Benjamin had never seen anything quite so big and gnarly; so wrong way up, before. It was all brown and green with branches at one end and giant spiky splinters at the other. There was no doubt, it was a whole tree: bark and moss; slimy yet firm; broken, yet solid; roots in the ground... trunk on it.
Inspector Ben knew exacly what had happened: a really nasty, mean, elf with a face carved out of bark had broken the tree because at its base there were toadstools and everybody knows that elves live under toadstools.
The elf was very strong because the break in the tree stretched all the way from his knees to his nose. Then he remembered that elves were nice so he must have pushed the tree down to make a bridge over the dark green forest swamp to escape from the nasty goblin that was chasing him with an axe. He decided to walk across the bridge, and save the elf. Then he would get a medal from the Elf King and be a hero.
Climbing on to the trunk was hard. He had to use part of the broken stump as a kind of stepping stool, taking extra special care not to jab his feet on the wooden stalagmites, even wearing his new sandals. He managed to hook his left hand onto a knobbly bit of trunk and haul himself up.
Benjamin was clever: he knew that tightrope walkers always put their arms straight out and pigeon-stepped one foot in front of the other between really tall buildings. He'd even seen Sylvester doing it across a washing line trying to get Tweetie Pie so he knew exactly what to do. However, when he got to the top he saw that it was much higher than a tightrope and he congratulated himself on making a very grown-up decision: tightrope walking must wait until after the medal ceremony.
It occurred to him that maybe the goblin was still about and that hugging the trunk, as he now was, was an excellent idea because he knew that if he lay very flat whilst he crawled then, well, he was invisible and wouldn't be seen by the goblin.
Stretching his arms right up to his fingertips and making sure his legs were pressed against the trunk, he "caterpillared" his way along the tree. As he zigged and zagged he used his magical caterpillar eyes to study the very small creatures who were tracking haphazard paths across the elf bridge: tiny beetles carrying bits of leaf this way and that; an army of ants who refused to acknowledge him as they marched past; and a spider that crawled so close to his nose it made him sneeze, before scuttling below the trunk.
Soon he came upon a knot next to which was a hole that was all slimy round the edges. Maybe the elf was hiding in it. Summoning his courage, he peeked inside... very quickly, just in case. He thought for a moment and then, his curiosity pulling him forward, peeked again. To his equal disappointment and relief, there was no sign of the elf, just a hole with lots of strange creatures wriggling and squirming around on gooey bits of brown this and black that. It was very stinky and as there was no elf he slunk on.
After a very long time, he came to where the branches began to fan out from the trunk. He knew that the elf would have gone along the biggest one because it had more hiding leaves and it's important not to be found if a goblin is chasing you with an axe. The branch jutted slightly upwards as it rose from the tree and he was just wriggling on to it when he slipped and dropped on to the soft, wet, forest floor.
He knew right away what had happened. The goblin had found him and pushed him off, so he ran as fast as he could back to his parents, who were picnicking in the clearing next to the tree, not once looking back in case the goblin turned him to stone.
***
'Oh Benjamin', sighed his mum, 'Look at you. You're so grubby'. He tried to tell her about the elf and the goblin as she wiped him down but she just kept saying 'there, there, pet'. Grown-ups, decided Benjamin: they were all broken. He was determined he would never become one.
Inspector Ben knew exacly what had happened: a really nasty, mean, elf with a face carved out of bark had broken the tree because at its base there were toadstools and everybody knows that elves live under toadstools.
The elf was very strong because the break in the tree stretched all the way from his knees to his nose. Then he remembered that elves were nice so he must have pushed the tree down to make a bridge over the dark green forest swamp to escape from the nasty goblin that was chasing him with an axe. He decided to walk across the bridge, and save the elf. Then he would get a medal from the Elf King and be a hero.
Climbing on to the trunk was hard. He had to use part of the broken stump as a kind of stepping stool, taking extra special care not to jab his feet on the wooden stalagmites, even wearing his new sandals. He managed to hook his left hand onto a knobbly bit of trunk and haul himself up.
Benjamin was clever: he knew that tightrope walkers always put their arms straight out and pigeon-stepped one foot in front of the other between really tall buildings. He'd even seen Sylvester doing it across a washing line trying to get Tweetie Pie so he knew exactly what to do. However, when he got to the top he saw that it was much higher than a tightrope and he congratulated himself on making a very grown-up decision: tightrope walking must wait until after the medal ceremony.
It occurred to him that maybe the goblin was still about and that hugging the trunk, as he now was, was an excellent idea because he knew that if he lay very flat whilst he crawled then, well, he was invisible and wouldn't be seen by the goblin.
Stretching his arms right up to his fingertips and making sure his legs were pressed against the trunk, he "caterpillared" his way along the tree. As he zigged and zagged he used his magical caterpillar eyes to study the very small creatures who were tracking haphazard paths across the elf bridge: tiny beetles carrying bits of leaf this way and that; an army of ants who refused to acknowledge him as they marched past; and a spider that crawled so close to his nose it made him sneeze, before scuttling below the trunk.
Soon he came upon a knot next to which was a hole that was all slimy round the edges. Maybe the elf was hiding in it. Summoning his courage, he peeked inside... very quickly, just in case. He thought for a moment and then, his curiosity pulling him forward, peeked again. To his equal disappointment and relief, there was no sign of the elf, just a hole with lots of strange creatures wriggling and squirming around on gooey bits of brown this and black that. It was very stinky and as there was no elf he slunk on.
After a very long time, he came to where the branches began to fan out from the trunk. He knew that the elf would have gone along the biggest one because it had more hiding leaves and it's important not to be found if a goblin is chasing you with an axe. The branch jutted slightly upwards as it rose from the tree and he was just wriggling on to it when he slipped and dropped on to the soft, wet, forest floor.
He knew right away what had happened. The goblin had found him and pushed him off, so he ran as fast as he could back to his parents, who were picnicking in the clearing next to the tree, not once looking back in case the goblin turned him to stone.
***
'Oh Benjamin', sighed his mum, 'Look at you. You're so grubby'. He tried to tell her about the elf and the goblin as she wiped him down but she just kept saying 'there, there, pet'. Grown-ups, decided Benjamin: they were all broken. He was determined he would never become one.
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