The Selfish Cactuar - Part 5

     “Who hath dared to wound thee?”, cried the Cactuar. “Tell me, that I may slay him!”

     “Nay!”, answered the child. “But, these are the wounds of Love.”

     “Who art thou?” said the Cactuar as a strange awe fell on him and he knelt before the little child.

     The child smiled on the Cactuar and said to him, “You let me play once in your garden. Today you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.”

     And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Cactuar lying lifeless under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.          

          -The End

The Selfish Cactuar - Part 4

     All day long they played, and in the evening they came to the Cactuar to bid him good-bye.

    “‘But where is your little companion?”, he asked. “The boy I put into the tree?”

     “We don’t know”, answered the children. “He has gone away.”

     “You must tell him to be sure and come here tomorrow”, said the Cactuar, but the children said that they did not know where he lived and had never seen him before. The Cactuar felt very sad.

     Every afternoon, when school was over, the children came and played with the Cactuar. But, the little boy whom the Cactuar loved was never seen again. The Cactuar was very kind to all the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and often spoke of him. “How I would like to see him!”, he used to say.

     Years went over, and the Cactuar grew very old and feeble. He could not play about anymore, so he sat in a huge armchair and watched the children at their games while admired his garden. “I have many beautiful flowers”, he said, “but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.”

     One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was eating. He did not hate the Winter now, for he knew that it was merely the Spring asleep and that the flowers were resting.

     Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, and looked and looked. It certainly was a marvelous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a tree quite covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were all golden, and silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved.

     Downstairs ran the Cactuar in great joy, and out into the garden. He hastened across the grass, and came near to the child. When he came quite close his face grew red with anger,and he said, “Who hath dared to wound thee?” For on the palms of the child’s hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on the little feet.

The Selfish Cactuar - Part 3

     What did he see?

     He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had crept in and they were sitting on the branches of the trees. In every tree that he could see there was a little child. The trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered themselves with blossoms and were waving their arms gently above the children’s heads. The birds were flying about and twittering with delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass and laughing. It was a lovely scene. Only in one corner it was still Winter. It was the farthest corner of the garden and in it was standing a little boy. He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree. He was wandering all round it, crying bitterly. The poor tree was still quite covered with frost and snow, and the North Wind was blowing and roaring above it. “Climb up, little boy!”, said the Tree, as it bent its branches down as low as it could. But, the little boy was too tiny.

     And the Cactuar’s heart melted as he looked out. “How selfish I have been!”. he said. “Now, I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children’s playground forever and ever.” He was really, very, sorry for what he had done.

     So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went out into the garden. But, when the children saw him they were so frightened that they all ran away and the garden became Winter again. Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of tears that he did not see the Cactuar coming. The Cactuar strolled up behind him, gently picked him up, and put him up into the tree. The tree broke, at once, into blossom and the birds came and sang on it. The other children, when they saw that the Cactuar was not wicked any longer, came running back, and with them came the Spring. “It is your garden now, little children”, said the Cactuar, and knocked down the wall. When the people were gong to market at twelve o’clock, they found the Cactuar playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen.

The Selfish Cactuar - Part 2

     Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blossoms and little birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Cactuar it was still Winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once a beautiful flower put its head out from the grass, but when it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again, and went off to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost. “Spring has forgotten this garden”, the Snow and Frost cried. “So, we will live here all the year round.” The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees silver. Then they invited the North Wind to stay with them, and he came. He was wrapped in furs. He roared all day about the garden and blew the chimney-pots down. “This is a delightful spot”, he said. “We must ask the Hail on a visit.” So, the Hail came. Every day for three hours he rattled on the roof of the castle till he broke most of the slates, and then he ran round and round the garden as fast as he could go. He was dressed in grey and his breath was like ice.

     “I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming”, said the Selfish Cactuar as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden. “I hope there will be a change in the weather.”

     But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Cactuar’s garden she gave none. “He is too selfish”, Autumn said. So, it was always Winter there. The North Wind, the Hail, the Frost and the Snow danced about through the trees.

     One morning, the Cactuar was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the King’s musicians passing by. It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head, the North Wind ceased roaring and a delicious perfume came to him through the open casement. “I believe the Spring has come at last”, said the Cactuar, and he jumped out of bed and looked out.

________________

The winter time shows you are cold Mr.Cactuar you must be warm and caring for spring PLEASE FOR ME MR.CACTUARRR.

AND WHAT’S OUTSIDE? JKDFGFK MUST FIND OUT

The Selfish Cactuar - Part 1

     Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Cactuar’s garden.

     It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. “How happy we are here!”, the children cried to each other.

     One day the Cactuar came back. He had been to visit his friend the Cornish Tarutaru, and had stayed with him for seven years. After the seven years were over he had said all that he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he determined to return to his own castle. When he arrived he saw the children playing in the garden.

     “What are you doing here?”, he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.

     “My own garden is my own garden”, said the Cactuar. “Anyone can understand that and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself.” So he built a high wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.

TRESPASSERS
WILL BE
PROSECUTED

      He was a very selfish Cactuar. The poor children had now nowhere to play. They tried to play on the road, but the road was very dusty and full of hard stones, and they did not like it. They used to wander round the high wall when their lessons were over, and talk about the beautiful garden inside.

     “How happy we were there”, the children said to each other.

________________________

PRETTY DESCRIPTIONS

AND NOOO MR.CACTUAR JUST LET THE KIDDIES PLAYYY. Don’t be a meanie who tells people to get off their lawn :|

Lifted - Part 3

     Shears and the other Moogle ignored him.

     “I see something! I see the dump!” The old Moogle cried out. “I see smoke! Come up here! I see fire!”

