

“Its Delia!” shrieked Blossom, “she is back home and she has got Shinney with her and two goblins!”

The two fairies flew like the wind for what seemed like ages, they arrived back at the hedgerow.

From the hedgerow, the fairies could hear the chickens clucking and squawking they were all very happy to be re-united.

Jack was looking at two hairy creatures that stood about the same height as the chickens.

Lilly said, “They have come in peace, Jack!”

Drake approached Jack and said “Lilly is right. We do come in peace; we have returned your friends and we are now looking for somewhere to make a home, because we cannot return to our tribe ever again!”

Lilly spoke softly, “We thank you for returning our friends to us and you are welcome to join us in the hedgerow until you find yourselves a new place to live. What are your names?” asked Jack.

“My name is Drake. I am the son of Fidget Frost Rainbow Dancer. This is my best friend, Donnella; we come from the Wah Wah tribe.”

“Would you like something to eat?” asked Daphne,

“Oh yes please.” replied Donnella.

“We haven’t eaten for ages, since before the vote.”

Daphne quickly scurried around making a selection of hedgerow goodies. “Here we are!” she said quite proud of her effort.

“Oh I’m sorry” said Donnella, “I should have told you, we only eat worms and slugs.”

“That’s not a problem!” replied Daphne and went back under the hedgerow, muttering under her breath, she was saving these for her regular visitors. She presented the food to Drake and Donnella. As they were tucking in Jack said, “Tell us more about your tribe and your father.”

“Let them finish their dinner first”, snapped Petal, who was intrigued by the two goblins.

Back at the chicken coop, Nigella said, “Thank heavens you are both alright”, “Thank you for rescuing me” said Shinney, she continued talking, “At one point we thought we were going to be eaten, but they were quite good to us, they gave us food and water and made us comfortable.”

“We didn’t come to rescue you.” said Mariah!”

“Shut up” said Celine.”

Mariah continued, “Well, we didn’t, we thought Shinney had escaped. We were just digging a tunnel from here to the hedgerow, so that we can enter the singing competition!”

“That’s right,” said Nigella, “Make Shinney feel really welcome, why don’t you!” she said sarcastically.

“Oh the competition, we need to practice” squealed Whitney.

Sophie said, “The competition is off!  It’s caused us enough trouble! I haven’t been able to eat, lay eggs or anything since Delia went missing, it’s not worth all the anguish.”

With this said a big row occurred that went on for over an hour, by the end of which, they had all fallen out and nobody was talking to each other. They sat in silence until dawn.

The very next morning, both the lady and the man came to bring food and let the chickens out.

“See, I told you they were back!” said the man, “I saw them in the garden coming out of a hole in the ground. “

“I was convinced a fox had got them” replied the lady.

The man looked at the lady and said “Maybe they will start laying eggs again now!  If they do you can keep them, if they don’t they are going!”

“I will fill that hole in, so they won’t disappear again.” said the lady.

She returned five minutes later with a spade and filled in the hole that the chickens had started to dig.

After listening to the man and lady talking Sophie said, “Well, that settles it girls, no competition and we better start laying more eggs!”

At the hedgerow, the goblins had settled in very nicely, but Daphne was worried that having them there would put the other visitors off calling at the hedgerow. She couldn’t have been more wrong.

A steady stream of visitors passed through on the first day and as the days went by more and more called as word got round about the goblins. Curiosity is a strange thing for all creatures.

A few days later at noon, the lark called at the hedgerow, he had won the competition for the past four years with his outstanding songs. He asked the fairies,

“Are you not entering this year girls? Frightened of the competition?”

Polly x

Here is next installment :



****“Drake, what have you done?” squealed Brucie, “Father will be furious, only he ever makes announcements like that! I’m going back home; I just hope he doesn’t catch son?”he demanded of, Drake “I told you we were going to eat them and now you have undermined my authority, I can’t go to my people now and say that you didn’t mean it because half of them will be with Radella and want to free them. You have made a mockery of my command, if the chickens are freed you can go with them, you are no longer welcome in this community!”

FF turned and left.

Drake was shaking; Donnella saw him, went over to him and put her arm around him.

“It’s alright Drake, I am with you, whatever happens. If your father really does banish you from here I will go too.” she said.

He turned to her and put his arms around her and wept.

“I thought he would have been proud of me for using my initiative and sorting the problem out.”

“There, there” said Donnella, “I will wait here with you until the tribe return to the square and vote. Whatever fate they decree, I am here for you.”

“Thank you Donnella.”  Drake smiled at her and held her hand in his.

