Hi Bloggers,
Sorry not been posting. Have been re editing the book and am using other methods. As a rare treat I am posting the first few pages again for you all to refresh your minds of what the book is about; Enjoy.
Polly x
Blurb:
Enter the realms of fantasy and go on
a magical journey filled with Fairies, Elves, Goblins and Hobgoblins. Meet a
frolic of fairies, Blossom, Daphne, Lilly, Petal, Petunia and Jack. Follow them
as they befriend some new arrivals in their garden and embark on new and daring
adventures.
The fairies are called upon to help
find Delia, one of their new friends that have suddenly disappeared. They must enter the underground world of the
Goblins. Can they save her? Will they
survive meeting the Goblins?
Polly P. Perkins specialises in books
for reluctant, struggling young readers. Offering them a little light hearted
escapism. The Hedgerow Diaries is a real spell binder!
Main Characters
Fairies:
Blossom, Daphne, Lilly, Petal, Petunia and Jack
Chickens:
Nigella,
Delia, Sophie, Celine, Whitney, Mariah, Shinney, Sandra and Cathy
Goblins:
FF (Fidget Frost Goblin), Brucie, Drake, Niblog, Forster, Donnella,
Elvira, Athena and Brenda
Hobgoblins,
Herbert, Bertha, Bill, Bob and Gabriel Bogmuncher
Elves: Elgar,
Arif, Foster, Brock, Aelfric
Owl:
Tony
the tawny owl
Pine Marten:
Tarquinii
The Hedgerow Diaries
Prelude
Have you ever felt like you
are being watched? That
funny, tingling feeling when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You look
around, you think you see something moving, but dismiss it from your mind.
Sometimes, especially in gardens, you feel something brushing against you very
delicately. You look but do not see anything. It’s as though you were touched
by the finest silk threads. It’s not your imagination.
It’s the fairies.
The majority of people
can’t see them. Small children under
five and animals can see them. Very
rarely indeed, an older person might see them. But, they are always there.
Fairies are very small creatures, almost see through with delicate wings and a
tunic made from the finest silk you ever did see. The majority of fairies live
in small groups in gardens and the hedgerows of the world. They look up to the
elves, who seem to have the answer for everything the fairies need to know.
The fairies sworn enemy
are the goblins. They live in burrows beneath the earth. Another enemy are the
hobgoblins that live high up in the hills. The hobgoblins eat everything and
anything including goblins, fairies and it has been known in the past that they
have even eaten humans too!
Fairies can perform magic;
they use fairy dust when they need to.
They can basically do
anything with this magic, except bring creatures back to life. Each fairy has
only six pockets of fairy dust; they try not to use it, because some of their
energy is lost every time they perform magic. After their last pocket of fairy
dust, they fade into the flowers or tree blossoms and a brand
new fairy is born.
This is the story of a
group of fairies that live in a hedgerow at the bottom of a garden.
Fairies are very busy
creatures. They look after all the animals that use the hedgerow as a safe
ground while they move around the countryside from one place to another. Some
animals hibernate in the hedgerow and some just visit on their travels. Most
animals are friendly creatures going about their business.
Lilly, Daphne, Blossom,
Petal, Petunia and Jack and their friends live in the hedgerow. Their home is
underneath two very large, dark brown, fleshy mushrooms. They are warm and
fluffy to snuggle up to, and keep off the rain and dew drops.
Daphne has a shock of long
red hair; she wears a red and gold tunic and has silvery iridescent wings. She
would collect all sorts of herbs, bark, flower heads and stamens from flowers,
various leaves and anything in general she thinks she can make a potion out of,
to help the animals that pass through the hedgerow. She thought of herself as
of a nurse of some sort.
Lilly’s tunic is a
bluish-green colour. She also has silvery wings, but they are smaller than
Daphne’s. She has beautiful golden wavy hair. Lilly’s role is to gather food
for all the fairies to eat.
The other fairies in their
group were Petal; she has short brown hair and wears a silver tunic and has
golden coloured wings. Blossom, is quite
tall compared to the others and wears a brown coloured tunic and has light fawn
coloured wings she also has brown hair. Petunia is just pink, pink, and pink,
everything including her hair is pink. Jack is a sparrow fairy, the only male
in the group. Blossom has her eye on him, but he is totally oblivious to her
desires. Jack is quite tall and has brown spiky hair, green tunic and silver
wings; he is undoubtedly the fastest flyer of them all.
