Wheelbarrow.

Going Into my back garden, I looked long and carefully at my neat rows of vegetables, my runner beans with the bean vines spiralling up the beanpoles. The peas were coming along nicely I decided to sew some honey melon seeds that I had bought in the local gardeners shop. The shopkeeper told me they did not need much attention just sew them in a freshly dug bed, water them well in and wait. I must say the honey melons are coming along nicely I decided to have a quiet nap in my old wheelbarrow. Taking the old tarpaulin from the barrow, I shook up the two extra large cushions and laid myself down on my old wheelbarrow. Dropping off to sleep on this warm sunny morning was no problem and if you had been there in my garden you would have heard my light snores. Nothing disturbed me no birds, no fairies, no wild animals. I was alone fast asleep in my old wheelbarrow. I woke with the feeling that something was not as It should be. Opening my eyes I saw much to my surprise that I had slept right through the day. The evening was well advanced and I must admit that the stars high in the heavens had never looked so bright. I looked and found Venus; it was then that my tummy rumbled I realised that I was hungry.

Going In to my kitchen I filled a kettle with water, got the tea-pot put some tea In the pot and waited for the kettle to boil. Taking a packet of ginger biscuits from the larder, I emptied the packet on to a plate. I realised that I was not alone in the kitchen. This did not worry me as my house and all that is in it are under the protection of her majesty queen Feeanna. I then saw much to my surprise a bogie, bogies are harmless little people rather ugly to look at but if one takes to you it will do anything for you. One should never underestimate the powers of a bogie they can and do work magically. I once saw a bogie lift a car that had run over a small boy that had run out into the road while chasing a ball. I pretended not to notice the bogie and carried on making my tea. I took another plate, cup, and saucer from the Dutch dresser and placed it on the table. The kettle boiled and I made the tea. Waiting for the tea to draw I called to the bogie. “You can come out of hiding. I can see you.” sit at the table and have some ginger snaps, would you like a cup of tea? His squawky little voice thanked me for the offer of the biscuits but did not want any tea. I had an Idea; taking a bottle of fresh milk from the fridge I asked him if he would like a drink of milk. Nodding his head excitedly he watched as I poured him a glass of the fresh milk. The bogie must have been very hungry he ate ginger snap after ginger snap and drank his milk in small sips.

Would you like to stay the night I asked him. Nodding his head he smiled and I told him that he could have the spare room at the top of the stairs on the left. He declined and I went to the airing cupboard and got him a thick warm blanket. Taking the blanket he curled himself up In front of the fireplace and wrapping himself up in the blanket he dropped off to sleep. I decided to leave the washing up until the morning and made my way up stairs to my bed. I had my wash and getting dressed in my pyjamas I got into my bed and dropped off into a good sleep.

The following morning I awoke, had my daily morning wash, and cleaned my teeth got dressed and went down stairs. I had completely forgotten the bogie. On my way down stairs I smelt the smell of freshly made tea and the smell of eggs and bacon frying. I then remembered the bogie. Good I thought he at least has made himself something to eat. Entering my kitchen I saw the bogie standing by the stove cooking the breakfast. The washing up from the previous evening had been washed, dried and replaced on the dresser. The breakfast table had been laid with two places and the bread had been cut and buttered. The plates were waiting for the eggs and bacon. Coming from the fire with the frying pan the bogie placed some rashers of fried bacon and two eggs on each plate. Placing the frying pan back on the stove he sat down to the table and I at last opened my mouth and wished him a very good morning.

“Good morning Mr. Bern,” he shyly said. “I like you; I am staying to be your house bogie.”
For a moment or two I did not know what to say then I told him he could stay as long as he wanted but first after we had finished our breakfast I would give him some new clothes, the ones he was wearing were very old and not really suitable. Taking him upstairs I found a suitcase full of clothes that one of my nephews had left behind after he had stayed for a couple of weeks one school summer holiday. The clothes fitted the bogie and he looked very good in the shirt and trousers that my nephew had left behind.

I left him in the kitchen and went on my daily walk over the heath or better, as I knew it fairyland. Here her majesty the fairy queen met me. Queen Feeanna. Smiling she asked me how I liked my new companion. Her majesty had sent the bogie to me after she had found him wandering around fairyland. He had run away from his last household because they Ill treated him and made him eat the scraps that the family left over from their meals. I sent him to you because I know you will treat him well, In return he will help with all that Is to be done In your home. Smiling again her majesty wished me a good day and vanished in a bright blue flash leaving a small puff of smoke behind her.

