Talking Apple Pies

Talking Apple Pies

Two goblins named Gwanny and Hilby, sneaked around the place peeping through the window and stepping all over the beautiful flowers Ms. Smartwick had planted around her little cottage.

The two little goblins were the naughtiest in all of Goblington and the least liked by any other goblin in the town. Their own rickety cottage stood at the very edge of town where no one ever visited, for these two were always up to something mysterious if not troublesome. They stole eggs and chickens from Old Goblin Grump’s farm for soup, apples from Mrs. Pottylove’s orchard, or vegetables for salad from the gardens of other hard working goblins. But they never did anything good with their time.

Gwanny, although the older of the two, was also the rather dumb goblin so much so that Hilby, the more mischievous and younger one, had to come up with all their plans for mischief.

Today, they had smelt the delicious aroma coming from an apple pie Ms. Smartwick had baked and left to cool on her windowsill. Originally, the plan of the goblins was to steal bread from the village baker, Old Goblin Bakes.

This must be our lucky day,” Gwanny exclaimed as they spotted the pie from behind a bush.

“Hey, wait!” Hilby cried. “We’ve got to be fast because this old witch might put some magic spell on us and we could get into really big trouble.

He looked around carefully to see if they were being watched and when he saw no one, asked Gwanny to get the tray.

Gwanny, who was closer to the windowsill, quickly snatched the tray and the two naughty goblins fled towards their home on the hill, but well, who said anything could be hidden under the sun? Especially when one is dealing with two good-for-nothing little goblins like Gwanny and Hilby.

They had not only stepped all over the newly blooming flowers around the cottage but had left a whole lot of footprints in the flower beds.

As it happens, an angry Lola-owl, who had been awakened from deep sleep by the two goblins, had watched their every move and was not one bit surprised when she heard Ms. Smartwick’s exclamation of horror from the kitchen when she discovered the apple-pie she had left there earlier was gone.

Where’s the apple-pie?” Lola-owl heard Ms. Smartwick ask. But silence was her answer since she lived alone.

Still sitting on her branch dosing, Lola-owl heard the poor old woman call out to her, which startled her so much that she almost fell.

“Yes, Ms. Smartwick, I did see those two good-for-nothing little goblins who live on the hill steal the delicious apple-pie and run away with it”. She answered, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and happy to be getting back at the goblins for waking her up from her sound sleep.

“Thank you Lola-owl.” Ms. Smartwick murmured and walked away from the kitchen window.

“What am I going to do with these two worms? I’ve just about had enough!”

And so, she set to work on a talking spell.

By this time however the two naughty goblins had reached their home and sat on their porch enjoying the stolen apple-pie with tall glasses of cold fresh lemon juice.

“That was delicious.” said Gwanny. “Maybe she’ll make more tomorrow.”

“You are right and perhaps we might get to have another feast like this.” Hilby agreed and they both cheered and toasted to themselves, celebrating their success and planning another mischief for the next day.

Meanwhile, Ms. Smartwick had finished brewing her talking spell. She planned to bake the most delicious apple-pies the next day and sprinkle on them some of the “talking spell”. This would cause voices to speak from the tummies of the naughty goblins when they finished eating the pies.

And so, early the next day, after Ms. Smartwick had finished baking the apple-pies and dusting them with the “talking spell”, she again placed a tray filled with them on her windowsill and went to hide in her attic.

Down the lane came the two naughty Goblins once more on another quest. Again stood the most delicious and freshly baked apple-pies they had ever seen.

“Quick! Get the tray!” Hilby said and Gwanny snatched the tray from its place on the window, and the two goblins set off merrily for home, very proud of themselves once again.

After they had left, Ms. Smartwick climbed down from the attic and waited in her sitting room knowing very well that it wouldn’t be long before the two naughty goblins came running back.

“Hey Twinkle,” something said.

“Did you say something, Hilby?” Gwanny asked.

“No, I didn’t.“ Hilby responded.

There was silence. And then the sound came again.

“Twinkle, those two naughty goblins took us away from Ms. Smartwick’s, and now we are in their tummies." The voice came from Gwanny’s tummy.

“I can see that Lilby, those two worthless apple-pie roaches stole us from home.” This time, the voice came from Hilby’s.

Now you can imagine how scared the two goblins were to hear voices coming from their own tummies. They did everything to stop the voices, who were soon screaming.

The two goblins drank as much water as they could hoping to drown the voices but this only got them more angry.

“Oh Hilby, what are we going to do?” Gwanny asked in tears.

“I think we’ll have to go back to Ms. Smartwick’s cottage to see her. Maybe she’ll know how to get the voices to stop.”

And so, it wasn’t long before the two goblins went running down the hill towards Ms. Smartwick’s cottage.

The old lady met them at her door and asked in a sweet voice, “To what do I earn this visit from you two dears?”

“Oh Hilby, what do we do now?” Gwanny asked tearfully.

“Uhmmm………..” Hilby stammered. “There are voices speaking in our tummies.”

“And how did this happen?” Ms. Smartwick asked and the two goblins burst into tears.

“We stole your apple-pies”. They said unison.

At the mention of apple-pies, the two voices they had heard earlier again begun chattering.

“Oh please make them stop.” The goblins pleaded earnestly.

“Okay,” Ms. Smartwick said, “but on condition that you make up for all the flowers you destroyed in my garden.”

“Yes! Yes! Anything to make them shush.” Hilby and Gwanny agreed in tears.

Ms. Smartwick took them into her cottage and gave them some trellimilk, and that was how she got the voices to stop.

“On the morrow, you two will be tending to my garden and cleaning my cottage,” She instructed, and the two beaten goblins nodded and dragged their miserable bodies up the hill, to their home.

What a surprise it was to every goblin in Goblington when the next day found the two goblins tending to Ms. Smartwick’s flower gardens and later her cottage while she baked her usual apple-pies.

After a long day’s work, the two goblins were allowed some apple-pies and fresh lemonade.

They have since learned to do the right thing. Work to earn their food. And guess what? They often come to tea with Ms. Smartwick and well, just yesterday when I visited Ms. Smartwick, she was baking some cakes for Hilby and Gwanny’s birthday party.