The Seven Magic Animals E-Book

Kevin Shimmin

• Herausgeber: novum premium Verlag
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 251

Beschreibung

The Seven Magic Animals takes the seven toy animals of Mr. and Mrs. Russell on seven different adventures. The Monkey travels to Africa to find out why he has no name, Izzy the cat travels to the Isle of Man to find out why she has no tail, Kuala the cat travels to Kuala Lumpur to set up a cat refuge, Lumpur the bear travels to Canada to help build a railroad, Brutus the piglet travels to Costa Rica to rescue a herd of pigs who have become trapped inside a giant dormant volcano, William the cat travels to The Arctic on a mission to save the earth as time is slowing down and Ted travels to meet a wizard to take him back in time. On their adventures the seven animals meet other forest animals such as snakes, polar bears, arctic foxes, monkeys, penguins, fairies, bears and wolves.

Leseprobe

Imprint

All rights of distribution, also through movies, radio and television, photomechanical reproduction, sound carrier, electronic medium and reprinting in excerpts are reserved.

© 2023 novum publishing

ISBN print edition:978-3-99130-232-2

ISBN e-book: 978-3-99130-233-9

Editor:Hugo Chandler

Cover images:Serknor, Azuzl, Maksim Pauliukevich, Stekloduv, Ekaterina Khayasi | Dreamstime.com

Cover design, layout & typesetting: novum publishing

Internal illustrations: Kevin Shimmin

www.novum-publishing.co.uk

Chapter 1

It was 10:30 p.m. and Mr and Mrs Russell were ready to retire to bed. They normally ended their day at around this time, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later. But normally at 10.30 just after the news had finished on TV. They lived in a little bungalow in a small village in Hertfordshire, England. They had nice neighbours and lived in a nice quiet road. Mr and Mrs Russell were both in their fifties and had a happy outlook on life. Their home was tidy and scattered around it were a few mementos from times gone by.

However, to the best of our knowledge what Mr and Mrs Russell did not know was that as soon as they had retired to bed the seven animals in their house magically came to life and met in the living room to have an adventure. But these were not pets, instead these were cuddly toys the Russell’s had collected or been given by aunts, uncles and grandparents.

So, who or what were the animals?

Well the oldest was Ted. Ted was old as Mr Russell, nearly fifty-five years old and the leader of the group. He was wise and venerable, and all the other animals treated him with respect and courtesy. If ever there was a decision to be made in the group Ted would be the one who would get the final say. Ted was a light brown colour and had black and dark red glass eyes. He was what you might say a bit tatty as Mr Russell had tied him to his bicycle when he was a boy and ridden around the village where he lived at breakneck speed.

TED

Next came Brutus. Brutus was a small pig. Unlike all the other animals who were made of soft cuddly material, Brutus was made of hard plastic. His skin was pink, and he looked like a young piglet rather than an old pig. Brutus was mischievous, always getting into trouble. He normally sat by the TV, never moving, ever watchful.

BRUTUS

After Brutus was The Monkey. He was called The Monkey which puzzled him greatly, more of that to come. The Monkey was also brown, but The Monkey was a dark brown and a light brown. He had long arms and legs and a long tail so that he could swing easily through the trees. Not that there were any trees in the Russell’s house. The Monkey, like Brutus was quite mischievous and had a permanent grin on his face.

THE MONKEY

Kuala was a small black and white cat. Kuala normally lay on the Russell’s bed by day and had the hardest job of all the animals. For when the Russell’s were asleep Kuala had to quietly slip off the bed and make sure that when they woke she was back on the bed by morning. Kuala was Mrs Russell’s favourite animal, in winter Mrs Russell cuddled Kuala to ward off the winter cold.

KUALA

Another cat in the family was William Hiskers. William was the newest member of the family, Mr Russell saw William sitting in a garden centre and knew William just had to come home and join the family. Unlike Kuala who was soft and floppy, William sat bolt upright, just like a real cat. William had jet black and yellow eyes and sat looking across the living room. He sat right next to Brutus. Little was known about William as he was so new so none of the other animals quite knew what to expect.

WILLIAM

The third and last cat in the family was Izzy. She had a jet black and white coat and came from the Isle of Man. Not that Izzy knew she was a Manx cat, it greatly troubled her that Kuala and William had tails and she did not. Izzy was the best behaved cat in the world. Children loved her. All the other animals looked after Izzy and made sure she came to no harm.

IZZY

Finally, the last animal was Lumpur. Lumpur was a bear who like Kuala had come from a country called Malaysia. Lumpur was the animal who protected all the other animals. No matter where the adventure took the animals or how much danger they got into it was Lumpur who made sure they came to no harm and protected them if danger threatened. One roar from Lumpur and enemies would run.

