THE MAGIC PIE



Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there were Witches and Fairies in the land.  My Grandma told me this story and said it was true.


There were nine little children who one day decided to visit their Grandma. To get to Grandma's house, they had to walk through the woods, and over the mountain.


Really! This is a true story. You have NOT heard it before.


They started on their trip early in the morning, because they had to walk a long, long way. Well, they became hungry and thirsty after awhile, of course, so they stopped at a stream to get a drink of water, and to rest awhile.


They saw a woman standing there at the stream. She was wearing a long black and white checked dress. A large hat was on her head. She had a long chin, but they tried not to notice that, because that would be rude.


"I really don't like the looks of her," thought Randi. The woman gazed at the children very carefully, then she smiled. She asked them if they were hungry, and of course they were, so they said yes.


She asked them to go with her to her house, because she had just baked some pies, and they would be cool by now.  Well, the children knew they had a long way to walk. They couldn't stop long, but they were hungry so they went with her.


Now, that house was wonderful! It was blue and pink. It was a tiny house, just the right size for children. Inside, were a tiny table, and nine tiny chairs. On the table were little plates, with nine pieces of pie! Now, that pie smelled so good!


The children sat on the tiny chairs and began to eat. The woman smiled at them and began pouring their milk.  They were almost finished with the pie when Timmy noticed something strange. The woman was pouring the milk into BOWLS instead of cups. He started to mention it to Randi, but before he could open his mouth he found himself on the floor! he looked around the chair legs and saw eight cats!


Randi said "Timmy, you're a CAT!" And so was she! Well, they were all cats!


"That woman must be a Witch" said Timmy. "That pie was a MAGIC pie."


"Well," said Travis, " at least it was GOOD PIE." Travis likes to eat.


Ebony said, "Fix it Timmy! I don't want to be cat! My shoes fell off and my pretty pink dress don't fit me anymore!"


She sounded like she was going to cry, but no one could tell because her face  was covered with cat hair!  All you could see were her shiny brown eyes!

Well, you know, they didn't like the idea of being cats. They were well-behaved children though, so they all sat quietly to see what would happen next.


Except for Brandon and Allen!


They jumped up on the counter, and they jumped off--just to see if they could. They ran around each other, and chased their tails. They were having fun trying out their new powers!  They tumbled over each other. Jumped around the other children (cats), until finally, they tired and settled down.

"Miss Witch", said Timmy. "Why did you make us into cats? We're kids, and we have to go to Grandma's house now."

The woman looked at them and grinned a sly grin. "I like cats, but I don't like children. Children are always running, and they are noisy and messy. Cats don't make noise. They walk quietly and they stay clean. They don't talk loudly at each other. So you will remain cats. Come, drink your milk."


"I don't WANT any of her old milk!" cried Ebony. She tried to stamp her foot loudly, but it was impossible. That made her furious.

When Elizabeth saw that Ebony couldn't stamp her foot, she tried it. Stamping your feet is a very important thing to be able to do. They both stamped and stamped, but no one could hear them. Oh No!


Those children knew for sure now! They did not want to remain cats. What were they going to do?  They had to try to make the witch change them back. They decided to put their heads together and think of something.  The children were thinking and thinking. Pretty soon they all became tired, and took a nap--just like cats will.


Nicole and Patrick woke up and went outside to run in the grass. There were some huge toadstools in the corner of the yard, so they went over to investigate. Well! Guess what they saw? An amazing sight!


A FAIRY! Two Fairies!


They were wearing the most beautiful dresses. All shiny and sparkling. The dresses were colors they had never seen before.  They had diamonds in their hair. Tiny little slippers on their feet. They were wonderful! Those fairies were very surprised to see the children! Especially at a house of a witch.


"Where did you come from?" one asked.


Well, slowly, as the children got over their surprise of seeing and hearing real fairies, they told the story, and how badly they wanted to go on to Grandma's house. Then they remembered to introduce themselves. The fairies told them their names were Kathryn and Amanda.


They said they would like to change them back into children, but their powers were too small. They were just learning. They could only do small, unimportant magic stuff.  They thought they might change their size. Maybe make them bigger, but they would still be cats.


Nicole said, "No thanks." But Patrick thought he might like to be a lion, or a tiger even, maybe.  Kathryn thought they should go get the other children, so they could think about this problem together.


Nicole ran back into the house, and told the children to come talk to Kathryn and Amanda.  They didn't know who this was, but cats are naturally curious, so they hurried outside.  They were surprised to see the two little people. Ebony said she loved their dresses. Randi did too, then they settled down on the grass and discussed their problem.


Amanda came up with an idea that sounded pretty good.


She said "If the woman likes cats because they are quiet, and don't make messes, why don't you go into the house, and behave the way she thinks children do?"


So they all though about what they could do. Oh, this was going to be fun!


Everyone walked across the porch very quietly. Nicole started to giggle. Nicole giggles a lot.


"Shhh!" said everyone.


"Someone look to see where the lady is"


The lady was sitting in her chair on the porch taking a nap, so they all went into the house very quietly.


"All right. Everyone knows what to do." Timmy whispered. "GO!"


Timmy and Patrick jumped up on the counter and started pushing things off. Bags of flour and sugar hit the floor. What a mess!


Brandon and Allen jumped into the nine bowls of milk that were on the floor. The milk splashed, and the bowls turned over! It mixed with the flour and sugar.


Elizabeth saw a flower pot in the window. She jumped up on the window sill and knocked it over in the sink!


Travis jumped up onto the table, and knocked everything over onto the floor!


Randi, Nicole and Ebony jumped up on the other counters, and spilled butter and oil and oatmeal, oh, they made a really big mess!  They were all having so much fun that they didn't even hear the woman screaming!


She was yelling, and screaming, and telling them to: STOP, GET OUT!


SCAT! I SAID SCAT! SCAT! SCAT!


She swung her broom, and chased them all outside. They ran and ran until they got back to the stream. When they got there, they were so tired that they lay down to rest. Soon, all were napping. After a while, they woke up and saw that they were children again!


Was it a dream? They didn't think so. But no one knew for sure.


They hurried on to Grandma's house.


Ebony cried a little bit, because she'd lost her shoes. They were almost her favorite pair.


Elizabeth showed everyone how loud she could stamp her foot. Ebony stamped her foot too, but it hurt without shoes.


When they finally got to Grandma's house, their Grandma was waiting for them at the door.  "Hi", she said. "You're a little late. I bet you're hungry. Ebony, where are your shoes!  Elizabeth! You have cat whiskers!  Come into the house, I just took your favorite pies out of the oven. Sit down, I will pour you all a bowl of milk."


The children looked at each other.


Why did Grandma say bowl? We always drink milk from cups.  But what can you say when you are a little one at Grandma's house. You take what she gives you, and say thank you.  They decided they would be very, very good, and hope that Grandma didn't like cats!



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