Maggie and the Flying Pigs

  Also by E.D. Baker

  The Frog Princess

  The Dragon Princess

  Fairy Wings

  Fairy Lies

  Tales of the Wide-Awake Princess:

  The Wide-Awake Princess, Unlocking the Spell The Bravest Princess, Princess in Disguise Princess between Worlds

  A Question of Magic

  Magic Animal Rescue:

  Maggie and the Flying Horse

  Maggie and the Wish Fish

  Maggie and the Unicorn

  This book is dedicated to daydreamers and kids with ‘overactive’ imaginations. Let your imagination loose and you can go far!

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Maggie laughed when one piglet tripped over another and they both tumbled across the floor. Although Maggie always enjoyed helping out in Bob’s stable, she especially loved taking care of the flying pig and her babies. Still chuckling, Maggie dumped the bucket of grain into the mother pig’s feed pan.

  ‘What’s so funny?’ Leonard, the talking horse, asked from the next stall.

  ‘The piglets are so cute!’ Maggie told him. ‘I love the little sounds they make.’

  ‘Hunh!’ he grunted. ‘That’s one thing I could do without. Those “cute” little sounds keep me awake half the night.’

  Maggie no longer thought it was unusual to have a conversation with a talking horse, but then, she was used to a lot of unusual things happening at the stable where her friend Bob the Stableman took care of rare and magical creatures. Maggie had been helping Bob with the stable chores for a few weeks now. Bob and his wife, Nora, had taken Maggie in when her stepmother, Zelia, had kicked her out of the family cottage. Maggie loved her new family and thought it was a big improvement over her stepmother and stepsiblings. She missed her father every day, though. She wondered what he would do when he came home from chopping wood on the other side of the Enchanted Forest and found that his daughter was gone.

  The mother pig lurched to her feet and ambled to her feed pan. Maggie hurried out of the way. The pig’s wings looked a little tattered. Her babies must have been chewing on them again.

  After stepping out of the stall and latching the door behind her, Maggie sat down on a bale of hay. Reaching into her pocket, she took out the brand new journal that Bob had given her and opened it to one of the pages she’d started. She read over what she’d already noted.

  Chapter 2

  Maggie knew she shouldn’t touch the piglets when their mother, Carmelita, was watching, but one baby was lying on its back, wedged in the corner of the stall, kicking the air with its little trotters. The piglet looked as if it was stuck. She couldn’t just leave it there!

  Moving slowly so she didn’t startle the pigs, Maggie walked around the edge of the stall and reached for the baby. When Carmelita snorted and lurched to her feet, Maggie turned the baby so it could get up, then started running to the stall door. She could hear the mother pig charging after her. With only seconds to spare, Maggie threw herself at the half-door, grabbing the top with both hands. Heaving herself up and over, Maggie felt the sow’s teeth graze her shoe. The door shook as the mother pig crashed into it.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Leonard asked. He was a regular horse, except for the fact that he could talk. ‘It sounds as if you’re trying to knock down the stable!’

  ‘I was just helping a piglet,’ Maggie said, inspecting her shoe.

  ‘If you made Carmelita mad, I suggest you shut the top door, too,’ said Leonard. ‘She is a flying pig, remember?’

  Maggie gasped and turned around. She hadn’t seen the sow fly lately and had forgotten that she could fly. Maggie heard the whoosh of beating wings and slammed the top half of the door shut. She had scarcely latched it when the sow crashed into it again. The angry squeals were loud enough to make Maggie cover her ears.

  ‘Keep in mind that there are no ordinary animals here,’ Leonard reminded her.

  ‘Says the talking horse,’ Maggie said with a laugh.

  Leonard snorted and peered over his stall door. ‘I must say, you’ve been busy today. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this barn look so clean.’

  Maggie shrugged. ‘I didn’t do that much. I just cleaned the stalls like I usually do, and washed the water buckets.’

