The Sheepish Forest

Titus Wulf didn't know exactly where he'd find his adventure and without much thought, he began walking north towards the Sheepish Forest. Surely he'd find some adventure there, as it was renowned for its mysticism. It'd been said that fairies helped the plant life to grow and protected the forest from harm. However, Titus had seen many strange things in his seventy-three years, but the thought of fairies was too hard to comprehend. His father always said, “whatever you could see beyond your nose was all the reality anyone would get” and that was how Titus lived his life.

“Even if there were fairies in the forest,” Titus thought, “they could be the start of the adventure I have been wishing for.”

When he neared the wall of autumn-coloured trees that stood before him, Titus felt an odd queasiness in his stomach, the kind one feels when one is about to experience something but isn't quite sure what to expect. Most people would've turn away, but Titus was looking for adventure, so he walked on.

“I won't let a forest and a bit of dimming light get in the way of my adventure.” Titus exclaimed to himself, which was a way of reassuring himself; as most dwarves from Tranquil actually need the reassurance before jumping into possible danger. The trees seemed to part to allow him to enter, only to close again behind him.

“This is an adventure.” Titus thought, “I might find myself in the thick of it before this day is over.” And although Titus was ready for anything, he decided to stay cautious and remain on the path, because he felt that he shouldn't be too adventurous on his first day. But we all know that as Titus was not like most dwarves, he preferred the safest route possible, even during an adventure.

As it grew darker, so too did the haunting sounds of the wind blowing around the trees and the odd animal scrounging through the shrubbery. The sounds startled the dwarf, as he wandered deeper into the forest and was soon shrouded in mist.

Suddenly, ghostly voices whispered from the rustling trees.

“Who's there?” Titus called in his best angry dwarf voice, “I'm not afraid of you!”

Still the whispers continued to weave through the darkness. Then a strong gust of wind swept about the little clearing and the sounds screamed at him, as panic set in. Titus ran, only guided by the thin silhouettes of trees and shrubbery, and soon he tumbled down an embankment.

When he came too, Titus found himself strung up in a big tree, surrounded by voices. Titus didn't know how long he'd been unconscious, nor was he used to seeing the world from upside down, so he was unsure as to where he was and who was with him. A sharp prod made Titus yelp, bringing his captors to attention, but all Titus could make out was the tree and then a blur as he spun around from the branch.

“What’re you wanderin’ around the forest for then, aye?”

As dwarves prefer to have both feet firmly planted on the ground, Titus felt himself getting queasier with the continuous spinning. His attempt to answer became quite amusing to his hosts. “Wi wus walwing…”

Just then a voice shouted over the laughter “Petal and Rose, leave that poor creature alone! Cut him down at once!”

Before he knew it, Titus landed with a thud on the ground and once again lost consciousness.

This time when he'd woken, Titus had a sense of relief that the ground was underneath him, however when he looked around, he couldn't see anybody. So he took the opportunity to try and free himself from the vines that restrained him. He wriggled and squeezed, though nothing appeared to be working.

“Golly, you creatures sure sleep a lot, aye!” a voice suddenly squealed.

“What’cha tryin’ to do? Escape?” said another.

Titus looked around and was positive that nobody was in his vicinity; surely it was just his head playing tricks on him. As you know, dwarves of Tranquil dislike confrontation, so all Titus could blame was his overactive imagination.

“Oi, Rose, the creature’s ignorin’ us.” Came the first voice.

“Who are you and where are you?” Titus stated as courageously as he could muster, “And stop poking me, it is terribly annoying... Ouch!”

Another poke and Titus still struggled to see his antagonists.

Finally a harsh screech stopped the attack, “Rose and Petal! I thought I told you to leave the creature alone?” Just then a flutter of wings was heard by the dwarf’s left ear, before Titus came face-to-face with the smallest person he'd ever seen. “Now, what have we here?” The little winged woman croaked, “You’ll have to forgive my boys. They don’t come across too many creatures like you. Let me introduce you…”

Within seconds Titus had two smaller people flapping about in front of him. “…This is my eldest boy, Rose, and this is my youngest, Petal. Oh, where are my manners? I am Mama Petunia; you are in my part of the forest.”

