Willow the Magical Witch and Cousin Crystalline



  Copyright 2016 Mette Sandgaard Pallesen

  Early one morning Willow the magical Witch received a BIIIG letter. It was from cousin Crystalline who lived in a town far, far away. Willow had not seen Crystalline since they were both tiny little magical Witches, and back then they were the best of friends. Willow was very excited and could hardly wait to read the letter.

  Crystalline wrote: Dear Willow, I'm traveling through the country and will be arriving in Hazelnut grove tomorrow. I have no place to stay and would like to come stay with you for a few days. Will you make a room ready for me and my crow Crowley, and remember to put fresh flowers in the room -Just the way I like it;) Love from your cousin Crystalline.

  The next day Willow picked some beautiful flowers from her garden, and put them in the guest-room where cousin Crystalline and Crowley the crow would be staying, and when the doorbell rang she rushed down the stairs to open the door. Harold the otherwise lazy cat was also very excited to see the new houseguests.

  Willow and Harold greeted cousin Crystalline and Crowley by the door. “Come on in, and let me show you around” Willow said "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I´m not in the mood. Just show me my room, will you! And be a dear and carry up my suitcases… ALL of them PLEASE” Crystalline said while smiling at Crowley. “Carry suitcases, carry suitcases” Crowley replied

  When they came to the guest room Crystalline wrinkled her nose. “The room…AHH, it's too small, and the flowers… phew, they smell awfully sweet, and the color of the pillows, Yikes it’s so last year.” Harold snared at Crystalline, but Willow hushed at him “be nice Harold, Crystalline is just a little tired after the long journey”

  At dinner Willow noticed a beautiful ring on Crystalline's finger. "I found the ring in a small shrine deep, deep down in a dark cellar” Crystalline said. “It`s a magic ring, made of pure gold and rarest of diamonds. When I rub three times, I can conjure almost anything I wish. But remember one thing Willow: NO ONE has ever been allowed to touch it and that includes YOU!!”.

  Later that night Willow wanted to show Crystalline some old family photos, and as she went to get them in the big closed, a tiny winy mean idea popped in to Crystalline's head. And when Willow opened the closet door Crystalline very quietly rubbed the magic ring tree times and POUF- the old family photos were all gone.

  “All gone, all gone” Crowley said, while Willow searched desperately to find the photos. "I don’t understand", she said “I’m sure I put them in here”. But Harold, who saw it all, snared at cousin Crystalline. “Hush, be nice Harold" Willow whispered.

  The next morning Willow decided to surprise Crystalline with breakfast in bed. She quickly made some lovely pancakes with blueberry jam and some buns. But Crystalline was already awake and when she heard Willow come up the stairs, she whispered to Crowley " lets make trouble”.

  Crystalline rushed to the door and carefully place ten plastic balls in front of it. The moment Willow entered the room she steps on the plastic balls and BAANG, she slipped and fell and landed right on her bottom. AUCH. Jams, buns and pancakes were flying at full speed through the air and one of them landed right in Harold’s face -sticky. And all the while Crystalline just sat there smiling.

  Later that day Willow invited her good friends Gustav and Ingrid to a party at her house, to meet cousin Crystalline. At the party Crystalline was very bored and suddenly once again a horrible, mean idea popped up in her head. She quietly put her hands under the table so no one could see them, and rubbed her ring three times and -PUF, Ingrid and Gustav’s laces were tied together in a large tight knot.

  Cousin Crystalline smiled at Crowley, but Harold saw it all. He had been sitting under the table the whole time, and was so upset that he ran out from under the table and loudly snared at Crystalline. Willow was just about to hush at him, when Gustav stood up to leave the table and before he realized that he was tied to Ingrid, he fell over and pulled her with him in the fall.

  “Oooh look” Crystalline shouted, “their laces are tied together. It must be Harold, that stupid cat. I saw he was lying under the table”. “NOOOO, Harold wouldn’t do that" Willow said "But let's clean up so we can go play" Crystalline looked at Harold. "I'll get you your stupid cat" she whispered, and immediately got another mean idea.