There are many other
fairies in their group. There is petal, who has short brown hair, wear a silver
tunic and has golden coloured wings. Blossom, who is quite tall compared to the
others; she wears a brown coloured tunic, has light fawn coloured wings and
also has brown hair. Petunia is just pink, pink and pink. (Everything including
her hair!) is pink. Jack is a sparrow fairy- the only male in the group.
Blossom has her eye on him, but he is totally oblivious to her desires. Jack is
quite tall and has brown spiky hair, a green tunic and silver wings; he is
undoubtedly the fastest flyer of them all. Chapter One
New Neighbours
The garden, beyond the
apple tree, approximately 5 metres away from the fairies hedgerow, had been
left un-disturbed for what seemed like forever. The old man that used to tend
to the garden had left some time ago.
One day, very early, in
the spring, new people moved into the house. Soon after, they started to tidy
the garden. The next thing the fairies noticed was that the garden suddenly had
some very strange looking creatures walking about in it. Six of these creatures
had arrived together, three black and three white. They all had strange looking
red hats on their heads.
Jack said, “They are from
another planet!”
“I need to look after them, they look lost” replied Daphne. Blossom was
really scared and tried to cuddle up to Jack, but he just ignored her.
“Let’s go and ask the elves that live under the big oak tree about them.
They will know, they know everything!” said Petunia.
“Oh no!” said Jack “We
will simply go over to them and ask them who they are. How long are they staying for and what kind of
food do they eat?”
Lilly said, “Well, it was
your suggestion Jack, off you go then!”
Jack stuttered, “Erm well,
erm maybe, one of you girls should go, you are better at making new friends. Remember
how good you were with that hedgehog Lilly!” “Oh!
For goodness sake, OK! I’ll go,” replied Lilly. She took the first brave step
out of the hedgerow and into the garden towards the newcomers. “Hello!” she
called. There was no reaction. The creatures just kept on pecking at the ground
around them, moving the dirt around with their feet and more peck, peck,
pecking.
“Hello!” she shouted a bit
louder. One of the black creatures looked up. She had a beautiful black-purple
plumage with a fleck of brown on her front. She had big piercing eyes and said
in a very soft voice, “Hello,
my name is Nigella, do you live here?”
“Yes” Lilly replied. “You can actually see me then? Not every species
can see me you know, because I am a fairy,” she said.
“Yes I can see you; I have been watching you and your friends in the
hedgerow.” “That’s funny!” said Lilly
“Because we have been watching you. Why do you keep pecking the ground all the
time and then doing a funny dance with you feet afterwards? What are you? Where did you come from? What are your friends called?”
“Hold on, hold on little fairy. One question at a time.”
Nigella called to her sisters to come and meet the fairy. Nigella
introduced Lilly to the other five creatures, whose names were Sophie, Delia,
Mariah, Whitney and Celine. Lilly introduced herself to everyone; they all
responded at once, “Hello we are pleased to meet you!” Nigella said, “Lilly, we
are chickens and we belong to the family in the house at the top of the
garden.” Lilly waved over to the other fairies. Blossom
and Petunia flew out of the hedgerow and started to introduce themselves in a
giddy way, repeating their names and introducing the other fairies. Blossom
chatted away telling the chickens all about their hedgerow and all the animals
that visit them. After Blossom had settled down, Nigella began to tell the
fairies their story. “We
came to this garden from our old garden that was a much bigger compound. Here
we are allowed to forage in the whole garden. Two cats and a giant black dog
also live at the house, but they don’t scare us. We lay eggs and the lady
brings us food every morning!”
Petal said, “We have nests with eggs in, in our hedgerow
in the spring!” “We
had better get back to the hedgerow!” said Daphne, “We can’t stand here
chatting all day.” She immediately flew off back to the hedgerow and started
busying herself under the mushrooms, dabbling with her lotions and potions.
Lilly looked at the other fairy, and then flew off after Daphne. She asked,
“What’s wrong Daphne?” “Oh!
It’s those chickens, I don’t trust them, they still haven’t told us how long
they are staying for and they haven’t told us why they are here. I don’t want
them near our hedgerow, they will frighten off our usual visitors that we have
every year. They don’t need us like our normal friends do!”
“Calm down,” said Lilly. “It
doesn’t matter how long they are staying, we have always said that all god’s
creatures are welcome, haven’t we?”
