Sarah Brennan Funny & Fabulous Blog

Clever Competitions

COMPETITION NUMBER 40: THE TALE OF A ROGUE RABBIT!

HOORAY! HERE ARE THE RESULTS!

Thank you all so much for your fabulous entries into my latest Clever Competition, The Tale of a Rogue Rabbit! I’ve had so much fun reading them, and chuckling at the antics of your cheeky bunnies and sometimes even naughtier Amur hedgehogs whilst sparing a thought for all your sad princesses! Not to mention singing along with those watermelons!! The standard was high overall (writing competitions do tend to attract the best writers :)), and the judging was very difficult because everybody wrote so well, making it harder to choose the winners!

There were two notable “firsts” in this competition!

• The first story written completely in rhyming verse! Well done Ira Nair!
• The first word I had to look up in the dictionary because I’d never heard of it before! Well done Edward Huang!

And there was a lot of humour, which is always fun to come across, especially when judging!

Just a quick reminder: unfortunately, I received a number of entries which I was unable to judge, because they were submitted via Google Docs which, despite my best efforts, I was unable to open! I’m so sorry about this, as I’m sure those stories were wonderful, but I had made it clear in the Competition rules that stories should be submitted either as Word Docs or in the body of your emails. I did email the authors asking them to change the format as per the rules, but sadly never received their story afterwards in a format that I could read. This is a reminder to everyone who enters ANY competition. Please read the terms and conditions extremely carefully, as missing even one detail can cost you the competition!

PRIZES: First Place winners will receive a copy of The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit PLUS a copy of TWO other Chinese Calendar Tales of their choice. Winners of Second and Third Place in each Category will receive a copy of The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit and ONE other Chinese Calendar Tale of their choice. And finally, Fourth to Sixth Place winners will all receive a copy of The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit!

And before we all get completely rabbited out, here are the winning entries!  

Special congratulations to Rei Akhter and Alice Cassidy who came First in their Categories! Wicked Words are highlighted in bold.

YEARS 1 TO 3 CATEGORY

FIRST PLACE: Rei Akhter, Year 2, The Kellett School Kowloon Bay Campus, 7 years old

Congratulations to Rei for her standout story! Rei’s story has a fantastic beginning, great descriptions of characters and settings, and excellent writing style and grammar! I loved her tale of a naughty watermelon-thief. I also appreciated her vocabulary which included terrific words like swiftly, yelped and destroy, as well as four Wicked Words. This is such an impressive start for a 7-year-old writer, and I hope that she continues to enter my competitions for many years to come!

Pauline The Hungry Rabbit

Once lived a very rich Empress. She lived in a magnificent palace with her beloved Emperor. She had a beautiful watermelon garden and she took care of it in a very fastidious manner. She did not let anyone near her garden, except her six adorable hedgehogs and the friendly storks that came by to peck on the juicy watermelons.

But there was one naughty rabbit in town called Pauline. Pauline wanted all the yummy watermelons for herself. So, one night, Pauline crept up to the garden with a big pair of garden shears and started to pluck up the tasty melons. Until, suddenly, a watermelon cried out in pain, ‘Stop! Stop! What are you doing? That hurts!’ At that moment, a big stork flew by and screeched at Pauline. Pauline was scared that someone would hear all the noise, so she dropped the shears and ran away swiftly.

The next day, the Empress put on her silky zaffre dress. She went to the garden for a walk and took the hedgehogs along. When she reached the garden, she was shocked to see a pile of plucked up watermelons. Someone had trampled on them too. The Empress was so upset that she began to scream and cry at the same time.

Meanwhile, the atrocious rabbit wanted to come back to get the sweet melons, but she was very afraid. What if she got caught, since it was daylight now? What if she dropped the melons while carrying them and made them dirty or broke them? There were so many reasons why it was a bad idea, but she was too greedy and decided to take the risk anyway. When she reached the palace, she saw the resplendent Empress and all the delicious looking melons. Pauline felt a little guilty because she knew she was being naughty, but she was very hungry because she had had nothing to eat all day. She just needed some food, so she snuck into the garden once again and stared at the melons in delight. They looked so tantalizing to Pauline! But she saw that the big, strong Empress was there, planting new watermelons. Pauline did not want to turn back so she tiptoed up to the watermelons very slowly and sneakily. Pauline was so nervous that the Empress would catch her and punish her that she didn’t look where she was going and tripped on a hedgehog.

She fell down and yelped in pain, ‘Ow! That really hurts!’

The Empress turned around and gasped, ‘You sneaky rabbit! Did you do all this? Get out of my garden right now or I will roast you for my dinner!’

‘I’m sorry my Empress. I was just really hungry, I didn’t mean to upset-’ Pauline stopped talking and the hedgehogs started pointing their spikes at her angrily.

But the Empress said, ‘Stop, Spike and Sonic. You know you can’t frighten visitors. What were you saying Pauline?’

Pauline carried on, ‘I was just hungry and I needed some food…I didn’t mean to destroy your watermelons.’

Now the Empress smiled kindly, ‘That’s ok, but next time just ask instead of trying to steal them, please? Stealing is not the right thing to do.’

Pauline nodded nervously. The Empress handed her a big, juicy watermelon and Pauline waved goodbye as she munched on the fruit. She promised herself never to steal from someone again when it was so much easier to just ask them nicely.

SECOND PLACE: Yuvaan Bhatnagar, Year 2, The Kellett School Kowloon Bay Campus, 7 years old

Well done Yuvaan for your entertaining story of a kind but sad princess and a cheeky thieving rabbit, which came a solid second place. I loved Yuvaan’s enticing title and detailed description of the hurricane. His writing style was excellent, with good grammar and punctuation, and he too managed to include four Wicked Words. I especially enjoyed the clever riddle by which the rabbit tried to escape! A great result for such a young writer!

The Empress, the Necklace & the Quest for True Happiness

Once upon a time, long long ago there was a Chinese Empress called Shi Huang Shan. She lived in a huge palace and had a sumptuous feast on the table every day. But she was sad – very sad – because she didn’t have any friends. The only thing that she could talk to was the singing watermelon in the garden and the Oriental Stark near the lake and 6 amur hedgehogs.

The only time she was happy was when she wore her Zaffre necklace which was a gift from her Father.The Empress looked resplendent in her robes of gold with her necklace.

But the only thing that the Empress didn’t like was the cheeky and naughty rogue rabbit. He was called Raider. He was a naughty and rather idiosyncratic rabbit because he stole the vegetables, especially the carrots. He plucked the colourful flowers and destroyed them. He was behaving atrociously..