  ‘And swept out all the nooks and crannies, and knocked down spider webs, and brushed me and Randal,’ Leonard reminded her. ‘Thanks for that, by the way. I know I feel a lot better, and Randal does too. The old unicorn has never looked so good. He really likes that you polished his horn.’

  ‘I’m glad,’ Maggie said.

  Randal was the only unicorn who had a permanent home in the stable. Years before, Bob had found him caught in a trap with his leg horribly mangled. Bob had brought him home, but the unicorn’s leg was so badly injured that it had to be replaced with a peg leg made out of wood. The unicorn loved Maggie, who always went out of her way to make him more comfortable.

  ‘The sheriff stopped by,’ Bob said as he walked into the stable. ‘I was just telling him what a hard worker you are, Maggie.’

  Maggie’s stepmother, Zelia, had kicked Maggie out of the family cottage a few weeks before. Ever since then, Maggie had lived with Bob and his wife, Nora. She loved the elderly couple as much as if they were her own family and was always happy to help out. Still, three things worried her even from her safe new home: when would her father return from cutting wood on the far side of the Enchanted Forest? What would happen with her stepmother when he did? And what would her obnoxious stepbrother Peter do next?

  Carmelita squealed and banged into her door so hard that the entire wall shook.

  ‘What’s wrong with her?’ asked Bob.

  ‘Maggie helped one of her piglets,’ explained Leonard.

  Maggie nodded. ‘The baby was stuck and couldn’t get up.’

  ‘Carmelita is angry because she wasn’t able to take a chunk out of Maggie,’ Leonard finished.

  ‘I’m not surprised,’ said Bob. ‘The sow’s been going a little stir-crazy lately. I think I should take her outside and let her stretch her wings.’

  ‘Aren’t you afraid she might fly off?’ Maggie asked.

  ‘Not with her babies here. I’ve tended mother flying pigs before. She’ll come back in a few hours and be in a much better mood. Stay out of sight while I take her outside, Maggie. She’s angry with you now, but she won’t be by the time she gets back.’

  ‘You can brush me some more,’ Leonard told Maggie. ‘There’s an itchy spot on my back that really needs it!’

  Maggie groaned, but smiled and looked for the brush.

  Chapter 3

  Maggie was collecting Leonard’s brush and currycomb when she heard squealing and the rustling of straw in the pigs’ stall. She opened the top door just a crack so she could see inside. Most of the piglets were scurrying around, crying for their mother and beating their little wings that had grown feathers only a few days before. Maggie couldn’t help but smile when she saw some take tiny hops and rise a few centimetres into the air.

  ‘How are the babies doing?’ Bob asked as he joined her at the stall door.

  ‘I think they’re getting ready to fly,’ said Maggie.

  Bob smiled. ‘Perfect! We can give them their first lesson while their mother is outside.’

  ‘Shouldn’t their mother teach them?’ Maggie asked.

  ‘She’ll try, but I’ve found that it’s better for the piglets if they k
now how to fly before her lessons start,’ said Bob. ‘Mother flying pigs are very rough when they teach their babies. They chase them, nipping at their heels until the babies take off. Sometimes they step on the ones that can’t fly yet. Piglets that are slow at learning to fly often get badly injured. I try to give them a head start, if I can. Stay here. I’ll be right back. I have to get the blanket.’

  ‘Why do you need a blanket?’ Maggie asked.

  ‘You’ll see,’ Bob called as he left the stable.

  Maggie was still waiting for Bob when her friend Stella and Stella’s goose, Eglantine, walked in. After shutting the goose in an empty stall, Stella joined Maggie.

  ‘Where’s Carmelita?’ Stella asked, looking into the pigs’ stall.

  ‘Outside stretching her wings,’ Maggie told her.

  ‘Oh, good!’ Bob said when he saw Stella. ‘We could give the lesson with two people, but it will work even better with three. Here, you two hold the blanket and I’ll toss the piglets. The babies that can fly will take off. You’ll hold the blanket to catch the ones that can’t.’

  ‘Is this safe?’ asked Stella.

