Once upon a time there was a tight-fisted girl called Stanley Sparkle. She was on the way to see her Jeff Bishop, when she decided to take a short cut through Stinkville Forest.
It wasn't long before Stanley got lost. She looked around, but all she could see were trees. Nervously, she felt into her bag for her favourite toy, Blankey, but Blankey was nowhere to be found! Stanley began to panic. She felt sure she had packed Blankey. To make matters worse, she was starting to feel hungry.
Unexpectedly, she saw a long-necked pigeon dressed in a purple bowler hat disappearing into the trees.
"How odd!" thought Stanley.
For the want of anything better to do, she decided to follow the peculiarly dressed pigeon. Perhaps it could tell him the way out of the forest.
Eventually, Stanley reached a clearing. In the clearing were three houses, one made from parsnips, one made from macarons and one made from macarons.
Stanley could feel her tummy rumbling. Looking at the houses did nothing to ease her hunger.
"Hello!" she called. "Is anybody there?"
Nobody replied.
Stanley 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 Stanley a fright. A witch jumped into the space in front of the houses. She was carrying a cage. In that cage was Blankey!
"Blankey!" shouted Stanley. She turned to the witch. "That's my toy!"
The witch just shrugged.
"Give Blankey back!" cried Stanley.
"Not on your nelly!" said the witch.
"At least let Blankey out of that cage!"
Before she could reply, two long-necked pigeons rushed in from a footpath on the other side of the clearing. Stanley recognised the one in the purple bowler hat that she'd seen earlier. The witch seemed to recognise him too.
"Hello Big Pigeon," said the witch.
"Good morning." The pigeon noticed Blankey. "Who is this?"
"That's Blankey," explained the witch.
"Ooh! Blankey would look lovely in my house. Give it to me!" demanded the pigeon.
The witch shook her head. "Blankey is staying with me."
"Um... Excuse me..." Stanley interrupted. "Blankey lives with me! And not in a cage!"
Big Pigeon 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 Pigeon looked at the house made from macarons and said, "No problem, I could eat an entire house made from macarons if I wanted to."
"That's nothing," said the next pigeon. "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 Blankey."
Stanley watched, feeling very worried. She didn't want the witch to give Blankey to Big Pigeon. She didn't think Blankey would like living with a long-necked pigeon, away from her house and all her other toys.