One day it started raining and there were winds – the kind that pushes you down the street and hauls. Everyone was scared. Trees fell down, houses were hurt. It was a hurricane (Hurricanes are giant tropical storms that produce heavy rainfall and super-strong winds.), All were advised to stay indoors. The Empress wanted to help. She made sure that all the people on the streets came inside the palace. People felt safe and were thankful to the Empress. Eventually the rain stopped and the winds were reduced.

After the hurricane the Empress looked after the Zaffre necklace but couldn’t find it. She was very sad and asked the singing watermelon and the Oriental stark and the hedgehogs for help. They promised to help find the Zaffre necklace.

After a few days, they came back and told the empress that the thief had been found. It was none other than the rogue rabbit! The rabbit was brought into the court. He said, “if you want your necklace back, you will have to solve my riddle”.

The rabbit asked, “Why did I cross the road?”

The empress started thinking hard. The rabbit crossed the road and said, “to get to the other side!”

He dropped the necklace and started running. But was caught soon . The empress got the necklace back but she did not feel as  happy as she did when she helped the people during the hurricane. She now had more friends and smiled more often. The rabbit – well he was punished and was never seen again.

THIRD PLACE: Sera Abraham, Year One, Stamford American International School, Hong Kong, 7 years old

Special congratulations to our only Year One entrant, Sera Abraham, who achieved Third Place! Sera used the compulsory colour zaffre as a key part of her terrific story line, and used some outstanding vocabulary, including reincarnation, impolite, uncivilized and  imposter. Unfortunately, she forgot to use any Wicked Words which would have boosted her score even more! But at only 7, and in Year One, that’s a very understandable omission! Fantastic work Sera! Make sure to enter my next Clever Competition!

The Zaffre Rain and Empress Wu

One upon a time there was a sad Chinese Empress called Empress Fu who lived during the Han dynasty. She was born in Shaanxi .She was very sad because the zaffre rain always made the vegetable  zaffre during spring .There was no way to solve that problem. Even her 6 Willy armour hedgehogs could not do the job. But they kept trying and it never worked. How would she ever do the job!!!!
But what she did not know was that the evil rabbit Strawberry was doing all this mischief. So she asked her lady in waiting what to do?
The Lady in waiting told Empress Fu how to stop the blue rain. She told her about her friend the singing water melon. He was the reincarnation of the Oriental stork. Empress Fu visited the singing water melon about how to stop the blue rain. The singing water melon said yes to empress Fu on condition she would give her one of her most uncivilised and impolite subject. So the singing water melon took her most uncivilised and impolite subject with him. He turn this subject into a Wizard.
The wizard said “I know I have been impolite and uncivilised but now you have changed me .Is there anything I can do for you?”
“ Yes “  said the singing watermelon. You can help me change the blue rain into normal rain. “Of course, I will “ said the Wizard.
So the singing water melon brought the wizard to Empress Fu .The singing water melon said “this wizard can help you change the blue rain into normal rain”.            
“How wonderful “ said Empress Fu and she took the wizard to her garden. But he could not do it so she asked her lady in waiting why .Your Royal Majesty she said “he is an imposter “. “Who “asked the Empress?
The wizard is really a mouse. “But how? “ “I got one of my uncivilised and impolite subject”. “Let me tell you what happened “said the lady in waiting .When you gave your one of your subjects he thought that the singing water melon was going to kill him. But he was going to turn him into a good wizard. But he did not know that. So instead he gave him his pet mouse before the wizard could notice.”  And on more thing Your Majesty “The subject you sent knows magic!!!
“I see” said Empress Fu.
“We must sent out a search party “the lady in waiting said. “I agree to the plan “said the Empress and who ever finds him will be rewarded 100 gold coins.
“Excellent idea “said the lady in waiting.
So Empress Fu sent a search party far and wide. Everybody failed except one person. Her name was Sera .She showed where the subject was hiding .The Empress gave her a bag of gold coins and set out .So the water melon tried again and THE MAGIC finally worked. The zaffre rain was gone and Empress Wu lived happily ever after.

FOURTH: Aarya Samadhiya, Year 2, The Kellett School Kowloon Bay Campus, 7 years old

Congratulations to young Aarya, whose story about a kind empress who loved watermelons and hedgehogs won an excellent Fourth Place. I especially loved the watermelon who sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star! The plot towards the end was a lot like my own Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, which lost Aarya a few points for originality, but again, this is understandable at such a young age. Overall an excellent effort and I can’t wait to see more of her stories!

Empress and the mischievous rabbit 

Some four hundred years back there was an empress in China. While she used to live with her son, she felt lonely and sad at times. She thought of adopting a pet that can give her a company. She had a huge garden which was full of variety of flower and fruits. The plant of her most favourite fruit watermelon was also in the garden. She had a watermelon plant that was half human and love to sing the song – Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. 

One day a lady came to see the empress. She gave the empress six Wily Amur hedgehogs. The empress really liked Amur hedgehogs. She thanked the lady and lady left empress’s fort. 

The next morning, empress found the little Amur hedgehog on her doormat. The poor hedgehog had fever. She gave her water and made a little bed for her to rest. After sometime later she made bed for other five hedgehogs too. 

The little hedgehog got better and they all played together. One day one of her hedgehogs was taken away by a cunning rabbit. He was a cruel rabbit and use to tantalise other animals too.

Empress announced that a person who can find the rabbit would be given a bag full of gold coins and half of her land. 

Several people in her kingdom started looking for the rabbit in the hope of getting the bounty. One night the rabbit was trying to escape to the jungle but was caught by a chef. The empress wanted to eat the rabbit. The chef put the rabbit in the cage and started preparations for his cooking.

The empress son came to the kitchen. He was a generous prince. He felt bad seeing the rabbit in the cage. He opened the cage and let rabbit run away when no one was in the kitchen. The wicked rabbit stole one of the hedgehog and put him in the same cage. The chef didn’t realize that and cook the hedgehog instead of the rabbit. 

The empress found the food delicious. The empress didn’t realize that she ate her own loving hedgehog. After she ate it she asked her people where is the sixth hedgehog? She didn’t realize that the rabbit is still alive and free and continued doing bad stuff. Empress was unable to find her favourite hedgehog. She loved the zaffre-color hedgehog as zaffre was her favourite colour and hedgehogs are mostly brown in colour so this was really rare. Empress kept wondering what happened to her favourite hedgehog.

