Rosie's Goats

[Palustris]

Rosie's Goats

 

Chapter One

Between the Lonely Mountains and the Dark Forest was a long narrow valley. It was a good place to live, there was plenty of water and crops grew well in the rich soil. There were a good number of farms, both large and small. Right in the centre where the King's Road crossed the Wild River was the market town of Quonk. The valley folk brought their produce here to sell. Merchants from all over the Kingdom braved the Dark forest to buy what the valley folks grew.

The most famous and sought after of these things was Valley cheese. The best of this cheese was made by one family in particular, the Farmers. Farmer Farmer and his family had their land at the top end of the Valley right up against the Mountain side. Here they had a herd of goats and made the best goat's milk cheese.

All of the family was involved. Father looked after the land so that there was plenty of grass for the goats to eat in summer with enough left over to make hay for the winter. There were other crops too so that the animals had a good varied diet. The older boys looked after the goats as the animals wandered the fields and hillsides. They kept them safe from the wolves which sometimes wandered down from the high mountain passes and stopped the silly goats from wandering off into the Dark Forest. Mrs. Farmer milked the goats, twice a day, with the help of a couple of girls from the village. When this was done they set about turning the milk into cheese. Mrs. Farmer also kept hens and geese and grew lots of different vegetables in the Kitchen garden. Everyone worked hard.

The youngest member of the family was Rosie. Even she had jobs to do. The main one was to keep watch over the kids whilst their mothers were being milked. These kids were important. Some would be taken to market to be sold. The best were kept, to replace the old nannies as they got too old to produce milk.

The problem was that Rosie had discovered reading. Like all the children in the valley she went to one of the small schools in the villages. There she had learned to read. She read everything that she could find. When she had read every book in the school her teacher had suggested that on Market days she went to the Library in Quonk. Rosie was entranced and set out to read every book in the Library.

On this particular morning, Rosie had a whole new set of books to read. The Farmers had had a very good day at the Market, selling all their Cheeses straight away, so Rosie had been able to spend much longer than usual in choosing her books.

The Market was unusually full of people. Almost everyone who could get into Quonk was there in the Market Square. The Farmer family joined the crowds round the Town Crier to find out what was happening. He announced that the King's youngest son, Prince Colin had disappeared without trace. There was a big reward offered for any information. The Valley folk spent a lot of time talking about this news, but as no-one even knew what the Prince looked like they agreed that it would be hard for them to help find him.

Rosie paid very little attention to the news. She was more interested in getting to the Library and choosing her books.

Now she was sat in the little field, next to the Dairy with her nose stuck deep between the pages of a book. She was supposed to be watching the kids, but the book was much too exciting.

The kids danced around the field, standing up against the fences, trying to get out, to go back to their mothers. They rushed about and jumped over each other, squealed and butted and generally went wild. Rosie ignored them. She only paid any attention when they came over and started to eat her hair. She waved them away, but she did not take her eyes from the book. One of them tried to eat her dress. She shooed it away. Then one of them committed the worst sin of all. It tried to eat her book.

There was obviously something rather nice about the smell of the paper, since whenever Rosie waved the kid away, it soon returned. The other kids came to see what was going on. They too seemed to think that a book would make a nice change from grass.

Rosie got very cross with them. “Oh, I wish you would all disappear!”

The kids ran away at the sound of her angry voice and she settled down to begin reading again. The loud voice obviously worked, she was not disturbed by them again until she reached the last page. The final line in the book read. “So it just goes to show that one should be careful what one wishes for, as you never know, one may just get it.”

Rosie closed the book and jumped to her feet. “Mother must have finished the milking by now,” she thought. She looked round the paddock. There was not a kid to be seen. Worse still, the gate was wide open. For a moment Rosie did not know what to do. She could hear the noises coming from the Milking Parlour, so her Mother was still in there. In a panic Rosie ran to the gate. She listened and she was certain that could hear the sound of tiny hooves and faint bleats coming from the farm road. However, she could not actually see a kid.

