by Lisa Barrass –
It was a beautiful sunny day, and the garden at Tickle Belly Alley Cottage was in full bloom. The tall hollyhocks dipped their heads to the blue lupines. Shy violets peeped out from under the hedgerow and bright red poppies nodded lazily in the breeze. Over by the bright purple lavender many bees worked hard, whilst in the trees the blackbirds sang out to each other and tiny Jenny Wrens flew from branch to branch in search of small insects to feed to their chicks. It was a magical place, and it was looked after by a very magical person, a beautiful fairy known by the name Cupcake Sally. She lived behind the tallest hollyhocks at the bottom of the garden, and when she cast her fairy dust the best magic could happen.
Christine sat in her old wicker chair by the bright green back door as she waited for her visitors. At her feet, Thomasina the cat snoozed in the warm sun.
A gentle breeze stirred the grasses and the sound of fairy bells floated on the air. The breeze whispered, “Tickle Belly…Tickle Belly…Tickle Belly Alley.”
Christine smiled. She knew this could only mean one thing—an adventure was about to start.
“Wake up, Thomasina. The children will be here in a moment,” she said, but Thomasina was too busy dreaming about milk and mice. Christine stood up and waited patiently.
The garden gate swung open and Ella, Polly, and Lucas ran into the garden. Christine met them by the vegetable patch.
Lucas lifted a leaf. “Look!” he shouted. “A caterpillar!”
The caterpillar was big, fat and green and munched on his leaf without taking a bit of notice of Lucas who had leaned in to see if the caterpillar had teeth.
“Come and see what I have found,” called Christine. “Over there! Do you see?” She pointed to something in the tall grasses.
At first it was really difficult to see anything at all, just long bobbing grass, and then Polly squealed as something hopped off. It was a grasshopper. He was soon out of sight.
“Can we be grasshoppers too?” asked Ella.
“Of course,” said Christine, and she smiled. “Let’s call out for some help. Ready? One…two…three…”
“Cupcake Sally from Tickle Belly Alley!” called the children and Christine.
Cupcake Sally flitted out from behind the sweet peas. Her silvery wings glistened in the bright sunlight as she flew from Ella to Polly to Lucas. She touched each of them with her wand, which showered them in golden fairy dust.
The breeze whispered softly, “Tickle Belly…Tickle Belly…Tickle Belly Alley.”
The children shrank down into the tall grasses.
“Where are we?” Lucas whispered as he looked around him.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and the garden at Tickle Belly Alley Cottage was in full bloom. The tall hollyhocks dipped their heads to the blue lupines. Shy violets peeped out from under the hedgerow and bright red poppies nodded lazily in the breeze. Over by the bright purple lavender many bees worked hard, whilst in the trees the blackbirds sang out to each other and tiny Jenny Wrens flew from branch to branch in search of small insects to feed to their chicks. It was a magical place, and it was looked after by a very magical person, a beautiful fairy known by the name Cupcake Sally. She lived behind the tallest hollyhocks at the bottom of the garden, and when she cast her fairy dust the best magic could happen.
Christine sat in her old wicker chair by the bright green back door as she waited for her visitors. At her feet, Thomasina the cat snoozed in the warm sun.
A gentle breeze stirred the grasses and the sound of fairy bells floated on the air. The breeze whispered, “Tickle Belly…Tickle Belly…Tickle Belly Alley.”
Christine smiled. She knew this could only mean one thing—an adventure was about to start.
“Wake up, Thomasina. The children will be here in a moment,” she said, but Thomasina was too busy dreaming about milk and mice. Christine stood up and waited patiently.
The garden gate swung open and Ella, Polly, and Lucas ran into the garden. Christine met them by the vegetable patch.
Lucas lifted a leaf. “Look!” he shouted. “A caterpillar!”
The caterpillar was big, fat and green and munched on his leaf without taking a bit of notice of Lucas who had leaned in to see if the caterpillar had teeth.
“Come and see what I have found,” called Christine. “Over there! Do you see?” She pointed to something in the tall grasses.
At first it was really difficult to see anything at all, just long bobbing grass, and then Polly squealed as something hopped off. It was a grasshopper. He was soon out of sight.
“Can we be grasshoppers too?” asked Ella.