SPECIAL MENTION: Yunseo Ku, Year 2, The Kellett School Kowloon Bay campus, 7 years old

And finally, a very special mention for young Yunseo Ku! While she based her story on my own story The Tale of Rhonda Rabbit, she made a huge effort with some lovely drawings which, while I cannot reproduce them here, did make me smile! Thank you for entering Yunseo, and I look forward to reading some of your own ideas as you mature as a writer!

Rhonda Rabbit

Once upon a time there was a kind named Qwi Choi. He loved fruits! One day a rabbit named Rhonda Rabbit nibbled every last fruit! He said whose been nibbling my fruit? The emperor shouted anyone who catches Rhonda Rabbit I will give them money, and a basket of gems and half my kingdom! Everyone wanted it and went looking but no one could find Rhonda Rabbit. Then after he knew no one could catch her he went to his cat Coco and sended him to catch Rhonda Rabbit. She snuck into the grass with sharp claws and caught Rhonda Rabbit. The emperor asked him to cook Rhonda Rabbit but his son opened the cage and Rhonda Rabbit was free but there was another furry animal waiting to be cooked. He forgot about Rhonda Rabbit and forgot about who never eaten again. At last Rhonda Rabbit found a new house where the emperor couldn’t see him.

YEARS 4 TO 6

FIRST PLACE: Alice Emma Cassidy, Year 4, The Kellett School, Pok Fu Lam, Hong Kong, 8 years of age

Alice’s story ticked almost every box while at the same time tickling almost all my ribs! As well as being very funny (her description of the singing watermelons was especially brilliant!), it was written beautifully, with great grammar, excellent vocabulary (I loved the inclement weather and perfect steed) and no less than 11 Wicked Words! At 8 years of age, Alice has a great writing – not to mention comedic – future ahead of her, and I look forward hugely to seeing more of her work in upcoming Clever Competitions! Bravo Alice!

The Escapades of the Escaped Bailey Bunny   

It was 10am at the Xi’an International Zoo: the tigers were getting ready for the tourists, zookeeper Hannah slipped the rabbits some vodka, and General Manager Lay Wong was discussing the plans for the big dance with Netia Wuz.  

Today was the big day: Chinese New Year, and a ceremony to welcome the Year of the Rabbit. The bell rang; it was time for the show.   

The benches, bustling with ecstatic tourists, were roaring to see the show. An illustrious tiger named Terence pounced on the stage, as a young rabbit named Bailey hopped across. Then Terence departed sadly; his time in the spotlight was at an end, as the Year of the Tiger had finished.  

Thousands of performers came into the zoo to demonstrate a traditional dance. They were all wearing sumptuous zaffre outfits, and were led by Netia Wuz, the star of the show.  

After the show, pandemonium reigned. Tourists were buying rabbit head popsicles and celebrating. All the zoo staff were either dancing or selling souvenirs. 

 Now was the time for action. After two years, Bailey could finally escape. She waved goodbye to the other animals, especially her best friend, a meerkat named Messi. She gave a last wave to her fellow zoo convicts, and set off to North China, where she had last seen her family. With her was an Amur hedgehog named Sir Bob Spike, who had grown up in the same region as Bailey, and also wanted to return home.  

“Ring!” Lay Wong’s telephone buzzed; his gargantuan bodyguard, Hans Huang, was calling. “Chief!” Hans shouted in a low voice.   

“What?” answered Lay Wong “I’m in a jacuzzi.”   

“Bailey bunny has escaped from the zoo” muttered Hans.   

Five minutes later, Lay Wong was out of his jacuzzi, but still wearing his duck armbands, wondering where that rabbit could have gone.   

Meanwhile, Bailey and Sir Bob were trying to make their way to North China, and the first step was right in front of them. Food and survival. Bailey’s great-great-great grandmother was Rhonda Rabbit, who was a master at this.   

But, of course, there was a farmer – Frank. Now, of course, Bailey was wanted for 1,000,000,000 yuan. But farmer Frank didn’t get the newspaper, so he didn’t know. But one thing he did know, he didn’t let anyone cross his bridge.   

Bailey was getting HANGRY. Luckily, Frank was being nice today. He said “Listen here, you old rabbit rascal, if you can count my watermelons correctly, you can have two and cross the bridge.”  

“I accept” said Bailey. Now, as you can imagine, a bunny speaks in a rather high voice like Mickey Mouse, so Frank had no idea she was talking about. But Bailey had a trick up her fur; she would eat every single watermelon, and then say zero and, while Frank was still mad, she would escape.   

But there was a problem with her plan. All the watermelons were either singing; a mixture of emo, pop, opera and rock. This might have made one’s heart grow three sizes bigger, but not Bailey’s. Cruelly and carefully, the voracious bunny ate her first ever opera watermelon, then moved on to pop, then emo and finally rock.   

By the time you’re reading this, there will probably be a watermelon Top Trumps by the company Rogue & Weird. If you had to rate them for taste, Bailey would have said Emo was best, but in terms of singing ability, the Rock watermelon was the clear winner.  

Anyway, now the most important time – escaping. “There are no watermelons, so can I have two watermelons and cross the bridge?” Asked Bailey. Whilst Frank was looking around bamboozled, Bailey leapt onto the marble bridge and ran off.  

Bailey was finally in north China, riding off into the sunset on Sir Bob’s prickly back. That sounds painful, but if you smooth down a hedgehog’s spikes, they are a perfect steed. But if you thought that was the end, you are totally wrong. 

This author does NOT write happy endings. Instead, this is what happened.   

Bailey and Sir Bob rode past a magnificent palace; through an open window, they could hear melancholy singing and smell a scrumptious aroma of food. They jumped inside the palace, and were amazed by what they saw.  

Inside was Empress Wu Zetian, the lugubrious singer, but she looked strangely familiar in her zaffre robes. But roasting on the fire were five Amur hedgehogs – Sir Bob was devastated, his family were the main course for tonight’s dinner.  

Sir Bob charged angrily at the empress, but then Bailey shouted out “I know you!” And she did; the empress, resplendent in zaffre clothing, was none other than Netia Wuz, the lead dancer from the Xi’an International Zoo.  

“I’m sorry” said Netia; “he insisted on hedgehogs for dinner.”   

“He?” asked Bailey.  

“The man who manipulated an empress into dancing for his zoo, and bribed me with zaffre jewellery” replied Netia. “He’s in the palace, he’s intransigent in tacking you, and he’s probably heard all the commotion by now.”  

Netia ran into the corner and beckoned a Chinese Oriental Stork from off its perch.  

“Quick!” shouted Netia, “Sally will help you escape.”  

Without another word, Bailey and Sir Bob jumped on Sally the stork’s back, and they flew off out the window, just as Lay Wong burst into the room.  

