Children of The Forest

Mary was a sweet old lady who lived in a cabin in the woods where she would work in her garden. Every year she would attend the local gardening festival and enter her plants for the competitions but would never win. However, one day she had an idea.

Mary decided to go mushroom picking.

Mary cut a lone figure in the field, stooped over and picking mushrooms. It was the school holidays, and children gathered at the fence to the field watching Mary picking mushrooms. The children became curious and together they ran across the field towards Mary. When they reached her they tugged in her sleeves to see what was in the basket.

Mary placed the basket on the ground and the children peered down. Inside the basket were mushrooms of all shapes, sizes and colors. Some were pink, some were brown, some were yellow and others were red with white dots on them.

One of the children went to grab a mushroom but Mary quickly slapped her hand away.

“They are not ready yet!” Mary cried.

The children stood back in dismay.

“Come with me” Mary said and picking up the basket turned on her heel and headed for the woods with the children following her eagerly.

Later that evening, all the parents in the village were looking for their children, but they were nowhere to be found. That evening, the police scoured the field but could find no trace of the missing children. The police went to Mary's home and knocked in her door, she showed them around the house and garden but no signs of any children were to be found.

The rest of the summer had a gloomy air hanging over the village as the children had not returned. Winter came and parents calmly wrapped gifts for the children that never returned.

The next summer arrived and the local gardening festival went ahead. Mary turned up with a cart full of her plants: Flowers and vegetables. She entered them into all the competitions and won every single one. The people stood around clapping and one curious judge asked her how she had grown her plants so big and beautiful.

"How did you grow such big plants?" he said,

Mary smiled and said,

“Compost dear, you must have the best compost!”

The End