Contents
The Magic Mirror
6
Cock-a-doodle-don’t! Goosey Wander
14
Happy Ponyday!
18
Jay Days
22
Santa in the Barn
26
10
Snow Chicks
30
Christmas Surprise
33
King of the Castle Easter Surprise
37
41
What Have I Found? The Mysterious Guest Swift
45
49
52
A Dog’s Life
56
Kerfuffle in the Forest
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The Magic Mirror Once Breezy the little pony found a broken mirror in the rubbish. It must have been Becky’s because it had a pink plastic frame and she, like all girls, liked to make herself look pretty. This is why her dad used to buy her mirrors, combs, hair bands and slides every now and then. The broken mirror twinkled in the sunshine. Breezy was enchanted by the light dancing on her newly found treasure, but then her tummy rumbled and she thought, “How nice it would be to have a little something before breakfast!” She looked up and saw a dandelion whose flowers had just opened at the bottom of the fence. “What luck! That’s my favourite snack,” she said to herself and went and ate it. When she had finished, she went back to the mirror and took it into the barn. The other animals were having their breakfast. “Where have you been, Breezy?” asked Butty. “I was just looking round the farmyard,” she replied casually, not mentioning the mirror. She hid her precious treasure under the straw. At midday, when the other animals went into the barn, Breezy did not go with them. She went to the corner of the farmyard where there was an apple tree. There were some green apples that were already ripe on it. Breezy loved the sharp taste of green apples and wished that one of them would fall off the tree.
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Nothing, however, happened. Then something came to mind. She went and got the broken mirror from the barn. Perhaps if she made a wish just as she had done in the morning, an apple would drop down. She made the sunlight sparkle in the mirror and made a wish. “Little mirror, make an apple fall to the ground,” Breezy wished aloud. A little while later a stiff breeze shook the tree and by some miracle an apple fell to the ground. “Hurray!” cried Breezy. “Now I know you are a magic mirror which makes my wishes come true!” She trotted back to the barn happily. When the other animals asked her what she was holding in her mouth, she told them all about the magic mirror she had found. They listened with baited breath. Clotilda the hen clucked in a pleading voice. “I, too, would love to have a go. I would wish to lay some pretty coloured eggs.” But Breezy refused, shaking her head. “You can’t. The mirror can only fulfil one wish a day, and I have so many wishes…” Not all the animals believed in the mirror’s magic power. Butty the goat and Abraham the donkey thought it was nonsense. The goat grumbled under her breath: “It was just a coincidence. The mirror had nothing to do with it.” A few days later, however, something else happened that strengthened Breezy’s and the others’ belief in the mirror. “I will only believe in it if you wish for something unbelievable and it happens,” said Butty doubtfully. “What might that be?” asked Breezy. “Well, to make a frog appear right here, for example,” Butty suggested off the top of her head. “Alright,” replied Breezy confidently and made the mirror sparkle in the sun. “Make a frog appear here,” she repeated the wish. By some miracle old Stanislaw Stork was passing over the farm holding a fat frog in his bill. The frog proved stronger than Stanislaw’s grip. It gave an extra hard wriggle to free itself from the bird’s beak and landed with its legs spread out in the farmyard. The barn animals were astounded. They looked in surprise with eyes as big as saucers first at the frog and then at Breezy. “I told you that all you have to do is wish and it will come true,” Breezy announced confidently. From that day on, even the doubting animals believed in the mirror’s magic power. A few weeks later Farmer Flower had to go to the market.
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Breezy put the mirror in her saddle cloth in the previous evening, just in case she needed it. But Clotilda the hen was expecting her eggs to hatch the next day and she went and pinched the mirror from under Breezy’s saddle cloth at dawn. “Today I’m going to need this myself because I would like to have speckled chicks this time. The mirror may make my wish come true, too,” she thought. In the morning the farmer harnessed Breezy and Abraham to the cart and set off for town. Breezy was in a good mood, believing that she had her magic mirror with her, so nothing bad could happen. And, if by chance something did, the mirror’s magic would help. Everything was fine on the way there. The cart was loaded with heavy sacks at the market. Then they began the journey home. Just as they were going along a lane over a hill, there was a sudden storm and the rain teemed down. Streams of water flooded down the slope, washing away part of the road. The cart skidded off the road and slid down the hill. Breezy managed to keep her footing as her harness snapped. Abraham and the farmer slid down the slope together with the cart. Breezy saw that only she could help. “Don’t worry,” she called to the donkey. “The mirror will help!” Breezy wished, “Please, kind mirror, save my friend and Farmer Flower.” Then she ran and came back with a long branch. Breezy held it down the steep hillside. Farmer Flower grabbed it with both hands and managed to pull himself up. Abraham also took hold of it. Like this they scrambled back to safety. At last they arrived home safe and sound. Breezy related how the mirror had worked another miracle. However, Clotilda the hen took the hidden mirror out from under her wing not looking Breezy in the eyes. “I’m sorry, Breezy, but I had the mirror. I took it from you.” The barn animals stared at Breezy. “So, it wasn’t the mirror that helped but only me?” Breezy said hesitantly. “It seems so,” Abraham nodded. “Perhaps the mirror doesn’t have magic power after all,” the pony suggested to the others.
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“You know, my friend,” said the donkey, “you’re the magic and you’d better get that into your head.” Breezy looked thoughtfully at the mirror. “Will you keep it?” asked Abraham. “Yes,” Breezy replied. “It’ll always remind me of my best friend’s wise words.”