She remembered the last words of the book and what she had said “I wish you would all disappear!” Her heart sank to her boots.

Now, she knew, as every child in the Valley knew, that in the Dark Forest lived the Evil Witch. Ever since the Forest first grew there had been an Evil Witch living in it somewhere. It was not the same Witch, obviously, but as one grew old and died or was dealt with by some brave hero another one soon took her place. Some of them were evil beyond belief and some on them merely bad. The present Witch was bad enough, but she was known more for her wicked sense of humour than for downright nastiness.

Rosie's first thought was that the Witch must have heard her wish and out of spite made it come true. The kids had disappeared and now were probably wandering the Valley, lost and invisible. For a moment Rosie was not quite sure what she should do. She stood tapping her fingers on the cover of the book, then she made a decision. She had lost the kids and she had to be the one to go and find them.

[Palustris]

Chapter Two

 

Rosie knew that it would be very silly to go to the Witch empty handed. So, she went quietly into the Store Room next to the Dairy. There was a large cheese left over from Market Day and a small churn of fresh milk. The library book was wrapped in her apron and put carefully on a shelf. Rosie set off down the Farm track in the direction from which she thought she had heard the kids. She had lost the kids and it was up to her to find them again.

The farm track led to the road. Most of the time the road had some traffic on it, farmers on carts carrying various things, merchants wagons and so on, but this was the day after Market so the road was empty. Rosie took a deep breath and started to walk towards the Dark Forest. That was very brave of her, really, people had been known to disappear forever in there.

There were houses along side the road, but the nearest to the Farmer's farm was a good half hours walk. In the garden of the first one that Rosie passed a woman was spraying some rose bushes. Rosie was surprised to hear her muttering “I will exterminate them. I WILL exterminate them,” as she passed by the gate. When she saw Rosie, the woman stopped and smiled, “Good morning,” she called cheerfully.

Being a polite and friendly child, Rosie stopped and spoke. “Good morning. Er, have you heard any goats going past your garden today?”

The woman looked puzzled. “Not today, no. There were some yesterday, going to market. Why?”

Rosie explained about the wish and the Witch. She did not say that she was heading for the Witch's Cottage to rescue the kids. She had a feeling that she would not be allowed to do that.

“Well, I hope you find them,” said Cheerful woman, as Rosie christened her to herself. Just then an insect flew past Rosie's face and the woman stopped smiling and muttered. “Dratted thing!” She dashed off and began spraying her plants again. Rosie walked on. The last thing she heard was a faint “Exterminate!”

A little way on down the road Rosie came to another cottage. The garden here was full of plants. There hardly seemed room to walk from the gate to the front door. A man was stood with a trowel in one hand and a plant in the other. He looked very puzzled. Rosie stopped and politely said “Good morning,”

The man looked up. “Oh, yes, good morning. Er, you cannot see a space anywhere can you? I bought this at the Market yesterday and I need to plant it, but there is not much room left.”

Rosie looked hard and pointed out a tiny spot where she could see some bare soil.

“Oh, good,” said the man, “Now I can put this one in.”

“You have a lot of plants,” commented Rosie.

“Yes, I am very fond of them. Mad on them you might say.” The man put the plant down on the patch of soil and came to the gate.

“Have you heard any goats going past?” Rosie asked and explained again about her wish and the Witch.

The man shook his head. “Not since yesterday, sorry.”

Rosie thanked him and carried on down the road.

At the next cottage a man was leaning on the garden gate. He looked very tired and kept on yawning. Rosie immediately gave him the name Sleepy, in her head of course.

“Good morning,” she said.

The man yawned. “Morning, Pardon me, but I am very tired. I have been working most of the night.”

Rosie nodded. “Have you heard any goats going past your house today?”

Sleepy shook his head. “Sorry, but I have been shut up in my workroom. It is not very big, only the size of a cupboard really, so it has no windows. Why?”