“Of course,” said Christine, and she smiled. “Let’s call out for some help. Ready? One…two…three…”
“Cupcake Sally from Tickle Belly Alley!” called the children and Christine.
Cupcake Sally flitted out from behind the sweet peas. Her silvery wings glistened in the bright sunlight as she flew from Ella to Polly to Lucas. She touched each of them with her wand, which showered them in golden fairy dust.
The breeze whispered softly, “Tickle Belly…Tickle Belly…Tickle Belly Alley.”
The children shrank down into the tall grasses.
“Where are we?” Lucas whispered as he looked around him.
“We’re in the grass!” replied Ella. “Look, there’s Christine.”
The children looked up and could see Christine as she peered down into the grass. She looked like a giant!
“We’re grasshoppers!” said Polly as she giggled and began to hop.
Lucas and Ella soon followed her lead, bouncing from one blade of grass to another.
“Weeeeeeeeeeeee!” cried Lucas. “See how high I can go.”
The children hopped on and on. Suddenly Polly stopped. She could hear a strange noise in the grass up ahead. It sounded like a very loud animal chirruping.
“Let’s get closer,” whispered Lucas, who sounded a lot braver than he felt.
“Oooh.” Ella was a little worried. “I’m not sure we should. What if it’s a dangerous creature and it wants to gobble us up for dinner?”
Polly wasn’t scared. “There aren’t any dangerous creatures in Tickle Belly Alley.”
“Well, I’m going to take a look,” said Lucas boldly and he hopped away before Ella or Polly could stop him.
Cupcake Sally arrived to see if the children were having fun, and Ella told her where Lucas had gone. “What if it is a dangerous creature and it eats him?”
Cupcake Sally laughed. “It’s not a dangerous creature, Ella. That’s the Grasshopper Choir. They are practicing their singing.”
“Grasshopper Choir,” snorted Polly in disbelief. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
“Well,” said Cupcake Sally gently. “Not like your singing, Polly but it is singing. Come on, let’s go and find Lucas and take a look.”
Ella and Polly followed Cupcake Sally, who flitted ahead dropping fairy dust as she went. She landed on a broad oak leaf near where Lucas sat and waited for the other two to catch up. Hopping was very hard work, even for grasshoppers.
“Every year,” explained Cupcake Sally, “all the insects and bugs give a concert for the Queen Bee and the Queen Ant.”
She parted the grass and the children looked through. Ahead, in a patch where no grass grew, were eight grasshoppers. In front of them was the choir master. One by one, the grasshoppers began to do something rather strange; they rubbed one back leg against the other. What a beautiful sound it made. They were singing.
“Why aren’t they opening their mouths?” asked Polly. “That’s not real singing.”
“They are singing like grasshoppers,” said Cupcake Sally softly.
“How do they do that?” asked Ella, her voice full of wonder.
“Well,” replied Cupcake Sally. “They have special bumps on their legs called pegs. When they rub them together it makes the singing sound.”
“Do we have those too?” asked Lucas as he tried to see his own back legs. How comical he looked as he tried to peer over his shoulders.
“Of course you do!” said Cupcake Sally. “Why don’t you have a go?”
They all rubbed their back legs together but what an awful sound they made! Ella stamped her foot; she was used to being the best at everything and now she’d found something she couldn’t do.
“I think you may need some lessons,” said Cupcake Sally kindly as she flew over to speak to the choir master. After a moment she beckoned to the children.
“The Grasshopper Choir has agreed to give you lessons.”
The children hopped over. The choir master raised his baton, and the choir began to sing. The children eagerly joined in. Oh my! The noise! The din! Cupcake Sally covered her ears.
“No! No! No!” shouted the choir master, but the children didn’t hear him. They were too busy singing.
“STOP!” he cried at the top of his voice.
One by one Ella, Polly, and Lucas stopped. The other grasshoppers tried not to laugh.
“Just follow the others,” said the choir master. “Gently does it.”
The choir started again, but the children’s attempts were just as bad as before.
Polly was feeling very cross. She folded her front legs and sulked. “We can’t do it. It’s too hard.”
“I’d rather hop,” said Lucas who wasn’t musical even when he was a human.
“Me too,” agreed Ella.
“Me three,” joined in Polly. “Who needs to sing anyway? I don’t see the point.”