Titus took some time to come to terms with his situation, but decided it'd be best to introduce himself and state his purpose. “My name is Titus Wulf and I am from the town of Tranquil. I have ventured into these woods because I am on a quest for adventure.”

“Adventure?” Mama Petunia questioned, “You're not gettin' any adventure here, Mister Wulf? The only things you'll find in The Sheepish Forest are fairies and our homes.”

Titus didn't know how to reply; would he first state that he had just realised they were fairies or would he answer the question as to what adventure he was looking for? As he didn't want to appear unworldly and as he didn't know what adventure he hoped to find, he remained silent.

“Maybe Mister Wulf’d like to join the other giant creatures on the far side of the fores...?” Petal began to say, before Rose stopped him by placing a hand over Petal’s mouth.

“Petal! You know we can’t let Mama know ‘bout our trip to the far side of the forest, aye?” Rose blurted without thinking.

“What?” Mama Petunia shrieked, “Have you boys been fluttering off to the far side of the forest again?”

“Oh! Now look what’cha done, Rose, aye!” Petal moaned as he pushed his older sibling.

“Me?” Rose squeaked innocently, “You opened ya big mouth, aye!”

The three fairies began a hideous battle of words. Blame was passed from one fairy to another and Titus was quite unsure of what to do. He couldn't run, as he was still tied up and being a dwarf of Tranquil it was unlikely that he'd get himself involved in the confrontation, so there was little else to do apart from sit and watch the squabble. So he did.

As morning came, Titus found himself waking up. Obviously during the argument he'd fallen asleep, but it was clear now that the fairies had solved their disagreement, so Titus felt it was time to ask for his release. He turned to Mama Petunia who was busy dusting a daisy with a dandelion, while her boys were being made to flutter in front of a tree as punishment for their gallivanting.

“Excuse me, please Mama Petunia, but I was wondering if it was possible that I might be able to be released so that I may continue my walk through the forest.” Titus made sure that he was as polite as possible, for he had seen how ferocious angry fairies could be and he did not wish to make them aggressive towards him.

“I’m sorry dear Mister Wulf, but that's not up to me.” Mama Petunia stated without even looking at the dwarf.

Half expecting Mama Petunia to explain who it was up to if it was not up to her, Titus found himself sitting in silence for some time before he decided to prod the fairy further. “Excuse me, please Mama Petunia, but with whom shall I have to speak to in regards to my release?”

Mama Petunia stopped fluttering towards another daisy and looked at Titus in a rather annoyed manner, “Rosenberg Lillycoddle Finch face that tree immediately or I’ll clip your wings, young man!”

Titus huffed, as he thought it was a riddle; and we all know how dwarves are with riddles. However, upon glancing at the two boys fluttering in front of the tree, Titus realised Mama Petunia was only growling at her son. This made the dwarf sigh with relief as he'd assumed that he made the mother fairy angry, but as all was well he turned back to Mama Petunia and asked once more.

“Oh bother! Can’t a mother fairy get her chores done without being interrupted by silly little children who should know better or big troublesome tied up creatures who want an adventure in the forest? Is that too much to ask?” Mama Petunia growled, as she fluttered right up to Titus’ nose, “Firstly you wouldn’t be in this mess if you weren’t loitering and secondly a creature like you getting this far off the path is probably up to no good indeed! Finally – Petal Honeysuckle Finch keep your eyes firmly on the oak in front of you or I’ll clip your wings!”

Suddenly trumpets blared and Titus could hear a flutter of many wings, which soon became visible as a horde of fairies flocked into Mama Petunia’s part of the forest. Titus noticed Mama Petunia hid her dandelion duster and joined a group of female fairies by a small toadstool.

“Have those boys been playing up again, Mama Petunia?” One of the ladies asked in a quite deliberate sophisticated manner, which did not sound as sophisticated as she had hoped.