  ‘I haven’t lost a piglet yet!’ Bob replied. ‘You girls stand over there and use both hands to hold the blanket. That’s it! Now wait until I catch a piglet. All right. Here goes!’

  Maggie and Stella braced their legs while Bob tossed a piglet at the blanket. Maggie expected to have to catch it, but to her surprise the little pig started beating its wings as soon as Bob let it go. It flew off, landing halfway across the stall.

  ‘That was amazing!’ Stella cried as Maggie laughed in delight.

  ‘Get ready! Here comes the next one,’ warned Bob.

  The next baby pig flew as well, making it all the way across the stall. A few of the piglets were able to make a circuit around the girls. Only two didn’t flap their wings and landed in the blanket.

  ‘That was so much fun!’ exclaimed Stella. ‘Can we do it again tomorrow?’

  ‘If the weather is good and I’m able to let Carmelita out,’ said Bob. ‘Once all the babies can fly, it won’t be long before we release mother and babies into the forest.’

  ‘Speaking of releasing animals into the forest,’ said Leonard, ‘I’d love to take someone for a ride.’

  ‘I need to get home,’ said Stella. ‘My mother is baking a cake for my little brother’s birthday and I promised I’d help.’

  ‘And Nora wants me to fix the front door. The latch isn’t working properly,’ Bob told them.

  ‘Then I guess I’m your volunteer,’ Maggie told Leonard. ‘It should be fun! It’s a beautiful day out.’

  ‘And I know just where I want to go,’ the horse told her. ‘I haven’t visited the waterfall in a very long time.’

  Chapter 4

  Although Maggie hadn’t had much experience with horses before she came to live with Bob and Nora, she’d ridden Leonard a number of times by now. Both Maggie and Leonard enjoyed their outings together, so she was looking forward to riding him to the waterfall. The journey wasn’t long, and it took them only a few minutes to reach the falls.

  Leonard nickered when he saw the splashing water and trotted to the pool beneath the falls without any direction from Maggie. The horse was drinking when Maggie slid off his back. A head popped out of the water a moment later, and her friend Lily, the water nymph, waved to her. ‘How are you today?’ called Lily.

  ‘Great!’ Maggie called back, walking to the edge of the pool. ‘Leonard offered to take me for a ride and wanted to come here.’

  The horse raised his head and water dribbled from his lips. ‘The water in your pool is delicious,’ he said. ‘Very clean and fresh.’

  ‘Have I ever told you that Leonard is a talking horse?’ Maggie asked Lily.

  ‘How fascinating!’ cried Lily. ‘I didn’t know that such creatures existed.’

  ‘Huh,’ said Leonard. ‘A lot of people don’t believe that water nymphs exist. I think a talking horse makes a lot more sense than a girl who lives with fish.’

  Noticing the annoyed look on Lily’s face, Maggie tried to change the subject. ‘Have you seen the palomino unicorn lately? When we let him go near here, I thought he might stay around.’

  ‘He did!’ said Lily. ‘I see him every day. He’s become very friendly. Yesterday he came right up to me and let me scratch his neck.’

  ‘Well, look what we have here!’ someone said from deeper in the forest.

  As soon as Lily heard the voice, she sank into the water and peeked out from among the waterlilies.

  Maggie knew that voice. It was her stepbrother Peter. When she finally spotted him, he was carrying a long stick and whacking the undergrowth as he walked.

  ‘Hello, Peter,’ Maggie said.

  ‘Couldn’t you be a little more enthusiastic?’ asked Peter. ‘After all, I am your brother.’

  ‘Stepbrother,’ said Maggie. ‘Why do you keep coming here? You’re awfully far from home.’

  ‘I came to see you, dear sister. Mother wants to know that you’re all right.’

  ‘That’s hard to believe,’ said Maggie. ‘She’s the one who kicked me out of my own cottage.’

  ‘You only got what you deserved,’ Peter began. ‘You’re a worthless …’

  ‘It’s time to go,’ Leonard told Maggie. ‘There’s something about this place that I find really annoying.’