     “I see nothing,” the other Moogle said.

     Shears saw the fence that surrounded the city dump. He was happy to be with his friend. They would have fun in the dump.

     Suddenly, a car pulled up. It was Shears’ mom. Mrs. Falkner wasn’t about to let her little boy run into the city dump.

     “Not so fast,” she said getting out of the car. “You are not allowed to play in there. Don’t you see the smoke?”

     Shears watched the other Moogle blow against the wall and struggle to get over. He ran over to get it but was unable to reach it.

     Mrs. Falkner walked over and took the Moogle. She put him in the car.

     “There,” she said, “He will be safe until we get home.”

     Shears smiled, ran to the car and got in. He rolled down the back window and looked up into the sky. He wondered where the old Moogle had gone. Perhaps one day he would see what the old Moogle had seen - perhaps.

     -The End

Lifted - Part 2

     “This is fun,” Shears thought.

     The maple leaf blew in front of him. It was bright red with well-defined veins. The sun-light shone through it giving it a brilliance never before seen by a little boy’s eyes. Another Moogle being blow carelessly by the wind flew threw the wind, up and down landing near Shears. The Moogle picked himself up and started to take flight.

     “Where do you think we are going?” Shears asked the other Moogle.

     “Does it matter?” the Moogle replied. “Have fun. Life is short.”

     “I beg to differ,” an older Moogle said suddenly coming beside them. “The journey may be short, but the end is the beginning.”

     Shears pondered this the best a Moogle could ponder.

     “Where do we end up?”

     “If the wind blows you in that direction,” the old Moogle said, “you will end up in the city dump.”

     “I don’t want that,” Shears said.

     “If you are blown in that direction, you will fly high into the air and see things that no Moogle has seen before.”

     “Follow me to the city dump,” the first Moogle said. “Most of my friends are there.”

     The wind blew Shears and the Moogle along. Shears thought of his choices. He wanted to continue to play.

     “Okay,” Shears said, “I will go with you to the dump.”

     The winds shifted and Shears and the Moogle were blown in the direction of the city dump.

     The old Moogle didn’t follow. He was blown further down the block and suddenly lifted up high into the air.

     “Hey,” he called out, “the sights up here! They are spectacular! Come and see!”

Lifted - Part 1

     It was a windy day. The mailman barely made it to the front door. When the door opened, Mrs. Falkner said, “hello”, but, before she had a real chance to say “thank you”, the mail blew out of the mailman’s hands, into the house and the front door slammed in his face. Mrs. Falkner ran to pick up the mail. “Oh my,” she said.

     A little boy named, Shears, was watching the shutters open and then shut, open and then shut. “Mom,” he said, “may I go outside?”

     “Be careful,” she said. “It’s so windy today.”

     Shears crawled down from the window-seat and ran to the door. He opened it with a bang. The wind blew fiercely and snatched the newly recovered mail from Mrs. Falkner’s hands and blew it even further into the house. “Oh my,” she said again. Tommy ran outside and the door slammed shut.

     Outside, yellow, gold, and red leaves were leaping from swaying trees, landing on the roof, jumping off the roof, and then chasing one another down the street in tiny whirlwinds of merriment Among the many leaves were, Moogles were flying and dancing through the wind in harmony. Tommy watched in fascination. “If I was a Moogle, I would fly clear across the world,” Shears thought and then ran out into the yard among the swirl of colors.

     Mrs. Falkner came to the front porch and said, “Shears, I have your jacket. Please put it on.” However, there was no Tommy in the front yard.

     “Shears?”

     Shears was a Moogle. He was blowing down the street with the rest of his play-mates.

     A maple leaf came close-by, touched him and moved ahead. Shears met the leaf shortly, brushed against it, and moved further ahead. They swirled around and around, hit cars and poles, flew up into the air and then down again.

The Princess and the Tonberry - Part 4

     He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, who had changed him into a Tonberry; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights.

     ‘You,’ said the prince, ‘have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father’s kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.’

     The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying ‘Yes’ to all this; and as they spoke a brightly coloured coach drove up, with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a golden harness; and behind the coach rode the prince’s servant, faithful Heinrich, who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment so long and so bitterly, that his heart had well-nigh burst.

     They then took leave of the king, and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full of joy and merriment, for the prince’s kingdom, which they reached safely; and there they lived happily a great many years.

          -The End

The Princess and the Tonberry - Part 3

The Princess and the Tonberry - Part 2

The Princess and the Tonberry - Part 1

     One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and clogs, and went out to take a walk by herself in a wood; and when she came to a cool spring of water with a rose in the middle of it, she sat herself down to rest a while. Now she had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favorite plaything; and she was always tossing it up into the air, and catching it again as it fell.

     After a time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell; and the ball bounded away, and rolled along on the ground, until at last it fell down into the spring. The princess looked into the spring after her ball, but it was very deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. She began to cry, and said, ‘Alas! if I could only get my ball again, I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world.’

     Whilst she was speaking, a Tonberry put its head out of the water, and said, ‘Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?’

     ‘Alas!’ said she, ‘what can you do for me, you nasty Tonberry? My golden ball has fallen into the spring.’

     The Tonberry said, ‘I do not want your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me, and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep on your bed, I will bring you your ball again.’

     ‘What nonsense,’ thought the princess, ‘this silly Tonberry is talking! He can never even get out of the spring to visit me, though he may be able to get my ball for me, and therefore I will tell him he shall have what he asks.’

     So she said to the Tonberry, ‘Well, if you will bring me my ball, I will do all you ask.’

     Then the Tonberry put his head down, and dived deep under the water; and after a little while he came up again, with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the edge of the spring.