“I suppose so,” said Daphne. “Well
let’s give them a chance then!” enthused Lilly. Later that day, Lilly
approached Blossom and asked, “What
do you think of our new feathered friends then?”
“Well, I think they are quite big and will eat a lot of food,” replied
Blossom. Lilly laughed. “Trust you to worry about feeding everyone, didn’t you
hear Nigella, she said they are fed by the family at the top of the garden and
all they have to do is lay eggs! “
“Yes,” Blossom
replied, “That’s what worries me, how come they don’t wait for the eggs to
hatch and look after their babies like all the other birds in our hedgerow do?” Lilly looked bemused, “I
never thought of that you know, that is very observant of you Blossom. Maybe we
need to have another chat with the chickens another day and ask them why?” It
was
starting to get dark and
the chickens had gone into their little house inside the compound for the night.
All the fairies were sat around the pine cone, where they always sat in the
evening to have a chat about the day’s events and plan for the next day. On
this night everyone had lots to chat about after meeting the chickens, and
discussed what they thought about them. They all had different ideas about what
they wanted to do the next day for the chickens. Suddenly Daphne said “Hey!, I
don’t trust them, I know we should give them a chance but Blossom is right! why
do they give their eggs up so easily and what is that little dance they do all
the time and what are they looking for, they didn’t answer those questions did
they?”
Jack spoke up, “As the
only male here I would like to know where their men folk are, and why aren’t
they looking after their ladies? I look after all of you night and day and
protect you, don’t I?” “Excuse me, “said
Lilly, “Who was the man that actually spoke to the chickens first?” “Well, I suppose when you put it like
that, but, on the whole I am your protector!” “I think you are a wonderful protector
Jack and I love you!” said Blossom. “I mean, I love that you are our erm, you
know what I mean, I didn’t mean I love you,’ like that,’ I think I will shut up
now. “
“I think it’s time for bed,” said Petunia. “See you all in the morning.”
The next day the fairies
had two visitors at the hedgerow: Toby the toad and Henry the hedgehog. They
had both visited many times before on their travels. Henry had a bad foot and
Daphne took great delight in being able to give him the antidote. She applied
some lotion and wrapped his foot in a doc leaf. Henry was very grateful. Daphne
said,
“You
know, you can actually
make a lot of remedies from doc leaves, I myself have made several different
types of medication from these and... “OK Daphne” Petal said, “We know how
clever you are and we wouldn’t go anywhere else for our cures, but, you do
jabber on a little sometimes. Suddenly,
Jack appeared, flying low over the hedgerow.”Girls!” he said.” The chickens
have come through the garden fence. They are coming this way and they have got
another creature with them!”
“Good morning,“ said Nigella, “We have a new member we would like you to
meet. Everybody, please come and say hello to Shinney.”
“Hello,” said Lilly. “When did you arrive?”
“Last
night,” replied Shinney, “I came from another garden. I was hungry and decided
to fly over the wall. I was walking down the street when the lady from this
house picked me up and put me in with the girls. Nigella here was excited about
her new neighbours and wanted me to meet you right away.” The chickens then
went back to the garden for the day. “That
was a bit strange!” commented Petunia, “but, at least they are being friendly.”
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, everyone foraged for food and Daphne
carried on making her potions. The fairies didn’t see the chickens for the rest
of the week.
On Friday evening, as they
were sat around the pine cone, Petal said, “It’s strange that we haven’t seen
the chickens all week, should we go over and see them tomorrow?”
“That’s a good idea,” said Jack. “I’ll
come with you,” said Blossom.
“Ok, that’s agreed then,” said Lilly,” Good night!”
The next day, as planned, Jack
and Blossom flew over to the chickens’ garden. The chickens were locked inside
their
compound. Jack and blossom
could hear singing coming from inside their coop. They took a closer look and
sure enough Mariah, Celine and Whitney were singing in harmony, and doing a
little wiggly dance to the rhythm.
”Hey
girls!” said Jack “That was beautiful! But, how come you are locked inside your
compound and not roaming about in the garden?”
Sophie replied, “Shinney escaped!
We don’t know where she went and since then the people at the top of the garden
keep the gate closed. They have also made the fence higher and we can’t fly
over anymore, so we won’t be able to come and see you, but you can visit us!” “That’s terrible!”
exclaimed Jack.
“But you three are great singers, maybe you can join in the competition
we do each year,” said Blossom excitedly.
“We can’t join in the competition if we are stuck in here!” said
Nigella. Blossom and Jack flew back to the hedgerow.