Rosie explained about her wish and the Witch once again.

It was obvious that the man was so tired he could hardly stand up so Rosie went on her way.

By now Rosie was getting very close to where the road entered the Dark Forest. The last house was just on the edge of it. The garden was shaded by the first of the trees in the Forest. There was no-one in the front garden, but Rosie could hear the most dreadful squawking and screeching coming from the back garden. Bravely she pushed open the front gate and went round the side of the house. Perhaps the invisible goats had managed to get into this person's back garden.

As she went round the corner of the cottage, Rosie was almost knocked down by a large hen. Then, she was knocked down by a woman chasing the hen.

“Whoops, sorry.” The woman was very much out of breath.

Rosie picked herself up.

“I am trying to move the hens from one run to another,” explained the woman. “But they have managed to escape and now they are all over the place.”

Rosie could see that the garden was full of hens. “Would you like some help?”

“Oh, yes please.”

With two of them and with a handful of corn it did not take long to round up the hens and put them in their new pen.

“Oooh thank-you,” said the woman as she sank down on to a bench outside her back door. “Eeeh. I am all of a doodah after that. I need a cuppa.” Then she looked at Rosie. “You are Mr. Farmer's youngest aren't you?”

Rosie nodded.

“What can I do for you then?”

Rosie explained about the goats and the Witch.

“No, I cannot say I have heard anything, but then the hens have been very noisy all day. And listen, there they go again.”

It was true, the hens were clucking and squawking loudly. Rosie said, “Thank-you,” and went on her way.

It was dim and cool in the Forest. The deeper in she went the darker and cooler it got. She began to wish that she had brought a coat with her. After she had walked for half an hour and was deep in the Forest, though still on the Forest road, Rosie suddenly realised that the one thing she did not know was where the Witch lived. All she knew was that somewhere in the Forest was a cottage where all the Witches for hundreds of years had lived. She sat down on a moss covered log to think.

Without thinking she reached out and stroked the head of the cat which had appeared from the side of the path. It sat down in front of her and stared at her with unblinking green eyes. She broke off a little of the Cheese and offered it. The cat nosed delicately at it, then took it from her hand and ate it.

Rosie sniffed. “I bet you know where the Witch lives,” she said. “She is supposed to have lots of cats.”

“Well, yes I do, and no, she has only one cat at present,” answered the cat, much to Rosie's astonishment. “And that is me, Colin Albert Thomas, or Cat for short, at your service for some more of the cheese.”

Even Rosie who had read many books about almost every subject had not expected the cat to reply. For a moment she was far too taken aback to do or say anything.

The cat or Cat as he should be known, reached out a paw and gently prodded the cheese.

“Oh, sorry, yes, of course.” Rosie broke off a larger piece and gave it to Cat. “But you know it is not good for you, don't you?”

Cat was too busy chewing to answer.

“Why are you the only cat the Witch has?” Rosie was a bit stuck for something to say to a cat.

Cat finished the piece of cheese and replied. “I chased them all away. I am not that fond of cats, more of a dog person myself.”

“Oh!” Rosie was a bit puzzled at that reply. “A cat who likes dogs is a bit odd,” she said.

Cat licked a paw. “Things are not always what they seem round here, you know!”

Rosie wondered what Cat meant by that remark. For want of something better to say she said, “Colin Albert Thomas seems a strange set of names for anyone to give a cat.”

Cat wagged his tail. “It is a family thing, we all have at least three names, some have five. But no-one else’s spell anything.”

“Colin, hmmmmm,” thought Rosie out loud. “I have heard that name somewhere before. I wonder if it was in one of my books.”

Cat hissed.

Rosie thought back over the books that she had read recently. She could not remember one in which there was a character called Colin. Then it struck her. The name of the missing prince was Colin.

She blurted out, “You are not Prince Colin are you?”