The children hopped away before anyone could stop them. The choirmaster gave a little cough and the choir began to sing. This time, in tune.
Hopping through the tall grass, the children were soon a long way from the choir. They were so busy trying to hop higher than each other they hadn’t noticed just how far they had gone. Lucas and Polly were soon competing against each other and both were determined to win.
Ella began to get very worried. “Be careful.You’re going too high.”
But Polly and Lucas weren’t listening. They went higher and higher and higher. Ella was getting nervous. She didn’t recognize this part of the garden at all. It was very dark, and the trees crowded in above her head and shut out all the sunlight. Ella listened carefully, but she couldn’t hear the safe sounds of the blackbirds or the croaking of the frogs in the lily pond. The others hadn’t noticed. Polly was jumping super high.
Ella looked up and gasped. “Polly!” shouted Ella. “Watch out for that spider’s web!”
Too late! Polly was caught up in the sticky web. She wriggled and wriggled but the web had a tight hold on her. The more she struggled the more the web wrapped around her.
“Oh no, she’s all tangled up,” said Lucas.
“And the spider’s coming to see what he’s caught for lunch!” said Ella who by now was very scared.
From under a leaf a big, fat brown spider came scurrying out. Polly’s wriggling had alerted him to something in his web.
“HELP! HELP!” shouted Polly.
Lucas thought very hard about what they should do and suddenly had an idea. “We should go and fetch Cupcake Sally.” But as he looked around, he realized he didn’t know where they were.
Ella began to cry. Big, round tears splashed onto the grass. Then she did something completely unexpected. As she sobbed, she rubbed her back legs together and out came the most beautiful sound.
“Ella,” gasped Polly. “You’re singing!”
“Do it louder,” said Lucas. “So someone can hear you.”
Ella rubbed her legs harder and the singing got louder.
Cupcake Sally flew out of the grass. She hadn’t been far away. Quickly Ella and Lucas showed her how Polly had been caught up in the spider’s web.
Cupcake Sally waved her wand and Polly fell to the ground, landing safely with a soft bump.
The spider looked very disappointed and scuttled back to his hidey hole under a big leaf.
“Thank you! Oh, thank you,” said Polly, relieved to be freed.
“I heard someone singing,” said Cupcake Sally as she smiled kindly at the children. “Did you know that grasshoppers sometimes use their song to call for help or to warn other grasshoppers of danger?”
“Gosh, I must have been calling for help and I didn’t know it!” said Ella.
“Let’s see if we can sing like Ella,” said Lucas.
Polly and Lucas took a deep breath and tried really hard. They could sing just like Ella!
“Come along,” said Cupcake Sally. “Everyone is waiting for you.”
The children were very glad to leave the dark wood and go back out into the sunny garden. Cupcake Sally led them back to the big clearing in the grass.
Under the old oak tree all the bugs and insects were gathered. Seated on two thrones were the Queen Bee and the Queen Ant.
The Grasshopper Choir and the children began to sing.
What a success! The children sang beautifully and at the end they were given the biggest applause of all.
“Time to go,” said Cupcake Sally when the applause had finished.
Ella, Lucas, and Polly said goodbye to all their new friends and hopped away out of sight. Cupcake Sally waved her wand and showered them with fairy dust. The three children grew upward and were once more their normal size.
“Did you have lots of fun?” asked Christine.
“We learned how to sing like grasshoppers,” said Polly.
“And we sang for the Queen Ant and the Queen Bee,” said Ella.
“Polly nearly got eaten by a hungry spider,” said Lucas.
“Did she now? Gracious!” said Christine, and she smiled at the tales the children told.
“Cupcake Sally rescued us,” explained Polly.
Lucas rubbed his tummy. “All that hopping has made me hungry,” he said.
“Me too,” agreed Ella.
“Me three,” said Polly.
“Come along then, I think there may be some milk and biscuits in the kitchen,” said Christine.
Ella, Polly, Lucas, and Christine went inside the cottage and closed the door, and somewhere, just over by the old oak tree…can you hear the sound of singing?
the end.
Question Time
- Who looked after Tickle Belly Alley?
- Who do the insects play a concert for every year?
- How does Polly end up in the spider’s web?
- Who rescued the children?