As they flew to Bailey’s home village, the spring breeze turned into an atrocious typhoon. Trees cracked; crops were swaying; windows were shattering.   

But Sally persevered throughout the inclement weather, and made it all the way back to the warren Bailey had grown up in.  

Bailey and Sir Bob thanked Sally, and entered the hole. Bailey’s parents, now very ancient rabbits were indeed there. Scott and Janice Bunny were amazed, delighted, thrilled that their daughter had finally returned. They embraced her and Sir Bob. Bailey was home.  

Maybe this author does sometimes write happy endings. OR DO I? 

SECOND PLACE: Charles Bruser Zarin, Year 4, Hong Kong International School, Hong Kong, 8 years old

Congratulations, again, to young writer Charles Bruser Zarin who readers may recall placed First in my last Clever Competition in the Year 1 to 3 Age Category. His elevation to the Year 4 to 6 Category has not held him back, and here he has given us a wonderful story full of fun, originality, excellent writing and 11 Wicked Words! I did smile at his six Amur hedgehogs “from a long line of construction workers” and his “all one hundred and twenty-three watermelons”. I also appreciated his effort in using Chinese names. Charles scored high marks for his excellent beginning, originality and writing style. Keep up the great work Charles!

The Wall That Wasn’t There

“Ouch!Spike!

Worms on the hike.

Look a flower!

Time to pound her!”

“Yi, stop singing already!” shouted San, the third Amur hedgehog of six, to his oldest brother. 

It was a sunny spring day and the six Amur hedgehogs were hiking to Watermelon Village, called Xigua Cun, in Eastern China. They were from a long line of construction workers and had been hired to build a magnificent and sumptuous wall.

Their employer, Huairen Tu the rabbit, was meeting them at the palace. Huairen Tu had a longer tail than most rabbits and had light brownish fur, except for his snow white ears.

“Empress Mo Chou,” said Huairen Tu at the palace, “I have all the materials to build you the strongest and most extravagant typhoon barrier you have ever seen.”

“But who will build it?” asked Mo Chou, with a frown across her face.

“My Amur hedgehogs will build it,” answered Huairen Tu with a smile.

“Huairen Tu! We’ve arrived,” said the hedgehogs greeting their light brown rabbit boss.

“Yi, Er, San, Si, Wu, Liu, come over here,” ordered Huairen Tu.  He whispered, “All right, everyone, when you build the barrier don’t secure it too much, because we are going to steal it back later.”

“Why?” questioned Liu.

“Because I said so,” answered the rabbit.

The Amur hedgehogs accepted their orders and set off to work.

“Bamboo the color zaffre!” exclaimed Er as he looked through the materials, “Huairen Tu, this will be a resplendent barrier!”

“Yes, hedgehogs, an intense blue like the ocean,” replied Huairen Tu.

And like that they started building the wall.

“Place! Hammer! Secure!” shouted the hedgehogs. “Wait a minute, only a little secure.”

“At last, we are finished,” they all said as the sun set on their second day of hard work.

“Look at the hedgehogs’ work,” said Huairen Tu sipping a cool iced tea with the Empress at the wonderful palace.

“Magnificent, I love the color zaffre,” said the Empress, “It reminds me of the deep blue sea. But it does make me sad.”

The Empress admired the zaffre barrier as the sun set, and felt less sad because her watermelons would be safe from typhoons.

Six hours later, Yi moaned, “Huairen Tu, it’s the middle of the night. Everyone is asleep. Can we go and steal the barrier now?”

“Yes Yi, let’s go in team,” said Huairen Tu. “We go in on the count of three. One, two, three.”

“We’ve got it!” said Er in a spy-like mellifluous voice as they heaved the barrier into the container wagon.

“We’ve done it team,” said Huairen Tu, “We’ve done it!” as they drove the gargantuan wagon away.

“Around our home, a barrier right around our home, Zaffre all around our home,” sang Yi quietly.

Next morning, Mo Chou woke up and called for Hong Lu, the idiosyncratic, singing watermelon.

As the watermelon approached the Empress, she looked outside and was shocked and bamboozled by what she saw. The wall was gone. 

“Where is that barrier? I should be looking at my beautiful, zaffre barrier! And all I see is fields of watermelons. No!” screamed Mo Chou with a cry. “That rabbit and his atrocious team must have stolen the barrier.”

“This song should make you feel better.

 Please don’t cry or I’ll cry too,

Please don’t weep or I’ll weep too,

Don’t have a tantrum or I’ll have one too,

So don’t be sad or I’ll be sad too,” sang Hong Lu.

“Did you like it?” asked the watermelon.

“Yes I did.” said Mo Chou. The Empress continued to hum the tune throughout the day. “Hong Lu always knows how to make me feel a bit better,” she thought as she tended to the watermelons in the field. “What am I going to do to protect my watermelons from any typhoons?”   

The ferocious wind started to blow stronger and stronger, but Mo Chou didn’t realize it until Shifu Hui came flying over. The Oriental Stork was a large white bird and was flapping its black wing feathers cheerfully.  

“You need to get home, Empress, before the wind blows you away,” Shifu Hui shouted.  

Suddenly Mo Chou realized how strong the wind was, and she ran for home, struggling against the gusts. The gale turned into a typhoon which blew and howled and destroyed everything in its path.  It was pandemonium! Mo Chou hoped that her watermelons would survive, even without the zaffre barrier.

“Wush, boom. And Xigua Cun went kaboom!” thought Huairen Tu.

The hedgehogs looked down at Xigua Cun from their home on the mountaintop and saw the village in ruins. They realized they had been tricked. It was a typhoon barrier and they should not have stolen it. 

Er said, “Huairen Tu is evil.” 

“Duh,” said Wu in a lousy manner.

Then, they plotted their betrayal.

The next night, as Huiaren Tu slept, the hedgehogs reversed their bad decision and criminal deed. They loosened the zaffre, bamboo barrier, moved it down the mountain, and put it back up again to protect the village.  

As the sun rose, Mo Chou looked outside, “Look, the barrier is rebuilt.”

“YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!” screamed all the watermelons.

“Relax everybody,” said an effervescent voice not visible to the crowd, “I am Shifu Hui, these hedgehogs over here are exonerated! They have done a good, amazing, FANTASTIC thing. They betrayed the egregious rogue rabbit. What’s his name again? Oh yeah, Huairen Tu. And they rebuilt our splendiferous barrier! We are finally safe!”

“Yay!” shouted all one hundred and twenty-three watermelons.  

Yi thought, “Yay! Hmmm, how can I put that into a song?”  

