Life with the Sprites

Well that's far too many Ands but you will understand that the brother sprites were getting just a little disgruntled. Then, one day, came the last straw. Wizard Gossil, whose grasp of things wizardly and ordinary had not improved with his improvement in  fortune, lost his magic ring. And of course the sprites were set to find it. Gallina despatched them in pairs to search where the wizard had been. She scurried between the three pairs urging them to look more diligently. Bobby Sprite, close to the end of his little patience and thinking he was out of earshot retorted Gossil the Fossil should use his magic to find it, calls himself a wizard, some blinkin' wizard. Gallina's face was a picture, which I cannot begin to describe.

She grabbed poor Bobby by his right ear and marched him back to the cottage and related his crime in full. The wizard listened politely and to her surprise and Bobby's short lived relief began to laugh. So much in fact that he had to sit down and hold his tummy while tears rolled down his cheeks. Gallina's face turned to stone. Bobby looked at her and then at the wizard and began to feel very uneasy. Wha-a-a-at do y-ou ex--pe--ct m-ee to doo, he chortled tu--rn him in--to a fr-o-o-o-o-oo-g. With that he forced himself to stand up and waved his hands in the air. And unfortunately, since many a true spell is cast in jest, he repeated what were now the magic words: TURN HIM INTO A FROG. Oh dear and they worked. They worked very well. Bobby ran outside and knelt down to pick something up, but he couldn't get up because he turned into a frog. Gallina rushed after him and so did the wizard still laughing his head off.

Well, that is to say, he did turn into a frog, but then quickly became a sprite and then turned into a frog and so on. And as he came to himself each time he yelled he---lp. Thoughts rushed through Gallina's mind as they do when someone who has some responsibility is frightened. Some sensible thoughts: I should have dealt with this myself; others less so: Stop that at once Bobby and finally, and to her own amazement: For goodness sake stop laughing you silly old  wizard. And whoops it was the last of these she put into words. The wizard did indeed stop laughing and Bobby: stopped changing into a frog.

It began to rain  and all the other sprites came dashing back, headed by Brainy Sprite. When they were all inside, it was he who worked out that the wizard's spells worked only when he was laughing and that they could make him laugh by calling him Gossil the Fossil. But that was for the future. For the present Gallina got tea ready all on her own and, because things are never really fair, Bobby Sprite spent the evening standing in the corner. But of course he had a secret safely in his pocket.