1. Adventures of Maggy Donut

The following was written on Jan 30, 2008. A rescued story from my discarded blog.

Once upon a time, there lived an ancient, wrinkled and bespectacled witch named Maggy Donut. She possesed the most wonderful and weirdest powers which caused her to be both feared and ridiculed by the other witches in her clan.

She could turn leaves into golden needles and golden needles into chocolates at a blink of an eye. Purple camels were afraid of Maggy because Maggy could turn them into chicken pie at a snap of a finger. Other abilities included making nursery rhymes come true, turning hills into valleys and valleys into ponds and ponds into hills, and cooking.

Ah, her cooking! The other witches loved her cooking. They hadn't much use for the other abilities, but her cooking was fantastic. Maggy had often been advised to close down "Maggy's Miscellaneous Magic" and open a witchs' bistro instead. But one of Maggy's traits was stubbornness, and her queer tree-shop of myriad magic remained open.

Maggy lived in an oak tree. Its diameter was 500m long and it was so tall that if you climbed to the very top of the tree you would be drenched in clouds. All along the branches hung signs that read "Beware of Owls", "Watch Your Broom Bristles - Clouds Ahead!" and various other warnings. Maggy cared about her customers.

"Maggy's Miscellaneous Magic" was a curious shop located at the very roots of the oak tree. To enter it one had to possess either magical abilities or a magical friend. The entrance into the oak tree itself required the speaking of "Open Sesame" with the usual intonations. And once inside the trapdoor which led to the shop was mysteriously hidden.

Maggy Donut had a happy life. She was a rather nice witch, as far as witches go. She didn't like conformity and was a perfectionist and kept an invisible cat (all but the paws and the tail) but for all those flaws she was quite lovable. She also had inquisitive eyebrows and those eyebrows were what kept her in the business of the unusual.

One day, our heroine witch was sitting in the coolness of her curious shop, shining a customer's golden needle by the light of a candled toad when she heard a faint rustle above ground. Curious, she wriggled her left ear to listen better.

Someone was shouting "Open Sesame!" above her shop, but getting it all wrong.

"Open Sesame!" Nothing happened.

"Opan Sesame!" Still nothing.

The voice tried a few more times, then fell silent. Maggy frowned and shook her head. "Creatures nowadays," she mumbled. "What has become of their diction? Must be too much wrap," Wrap, or warlock-rap was one of Maggy's especial dislikes. She was traditional in that aspect.

Presently, her left ear picked up a sob. At the same time, her eyebrows gave a wriggle. "No," Maggy said sternly to herself. "You know the rules." As if to assure herself, she gave the needle an extra hard rub, stuck it carefully into its pin cushion, then directed her eyebrows to the Rulebook.

"Customers must say Open Sesame right", she recited. Her eyebrows stubbornly wriggled again. Right on cue, another sob came to her left ear.

Maggy's eyes softened. "Oh alright," she said. "Just this once."

Flinging on her favourite black cardigan, she tapped her spectacles twice, muttered "Ground floor", disappeared and reappeared in her living room. She peeped through the peephole. "Blueberries and thorns!" she gasped, her eyebrows now wriggling up a frenzy.

"I wonder what's afoot..."

++to be continued...