LUMPUR

The animals did not have an adventure every night but they knew when it was the right time to meet in the living room and set off on a journey. And tonight was such a night. As the clock struck 10:30 p.m. the Russell’s turned off the TV, brushed their teeth, put on their pyjamas and retired to bed. Within ten minutes the animals were on the move. Kuala quietly dropped off the bed and made no sound as she padded quietly into the living room. Of course Brutus and William were already there as that was where they stayed every day and night. In no time at all they were joined by Ted, Lumpur, The Monkey and Izzy.

Next something happened that no human being had ever seen. The animals sat in a ring and all put a paw or trotter into the centre of the ring. All six paws and a trotter had to be touching before they could travel into a new adventure. Ted now took charge.

‘Do you willingly travel on this new adventure of your own free will?’ asked Ted.

‘We do,’ replied all the other animals.

‘In that case I ask one of you to say the magic word and let the adventure begin.’

There was total silence. What all the animals knew was that whichever animal spoke the magic word would be the centre of the adventure. The animals also knew that until the magic word was spoken none of them knew who would speak it. The tension was unbearable. All that could be heard was the constant tick-tock of the clock in the living room. More silence. Then out of the darkness a single word was spoken. ‘Noobab.’ All eye turned to one animal. And that animal was … The Monkey.

Behind the animal’s small white stars appeared and slowly started spinning clockwise around them. The stars got faster and faster until they were spinning so fast that they appeared as a solid band of white light behind the animals. Then slowly the white stars started turning different colours, red, blue, green, yellow, orange, gold, silver, violet, in fact every colour you could imagine. Then in an instant the living room appeared dark and the animals were gone. Darkness and silence once again was in charge in the Russell household. The animals felt as if they were falling into a deep bottomless hole, but they knew that they would eventually reach their destination. After about a minute they felt their fall slowing. Then a gentle touchdown.

They knew this was going to be The Monkeys adventure but the younger animals such as Brutus and Izzy could not resist breaking away from the group to see where they were. And that was in a huge grass clearing next to a dark green jungle. The grass stretched for miles but so did the jungle. The grass seemed to go on forever, and where the wind caught it the grass bent and waved in the gentle breeze.

‘The Monkey, where do we go from here?’ asked Ted.

The Monkey peered around but there was doubt on his face. ‘I do not know; I really do not know. Give me a few minutes to see if any of this makes sense.’

None of the other animals seemed concerned. Brutus and Izzy were playing in the grass. William was cleaning his fur, licking his paws and having a tidy up. Kuala sat quietly waiting for The Monkey to announce his plan. And Lumpur sat apart from the group looking out for any danger that may come their way. Ted knew that he might be asked to decide where they would go but he preferred to let The Monkey decide their way forward. Minutes passed, and the only activity was Brutus and Izzy playing in the long, tall grass.

Slowly The Monkey stood up and turned towards the jungle. ‘That is the way we need to take,’ he said.

‘Right,’ said Ted, ‘You lead, and we will follow.’

The Monkey thought it important that the animals were placed in the march in a particular order. ‘Lumpur will be last in the group to make sure nothing sneaks up on us from behind. Brutus and Izzy will be at the centre of the line. William and Kuala will be our lookouts. I shall lead and Ted can you please keep a look out for the younger animals. Right, let us head out.’

So off they set in a straight line walking into the jungle. As soon as they were under the trees the light faded and rather than the nice friendly grass plains they were soon deep in the jungle. There was a little path for them to follow and every now and again they could hear the gurgle of water. They were slowly heading downhill so it was likely the path was running next to a little jungle stream.

‘My senses tell me we are in Africa,’ said The Monkey.

‘What is Africa, is it a country?’ asked Izzy.

‘No, Africa is what is known as a continent, it is made up of lots of other countries and is much bigger than any country. Indeed it would take us months or maybe years to walk across Africa,’ said The Monkey.

‘Ok, then we better keep going,’ said Izzy. No one could argue with that so indeed, the seven magic animals did keep going.