The weekly market at Dartford takes place on Thursdays. Having walked into town from the heath going through Lowfield Street I walked quickly to the market In Orchard Street. Here I slowed my pace and started looking seriously at the various stalls. One caught my eye, a man had written on a piece of brown paper, leather belts for sale. Best cowhide leather, crocodile skin and pig skin wallets. Dragon skin belts are very popular with the young people of today. Buy a new dragon skin belt. I did not want a new belt I had at least four in my wardrobe at home. It was the words dragon skin belts that caught my eye. Why everyone knows that dragons do not live on this world of ours they have all been killed years ago. On the spur of the moment I bought a belt supposedly made of dragon skin. Going home I went into the woods or should I say fairyland. Here I took the dragon skin belt from the bag that the stallholder had put It In. I hung it over the branch of a tree to see what the fairies would make of it. The fairies came; some looked at the belt but took no notice of it. I thought that I had seen the last of the belt when a large barn owl swooped down and taking the belt In Its beak, flew off into the woods. I thought perhaps the owl thought that it had caught a juicy snake to feed its young owlets with. I forgot about the belt and walked back home where I proceeded to cook myself a large portion of eggs, bacon and sausages for my tea.

I sat down at the table and took the first bite when a blue light or flash lit my kitchen a small puff of smoke heralded the fairy queen, Queen Feeanna. Getting up from my kitchen chair I greeted her majesty after hastily swallowing my sausage. Her majesty apologised for having disturbed my meal and took from her pocket the dragon skin belt that the owl had taken from the tree branch. The owl brought this to me telling me that you had placed it on the tree branch and that many fairies had walked past it without recognizing it for what it was. My barn owl saw it and recognised the scales on the skin and that means that someone somewhere has either killed a dragon or gotten hold of a dragon’s skin. We must go into this and find out where this skin came from. Meet me tomorrow under the old oak tree where we hold our fairy dances; I will be there at ten o’clock. Now go back to your meal, her majesty smiled and waved her hand at my meal of eggs, bacon and sausages, for a second a warm glow went over my plate and my meal was as fresh and hot as I had taken It from the frying pan.

I spent a night without much sleep I seemed to be dozing off and dreaming about a man that sold dragon skin belts, In one of my dreams I saw the man kill the dragon then peel the skin off of the flesh, a very bloody procedure I was really pleased when It was time to get up out of my bed. I had a quick wash, brushed my teeth, combed my hair and got Into a fresh suit of clothes, after all It Is not everyday that one meets a fairy queen. I arrived at the old oak tree where the fairies held their dances and saw that her majesty was there, waiting for me. I nearly did not recognise her majesty. Dressed In a simple skirt and blouse with a pair of shoes quite suitable for walking in the country she came towards me and we went off into the town of Dartford.

There was no market on this day but I had, had an Idea, the entire stall holders had to be registered with the town council and this is the right place to look for his address. Going to the council offices I soon had the address of the man that sold the dragon skin belt to me. Her majesty and I walked to the man’s house, I knocked on the front door and the man himself opened the door. I asked him straight out where he had the dragon skin belts. A man who guaranteed the belts were genuine gave the belts to me. “Dragons have not existed for many years where would he get dragon skin to make them?” I asked. Then the man told me this story. The belts were given to him by the man he did not have to pay for them and just could not resist such a bargain. There was just one condition attached to the deal. The man was given a good description of me and told that he was to make sure that I got one of the belts even If he had to give me one for nothing. He then asked me if the belts had been stolen and had he broken the law by selling them on the market. He did not want to loose his rights to sell at the Dartford market place.

Her majesty and I assured him that all was well and he had no reason to worry. We went back to my home on the heath and her majesty took the belt from her pocket. She had been carrying it with her right through our walk into town and at the man’s house. “This is real dragon’s skin I wonder where the man whoever he is got It from?” “Come and see me tomorrow by the old oak and we will see what I can find out about the man that has dragon skin belts to give away. The following day I walked into fairyland and met her majesty at the old oak. Showing me a photo of a man her majesty asked me if I knew the man. Carefully looking at the picture I recognised the man it was the wizard Mordecai. “Now I know what he was he was up to,” said her majesty. “He knows that your house is protected by my magic and he thought that if he got you to wear the dragon skin belt you would not be protected here in fairyland. He has placed a spell on the belt. The spell would have made you unable to walk or talk for a long time. He got the dragon skin from the fairy university, one of the trolls that work at the university as a cleaning woman stole the dragon skin and sold it to Mordecai. The troll has been sent back to Sweden and is no longer allowed to leave her own country. Mordecai I have now placed under the same spell that he wished upon you. He cannot move and cannot speak. The sun will have to shine for one thousand years before he will be able to move again.