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Cock-a-doodle-don’t! Casimir, Flower Farm’s one and only cockerel, did his job enthusiastically. Each day at dawn as the first rays of sun stretched out sleepily he flew up onto the fence and began to crow. “Cock-a-doodle-doo! Rise and shine!” he screeched to the sky. This woke all the animals not only on Flower Farm but on the neighbouring farm, too. The drowsy animals drifted out the barn into the farmyard. “That blessed cockerel! If only I could sleep for as long as I want just once. We always have to get up early,” grumbled Butty the goat. “And what a crow! It even makes my ears hurt,” Abraham the donkey agreed with the indignant goat. “He wakes my little goslings every morning,” honked Mother Goose. By the time Breezy joined them, the animals were so annoyed that they had decided to ban Casimir Cockerel from crowing at dawn once and for all. Butty was going to tell him. “Casimir, we’re fed up to the back teeth with you crowing loudly every time the sun rises at dawn. From now on you’re banned from crowing early in the morning. You can cook-a-doodle at midday or in the evening but don’t disturb anyone’s sleep in the morning!” Casimir was so taken aback that he couldn’t say boo to a goose let alone a goat and went to sulk behind the compost heap. Breezy followed him and tried to comfort the cockerel. “Don’t be upset, Casimir. You can still crow at midday and in the evening.”
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“Whoever heard of such a thing? A cock has to crow at dawn. I’ll be the laughing stock of all cockerels. I’d rather not cock-a-doodle at all.” So he didn’t. The next morning Casimir did not wake the animals in the barn. Not even a “Cock-a” passed his beak. The animals snoozed on peacefully, only opening their eyes around noon. The sparrows had pecked up all the farm animals’ breakfast, and they had to stroll around the farmyard with rumbling tummies all day. The same thing happened the following morning and the one after that, too. Tricky Vicky the fox got wind of this. “Well, well,” she pondered. “It seems that these crazy farm animals aren’t poking their nose outside the barn until midday. Perhaps that old cockerel is pushing up daisies. I must visit the farm in case I find something tasty.” The next day at dawn, while the barn animals were still far away in the land of nod, Tricky Vicky lived up to her promise and sneaked onto the farm. She slipped by Sultan’s kennel. The dog was having the sweetest of dreams instead of being on guard. At the corner of the pantry
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she found a basket full of eggs and had her fill of them. When the farmer’s wife came out to get some fresh eggs, all she found was broken shells. Breezy soon learned the news and told the other animals: “If we hadn’t slept until midday, Tricky Vicky wouldn’t have come and eaten the eggs on the farm. Let’s ask Casimir to crow again.” “Hold on a minute,” snapped Butty. “I’m sleeping well for the first time ever! Anyway, we’re not to blame. It’s Sultan’s fault. He’s supposed to watch the farm.” After hearing this, Breezy strolled back to the drinking trough feeling downhearted. Worrying things happened the following day as well. Tricky Vicky paid another visit to the farm. Now, however, she was even bolder. She jumped onto the top of a barrel next to the pantry and leapt from there through an open window. She landed on the top shelf of the pantry. Now she had plenty to choose from: sides of ham, sticks of salami and dry sausages. When she was full to bursting, she slipped out through the window and then the gate and disappeared. “Have you heard? Tricky Vicky has raided the pantry!” cackled Clotilda the hen. “Now, that is very serious,” Abraham said. “If we don’t watch out, she’ll get one of us! Let’s ask Casimir to wake us again.” “I won’t ask him. At last I can enjoy the crickets’ concert in the evening,” Butty objected. It was past midnight when the animals finally put their heads down. They weren’t at all tired because for days they had got up at midday. By now only Butty and Tricky Vicky, who spread the news in the forest that the farm was unguarded, were happy about this. Others came to visit, too. The wolves, weasels and foxes set out together on the dawn raid. The farm was as quiet as a graveyard. “I told you they were sleeping. Come on, guys!” Vicky said to the pack. “Why did you bring us here?” asked the wolf. “You’ve eaten the eggs and scoffed everything in the pantry. What can we steal?” “The animals, Wolfie Wangler,” replied the cunning fox. “Now that the cock stopped crowing in the morning, they sleep so deeply they won’t even notice if we gobble them up.” “Now that’s really to my taste,” said Wolfie rubbing his paws. “Let’s get stuck in. I’m ravenous!” Tricky Vicky led the army of meat eaters towards the barn. They opened the barn door without a sound and crept in one by one. The animals were asleep on the hay and didn’t notice a thing. Only Casimir Cockerel balancing on a beam was awake. He simply couldn’t break the habit of waking up at first light. He sat motionless debating what to do: “If I crow, I’ll be eaten. If I don’t crow, the others will be eaten. Think of something, Casimir,” he told himself.
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At the very moment Wolfie Wangler was about to pounce on Butty, Casimir jumped up and cock-a-doodle-dooed so loudly that even the sky trembled. All the animals woke up instantly and set upon the intruders, biting and kicking frantically. The wild woodlanders turned tail and ran for the door. Those that made it to the farmyard without injury weren’t in the clear yet. There was Sultan awake and alert, ready to snap a tuft of fur from the escaping animals’ coat. By the time the last hobbling weasel slunk out of the farmyard, the barn dwellers were gathered round Casimir with Butty at their head. “Casimir, I’m sorry. I was wrong to tell you not to wake us. Would you please crow again at dawn? Then all the farm and wild animals in the neighbourhood would know that they can’t mess with the animals of Flower Farm.” “I promise I’ll wake you every morning with a cock-a-doodle-doo,” replied Casimir. From that day on Butty was the first to jump out of bed when the cock crowed.
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