Tales From the Cave-Megan Morse and the Seven Dwarves

Heigh Ho!

Sorry I haven't written in a while.  I've been busy getting ready for Thanksgiving.  Enjoy this new chapter and your turkey!

It was dark inside the tiny cottage, in the attic room where all the little beds lined up in a row.  The candle, the only source of light in the room, had melted to a pile of white waxy gook, it's flame ready to go out any second.  Still fast asleep in this little house, was M'gann M'orrz, all tuckered out from a full day of cleaning.  She lay on the line-up of small beds, sleeping as peacefully as a baby.  All around her, the animals friends she had made just earlier today lay in different parts of the room, cuddling one another.

All of the sudden, the animals' keen ears picked up a faint sound from not too far off.  Getting up, they all scrambled over to the window to see a strange light coming closer and closer.  "Heigh ho!  Heigh ho!  Its home from work we go!"  The animals panicked and scurried out of the room in a hurry, desperate to get out of there before they were caught.  They ran out the door and into the bushes, waiting for the storm to pass.  Simon the chipmunk looked around. Wait...where's M'gann?!, he exclaimed in his chipmunk language.

Before any of them could react, seven small, short, dark shadows marched through the door to the house.  The light filled the house as the animals heard voices coming from inside.  "Hey!  Somebody's been here!"  "If's its that no-good Goldilocks again, things are gonna get ugly."  "I don't think it is.  Look!  Everything's been cleaned!  The floors, the dishes, the laundry..."  "They sorted all of my hankies!  HA-CHOO!"  "They tuned my guitars!  Schmoopty-doopty-schmoodily-doo!"  "She even oiled all of my inventions!"  A sweet whistling sound was heard.

A rough, grouchy voice rang out.  "Hey!  There's a light on upstairs!  Let's see just who dared to break into our house!"
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Her breath was steady.  Her form lay still as she slumbered peacefully, not hearing the footstep coming up from the stairs.  All of the sudden, she felt the warmth covering her body leave sharply.  Shivering from the sudden lack of heat, she groggily opened her eyes to see seven short figures standing around.  She screamed as she sat up in her bed.  As she blinked, her vision cleared as she saw who they were.  "You're little men!"

Lined up around her were seven short, stumpy little men, with facial hair and clothes of every color of the rainbow.  The one with red-rimmed glasses and a matching bow tie got her attention. "Heigh ho there! My name's Doc! And these are my brothers! Happy..." He strummed his guitar and sang, "Hello, hello, hello, hello!" "Sneezy..." He held his hankie to his nose, as red as a beet and swollen to the size of a passion fruit. "Heddo dere. HA-CHOO!" "Sleepy..." He waved, his eyelids sagging. "Have you seen Mr. Hicklepips?" M'gann reached behind her. "Oh! Yes, here he is!" She pulled out a little stuffed creature. "I had him washed and everything." Sleepy played with the little bow tie M'gann had put on him and took a whiff. "Mmm...he smells like an ocean breeze now. Thanks!"

"Bashful—hey, where is he?" M'gann felt something under the bed. She poked her head over to see a cowering little figure, his hat with eyeholes so he could see when he pulled it over his face. She reached in and pulled him out. "No need to be scared." She kissed his cheek, and he blushed bright red. He pointed to the only one with no beard. "And that's Dopey! He can't talk! He only speaks in whistles!"  Dopey whistled a tune.  M'gann nodded her head in response.  "Yes, it is a lovely day."  He whistled in surprise.  "Yes, I can understand you.", she explained.  "I'm a telepath.  That means I can read the minds of others.  I just connect your thoughts to mine, and translate."

She turned to the dwarf with a brown beard, a frown on his face and a flowerpot on his head.  "Wait, let me guess..."  She put a finger to her chin, smiling childishly, pretending to be thinking very hard.  "You must be Grumpy!"  He got all up in her face.  "Ya got THAT right right!  And I, for one, am not letting any strange green-skinned aliens in my home!"  He pointed a finger towards the exit.  "Don't let the door hit 'cha on the way out!"

Just then, a hoard of animals stampeded into the room.  They went over to Dopey, and Simon came out and chittered something to him.  Dopey turned to Doc and whistled.  "Dopey says that the animals found her alone in the forest.", Doc translated.  "She was there because the Queen of Biayla wants her dead!"  All five remaining dwarves gasped.  "DEAD?!"  They turned to M'gann, who nodded to confirm their story.  Dopey whistled some more.  "He says a soldier tried to kill her for the Queen, but he couldn't go through with it.", Doc explained.  "So he told her to go into the woods and never return.  She has nowhere else to go, fellas."

Sleepy looked at her.  "What's your name?"  "M'gann M'orrz.", she replied.  "I hail from the planet Mars."  "Mars?  Home of the Martian Manhunter?", Sneezy asked.  She bobbed her head up and down.  "I'm his niece!"  "Didja hear that?", Bashful said.  "She's the niece of Martian Manhunter!"  "I don't care if she's the Queen of Sheba!", Grumpy snapped.  "She can't stay!  We let Goldilocks stay here for free, and she took advantage of us!  Or more specifically, Happy!"

M'gann sat up.  "What if I earn my keep?"  Grumpy raised a bushy eyebrow, his interest peaked.  "How so?"  M'gann smiled.  "I could keep your house neat and tidy for you while you're away."  Doc looked at Grumpy.  "Its true!  When she came in, she didn't trash the place like Goldi did!  She cleaned it all up!"  M'gann smiled.  "I can even cook for you if you want."  Now this really peaked the dwarves' interest.  "COOK?!"  She nodded.  "Yes!  I can make apple dumplings, plum pudding, gooseberry pie—"  "GOOSEBERRY PIE?!"  Bashful waved his hand in the air.  "I vote that she stays!"  One by one, all the dwarves raised their hands, too, all except Grumpy.  "Than I guess its settled!", Doc announced.  "She stays!"  "HEIGH-HO!"

M'gann clapped her hands in delight when she sniffed the air.  "My soup!"