They sat quietly and waited for what seemed like an eternity. The square started to fill up with goblins, they watched and in the distance they could see FF scowling and still fuming about the whole situation.

The time had come; Drake bravely got up and spoke. “We need a show of hands. To save the chickens and send them back to their home please raise your hand now.”

At first there was silence, and then slowly, they all started to raise their hands.

“Now, if you want to have a meal of the chickens raise your hands.”

Only four or five hands were in the air.

Drake spoke again “The majority have spoken; the chickens will go free, thank you all.”

A lone voice said “three cheers for Drake for allowing us to have this vote, Hip, Hip,” and then a full rowdy crowd shouted” Hurray! Hurray! Hurray!”

The gathering in the square dispersed and FF marched over to Drake.

“I know Father,” said Drake, “I will go with the chickens. You will never see me again and I am sorry I acted unwisely. Thank you for everything.”

He turned and briskly walked away.

FF tried, but, failed to call him back.

Chapter Four

Back at the hedgerow.

The chickens and the fairies had stopped digging whilst Delia was missing. The moles had gone, and were back looking after their own young. The fairies thanked them and gave them some extra worms and grubs that they had foraged for. The three singing chickens had stopped practising; they were all much too worried about Delia.ood Morning

Catch you later, comments please.

Polly x

 Good Afternoon Bloggers,

Hope you are enjoying Hedgerow Diaires by Polly P Perkins, This is still only in draft form. the Hedgerow Diaries website should be up and running for you to place your order within the month. Here is another taster for you.Radella stood up and said,” I need to see these creatures before I can advice, where are they being kept?”

Brucie replied “Follow me I will take you to them and then we will resume the meeting”

up with you.”

Just then FF stomped into the square, he was raging mad, “What have you done***“The rest of us will remain here until your return, then, we shall continue the discussion.” Said FF

Brucie and Radella walked down the corridor, turned left and then right into the room the chickens were being held.

Radella spoke to the chickens

“Who are you and why are you here?”

“We are chickens and we stumbled into your town by mistake, we mean you no harm we were just trying to burrow over to the hedgerow to meet with our friends.” (she didn’t mention that the friends were fairies, she didn’t know if they were enemies or not.)

“We don’t mean you any harm either!” said Radella, “You are welcome to stay with us, maybe we can come and meet your friends with you? We are a peaceful tribe. Welcome!”

“Give the chickens something to eat, I will go and report to the others. My name is Radella and I will find you a guide to take you back to where you came from.” He said to the chickens.

The chickens were so relived and excited at the same. Delia wondered if they would be back in time for the competition.

Back at the meeting room Radella spoke, “We have ourselves some chickens. I spoke to them and welcomed them to our tribe. I have promised them someone will guide them back to their home.”

“No!” shouted FF. “We can eat these chickens. It will be a hearty feast!”

Radella intervened, “Just let them go, we have enough to eat here, it will be a kindly act, the other creatures think we are a savage race and this will change their attitude towards us.”

FF stormed out of the meeting. He was not happy, he had to think of his tribe, they depend on him to provide for them, here we are with a potentially good supply of meat and that stupid old man wants to let them go, just so everyone will like us! FF mumbled himself.

Meanwhile, Radella was organising a team to take the chickens back to where they came from.

“Oh dear” said Brucie, “Father is not happy. I can see us having problems.”

“I know” said Drake.

“We have to support Father, but I have to agree with Radella, it would be the right thing to do.”

Drake said “Leave it to me, Brucie, I have an idea.”

Drake went hurrying off towards the main tower,  once there he rang  the big bell, he rang it frantically, RING RING, RING RING, he rang the bells for some five minutes, all the goblins came out of their buildings and assembled on the  town square.

Drake left the tower and entered the town square. He stood on the box, where his father usually stands to make announcements. In his loudest voice he said;

“Members of the Wah Wah tribe we need to have a vote on an issue that cannot be agreed upon between our committee! We have in captivity, two chickens which we could eat, which maybe, would provide a half plateful for each family. Or, we can let them go back to their home. Letting them go would give us a good name with all the other creatures. We want you to decide.  Either we eat the chickens or release them and let them go back to their home wherever that may be. We will meet back on the square in one hour, when you have had time to talk to your families and discuss the issue. We shall then vote, like the good democratic tribe that we are. See you in one hour! If you don’t attend you cannot vote!”

Enjoy!!

Hi Bloggers,
Time to me*The Goblins

The goblins that the fairies had seen in the underground town were from the Wah Wah tribe. They had built up a small community deep in the bowels of the earth, way under the hedgerow.