THIRD PLACE: Ira Nair, Year 6, Glenealy ESF School, Hong Kong, 11 years old

It has long been my secret wish to find a young writer who writes stories in rhyming verse (not least because when I was young, I almost always wrote my stories in rhyme). So, you can imagine how surprised and delighted I was to receive Ira’s entry into the competition! It is hard to write in rhyming verse, and not only did Ira succeed in doing so with great flair and wit (“But Olivia ignored the woman, And instead admired the money”), but she also managed to incorporate every single ingredient I prescribed, including 4 Wicked Words, some fantastic vocabulary (wayward, galore) and excellent grammar. Not surprisingly, she received top marks for that elusive X-Factor! Followers of my blog will also know that Ira wrote me a further great poem to express her impatience in waiting for the results of the competition – in fact she wrote two! Ira, you remind me of me!! Well done and keep writing in verse – you might end up with your own series of books in rhyming verse one day!

Empress Olivia

It was a glorious day in Europe

Almost end of July.

Children out to play,

Birds out to fly.

Plants looking bright and estival,

The day was rather sunny.

In a particular place in Europe,

There was a story which was rather funny.

It begins with a rogue rabbit,

Olivia was her name.

She was particularly wayward,

Thought of life as a game.

Anyway, she had a thought,

It was time for a holiday.

She needed to find a new country,

Where she could hop around and play.

So she soon set off for China,

Where she caused trouble galore.

As much as in Europe?

In fact, even more!

She jumped on the roofs of cars,

And pushed over girls and boys.

She snuck into schools,

Messed up their desks and toys.

Olivia loved to be naughty,

To make others feel upset.

While she had gotten in trouble before,

Her pranks weren’t over yet.

One day the Empress called,

To scold the cheeky bunny.

But Olivia ignored the woman,

And instead admired the money.

“I hate my life so much,”

The empress cried aloud.

But Olivia was at the table,

Scheming as she chowed.

“But Olivia, please change your behavior,”

The queen demanded at last.

Olivia ignored her and nodded,

While admiring the sumptuous palace, it was so vast.

Soon a humongous tsunami hit,

And washed out all the beaches.

Left dried up was an Indian stork,

Along with apples, plums and peaches.

The tsunami was so dark,

Darker than any before.

It was almost zaffre coloured,

It soaked up all the shore.

The stork coughed,

And said hello to the bunny.

“Uh hi?,” replied Olivia,

“Wasn’t that funny!?”

The stork was offended,

But ignored her heartless comment.

For this was a cheerful stork,

Just slightly grumpy at the moment

The rabbit took the stork,

And they walked back to her hotel.

Only to find it was shattered!

Olivia gasped and fell.

Olivia got an idea,

One that wouldn’t be too hard.

She just had to be careful,

And play the right cards.

She found an old hut,

Abandoned it seemed.

She opened it and found no one,

Proudly, she beamed.

Unfortunately in the hut,

Six wily hedgehogs were running around.

She would just ignore them,

But you can’t ignore that sound!

The stork shooed them off,

And they lived pleasantly for a while.

Then the empress called again,

And they had to drive a mile.

“Your behavior is atrocious!

Worse than before.

Stop this at once,

Or I promise – no more.”

Then the empress took a bathroom break,

And the stork’s stomach growled,

So Olivia snuck a watermelon,

The stork almost bit it but it howled!

“No, don’t eat me!

I’m your friend!

Please keep me happy!

This can’t be the end!”

The rabbit and stork were confused,

The watermelon sang?

Just then the door opened,

And they heard a loud BANG!

They hid the piece of fruit,

And the empress turned to them quick.

“Either leave or make me a trade,”

She said “you pick”

“Well, you hate your life,

And I love this place a lot.

So you go to Europe and I become empress,

Shall we give it a shot?”

The eyes of the empress widened,

She looked ineffable and glad,

She nodded her head slowly,

“I’m no longer sad!!!”

That’s the tale of Empress Olivia,

The one who got her way.

Even though she was naughty,

She had a fun day! 

(Not that you should be naughty 🤣)

FOURTH PLACE: Jasmine Lung, Year 6, Morrison Academy Taichung Campus, 12 years old

Congratulations Jasmine on your wonderful story! Your rabbit was the biggest rogue of all the rabbits in the competition, and I also loved your very original story concept, of a rabbit who changes everyone and everything to the colour zaffre! Your descriptions of the characters and settings were also excellent and scored high marks. I look forward to seeing more of your work in my future competitions!

The Zaffre Baby

A long, long time ago in China, there was a small-footed empress, with long, emerald robes, and a pink orchid in her hair. Her hair was tied up into a bun. She sat down on her throne, glaring at the nurses that were kneeling before her.

“What on earth have you done to my baby?” she whispered very sharply.

Avoiding the empress’ eyes, the nurses tried to stay as silent and still as they could. Finally, a brave nurse stepped forward. 

“Forgive me, your highness, “ she mumbled. “I swear we didn’t know what happened.” 

Suddenly, the empress burst into tears, dropped onto her knees, and began wailing like a baby. Her tears flowed faster and faster. A few moments later, the floor was already covered with water. The nurses ran to her side, but the tears only flowed down faster and faster. The tears ran out of the door and slid down the never-ending stairs. The news of the flooding tears spread like wildfire. 

Wally the Watermelon, a very “talented” songwriter, had already begun to write about the flooding tears. It went like this:

“The Empress is blue

What’s there to do?

The baby is zaffre

Something to see.”

Back in the village, where the tears hadn’t flooded the village yet, a mischievous rabbit was trying to “look” for his shoe. 

Stomping on the dirt ground, the extremely dirty rabbit cried, “I think my shoe is lost! I can’t find it!” Frantically, all the kind-hearted animals that were around him started to chaotically search for the shoe. 

“My shoe is black- I mean red.” he shouted at them, while sneaking away. “It is also covered with hearts!”

An Oriental stork, which always had ineffable joy, kept on yelling cheerfully about shoe jokes. Everyone started arguing with each other what was the shoe, what wasn’t. It was pandemonium. Rogue the rabbit sneaked away, with two striped, white shoes on. 

“My dream is coming true!” he muttered to himself excitedly. He gamboled into Henry the Amur Hedgehog’s house and began to climb into the window. Knowing his way around his enemy’s house, he sneaked into the bathroom and poured magical zaffre dye into Henry’s body lotion and hair gel. Thrilled, he hopped toward the back door. 