Cat purred loudly. “Yes, yes, yes.”

“Well why did you not say so in the first place?” Rosie asked.

“That is part of the spell, I was not allowed to tell anyone who I was, they have to guess.”

“What happened?” Rosie was fascinated. This was better than any book.

“I was having an argument with my father about why I had to have initials which spelt CAT and I said, ' I wish I was a cat'. Then all of a sudden I was a cat. Before I could do anything, the Palace dogs chased me, so I had to run for my life. I came here because it seemed the best thing to do. If it was the Witch who changed me then she was the one who could change me back.”

“Can she?” Rosie felt sorry for the Prince.

“She laughed when I asked her to do it and said that I should be more careful about making wishes. The only thing she did say was that a cat I am and a cat I will stay until I find the way. I have been trying to work that out ever since.”

Rosie sat and thought for a minute. She had read a fair number of books about Witches and as far as she could remember all of their spells had a way of being broken. She knew that one way was to be kissed by a Princess or a Prince. She leaned over and kissed the top of Cat's head.

“Gerroff,” he said.

Nothing happened. Cat remained a cat.

He sat with his head on one side looking at Rosie. “Tell me why do you want to pay her a visit? She is not the friendliest of humans you know.”

Rosie explained about her wish and how she thought that the Witch may have had something to do with the disappearance of the goats.

Cat nodded. “That is certainly the sort of thing she WOULD do, if she heard you make a wish like that. She does have a wicked sense of humour.”

Absent mindedly Rosie broke off a piece of a piece of cheese and popped it in her mouth.

“Huh hum,” coughed Cat.

“Sorry,” said Rosie and gave him a piece too.

When he had finished this piece he stood up and walked off into the Forest, away from the road. Rosie stayed where she was. It was bad enough going into the Forest on the Road, but everyone was always warned in the strongest way never, ever to wander off into the trees.

Cat came back. “I thought you wanted to go and see the Witch.”

Rosie said, “I do, but I was told never to leave the road.”

“Good advice,” said Cat, sitting down again. “But if you want to see the Witch you have to.”

Rosie came to a decision. “I suppose if I am to see her then I will have to leave the road. Lead on, if you please.”

Cat walked off into the Forest with Rosie following behind.

[Palustris]

Chapter Three

            Very soon, Rosie found herself on a narrow path which wandered through tall dark trees. Before long they came to a Cottage in a clearing. A flock of rooks flew up into the tree tops cawing and screeching.

            “Early warning system,” commented Cat. “No-one sneaks up on this Witch.”

Now that she was here Rosie began to seriously wonder if it was a good idea. She took a deep breath, straightened her hair and knocked on the door. The woman who answered was not at all like any witch Rosie had ever read about. She was tall and thin and dressed in browns and greens. Rosie had expected a black dress and perhaps even a pointed hat. This witch had no hat and long blond hair.

The Witch looked familiar. Rosie was certain that she had seen this woman before. However, before Rosie could remember, the Witch spoke. “Ah, you are one of the Farmer children aren't you?”

“Yes ma'am,” said Rosie who had been taught that this was the correct way to speak to a customer. Now she remembered where she had seen the Witch before. Mr. Farmer always kept a special cheese wrapped up for the Witch on Market day. Mrs. Farmer always complained to Mr. Farmer that the Witch got the best cheese and never paid for it. Mr. Farmer said that it was worth one cheese to keep on the good side of the Witch. Thinking back, Rosie realised that she had not seen the Witch at the Market the previous day.

“You did not come for your cheese yesterday,” said Rosie. “So I thought I ought to deliver it for you.”

“I was a little busy yesterday,” replied the Witch and turned to go back into her Cottage.

“Er,” said Rosie.

The Witch turned back. “You wanted something? Your father is kind enough to give me the cheese.” She smiled and Rosie shivered. It was not at all a pleasant smile.