Now in the animal’s adventures time ran at a different pace to when they were back in the real world. The animals might be gone for days or even weeks but when they returned to the Russell’s household they always arrived in the early morning so that they would not be missed. The Monkey knew that while they were in this jungle they might need to spend many days or worse still, nights out in the open. And jungles at night are never friendly. Even with Lumpur there to protect them there were many other animals in the world who would not hesitate to hurt them or even worse. Izzy and Brutus were too young to understand the danger. The Monkey was not built for fighting and William and Kuala while they were cats and had sharp teeth and long claws, even they could not protect the other animals from a big lion, leopard or other animal who might want to hurt them. So as the day wore on and the sun went down The Monkey became more and more concerned. Eventually just as the last of the light was fading they came into a little clearing. As it was his adventure it was The Monkey who decided for all the other animals that this was where they would spend the night. Being animals, they needed no comforts, but they were all hungry. It was Kuala and William who solved the problem, they disappeared into the jungle and after about thirty minutes came back carrying berries, nuts, mushrooms and some small fish they had caught in a little pool that they had found. The fish were particularly welcomed by the cats Kuala, Izzy and William and like all cats could not get enough fish to eat. Lumpur the bear also liked the fish. Brutus, Ted and The Monkey ate the rest of the food. Nothing was cooked, the animals just ate the raw and natural jungle food, but it was enough to keep them going for yet another day. After the meal, the moon appeared in the sky and cast a dim light across the jungle floor. The animals slept in a huddle apart from Lumpur. He quietly padded away from the group and headed for the nearest big tree. Lumpur quickly climbed the tree and placed himself on a big strong branch overlooking the other animals. Should any danger threaten Lumpur could drop on an enemy and make sure the group came to no harm.

The night wore on and all around the animals were strange jungle noises. It was impossible to say what was making the noises, maybe birds, maybe insects or maybe something more sinister. But nothing threatened the animals and gradually the moon was replaced by the sun and the animals all awoke. The Monkey now led the way and he took them all to the little pool where Kuala and William had caught the fish the night before. No one needed to be told what to do, all the animals drunk as much water as they could as they knew it might be a long time before they found any more. The cats sat and cleaned their fur, no other animal took as much trouble as a cat to keep their coat clean and free from knots.

Now The Monkey was firmly in charge and led the animals down a different jungle path from the one they had taken the day before. This path was much smaller, just wide enough for one animal at a time and very dark and foreboding. To make things even worse the animals could hear noises either side of them. The noises were the occasional twig being stepped on or a branch being moved but the animals knew they had company. They also knew that soon they would be out on the grasslands again as they could see the jungle ending in about a mile from where they stood. Whoever or whatever was following them would soon be visible.

‘Ted, I know what is following us,’ said The Monkey. ‘We are being tracked by gorillas and baboons.’

‘That is not good,’ said Ted. ‘We know that gorillas are unlikely to harm us but the baboons are not so friendly and might fancy a small pig for their lunch.’

Brutus looked up and gulped. ‘Why me?’ he asked. ‘Don’t they eat bear, monkey or cats?’

Ted said nothing but looked at Lumpur and knew that only he and Lumpur could possibly hope to defend them. ‘Let us keep going,’ said Ted. ‘We will get to the end of the jungle and talk to the monkeys who are tracking us to see what they want.’

Within a short while the jungle ended and soon they had passed the last tree. The Monkey instinctively knew they had to keep walking across the grasslands, so they set out into the scorching sun.

‘Look,’ whispered Brutus. ‘We do have company.’

About half a mile either side of them a huge troop of gorillas and baboons were tracking them. And this meant trouble for the seven magic animals were vastly outnumbered. But The Monkey kept going and all the other animals followed him, trusting in his ability to find the correct path. Ted and Lumpur feared the worst. After all it was only a matter of time before they were attacked. Brutus would make a nice snack for a baboon and while baboons did not eat teds, cats or bears they would certainly want to hurt them or even worse. But strangely the baboons and the gorillas came no closer. They simply kept their distance and tracked the animals as they moved forward through the grasslands. It was almost as if the monkeys were protecting the seven magic animals from all the other jungle animals such as lions, leopards and hyenas. What could possibly be happening?

After about another two hours walking the animals saw smoke on the horizon. The Monkey felt a pang of recognition.

‘I think I have been here before,’ said The Monkey. ‘This place feels familiar.’

‘Are we nearing anywhere to get something to eat?’ asked Izzy. ‘I am starving.’

‘You were born starving,’ said William. ‘I have never seen a cat with such an appetite as you.’

‘We should be able to get some food here,’ said The Monkey. ‘My monkey friends usually treat strangers well although they might fancy a small black and white cat for a snack.’

Izzy said nothing and did not notice The Monkey look at Ted and give him a wink.

‘Let us keep moving, night is approaching again and I do not want to spend another night out in the wild surrounded by monkeys whose intention we do not know. The Monkey, please lead on and leave Izzy alone,’ said Ted.