“Why yes, Ma’am, those young scallywags are always up to mischief.” Mama Petunia replied, in her own sophisticated voice. Although it surprised Titus, because he'd never encountered fairies before, we all know fairies aren't overly cultured and so they endeavour to outclass one another whenever they are at a gathering such as this one.

Soon more trumpets blared and the fairies fell silent, turning their attention to Titus; and as dwarves don't like being the centre of attention, you can imagine how Titus felt with hundreds of little blinking fairy eyes turned his way.

“Fairies of the Sheepish Forest!” A fairy herald called, and Titus wondered how such a small man could have such a loud, overly-sophisticated voice, “Please stand and welcome in the usual fairy way, your chiefly oppressor, King Daisychain II!”

The fairies leapt into the air and Titus noticed the beautiful kaleidoscope of colours from each of the fairies’ wings intertwining and dancing their way back down as a chant went up; “Hail King of the Fairies!”

To Titus’ disbelief, a short overweight fairy was carried out in a nest of leaves by ten struggling fairy servants. When King Daisychain II stood, the crowd fell silent.

The king cleared his throat and began with a declaration of how great he was and then got to the matter at hand, and Titus was amazed at the manner in which the king of the fairies had spoken.

“So this strange creature was walkin’ through our forest was he?” The king announced in a very unsophisticated fashion, as he pointed his small chunky finger at Titus. “I reckon we should find out what the oversized chipmunk was doin’ so deep in our forest. What do ya say, chipmunk?”

Titus was rather offended at being called an ‘oversized chipmunk’, but being a dwarf of Tranquil he was not so offended that he would cause a commotion, instead he was wondering if he really did look anything like the description the king had given him. And as he pondered, the king grew impatient, “Does it speak?”

Mama Petunia stepped forward curtsied and said, “My boys and I found it wandering through my part of the forest, your majesty. It appeared to stray from the path and tumbled into my dwelling. It has spoken to me, maybe it fears your immense royalness, your majesty?”

King Daisychain II appeared quite chuffed that the dwarf was afraid of him, but after Titus recollected his reflection in many a pool of water, he confirmed to himself that the king’s observations were rather wrong. So with that matter solved Titus felt ready to speak. Remembering the ferociousness of three fairies arguing and not liking the thought of thousands of fairies arguing, Titus felt he should show the proper respect to the king.

“I beg your pardon, your majesty.” Titus began, while he attempted a bow (which was quite hard when restrained), “I would like to plead my case, if I may.”

The king smiled when he heard that Titus would plead, for that made him feel that Titus really was afraid. “Plead away!” The king ordered.

In long-winded dwarf fashion, Titus explained how he'd left Tranquil and the fairies gasped; for we know, fairies are quite unworldly and would never dare leave their homes. Then Titus told of his walk along the path of the Sheepish Forest; at this point the fairies began to weep, for fairies get emotional when they hear a stranger mention their home. Finally, Titus described the haunting whispers and the ghostly voices that chased him off the path and led him in the direction of Mama Petunia’s dwelling; the fairies fell silent. Then Titus noticed he wasn't the centre of attention anymore and the focus had shifted on Mama Petunia’s two sons, who were still fluttering in front of the old oak tree. Titus was unsure whether he'd made them lose interest or whether they were all about to shout the boys’ names and threaten to clip their wings.

Moments later, the king of the fairies whispered something to two of his servants and Titus was cut loose. Then King Daisychain II broke the tense silence in an overly sophisticated fashion, “Your story is quite plausible. The fairies of my great kingdom are very sorry to have caused you such distress, Master Chipmunk. Since I caused such fear to run through your veins, I will have two of my servants lead you back onto the path and you may continue your journey. Now, I shall leave you with a solemn fairy bye-bye wave.” With that King Daisychain II waved regally at Titus, before his servants led the dwarf back towards the path. Titus was glad that he'd left when he did, because he was certain that he could hear the sounds of thousands of angry fairies echoing throughout the forest.