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Little Amanda
Little Amanda was
on her usual walk by the woods. She loved this time of
the evening, the beautiful yellows and reds of the
flowers contrasted well upon the green leaves. Little
Amanda was engrossed in her thoughts and this evening
she took on a different path that led her towards the
insides of the woods. (Amanda was well aware of her
mother’s warnings to avoid that path.) Suddenly,
breaking free from her thoughts, Amanda realized the
trees looked greener and darker and the atmosphere
suddenly seemed dull and gloomy. Terrified she looked
around to find her way back. As she raced across the
ground, she ran helter-skelter in any direction. Finally
tired, she lay beneath a large tree.
To her amazement, a little goblin ran towards her. He
beckoned her to follow him. The goblin had a rough
appearance and a mean expression. Terrified, she
followed him quietly. Amanda knew not what it was and
walked slowly behind him. As he approached a clearing,
Amanda saw a strange sight. There were pretty little
cottages and neat driveways. Goblins were having a merry
time laughing and gorging on pies and cakes. Suddenly,
Amanda stiffened. By her right, she saw a group of
little children like her, toiling away and clearing the
garden. They were dressed in tattered clothing and few
of them were weeping bitterly. Amanda realized she had
also become a slave to these rather mean goblins. Just
as she realized the truth, the goblin grabbed her by the
arm and pushed her roughly towards the sad children.
Perplexed, there was only one thought that ran through
her mind, ‘How shall I escape with all these girls and
boys?’
Amanda was asked to change into rags and forced to join
the groups of little boys and girls. She toiled till
dinnertime cleaning all the doors and windows of the
house that belonged to the horrid goblin. Hungry, she
tugged the sleeve of the goblin hoping for some food. He
pushed a stale loaf of bread under her nose and said,
‘That’s your meal for the night’. A rather tired Amanda
was pushed into a messy room with other children for the
night. Weeping, she collapsed onto a pile of straw.
Suddenly she remembered her kind mother’s words about
every problem having a solution. She decided she would
solve this rather than weep over it. Prayers were
something she believed in and she knelt down on the
floor in hope for some answer.
Suddenly, there was a slight sound and Amanda opened her
eyes to see a beautiful fairy seated before her. The
fairy held her hand gently and told her there is way
out. The horrid goblin stored all his magical powers in
a beautiful porcelain doll and this doll, once broken,
would free them from the clutches of the goblins.
Amanda thought deeply about this porcelain doll. ‘It
must be in this house itself and close to him’ she
pondered. By midnight, she happened to escape from a
small window and enter the house from the backside. Her
search gave her no fruitful results. That was when she
entered the bedroom of the bad goblin and happened to
see it by his bedside, a tall beautiful porcelain doll,
radiant in the moonlight that streamed in from the
window.
Scared and excited, she lunged for it but woke up the
goblin as she bumped into his wooden bed. In a rage the
goblin attacked her but Amanda was quicker. Throwing the
doll outside the window, she yelled with happiness. The
moment it crashed Amanda felt someone push her!
Startled she looked around to find her kind mother
looking towards her with great surprise. ‘Why did you
just throw your favorite doll around? Were you having a
bad dream?’, asked Amanda’s mother. Amanda woke up
bleary eyed and was pleased to find herself back in her
room. Her mother than warned her, ‘How many times I have
told you to avoid the woods? Do not venture towards that
area’. Amanda answered meekly, ‘Yes’. Her mother further
said rather sternly, ‘besides, you must not gorge so
much on sweets and pies during meal times. A balanced
meal is what it should be.’
Agreeing meekly, Little Amanda rushed out into the
garden to play with her doll. And lo and behold, there
was a tiny note placed there near the gooseberry bush
that said ‘Thank you for freeing us from the bad
goblins. Please accept our token of thanks!’ Amazed
Amanda wondered it this was true or was it the result of
too many pies and cakes! She found a tiny fairy doll
beside the bush. Perplexed, she picked it up and walked
back to her room. She realized from this very day, she
should obey her mother and avoid going to places that
were considered inappropriate. Nor would she gorge on
sweets or ever be greedy at meal times! Probably this
was a funny way of learning a lesson for little Amanda.
If not for the kind fairy, Amanda would have still been
stuck with other girls and boys toiling away for the
horrid goblin.
I think that was a well-deserved lesson for Amanda. I
would not want to bump into that horrid goblin! I am
sure you don’t want to as well, don’t you?
And Now.... Your
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