The Wah Wah community was named after their famous founder; Fidget Wah Wah Rainbow Dancer. He brought lone goblins together and eventually they settled and formed the Wah Wah tribe.

Goblins generally eat earthworms and slugs and snails, which are readily available deep in the earth. They even have their own worm farm which produces enough sustenance for all the community. Slugs and snails are a treat.  The goblins have their own colony of glow worms or fire flies, (lamapyris noctilura) these help to light the public areas and individual dwellings.

The current leader of the tribe is Fidget Frost Goblin, the tribe call him FF. He is a direct ancestor of Fidget Wah Wah Rainbow Dancer. FF has four sons, Brucie Frost Goblin, Drake Frost Goblin, Niblog Frost Goblin and Forster Frost Goblin. He has two wives which is very common for a tribe leader.

Brucie and Drake will take over command of the tribe when their father retires.

FF runs a tight ship and all his helpers organise the rest of the community. They organise the gathering of all necessary materials for day to day life. Roots for burning, the drawing of drinking water from the underground streams and the up keep of the worm farms.

All the families that live amongst the tribe have to be answerable to FF’s helpers.

The majority of goblins are very hairy and wear green or green and yellow tunics. They have huge feet and hands and all have very similar facial features.

When they smile, they show the most enormous teeth that would fear any normal living soul.

The only ones that do not fear the goblins are the Hobgoblins. Hobgoblins are larger than goblins and usually live high in the hills. Hobgoblins eat anything and anyone and have been known to hunt down goblin communities when they are really hungry.

They seem to have some kind of extra sensory perception for finding various goblin tribes. FF, being a good leader, had agreed many truces with various hobgoblins over the years which had prevented any bloodshed.

Although the goblins had captured the two chickens, they didn’t really know what they were or what to do with them; they put them in a room whilst they had a meeting about them. The meeting was scheduled for this morning at 10 am. FF, his helpers and his sons; Drake, Brucie, Forster, and Niblog would be in attendance. Also attending will be Radella; he was the wise man, the sage, the councillor. He sometimes has the ability to see into the future.

FF trusted his judgement implicitly.

Donnella and Elvira her mother, two female goblins went to get the room ready, sweeping and dusting and making a snack for them with some drinks etc.

They left the room just as FF and the others were coming down the corridor.

The meeting started. FF headed the meeting. Brucie stood up and explained the situation,

“As you know we have captured two creatures, we have never seen anything like them before, they eat worms like us, they drink water, but they don’t say very much. One of them has black feathers and the other one has brown feathers, they have a beak like a bird and they lay eggs because one of them left one in the room, we don’t know if they are safe to eat or not?”

Radella stood up and said,” I need to see these creatures before I can advice, where are they being kept?”

Brucie replied “Follow me I will take you to them and then we will resume the meeting”et the goblins,

All for now
Dont forget to make comments please need feedback

Polly

Good Afternoon,

The sun is shining and its a lovely day here. Some more of the book for you, please let me know what you think so far:

***“Ok! Ok! I’ll go, but, I’ll take Jack with me in case anything untoward has happened to her.”

“What do you mean? Do you know something we don’t?” asked Whitney.

“There are a lot of creatures that dwell underground in this area. I just hope she hasn’t encountered any of them. We will see, I will keep you, posted.”

Off Lilly flew, back to the fairies.

Back at the hedgerow she arrived with the terrible news. “Petal, Petunia, Daphne, Blossom, Jack quickly, we have a problem on our hands!”

Chapter Three

The Rescue

The fairies got together to discuss what Lilly had just told them. They were thinking all sorts of things!

Could it be a weasel that had Delia, or a rat maybe?  None of them dared to think that the goblins might have Delia. Not this close to the surface of the earth; they built their habitats far, far deeper.

“First, we need to go and investigate. Who wants to volunteer?” asked Jack.

“I’m still feeding the moles children at the moment so I can’t leave them” replied Daphne.

“I’ll go.” said Jack.

“I’ll go with you too.”  Blossom piped up.

“No “Lilly said, “You need to go over to the chickens and reassure them that things are in order. “I will go with Jack.”

Lilly and Jack flew off in apprehension of what they might find.

“This is just an investigation isn’t it?“  Jack asked Lilly

“Yes, you big softy, come on let’s go to where the chickens started to dig the tunnel, where Delia was last seen!” Lilly replied.

They found the entrance to the tunnel and flew gingerly down the hole,

“This is getting a bit deep!” Jack said, “Shall we go back? I can’t see Delia anywhere!”