Unfortunately for Rogue, Henry sat criss-crossed with his other five brothers, doing yoga at their back garden. Rogue had seen their magical back garden before. It had moist grass, lush plum blossoms, and graceful arching branches of the willow tree. Despite all that, Rogue still remained frozen in fear. If the situation wasn’t as intense as this one, Rogue would have sighed in admiration at the sumptuous jade that was hanging on a silver chain necklace that was hanging around Henry’s neck. Eyes still closed, they did a ten second breathing exercise before one of Henry’s brothers opened one eye. 

“Hello Rogue.” Rogue started to tremble like a mouse.

“May you please explain why you are in my house?” Henry politely asked. Rogue mumbled. 

“Pardon?” Henry said. Rogue inched closer to the exit. 

“Uh, I just wanted to stay in for a cup of tea,” muttered Rogue. “May I have a cup of black tea?”

Henry motioned Rogue to come inside. Rogue started to calm down; but then, on the corner of his eye, he saw the hedgehog brothers rushing at him. He knew he was bamboozled. Scared, Rogue ran out of the house and started racing down the dirt covered street. 

Frustrated, Rogue tried to run away quickly, but the tears stopped him from running fast. The hedgehog brothers were coming closer. Henry whispered to one of the brothers. Henry rolled into a spiky ball and the brother tossed him right behind Rogue.

Back at the palace, the empress kept on crying. Suddenly, a red panda appeared. He wiped his paws on his fur and looked up at the empress. 

“Worrying about the baby, empress?” the red panda asked kindly. The empress looked up, surprised, and nodded. The red panda cleared his throat and started talking. 

“Let me tell you the myth of the color potion. Many years ago, in the heart of the forest, there was a magical giant panda that made different kinds of potions. He gave the potions to the birds like the Chinese Blackbird and the common kingfisher. But one day, a rabbit stole the recipe of the potion and also stole the neverending zaffre dye. For generations, they have been doing unimaginable tricks to people.” The empress sighed. 

“Omniscient red panda, can you help me on my journey to find the mischievous rabbit?” The sympathetic red panda smiled and told the empress about the only rabbit family that has lived in the village for many generations. Determined, they set off to find Rogue. Meanwhile, Rogue panted behind his front door. He leaned against the wooden door and wiped his sweat. Suddenly, the empress’ guards banged on his door. They pushed open the door, and trapped Rogue. 

“Guards!” the empress yelled, “Capture him!” Rogue was too afraid to speak. On the journey back to the palace, the empress sat next to Rogue and told him to confess. 

“Why did you make my precious baby zaffre blue?” the empress said firmly. 

“Well,” Rogue started, “It has always been a tradition to make things zaffre. I have been sick for many years; but now, when I recovered, it was a dream of mine to make a newborn zaffre blue.” The empress softened. 

“Then, could you please turn my baby back into her normal shade of skin color?” the empress asked.

Rogue vigorously nodded. “All you have to do is soak the baby in willow water.” 

The empress smiled, but then she added. “Of course, I forgot your punishment.” As if a lightbulb lit above her head, she told Rogue that she would throw a party for the recovery of the baby.

“And the punishment will be to clean up.”

FIFTH PLACE: Edward Huang, Year 5, Quarry Bay ESF School, Hong Kong, 9 years old

Edward was a previous place-winner in the Year 1 to 3 Category in my last writing competition, and has placed yet again, despite entering the Year 4 to 6 Category this year! I loved his picaresque story of a team of unusual animals, the Abnormal Animal Association, going on a quest to solve the Empress’s depression, and in doing so going through trials which reminded me a little of the labours of Hercules, or perhaps Jason’s Quest for the Golden Fleece! Edward’s extreme weather event (the horrendous hail) was one of the best in the competition, and I would like to congratulate him for the being the first contestant ever in my Clever Competitions to use a word I had to look up in the dictionary (catenas or “a connected series of related things”)!! He almost bamboozled me! Well done Edward, especially for the great vocabulary, and keep up the good work!

The Horrendous Hail and the AAA

It was a boiling estival day in the Song dynasty. Speedy, a rogue rabbit, was lazily nibbling on some fresh carrots. The sky was a cheerful, zaffre color as the farmer in the patch worked hard. As the farmer was toiling land, he spotted the white, furry creature in the corner of his eye. Rushing over, he picked up the wooly disaster, throwing Speedy out of his land.  Lonely with nowhere to go, Speedy hopped away, hoping for someone to take him in.

Not before long, Speedy saw a cave and decided to shelter there. However, he met a family in that cavern that created mischief. Each of the animals in the family had their own idiosyncrasy. The cheerful oriental stork, Bill, could juggle nine balls. The six wily amur hedgehogs -Eric, Jim, Ricky, Calvin, Mark, and Jacob, had their abilities. Wally, the singing watermelon, had great musical talent. They never separated while trouble followed wherever they went. The family took Speedy in and provided him with food. They called themselves the abnormal animal association, or the AAA.

Super snow was coming, the cave could not withstand the winter, and they needed to move.  The AAA walked for days, found an imperial city, and decided it was the perfect place stay. Wandering in, they immediately spotted a notice board sharing some important news about the city monarch, Empress Jing, an illustrious empress, being extremely depressed and looking for a cure to heal her. Another monument they saw was the colossal palace. They headed the castle’s way to see if they could help the Empress, in exchange for shelter.

Before they even got past the first gate, two bulky guards stopped them. They gruffly asked what they were planning to do. Without hesitation, Speedy replied, “We are here to ask the Empress why she is so sad, and we want to help her.” After thorough security checks, the guards stepped aside and allowed the group to enter.

Empress Jing was spotted in the corner of the Chinese garden. Her tears dripped into the pond with a soft ripple. Speedy walked up to her and asked about the problem. She replied that a mysterious call from the gods came into her mind and told her hail was coming and all her people will freeze to death. However, the remaining details were unknown because it came in the form of a song. They asked the Empress to recite the song, she did without hesitation, but no one could understand he words except Wally. Within a few quick moments of thought, Wally sang the tune in an understandable language.

“The hail will ruin your lands,

And the hinterlands will expand.

Only a powerful poem,

From a will breaker.

Placed on a pillar,

Can become a hail killer.”

Just as Wally finished the song, a glowing light lit up the sky. Suddenly, the first few spheres of ice started crashing into the land. In the town square, the sight of civilians scrambling to get indoors was total pandemonium. The AAA walked out chasing the beam of luminescence. They believe that the poem was in the beam of light. They set off towards it.

