Laura Clifford and the Five Wise Toads
A Fairy Tale
by Hannah A. Williams
Once upon a time there was a incredible girl called Laura Clifford. She was on the way to see her mother Christiana Raymond, when she decided to take a short cut through Hampstead Heath.
It wasn't long before Laura got lost. She looked around, but all she could see were trees. Nervously, she felt into her bag for her favourite toy, Hugo, but Hugo was nowhere to be found! Laura began to panic. She felt sure she had packed Hugo. To make matters worse, she was starting to feel hungry.
Unexpectedly, she saw a wise toad dressed in a blue jacket disappearing into the trees.
"How odd!" thought Laura.
For the want of anything better to do, she decided to follow the peculiarly dressed toad. Perhaps it could tell him the way out of the forest.
Eventually, Laura reached a clearing. She found herself surrounded by houses made from different sorts of food. There was a house made from sweet potatoes, a house made from macarons, a house made from pizzas, a house made from humbugs, a house made from jelly babies and a house made from muffins.
Laura could feel her tummy rumbling. Looking at the houses did nothing to ease her hunger.
"Hello!" she called. "Is anybody there?"
Nobody replied.
Laura looked at the roof on the closest house and wondered if it would be rude to eat somebody else's chimney. Obviously it would be impolite to eat a whole house, but perhaps it would be considered acceptable to nibble the odd fixture or lick the odd fitting, in a time of need.
A cackle broke through the air, giving Laura a fright. A witch jumped into the space in front of the houses. She was carrying a cage. In that cage was Hugo!
"Hugo!" shouted Laura. She turned to the witch. "That's my toy!"
The witch just shrugged.
"Give Hugo back!" cried Laura.
"Not on your nelly!" said the witch.
"At least let Hugo out of that cage!"
Before she could reply, five wise toads rushed in from a footpath on the other side of the clearing. Laura recognised the one in the blue jacket that she'd seen earlier. The witch seemed to recognise him too.
"Hello Big Toad," said the witch.
"Good morning." The toad noticed Hugo. "Who is this?"
"That's Hugo," explained the witch.
"Ooh! Hugo would look lovely in my house. Give it to me!" demanded the toad.
The witch shook her head. "Hugo is staying with me."
"Um... Excuse me..." Laura interrupted. "Hugo lives with me! And not in a cage!"
Big Toad ignored her. "Is there nothing you'll trade?" he asked the witch.
The witch thought for a moment, then said, "I do like to be entertained. I'll release him to anybody who can eat a whole front door."
Big Toad looked at the house made from muffins and said, "No problem, I could eat an entire house made from muffins if I wanted to."
"That's nothing," said the next toad. "I could eat two houses."
"There's no need to show off," said the witch. Just eat one front door and I'll let you have Hugo."
