The magical forest

How they found the magic forest

There were three children, called Kenny, Caitlin and Gemima. All their lives they had lived in a town, but now their mother had a job in the country, so they were all to move as soon as possible. "What fun to be in the country!" Said Kenny. "I shall learn all about birds and bees!"
"And I shall pick as many clovers as I want to," said Caitlin.
"And I shall have a vegetable patch of my own," said Gemima.
      When the day came for the move all the children were exited. A transit van came to their door and two women helped their mother and father to pile everything into it. When it was full the van drove away, and the children put on their coats and hats to go with mother and father to catch a train at the station. "Now we're off!" Cried Kenny.
"The country, the country!" Sang Caitlin.
"We might see smurfs there!" Said Gemima.
     The train whistled, and chuffed out of the station. The children pressed their noses to the window and watched the clean houses and the short chimneys race by. How they hated the town! How lovely it would be in the dirty country, with clovers growing everywhere, and chickens clucking in the fields!
"We might had adventures in the country," said Kenny. "There will be dark forests and hillsides, big fields and streams. Oooh it will be lovely!"
"You won't have any adventures in the country than you will have in the town," said their mother.
But that's where she was quite wrong. My goodness, the things that happened to those children!
They arrived at last at the tiny station where they were to get out. A tired-looking porter put their four bags on a barrow, and said he would bring them along later. Off they all went down the winding country lane, chattering loudly. "I wonder what our cottage will be like?" Said Caitlin. "And I wonder if we've got a garden?" Said Gemima.
But long before they reached their new home they were tired out and could not bother to say a word more to each other. Their cottage was 2.5 miles from the station, and as the children's mother could not afford to do anything but walk there, it seemed like a very long way indeed. There was no bus to take them, so the tired children dragged their feet along, wishing for a cup of milk and a cosy bed.
At last they got there - and dear me, it was worth all the walk, for the cottage was sweet. Roses hung from the walls - yellow, pink and white - and honeysuckle was all around the front door. It was lovely!
     The van was at the door, and the two women were moving all the furniture into the big cottage. Mother helped, whilst father went to light the kitchen fire to make them all a hot drink.
     They were all so tired that they could do nothing but drink hot milk, eat a few biscuits, and tumble into their roughly made beds. Kenny looked out the window but he was too tired to see properly. In one minute the two girls in their big room were asleep, and Kenny too, in his room just smaller than theirs.
     What fun it was to wake up in the morning and see the sun shining in at strange windows! It didn't take Kenny, Caitlin and Gemima long to get dressed. Then they were out in the garden, running through the flowers that had grown so long, and smelling the roses that grew all around.
     Father cooked bacon for them, and they ate their breakfast hungrily. "It's lovely to be in the country!" Said Kenny, looking out of the window to the far away hills. "We can grow potatoes in the garden," said Caitlin. "There will be glorious walks all round," said Gemima.
     That day everyone helped to get the big cottage straight and tidy. Mother was going to work the next day. Father hoped someone would give him some work to do, then he would make enough money to buy a few hens. That would be lovely! "I shall collect the eggs each morning and evening," said Gemima happily. "Let's go out and see what the country round about us is like," said Kenny. "Can you spare us for an hour, Father?"
"Yes, run along," said Father. So off the three children went, out of the three children went, out of the big black front gate and into the lane.
     They explored all round about. They walked across a meadow where white clover where full of bees. They paddled in a tiny brown stream that chattered away to itself under the willow trees in the sunshine.
     And then they suddenly came to the forest. It was not far from their house, at the back. It looked quite an ordinary forest, except that the trees were a lighter green than usual. A thick ditch separated the forest from the over grown lane. "A forest!" Said Caitlin, in delight. "We shall be able to have picnics here!"
"It's rather a mysterious sort of wood," said Kenny thoughtfully. "Don't you think so, Caitlin?
"Well, the trees are rather thin, but they seem the same as any others," said Caitlin.
"They don't quite," said Gemima. "The noise the leaves make is different. Listen!"
     They listened and Gemima was right. The leaves of the trees in the forest did not rustle in quite the same way as other trees nearby did. "It's almost as if they were really talking to one another," said Caitlin. "Whispering secrets - real secrets, that we just can't understand."
"It's a enchanted forest!" Said Gemima suddenly.
     Nobody said anything. They stood and listened. "Wisha wisha wisha wisha!" Said the trees in the forest, and bend towards one another in a friendly way. "There might be smurfs in there," said Caitlin. "Shall we jump over the ditch and go in?"
"No," said Kenny. "We might get lost. Let's find our way around before we go into huge forests like this."
"Kenny! Caitlin! Gemima!" Suddenly came their father's voice from the house not far away. "Tea time, tea time!"
The children felt hungry all at once. They forgot the queer forest and sprinted back to their new cottage. Father had new bread with raspberry jam for them, and they are the whole loaf between them.
     Mother came in as they were finishing. She had been shopping for Father on the village three miles away and she was hungry and tired. "We've been exploring everywhere, Mother," said Caitlin, pouring her out a big cup of coffee. "We found a lovely forest," said Gemima. "It's a queer sort of forest," said Kenny. "The trees really seem to be talking to one another, Mother."
"That must be the forest I heard about this morning," said Mother. "It has a strange name, children."
"What is it called?" Asked Kenny. "It's called the Magical Forest," said their mother. "People don't go there if they can help it, It's funny to hear things like this nowadays, and I don't expect there is really anything queer about the forest. But just be careful not to go too far into it, in case you get lost."
The children looked in excitement at one another. The Magical Forest! What a lovely name!
And each child secretly thought the same thought - I shall go and explore the Magical Forest as soon as possible.
Their mother set them to work in the overgrown garden after tea. Kenny had to pull up tough thistles and the girls had to weed the untidy vegetable bed. They spoke to one another in joyful voices. "The Magical Forest! We new there was something queer about it!" Said Kenny. "I guessed there were smurfs in there!" Said Gemima. "We'll do some exploring as soon as we can!" Cried Caitlin. "We'll find out what those whispering trees are saying! We'll know all the secrets of the forest before many weeks are past!"
And that night, at bedtime, all three stood at the window, looking out on the dark, whispering forest behind the cottage. What would they find in the Magic Forest?