The elfin holiday

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, in a hurry to arrive at the little glade of cosmos where elves hold holiday.  She was carrying a pair of blackberries, two tiny candles and a circle of streamers.

Industriously, she strung the green streamers between the purple propellors of the cosmos.  Then she took a drupe from the blackberry and used the juice to write "Eamon the Elf" and "Maximilian Zwerg der Großer," on the underside of the flower petals.  She pulled the towel off a plate of crepes she had left for the party and set a candle alongside it for Maximilian.  Then she used icing to turn a blackberry into the batmobile and put a candle in the backside for Eamon.  She pulled out of her pocket a harmonica she'd made from blades of grass and willow leaves and practiced the Elfin birthday song.

"OK," she said.  "Now I just need the birthday boys to get the party started."  She took her little knife and dug and dug until she reached the cavern below the cosmo glade.

Shhhhhhhhhhoooooshhhhhhhh! A slide came in from the eastern side of the cavern and Maximilian slid upside-down into view.  He reached the end of the slide, flew into the center of the cavern holding a toy pony, tumbled into the air and landed in a mud puddle.

"Waß passiert?," asked the big, curly-haired, muddy-faced dwarf.

"Es tut mir leid," explained Etwas, "aber Ich habe einer kleiner streich gespielen.  Ich verließe das Spielzeug über eine Falle.  Herzlichen glückwünschen!"  She had built an underground slide and baited it with a toy pony to catch her cousin and bring him to the party.

Shhhhhhhhhoooooooshhhhhh! A slide came in from the western side of the cavern and this time it was Etwas' cousin, Eamon, who slid down.  He came a little slower and did not tumble or fall into the puddle, but was still pretty caked in mud.

"That was pwetty cool!" Eamon cried.  "Foost I found a spidoo-man action figya and den thew was a hole so I jumped down it and you was at the bottom!"

Etwas brought them back up to the surface and played "Happy birthday" on her harmonica while the Ogre, Stevie Elfsmoosher, sang along.

And ever since then, it has been elvish wisdom that some traps don't need bait.

(Happy birthday from Etwas to Eamon and Maximilian)