  The horse walked to Maggie and bent down, making it easy for her to climb on his back. They were passing Peter when the boy whacked Leonard hard with his stick.

  Leonard wheeled around and his back feet shot out, kicking Peter into the pool. The boy landed in the water with a huge splash. He spluttered and stood up, looking furious.

  ‘I know you don’t know much about horses, Peter, so here’s an important tip,’ said Maggie. ‘Never hit a horse with a stick like that. They don’t like it one bit.’

  Leonard nickered with laughter when he saw the expression on Peter’s face. This only seemed to make Peter angrier as he waded out of the water and stomped away.

  ‘That’s one way to make him leave,’ said Lily.

  ‘It definitely worked,’ said Maggie. ‘But I really do want to know what he was doing here.’

  Chapter 5

  That afternoon, Maggie sat under a tree near the stable to work on her journal. Turning to a fresh page in the section about flying pigs, she wrote:

  When she was finished writing, Maggie drew some pictures of the piglets and their mother. She was sitting back, rereading what she’d just written, when she heard a small child crying. Maggie set down the journal and her pencil as she stood up and looked around. The crying sounded as if it was coming from the woods.

  ‘Help me!’ wailed a child’s voice. Maggie thought it sounded like Maeve, one of her youngest stepsisters.

  Maggie ran into the forest. ‘Maeve, is that you?’ she called. ‘I’m coming!’

  ‘I’m over here!’ the child cried from deeper in the forest.

  Maggie hurried as fast as she could. She climbed over fallen logs and ducked under low branches. ‘Where are you now?’ she called. There was no answer. ‘Is anyone there?’

  A twig snapped somewhere in the forest. A big owl hooted. No one responded to Maggie’s call.

  Worried, Maggie looked everywhere. She searched behind trees, but some nasty squirrels threw nuts at her. She peered into prickly bushes that scratched her arms and face. Getting down on her hands and knees, she looked in a small cave, where a snake raised its head and hissed. Finally, Maggie gave up and went back to the tree where she’d left her journal. Her pencil was there, but her journal was gone.

  Maggie was sure she’d left it beside the tree. She knew she hadn’t taken it into the woods! Looking carefully, Maggie searched all around the tree, even under the arching roots. The journal wasn’t there, either.

  ‘Maybe a raccoon carried it into the tree,’ she said, peering at the branches. Grabbing hold of the lowest branch, she pulled herself up and started to look
. She inspected every branch and twig, startling a finch in her nest. When she peeked into a big hole in the trunk, two baby owls blinked at her from the depths. She even climbed to the top of the tree and surveyed the ground nearby. The journal wasn’t anywhere in sight.

  Maggie was more upset than ever when she scrambled out of the tree. Her journal was definitely gone! Unable to figure out what had happened, she went to the cottage to see Bob. He was sitting at the kitchen table with Nora. They both looked up when Maggie walked in.

  ‘My journal is gone,’ she told them, close to tears. ‘I’ve looked everywhere!’

  ‘Where did you have it last?’ asked Nora.

  ‘I was sitting under the old oak writing about the piglets when I heard a child crying in the woods. I went to see if I could help, but there wasn’t anyone there. When I went back to get my journal, it was gone. I know I left it at the bottom of the tree!’

  ‘A crying child, you say?’ said Bob. ‘The only small children who live around here are in the castle, and they don’t come out to play in the forest by themselves. Did it sound like anyone you know?’

  Maggie nodded. ‘I thought it sounded like my little stepsister, Maeve.’

  ‘I see,’ said Bob. ‘I know it’s upsetting to lose something you treasure, but in this case I’m sure it will show up in a few days. If it doesn’t, I have a good idea where to start looking.’

  ‘Do you think Peter took it?’ Maggie asked.

  Bob nodded. ‘I wouldn’t be surprised.’

  Chapter 6

  Maggie gave the unicorn’s horn one last swipe with the polishing rag and stepped back to admire her handiwork. The horn glistened in the sunlight pouring through the stall window. Pale blue and silver, it looked beautiful against the unicorn’s white coat.