And The Monkey led on, with the six other animals following behind him. If anything, the numbers of monkeys shadowing them had grown even larger and now there were several hundred monkeys either side of them in a long line stretching back for nearly a mile. It was bizarre, it was if the monkeys were either afraid of the seven magic animals or were guarding them or were worshipping them. But there was nothing the seven magic animals could do about it so on they walked onwards towards the village.

After about another two hours walking they entered the village. It was not like a normal monkey home which was in the trees, this was a large village with many mud and straw huts dotted about the clearing. There were about fifty huts so there must be many monkeys living there. It was immaculately clean, there was no litter or rubbish, everything was neat and tidy. Standing at the edge of the village waiting to greet them were three very old monkeys, all had grey hair and were slightly bent over with great age. The Monkey slowly walked up to them and as is the custom with monkeys he bowed his head and showed them his palms to let them see they held no weapons. The three monkeys did the same. There were two males and a female and it was clear she was in charge as she stood at the centre of the two males and a little behind them for protection.

She spoke. ‘We welcome The Monkey and his friends to our village. May you all know that we mean you no harm and that the monkey troop guarding your journey to our village was a guard of honour, there for your protection and to make sure no harm came to you. The Monkey – you may not remember but you have been here before when you were a baby, indeed this is where you were born. But you had to leave us at a very early age. Your parents are both still alive and eager to meet you. We will feed and refresh your friends while you visit your parents. Then you too can take refreshment.’

She turned to the animals and looked at Ted. ‘Friends, please follow my village elders, you have my word as Queen of The Monkey clan that no harm will come to you.’ Ted, being a true leader and diplomat bowed, opened his palms and the animals all followed the village elders into a large hut.

The Queen of The Monkeys, for indeed that is who she was, turned back to The Monkey. ‘I am sure you have many questions, but we know the one that has puzzled you since you left our village. And that is why are you called The Monkey and have no other given name? We have decided that only your parents can answer that question so now you must meet them again and have that explained to you.’ And with that the Queen of The Monkeys bowed.

The Monkey was totally puzzled. Why was the Queen of The Monkeys, head of all the village and all The Monkey troops over the world bowing to him, just a normal monkey from a small house in England?

The Monkey was now escorted to his family home by four gorillas. He was led to a small hut on the far end of the village. There standing at the door way to the hut were two elderly monkeys, a male and a female. The female came up to hug him and at once The Monkey knew this was his mother. Similarly, his father then hugged him, and all was well with The Monkey.

‘Come inside son, we have missed you so much,’ said his mother.

She led him into the hut which was small but like the rest of the village clean and tidy. There was a neat bed in the hut and a hole in the centre of the roof under which was a cheery fire which was burning brightly. On a wooden table were many fruits and nuts and best of all a jar of honey. This indeed was a treat as all monkeys adored honey, it was considered a special treat.

‘My son, I know you will have many questions but allow me to explain why you now live as part of the seven magic animals and why you have no name. We knew you were special when you were born for in every tenth generation one is born amongst us who is chosen to represent all that is best about our species. And you were that one. The reason you have no name is that you are The Monkey, the special monkey who needs no name in the monkey kingdom. You are now of the age of eighteen where you may be told of this fact. Your family name, had you been born a normal monkey is Harris and your father Robert and I your mother Anita had no choice but to leave you with no name. So, you see my son why you were never in danger when you visited us and why all the other monkeys took so much trouble to protect you in your journey here.’

‘My son,’ said his father Robert, ‘If you were to choose a name what would it be?’

The Monkey sat quietly staring at the ground thinking about his father’s question. ‘Father, I have lived so long without a name that I could not even begin to answer that question. And a name is not important – it is more about the person inside than the name they are given. After all none of us choose the name we are given, we must look to our parents to make a wise choice of name.’

‘Very true,’ said his mother. ‘And for us it was the greatest honour that you were chosen to represent all monkeys across the world. Now my son – please go outside and meet those who have travelled far and wide to see you.’

The three of them rose, pulled back the little curtain that served as a door and walked out of the hut. The Monkey was staggered, there in the village were at least a thousand monkeys all bowing and showing open palms. And right at the front of them were his six travelling companions, Ted, Brutus the piglet, Izzy, William and Kuala the cats and Lumpur the bear.

The Queen of The Monkeys now approached The Monkey. ‘The Monkey,’ she said. ‘While we do not doubt your right to be The Monkey we now have to set you three tests to show that you are still fit to carry the name. Should you pass all three tests you will be free to return home with your friends and keep your name. But should you fail any test you will be exiled to live alone and have no further contact with your friends or any other monkey in the world. We know that this is harsh but carrying The Monkey name carries great honour and must only be held by one worthy of the name. Ask now if you have any questions.’