“If it pleases you, ma’am. I was wondering if you had seen our baby goats this morning. Only they have disappeared and if I cannot find them, then there won't be any cheese in a couple of years’ time.”

The Witch did not reply immediately. She looked down at Rosie. “And you think perhaps that I had something to do with these disappearing kids do you?” She reached down and took Rosie's chin between her finger and thumb.

Cat hissed and raised a warning paw, with five very sharp looking claws sticking out.

The Witch kept hold of Rosie and looked down at Cat. “So you two have met have you? Hmmm. Interesting.” She squeezed Rosie's chin, hard, then let go.

Rosie rubbed the spots. “That hurt,” she said. “I have been asking everyone I have met if they had seen our kids.”

“Well, I have not left this Cottage for two days,” said the Witch. “So, no, I have not seen your dratted kids. Now you may leave and take that dratted cat with you. He has chased away all of mine and I need them. Now go, the pair of you before I change you both into something nasty.”

Rosie and Cat fled.

The Witch watched them leave the clearing. As they did, four cats came out of the trees and rubbed themselves round her ankles. The Witch pointed her finger at the path where Rosie and Cat were almost out of sight. “Should I?” she asked her cats. They hissed. “No? Oh well then if you say so. Now let me get back to making this spell work. Where was I? Ah, yes. Windows and mice.” She turned and went into her home followed by her cats.

When they reached the Forest road Rosie and Cat stopped running. Rosie sat down on the same log as before. “She is not nice.”

Cat agreed. “And we are still no nearer finding your kids.”

“Nor changing you back to a Prince,” sighed Rosie. “I wonder what it means, 'find the way'?”

Cat shook his head. “I do not know. I have tried every path I can find in the Forest and none of them seem to be the way.”

“I suppose I had better be making my way home,” said Rosie, sadly. “You are most welcome to come with me. Unless you had rather go back to the Palace?”

“Not the Palace,” shuddered Cat. “The dogs would tear me to pieces. I will come with you and help you look for the goats. They must be somewhere if the Witch did not make them disappear.”

Rosie bent down and picked up the churn of goat's milk. “Drat, I meant to give this to her as well.”

“What is in it?” asked Cat

“Milk.” Rosie told him.

“Oooh, I would love some of that,” purred Cat.

Rosie nodded. She was feeling rather thirsty herself. She opened the lid. “Oh, I must have picked up the wrong churn. This is not milk.”

She showed Cat the contents of the churn.

“What is it then?”

“Mother adds something to the milk to make it go like this. Then she takes out the solid bits and gives the liquid to the kids.” Rosie gave a sudden laugh. “The solids are curds and the liquid is called whey.”

“What?” Cat stood up.

“Perhaps this is your whey?” Rosie said.

Cat dipped his paw in the liquid and licked it. There was a flash of blue light and then Cat was not longer a cat, but a rather ordinary looking boy, for a Prince.

The two children danced round each other in glee until they heard voices. They stopped and looked, coming along the Forest road was a large party of people.

“It is my Father,” shouted Rosie and ran towards him. Prince Colin followed.

Rosie's father swept her up into his arms. “Thank goodness you are safe. We have been worried stiff about you.”

Behind him Rosie could see all the people from the Farm and those she had asked about the Goats on the way.

“Where on earth have you been?” Rosie's mother came bustling up from the back of the crowd.

Rosie's father put her down and Rosie stood in front of them, drawing a circle in the dust with her toe, not daring to look up. “The kids disappeared and it was my fault 'cos I wished they would, so I went to look for them.”

“Silly girl,” said her mother. “The kids did not disappear. You were so deep in your book you did not even look up when I let them back into the field with the Nannies. If you had looked you would have seen them.”

Rosie could think of nothing to say.

Prince Colin came and stood next to her. “Please do not shout at her. She has saved me.”

“I wish I” began Rosie. Quick as a flash Colin put his hand over her mouth.

“I think it should be a long time before we make any other wishes.” he said.