THE SILVER BROTHERS AND GRENDEL

BY: LANA M. HO-SHING.

8x 9 1/4. 14 pages. Ages 3-10 years.

FOR SYANI L. HO-SHING.

Once upon a time in a land called Farfinnewgen, Mistress Nina, a big shiny black dog, lived in the Palace with her mistress Queen Frangipani. Nina was the Queen’s pet and she loved her to bits, she even loved the tuft of hair that stood up straight right smack in the middle of Nina’s forehead, between her two pointy black ears.

One day, The King of the land, King Balboa, told Queen Frangipani that her pet, Mistress Nina was getting ready to have some puppies. The Queen was delighted and she clapped her hands with glee and rushed off to find Mistress Nina.

“Nina, Nina”, Queen Frangipani cried, “Where are you?, she said, as she looked around, “Oh, there you are on your royal rug, are you comfortable?” she asked, as she stroked Nina’s head over the tuft of hair that stood up straight right smack in the middle of her forehead between her two pointy ears.  in response, Nina licked the Queen’s hand with her warm pink tongue and stretched out her silver paw to touch the Queen.

In a few days six beautiful squiggly, fat puppies with pink faces were born. Mistress Nina was a mommy. The entire Palace was buzzing with the news, and the bees in the trees buzzed even more with the excitement and flew off to tell all the flowers what had happened in Queen Frangipani’s Palace. The Frangipani was the Royal flower and you could smell the delightful fragrance all over the Palace.

The news delighted the flowers and they quickly made more pollen to feed the Bees who would make honey for Queen Frangipani who was their hero. Nina was very proud of her litter and as she licked each one and counted them over and over, she noticed that two of the puppies were silver in color instead of black. They were dazzling and very shiny. Nina was puzzled but did not trouble herself over this. She was their mommy and she did have a silver right paw.

The puppies grew very quickly and were very frisky, yapping night and day as they skipped and played all over the Palace. Four black velvety ones with beautiful black eyes and two silver and shiny ones, also with beautiful black eyes.

One day Pulachi the royal magician of Farfinnewgen came to the Palace to see the puppies and was astonished at the sight of the silver puppies, “Goodness gracious!” he said in alarm. “These are the magical Silver Brothers. “Goodness gracious,” he kept saying as he mopped his brow. “Goodness gracious, I must tell the Queen that we will soon be able to go outside in safety. These are the Silver Brothers that my magic mirror told me would come and destroy the giant bully Grendel who keeps taking our food.”

Away he ran with the wonderful and exciting news. He twirled and spun and clapped his hands for joy, and nearly knocked over a Page carrying the Queen’s favorite flower which of course was the beautiful Frangipani.

“Goodness gracious, oh my goodness gracious’, said the Page, carrying the flower. “Gracious me”, he sniffed, “Pulachi should be more careful.”

The people in Farfinnewgen were all afraid of the greedy bully Grendel who lived in the forest, and who would do no work for himself. Instead, he waited for the people to plant all the seeds, weed and water the crops, and as soon as the Apples, Mangoes, Carrots, Rice, Long Beans, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Avocado, Bananas, Plantains, Yams, and all the food the people loved were ready, Grendel would roar and make a thunderous noise,

“Bring me 40 large bags of food”, he would scream at the people, “Bring them now or I will make a meal of your children”. The people would shake and shiver in their boots and would run to the Palace and beg King Balboa to help them. They surely did not wish to lose their precious children. So always they gave the forty bags of food and had to make do with what was left, and that wasn’t very much. The King and Queen were sorely distressed for they had lost several brave Knights who had gone out to fight Grendel and were never seen again. “What to do, what to do?” the Royal couple wondered over and over as they wrung their hands.

 Pulachi burst into King Balboa’s parlor and bowed low before the King.

“Majesties” he said in a breathless voice because he had been running.

“My King and Queen, permission to speak”. The King was surprised to see Pulachi in such a flushed and rushed state as if he had seen a ghost.

“What is it Pulachi? Why are you so excited? “the King asked.

“Majesty” said Pulachi, “I think our problems will soon be solved, our long awaited warriors have come among us.”

The King was puzzled and Pulachi quickly told him what the magic mirror had been saying for six long years. The mirror said that two great silver warriors would come in humble disguise to take the burden of Grendel away from Farfinnewgen and make the Kingdom safe again from Grendel, and the people would get their fair share of the food they planted. No one would ever have to go to bed hungry ever again. The Magician spoke in a rush because he was so excited, he was even sweating. Upon hearing this, King Balboa was at a loss for words.

“My goodness gracious, my goodness gracious, my goodness gracious Pulachi, this is like a dream come true”. “Tell me more”, the King said, and off he went with Pulachi to have private discussions while the Queen went to visit Mistress Nina.

Six months later when the puppies were fully grown, they barked as loudly as their mama Mistress Nina, but the Silver Brothers barked the loudest and they had magic because they could fly. They flew all over the Palace to the delight of their four velvety black brothers who would climb on their backs and go for rides. Queen Frangipani would sit with her pet Nina and smile happily as she watched the puppies at play. Then she would stroke Nina on her forehead right between her ears over the tuft of hair.

Then came the time to harvest the crops from the fields and the people in the Kingdom became sad and worried, for they knew that bully Grendel would once again take their food. The people walked sadly to the fields with their heads down and dragged their feet. Suddenly, they heard a dreadful growl and a gruff voice, “Bring me 40 big bags of food or I will surely eat your children” It was Grendel. He was monstrous and dusty and mean looking with awfully big teeth. He towered over the people in the fields. But this time was to be his last.

Suddenly from the other side of the forest came a bright flash of silver lighting. It was the Silver Brothers dressed in silver capes and brandishing silver magic swords held high in their strong paws. The people watched in awe. Then they heard the Silver Brothers shout,

“Begone Grendel”, they barked, “Begone!” They swooped down on Grendel and poked his hard back many times with their swords, and with one last “Begone!” Grendel shrank down to the size of your left shoe. He was no longer a fierce giant. He was as little as a shoe and his voice could barely be heard. The people in the Kingdom were delighted and they clapped and cheered. “Hurrah, hurray, hurrah.” They cheered so loudly that the folks in the next kingdom could hear them. Then they started to sing and gathered their food in peace without any fear of the cruel monster. The people were now very happy. But before they left the fields, they gave Grendel one half of an Apple for that was all his little stomach could now hold. They would not let him starve.

The King and Queen praised the Silver Brothers for rescuing the Realm and made them Knights of the Frangipani circle. He then threw a big party to celebrate and give thanks for the Silver brothers. Mistress Nina watched all this and sighed contentedly and fell asleep. Farfinnewgen was safe again and her pups had saved the day.

 

THE END.