The Sloe Forest
Now you’ve followed the map to Darland Banks, you’ll find beautiful chalky grassland, home to plants such Oxeye Daisies, and creatures such as roman snails, magpies, wasp spiders, slow worms, and many more…
If you turn right, you’ll enter a place whose secret name is The Sloe Forest, where many, many strange things have happened, and we are going to tell you just one of them.
The Sloe Forest has a narrow path right down the centre of it, on either side of the path grow Blackthorn Trees, with needle-sharp thorns, and dark purple berries called sloe. Blackthorn is home to many butterflies, and the sloe berries make delicious jams and drinks, but the blackthorn is famous for other things too. You see, they are said to be gateways to a mysterious land called the Otherworld …
This story begins in The Sloe Forest, in autumn when the blackthorn trees are heavy with sloe berries and the ground is full of mushrooms.
One day in November, four children were walking home, they decided to take the long route through The Sloe Forest. They were chatting and laughing away, when they heard the sound of strange and beautiful music…
They hurriedly followed the sound of the strange music, noticing that the light got greener and greener as they walked, and after a while they heard a voice coming from the trees:
Slow down slow down my human friends
Don’t be in such a hurry
Walk slowly through this magic place
There is no need to scurry
The children slowed down. They couldn’t see where the voice was coming from. Then they heard it again:
My friends if you are hungry now
The mushrooms are quite yummy
Don’t hesitate, they are quite safe
And they will fill your tummies!
The four children looked around and saw some huge mushrooms, and after some discussion about whether it was a good idea or not, they each picked one and took a small bite… they were starving! … and they couldn’t believe it- the mushrooms were actually tiny pizzas! Delicious! So, they gobbled them down very quickly. As soon as they had finished eating, a giant Slow Worm appeared before them… and he spoke.
“Hello! I’m glad you took my advice and slowed down and ate some mushroom pizzas. Delicious, aren’t they? Anyway, the first thing you need to know about me if we are going to be friends is that I am a lizard, not a worm or a snake. You’ll notice I am not particularly slow. Also, I sometimes shed my tail if I feel like it. And I know where the door is to get into the Otherworld.”
“Wow! Can you show us where the door is?” the children asked, they were so excited at the thought of an adventure. The Slow Worm said “You’ll be able to see the doorway if you squeeze your eyes together until things look a bit blurry”
So, the children squeezed their eyes. The Slow Worm asked them “Can you see it?” The children squeezed their eyes a bit more. He asked again “Now can you see it?” The children squeezed their eyes even more. He asked one more time, “Now?”
“Yes!” the children all said at once.
Then they followed the Slow Worm through the door, which wasn’t easy as he moved super quickly and in a very chaotic manner, but soon they came to an ancient land full of strange things like talking horses, giant cats, and a pigeon with a goblin on her back, and characters out of books like Rapunzel and Dobby and a very wise man from Ancient Egypt. It was a land where everything you have ever dreamed of was and it was really exciting, but after a while all the children felt homesick. The only food was mushroom pizzas, and the only drink was sloe berry cordial, and they all longed for something else like chips and hot chocolate. They felt like they had been there for a year by now. The Slow Worm had noticed that the children were a bit fed up and he spoke “Come on, cheer up, I’ll show you the way home now. It is very interesting and exciting here, but we do find that everyone misses home after a while. But if you want to visit again all you have to do is squash a sloe berry, shout out “SHE’S A FAIRY” and then a fairy will appear. The door to the Otherworld never ever stays in the same place, but the fairy will help you find it."
So, the children found themselves back on the path of the Sloe Forest. Even though they felt like they had been away for ages, hardly any time had passed at all. They went home and told everyone of their adventures, and the story got passed from person to person until everyone knew- which is why we’re telling you the story now. You might want to go there yourself one day, you could squash a sloe berry and shout “She’s a fairy” and see what happens…
Now you’ve heard this story- do you think you’d like to visit the Otherworld? What might you see there? What might you do there? Close your eyes for a moment and let your imagination wander….
Oh, that’s Feathers letting us know we should travel on to the next story… see you there…