Immediately, they were affected by the ubiquitous sight of hail, as it heavily reduced their vision. However, they courageously continued marching on, ignoring the freezing ice thumping on their bodies. Not before long, they arrived at a gargantuan cave entrance. Slowly, they ambled in, not knowing what to expect.  The first obstacle was a spirit hydra. It seemed godly with its sapphire skin and icy aura. However, using the teamwork of the six hedgehog brothers, they pricked and stabbed with their sturdy quills while Bill entertained it with some nine-ball juggling. Finally, Bill suddenly threw the ball to the hydra’s head, causing it to fall down.

The next obstacle was a vernacularly fastened door that required three answers to unlock. If even one answer were wrong, they would be locked out forever.

The first question was: What is the main ingredient of gunpowder? Surprisingly, Speedy created gunpowder before, so he knew it was nitrate. The mechanical lock shifted one spot to the right.

The second question was: Who was the fourth emperor of China? Bill was an experienced historian and figured out the answer in the blink of an eye. “It was the Hui emperor,” he replied. The lock shifted again.

The third and hardest one was the unfathomable question. The question was: what came first, the chicken or the egg?  No one knew the answer, Speedy blurted out a random answer, “The egg?”, the lock slowly clicked, and the rusty door opened. As they ran through the door, it slammed shut behind them.

The last obstacle was an invisible chain. None of them knew what to do with it, but Speedy had an idea, he said “From the song, it said: From a will breaker. We need to change ourselves and turn good to break the chain!” Everybody nodded in agreement. Without warning, Speedy floated up into the air with an orange aura surrounding him.

“It seems like he is breaking the chain!” Bill exclaimed. Boom! The catenas shattered, and the poem landed in front of the AAA. Speedy hovered down to the ground and delicately picked up the poem. The AAA got teleported to a marble pedestal, where they were greeted by hail once again. Slowly, Speedy placed the poem onto the marble pillar. With the poem touching the column, the weather changed drastically. The ice storm stopped, the sun came out, the rivers thawed, the flowers revived, and most importantly, everyone stopped suffering.

Once they returned to the imperial city, the cheering crowds and a joyful Empress Jing in a resplendent gown greeted them. Empress Jing thanked the AAA for their great efforts and awarded them a sumptuous home in the palace. The AAA got an endless supply of carrots, grass, and many other foods for the team. At last, with great teamwork, the AAA found their forever home.

SIXTH PLACE: Ken Wong, Year 5, Serpell Primary School, Victoria, Australia, 11 years old

A big welcome to my Clever Competition from Ken Wong in Australia! Ken impressed me hugely with this first entry, with its entertaining plot involving the quest for a Zaffre mushroom with special powers in a magical wonderland. Most remarkably, Ken managed to use a magnificent total of eighteen of my Wicked Words, which earned him substantial extra points! Well done, Ken! And make sure you enter my next Clever Competition!

The Zaffre Mushroom

On a cold winter day 1000 years ago in China a lugubrious empress was weeping in her bedroom just like what she had been doing every day since the death of the illustrious late emperor.  
Meanwhile, an exuberant rogue rabbit called Nom was stealing carrots from the emperor’s back yard also just like what he had been doing every day. But this time, the emperor saw him and decided to kill him. The empress begged him to let Nom go, which the emperor did. Nom was very grateful to the empress. 

Nom saw the tears in the empress’ eyes. He asked her why she was so sad.

“Because my husband has been poisoned by his atrocious brother who became the emperor himself after my husband’s death,” elucidated the empress.
“Is there anything I can help to make you happier?” 

“Yes,” replied the empress, “to raise my husband from death with the splendiferous Zaffre Mushroom growing on an island called the Dream Wonderland. But there are six super powerful hedgehogs guarding the Mushroom. Many people have tried to get it but ended up killed by the hedgehogs”.

Nom decided to get the Zaffre Mushroom for the empress. On his way to the shore he invited his best friend Stella, the cheerful oriental stork, to join his adventure. Stella accepted Nom’s invitation. They hopped on a sloop and started their journey to Dream Wonderland.
A week later they reached an island called Watermelon Island. All the islanders were watermelons who were called watermeleons. There was one watermeleon that caught Nom and Stella’s eyes; that was Bob, who was singing mellifluously in the middle of the road.
“Sailing is boring. We need a musician to entertain us!” cried Nom excitedly. 
“This is our perfect musician!” exclaimed Stella cheerfully.
So they invited Bob to join them.
“Tra-la-la-la-la! I’m indubitably the best musician on earth. I will become a rock star in Dream Wonderland,” sang Bob proudly. 

The following day they set sail to Dream Wonderland.
A day later a gargantuan tornado came out from nowhere.

“Water is coming into our sloop so if we don’t throw away all our food and belongings our sloop will sink!” yelled Stella. So they threw everything into the ocean. 
Days had passed, everyone was starving. Suddenly they saw something strange ahead. “It’s a whirlpool!” shouted Nom. The whirlpool was sucking them into it. 
“AHHHHH, I’m dizzy!” squeaked Nom. Thirty seconds later they got sucked into an entirely  different place. They were in a river, not just any river but a river of beautiful rainbow water. A thick layer of rainbow mist was blocking their view but a magical island was ahead of them. 
“This is it, the magical Dream Wonderland!” proclaimed Stella. 
“YAY!” cried Nom excitedly. “YO-HO-HO-HO!” sang  Bob. 
They hopped out of the sloop and landed on the soft green grass. The sky was blue and the fields were resplendent with flowers. They were all ecstatic. 

Hundreds of birds were singing. Bob started singing too, echoing the birds. Everyone admired his songs. Stella and Bob decided to live there forever. But now Nom had to get the Zaffre Mushroom. He looked around excitedly and spotted the Zaffre Mushroom. But before he could even lay his paw on it, six wily hedgehogs popped out suddenly. They curled into a ball and rolled towards Nom. Nom dodged them and ran for the mushroom quickly. But the six hedgehogs were pulling Nom’s leg. Nom tripped down in pain. 

“What do you come here for?” asked one of the hedgehogs. Nom explained to them his reason for stealing the Zaffre mushroom. The six wily hedgehogs then gathered to discuss something. After a while, they told Nom they had decided to let him get the Zaffre Mushroom because they were moved by his story. But the moment Nom pulled the mushroom out of the soil the mushroom slowly faded into dust. It was fake! Then the real mushroom slowly grew from the ground. The six wily hedgehogs cackled loudly as the ground opened up. Nom fell into the hole. The bamboozled rabbit was trapped. But Nom showed a devilish grin. He would get those hedgehogs back for sure. 
As the six wily hedgehogs swaggered away, Nom started to dig a tunnel that led him to the surface. After a minute Nom was back on the ground. He snatched the real mushroom and then started to dig another tunnel to where the hedgehogs lived.
When he finally arrived at their burrow, he saw all the hedgehogs were asleep. The voracious rabbit devoured all their sumptuous food and broke all the furniture in revenge for what they had done to him. But the noise woke them up. They looked around and were confused. When they were about to see Nom, Bob happened to be singing in the street just above them. The hedgehogs looked back for the source of the voice. This inadvertently gave Nom a chance to escape. 

