Etwas the Elf

Etwas the Elf
Our heroine, photo by Maia Ycot

Saturday, November 5, 2011

The little elf and the papyrus bush

Once upon a time, Etwas the Elf was running through the forests of grass, under the canopies of clover and around the stems of tall flowers when she came upon a bunch of papyrus.  "Oooh whee," she said thinking she had found a tail tree.

She scrambled up a stout stem and began to tug away in every direction.  The pollen from the papyrus turned her hat yellow and her shoes looked like they'd been blown over with snow.  The pollen filled her shirt until she looked puffed up and green like a contented bullfrog.

Then she took out her knife and cut off a few leaves, making a parasail.  She jumped from the top of the clump and soared high over the jade plant that grew below it.  She caught a thermal and rose even higher. Now she could see the papyrus from above and now a bird's nest in the pepper tree behind it.  Higher and higher she sailed until the elf and her leaves reached the end of the updraft and began to come down.

Faster and faster she went as gravity tugged against the air racing under her sail.  "Buh-buh-buh-boom!" she yelled pretending to strafe the papyrus colony but she came in too law and the papyrus returned fire.  Tiny seeds peppered the elf as she passed over the top, stinging her pointy ears and clogging her pointy nose.

"Ah-chooooo!" she sneezed.  In the spasm she let go of one side of her sail and spun her way down, hurtling all the way to the pond where she struck with a splash.  The pond closed over her elfin body and silence replaced elfin giggles and was, in turn, replaced by "shoooooooosh!" as Etwas broke the surface and spat out a mouthful of water and papyrus seed.

And ever since then, the colony of papyrus on the side of that pond has been known as "Etwas' clump" or "Etwas' sneeze" but you and I know it was really Etwas' spout.

2 comments:

  1. geetings to you from Etwas ;) and we loved the second and third paragraph, we just love your imagination!

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  2. The elves are fortunate to have a colony of papyrus so near to the pond. It's nearly extinct in the Nile Delta.

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