“Keep going, keep going!” replied Lilly.

Neither of the fairies could see a thing; the hole was getting deeper and deeper.

“I think she lost her sense of direction didn’t she, she should have been going across not down!” muttered Jack.

“Stop!” whispered Lilly, “I can see a bit of light.”

“Go and see what it is then” said Jack. She peered into the lighted area and couldn’t believe her eyes. A full town appeared, and it was the GOBLINS.

“Go back, QUICKLY!” cried Lilly. “ The GOBLINS have got her!”

They made their way back up the hole, just before they reached the opening, Lilly said to Jack “Don’t tell the chickens anything about what we have just seen, we’ll go and have another look later OK.”

“Ok boss” said Jack, sarcastically.

 That's all for now folks.

Polly

Good Morning Bloggers,

Some more of my book. Would still like any comments.

Thanks

***On this fateful day, Delia was back on digging duty when suddenly, she fell and tumbled many metres into a huge empty space, it was nothing like she had ever seen before, another world. As her eyes became used to the dimness she could see small houses and other buildings and a small stream running through the middle.

It was lovely and clean and she could see figures milling about inside the buildings. One of the figures came out of the nearest building; he was as surprised to see her as she was to see him. He was short and fat and had long hair and a beard, he wore  a green jacket and trousers and boots that came up  to his knees. He shrieked! Delia shrieked! Suddenly, lots of other little men that looked very similar came out of the houses and the buildings. Delia didn’t know what to do or where to turn to. The first little man came up to her and said,

“Hello! What are you doing here in our town, where did you come from?”

Delia replied “I was just digging a tunnel and I stumbled into your town. I’m sorry, I really must be going now back to the others, lovely meeting you good bye!”

“Not so fast”, said the larger man behind him, “Who are you?”

“I’m Delia, I am a chicken, and who are you?”

“I am Gorgon and I am a goblin, we have seen your sort before, take her to the other creature we acquired, give her something to eat and we will let our leader decide what to do with her later.”

Delia was taken into one of the large buildings through some long corridors and into a very small room. The room was very dark and damp. In the corner, cowering, she saw Shinney.

“Oh my goodness Shinney, how did you get here?”

“I might ask you the same question, but I guess it will be the same answer, trying to escape where we?”

“No, no, you don’t understand!” replied Delia. She went on to explain about how they were locked in the compound after Shinney escaped and how they needed to dig a tunnel so that they could enter the competition and about the mole at one end and the chickens at the other end,  she was just getting to the end of her tale, when the door flew open.

A very small goblin stood at the doorway shaking. He was holding a bowl in his hands. “I am Kevin, I brought you some food. The others are just deciding what to do with you both. Eat this and I will collect the bowl later.” He rushed out of the door and they heard it being locked behind him.

“Oh! My goodness Shinney! What are we going to do?”

“Well, if they are deciding what to do with us, I guess we don’t have any choice in the matter!” answered Shinney forlornly.

Meanwhile back in the compound, it was getting really late and Nigella was starting to worry about Delia. It was almost time to lock up and the lady would be along shortly. She shouted down the tunnel, but, there was no response. She went into the coup as usual and hoped nobody would notice there was one missing.

The doors were locked a few minutes later and the rest of the chickens settled down to a sleepless night.

The next morning, they were petrified that the lady would notice that they were one short, but thankfully, it was the man who opened up and brought their food and he wouldn’t know the difference anyway.

The chickens huddled together discussing Delia’s disappearance. Thankfully, Lilly flew over to the coop.

“Hello gang!” Said Lilly cheerfully,” How are progressing with the tunnel from here? How far have you gone? We are up to the edge of the apple tree now, so, we should be almost at meeting point.”

“Lilly!” Shrieked Nigella,” We have lost Delia in the hole. She was digging as normal last evening, but, she hasn’t returned yet! We need you to fly into the hole and look for her!”

“Yes, yes please do.”They all cackled in unison

By Polly P Perkins

Bye for now...

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Good Afternoon Bloggers,

Here is another part of my book, if you are enjoying the excerpts please could you post a comment on for me to see I would really appreciate it.

Here goes:

***“I’ve only got two left” said Blossom and Petunia, Lilly also only had two pockets of fairy dust left.

“Well, it looks like it’s the manual method then.” said Jack. “I’ll go and look for the moles.” with that said Jack was away with the wind.

Petunia and Petal flew over to the chickens to tell them their idea.

“We’ve got an idea, we’ve got an idea!” Petal shouted as she hovered over the chicken compound.