Nom then ran as fast as he could to the shore just to find that the wily hedgehogs had already sunk his sloop. Meanwhile, the hedgehogs who had been pursuing Nom were closing in. They slowly cornered Nom but Stella suddenly showed up. 

“Nom, hop on my back! I’ll bring you back to the palace,” said Stella cheerfully.

Nom leapt on Stella’s back. They travelled all the way back to the palace and gave the empress the Zaffre Mushroom. The empress burst into tears, this time not for sadness but for ineffable joy. The old emperor stood up cheerfully after being fed the mushroom. The empress saved Nom out of pity but serendipitously saved her husband’s life as well. 

The following day the egregious usurper was executed. The emperor gave Nom, Bob and Stella a lifetime supply of food and sent troops to kill the wily hedgehogs to prevent them from taking revenge on Nom and Stella. Stella then took Nom back to Dream Wonderland and lived happily ever after. 

HONOURABLE MENTION: Freya Bainbridge, Year 5, Shrewsbury International School, Hong Kong, 10 years old

I couldn’t close the judging without awarding an Honourable Mention to Freya, a regular entrant in my Clever Competitions, whose story of a strange underwater world contained one of the best descriptions of setting and most fantastic extreme weather events in the competition! I particularly loved her simile “like a humming bird singing a morning tune”. Keep up the good work Freya!

The Ocean Oasis

During the second Zhou dynasty in China, there lived an illustrious Empress in a great resplendent castle. Her dynasty was copacetic, all was in pure harmony like a humming bird singing a morning tune. The Chinese Empress came from a wealthy family. Her family and city adored her with all of their hearts. The empress was always lugubrious because when she was a child, her sister died in a tsunami.

To cheer her up, the castle was full with pets. She was accompanied by seven pets, a rogue, cheeky rabbit was called Lili. Lili had a grin that grin of a trouble maker and heart-stealing eyes. The Empress also had six wily Amur hedgehogs, who constantly schemed ideas and fought for their empress’ heart.       

One bright and early estival morning, the empress woke, had a delectable breakfast with a melliferous cup of tea and went to attend her duties. She had to be present at every ceremony in the country, no matter big or small, entertaining, or boring. Meanwhile, Lili, who liked her freedom, snuck out to the zaffre-colored ocean, as she often did, to meet her dear friend, Edwyn a cheerful, oriental stork. But this day was like no other.

“Hello my dear friend, how are you? Up to mischief I expect.” The stork greeted the rabbit in a welcoming tone.

“You know it,” the rabbit replied grinning cheekily.

“I have something else to tell you that is going to be quite egregious. In fact, it is going to be a wave of fun,” Edwyn said merrily.

 “Ohhh, please tell,” Lili begged.

 “A giant, life-threatening tsunami is going to happen in… 3…2…1…!” Edwyn effervescently cheered just as a gargantuan wave hit them hard and furiously. They stood there wet, hurt and ineffable. It had been fun but they were very dazed and confused. They were covered in seaweed, specks of sand and fish bones. But where were they? They looked up and they were surrounded a world of blue. A vibrant castle was perched on a rock and mermaids and mermen swam by and forth, left and right. Schools of fish swam in various directions and a stingray slowed down to investigate them. A watermelon sang a tune that made Edwyn and Lili cover their ears. They were under the sea in a bizarre land.

Back in the castle, after a long day of attending ceremonies, the empress was sick with worry. Where had her dear little rabbit gone? She hadn’t been seen all day. As a result, she decided to get the city looking.

“Royal guards I have a job for you” she cried.

“What is it your highness?” A guard asked whilst the rest of the group bowed in respect.

“I want you all to look for my dear pet rabbit, Lili, she has gone missing. Please put posters up around the city as well.”

Make sure all as the city knows as soon as possible and inform them about $100, 000 reward.” She told them fiddling with her hair. They stormed off and went about their task in unison.

“What is all of the fuss about,” a hedgehog asked another, “She is just a pet rabbit.”

The guards had already marched out of the grounds and had searched everywhere; in trees under seats and between alleys but there was no sign of her anywhere.

“I am sorry my highness we have failed to succeed in our mission we apologise,” A guard said as he saluted. 

“It is fine. I am sure she hasn’t gone far,” replied the Empress putting her emotions to the side.

In the underwater town, Lili and Edwyn still were amazed by their surroundings. A mermaid with wavey iridescent hair came up to them. They immediately uncovered their ears to listen to what she was going to say.

“Hello rabbit and stork welcome to our world of tsunami trapped people. Sorry about Crimson-Sweets tumultuous singing. I am Bella, a sister of a well-known Chinese empress. Do you want to become a member of our cherished community,” she asked smiling.

“Umm…,” Lili started unsure of what to say. She was certain that she had met Bella before but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it.

“Sure” the Edwyn interrupted.

Before Bella could do anything, Lili found her words again, “Wait I know you! Your sister is my owner; she is the only Chinese empress in the country so it must be her. Do you remember?

“As a matter of fact, I do. Lili, I have waited for this day to come for a very long time. Edwyn saw what happened to me that morning. A huge wave came and boom I disappeared. Before the wave crashed, he called out; ‘I will help you return.’ I had no idea what he would do at the time but after spending a while in this town I found out. In order to return you need to be returned with something that belonged to someone from your family.”

“How do we return then?” Lili asked, her eyes glowing.

“Hold my hands and repeat these words,” she began, “I allow the person that stands beside me to return to Earth unharmed.”

“I allow the person that stands beside me to return to Earth unharmed.” Lili repeated. They span around in circles and soon their surroundings were a blur. Slowly they began to take shape and they realised they were back home.

“Mia, I have returned,” Bella announced, “ I think it is time for a family reunion, what do you think?”

The empress was lost for words, “how did her sister even return?” She wondered. “Yes, she eventually answered, “But first, have you seen my pet dear rabbit?”

I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading these fantastic stories! Make sure you’re ready for my next Clever Competition by clicking the link at the bottom right hand side of this blog to follow me, or emailing me at sarah@auspicioustimes.com so I can add you to my Funny and Fabulous Newsletter Mailing List!