The Monkey considered for a short while. ‘Queen of The Monkeys, what happens to my friends if I fail any test?’

The Queen replied, ‘Your friends are in no danger; they will be free to leave no matter what happens in the tests. But they may not help you in any way.’

‘In that case I accept the challenges,’ replied The Monkey.

The whole monkey clan now left the village and headed to the edge of the jungle. After about an hour’s walking they arrived at a place where the jungle was no more than about three miles wide. The Queen of The Monkeys now once again took charge.

‘The Monkey, here is your first test. You will race to the other side of this jungle outcrop and back again to where we stand. You will be racing another animal. And one who is much faster than you.’ And as she said this a large cat walked quietly and calmly into the circle of monkeys.

This was no small cat like Kuala, Izzy and William, this was a fully grown adult cheetah. And the cheetah is the fastest land animal in the world, nothing can run faster. The cheetah sat on his back legs and calmly looked at The Monkey.

‘The Monkey, I wish you well in this race,’ said the cheetah. ‘But be warned that I have sworn to the Queen of The Monkeys that I will try and win this race and not let you win. You now have ten minutes to talk with your friends and prepare for the race.’

The Monkey and the six other magic animals now drew themselves into a huddle. ‘Have you any ideas how I can beat the cheetah in a race?’ asked The Monkey. ‘I do not think that in a straight race you can win’ said Ted. ‘I do have an answer but as you know we must not help you. All I can say is use your mind and then your body.’ The Monkey looked at Ted blankly. He did not understand the message Ted was giving him. The animals now prepared The Monkey for the race, they gave him some water and he ate some honey, nuts and berries for energy.

The Queen of The Monkeys now started the race. She raised her right arm and both The Monkey, and the cheetah knew that when she dropped her arm the race was on. There was silence then the Queen dropped her arm. At once the cheetah bounded forward. He was not running at full speed as even a cheetah could not run six miles at full speed but within a very short time he was ahead in the race. Both The Monkey and the cheetah were born to live in jungles, but the power of the cheetah meant he was gaining an ever-increasing lead every minute. But The Monkey kept going, he knew that there had to be some way to beat the cheetah. Eventually he neared the far end of the jungle but before he even got there the cheetah passed him going back to the end of the race.

The Monkey now grew very despondent, there was simply no way he could win this race. Dodging through the bushes and trees meant he was slowed down and he knew the cheetah still had greater speed than him. He reached the half way mark of the race and there to check that The Monkey and the cheetah went around the half way mark was a baboon. The Monkey went around the half way mark, which was a large pile of rocks and stones, and the baboon nodded to him to show that he was allowed to return on the second part of the race. The Monkey was now just on the edge of the jungle but had all the way to go back to reach the end of the race. As he came out of the trees a beam of sunlight caught his eyes and he glanced upwards. Then a smile crossed his face. He knew how he could win the race. And he knew what Ted had tried to tell him but was unable to do so.

At once he went back into the jungle but before he had even gone ten paces he climbed the nearest tree. Right to the top of the tree. And being a monkey, his body was perfect to work in the top of the trees. At once he leapt across the branches of the tree and took a huge leap to the next tree. And he kept on doing this, leaping from tree to tree. He never saw when he passed the cheetah who was still crossing the jungle floor. But at some point, pass him he did because when he came to the last tree he quickly climbed down it and crossed the clearing where his friends and the entire monkey clan were waiting. And there was no sign of the cheetah. His friends started cheering and there was a broad smile on the face of the Queen of The Monkeys.

‘The Monkey,’ she said, ‘You have done well. You have used your body as it was designed. We are all different, monkeys, humans, dogs, lions, tigers and all other animals but that is the way it was meant to be. You will now rest until tomorrow at which time you will undertake your second test.’ And as she said that the cheetah ran out of the jungle to finish the race.

‘The Monkey,’ he said, ‘I congratulate you and it was an honour to race you.’

The monkeys headed back to the village and that night The Monkey and his friends slept soundly. The race had tired him greatly, but he knew that in the morning there would be another test which he must pass.

The next day dawned clear and bright with a hot sun in the sky. The animals had breakfast after which they were all summoned to the centre of the village. There again waiting to greet them was the Queen of The Monkeys.

‘Good morning The Monkey, I hope you have rested well and are ready for your next test.’

The Monkey replied, ‘I will do what I did yesterday and that is my best.’

‘The second test is one of the mind,’ said the Queen. ‘You were born with the body which you used yesterday but today you must use your mind to win the challenge. Please be seated,’ she said.