“Let’s hear it then” said Nigella

“The plan is to dig a tunnel from here to the hedgerow.” You girls start digging from here in the compound, and we’ll start at the hedgerow and we can meet in the middle.”

“Sounds great “said Mariah “When do we start?”

“We need to decide how to do it so the lady that brings our food doesn’t notice.” said Sophie. “If we start digging after morning feed and cover it up as we go, she will never suspect a thing. She always collects the eggs when she brings the food.”

“Sounds plausible.” said Nigella,

“It sounds like a bit of fun. Tell the other fairies were on!” said Whitney excitedly.

Petal flew back to the hedgerow and told everybody the news. Jack was still out looking for the moles to ask them for their help.

There was excitement all around the hedgerow.

The Jackdaw was flying past and heard the commotion; he landed and asked, “What’s going on here then?” He was a sly looking bird, with a grey neck and pale eyes; he looked similar to a crow and was usually with a mate. He always entered the competition but his song was much like a ‘chatter, chatter’, than a melody.

“We are looking for the moles to ask for their help” blurted out Blossom.

“Help you do what?” quizzed the jackdaw.

“We are having a spring clean here under the hedgerow. We always ask the moles to dig us a hole to bury all the debris in. We do this every year, after all, we have visitors that expect everywhere to be spick and Span.” said Lilly quickly to cover up Blossoms blunder.

“Where is your mate today then Mr Jackdaw?”, continued Lilly.

“She is on the nest sitting on the eggs, I was just out looking for a few worms and other tasty things.“ replied the sly old bird.

“I would get back there if I was you,” chirped up Petunia.”We had a pine marten in the hedgerow a couple of days ago and you know they are partial to jackdaw eggs don’t you? “

“Pinemarten? What is that, I’ve never heard of one!” replied the Jackdaw.

“He is a very wily creature, Tarquinii is his name, it’s very unusual to see one actually, but, they probably have to travel a distance to scavenge these days.” said Lilly

“Ok folks, better get on, oh by the way, will you, or any of your friends be entering this year?” asked the Jackdaw in a matter of fact way.

“Entering what?” replied Lilly.

“The competition of the year of course, the singing competition, I believe it’s being held up at the willow tree this year. I have been practising and I think I’m in with a good chance this time. See you soon!” and with that said, the jackdaw flew back to his mate.

“Phew! That was a close shave!” said Lilly, “Blossom, you need to be careful what you are saying!”

“I didn’t know it was a secret” answered Blossom.

“It’s not a secret, but Jackdaw is a blabbermouth and he will tell all the wrong creatures about the chickens. We don’t know for certain yet if we can even get them to the competition on time.” replied Lilly.

At that moment, Jack returned.

“Hi girls, I have found the moles, but, they say they are too busy to help.”

“I hope you offered something to entice them.” Lilly said.

“Well actually I erm, well sort of erm offered your services whilst they help us.”

“What do you mean offered my services?” demanded Lilly.

“Well, just at the moment, they are feeding their young and are really busy finding food for themselves and the little ones and I sort of said you would find them all the food they needed” replied Jack, sheepishly.

“How many young are there?” Lilly demanded to know.

“Only seven” Jack said in a hushed voice, hoping that Lilly would not hear him properly.

“SEVEN! Oh my goodness! That’s a full day and nights work feeding them.” cried Lilly.

“It’s either that or use a pocket of fairy dust to move the chickens!” answered Jack.

“Ok, Ok I’ll do it” said Lilly.

“We’ll do it together” offered Blossom and Petal at the same time.

“Ok that’s that then, what will I be doing,” asked Petunia.

“Someone needs to coach the chickens with their singing and act as a look out and that will be your job, Petunia.” said Petal.

The fairies had a mission and the mission was starting tomorrow.

Next morning the chickens were busying themselves about their compound and as soon as the lady had gone back up the garden they started to dig the tunnel.

The chickens had discussed it and were going to take it in turns to dig, with one as look out and one moving the earth away. The tunnelling was down to Nigella, Sophie and Delia, because the others had to practice their singing routine. They started digging in the far corner.

Delia was frantically dig, dig, digging with all her might, Sophie was on look out helped by Petunia. Nigella was on earth moving duty and ready to cover the tunnel entrance over with a huge branch they had found, as and when necessary.

At the end of each day when the lady came down the garden to lock the chickens away, the branch was put over the hole and everything looked absolutely normal. The next few days were the same for the chickens.

From the hedgerow end, the mole was frantically digging to meet up with the chickens.

On this fateful day, Delia was back on digging duty when suddenly, she fell and........


Polly