  Crystalline whispered something to Crowley and quietly went in to the family room, where the large grandfather clock stood. Then she rubbed her magic ring tree times and -BANG- the clock overturned with a bang. In the exact same moment Crowley grabbed Harold by the collar and flew into the family room and put him right on top of the grandfather clock.

  Willow ran into the family room and discovered Harold sitting on the big clock completely confused as to what had just happened. She took him firmly and carried him outside. "You can wait out here until my guests have gone home" she said strictly and closed the door behind her. Cousin Crystalline and Crowley smiled.

  "Let's play hide and seek" Ingrid suggested. Gustav started counting "1,2,3,4…" Willow hid under the kitchen table and Ingrid in the big closet, while Crystalline went op to the attic. "Now I shall really tease them" she said and rubbed her ring until she was utterly and completely invisible. Gustav started looking. First he found Ingrid and then Willow, but they couldn’t find Crystalline anywhere and eventually they gave up, and Ingrid and Gustav went home.

  Shortly after Crystalline appeared at the top of the stairs. ”Well you couldn’t find me, could you, Willow? I was too good for you, wasn’t I?” Crystalline said. But suddenly Crystalline noticed that the magic ring on her finger was gone! “It must be you Willow- you took my ring because you are envious. FIND IT!!" She shouted, before she went to her room and slammed the door.

  Willow went up to the attic and sat down on the floor. What was she going to do? She didn’t know where Crystalline's ring was. Everything had gone wrong since she had arrived, and Crystalline didn’t even seem like the same nice little girl she once knew. While Willow was trying to think of something to do, she spotted something glimmering under the old sofa. It was Crystalline's ring. She must have lost it, when they played hide and seek.

  Willow looked at the ring. It had a strange dark glow to it. Sigfred the old sorcerer who lived in the attic came to look at it, and when he discovered the dark glow he immediately knew that an evil sorcerer had bewitched it. "We must do something to help Crystalline but its probably not going to be easy “Sigfred said. “The sorcerer's magic is very strong. But maybe we could make some magic dust that is so strong it may overturn the sorcerer's foul magic. First we have to pick some of the strongest spices, and sour fruits we can find”.

  Willow rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a basket and began to gather the ingredients: garlic, red and yellow chilies and small black ones too. She grabbed some pepper from the top shelf of the cupboard, which made her sneeze horribly, and some sour lemons from the lemon tree in the garden. Then she ran to the attic.

  Sigfred began making the magic dust. He put all the ingredients in a big pot in the exact right order. He let it cook for quite some time and then- POOF - the magic dust was done. Sigfred took some of the dust on his wand and swung it over Crystalline's ring “Simsalabimbanbasaladim" he shouted loudly. “Do you think it worked" Willow asked "let's see tomorrow morning, when we give Crystalline her ring back" he replied.

  The next morning Willow rushed to Crystalline's room and gave her the ring back. “Finally" Crystalline sneered and put it on. But then something strange happened. Little sparkles began flying across the room, and the floor started shaking and both Willow and Crystalline lost their balance and fell. Willow looked startled at Crystalline, but she just sat there on th
e floor smiling. “Thank you so much for finding my ring” she said and gave Willow a big hug. The magic dust must have worked perfectly.

  After breakfast, Willow and cousin Crystalline said goodbye, and Crystalline promised to visit Willow again real soon. When they had left Willow gave Harold a big hug. "I'm sorry that I was so strict Harold" she said. “I´m tired, lets go for a nap”. They both laid down on the sofa and pulled the nice warm blanked around them and it wasn’t long until they were both sound asleep. Sleep tight….

  About the Author

  Mette Sandsgaard Pallesen has a degree in anthropology from the University of Aarhus and has among other things written and illustrated children's books in the series "Willow the magical Witch" and “Gotcha Day” Currently she works at illustratoriet where she illustrates children's books for independent authors who wishes to publish their children's book as an E-Book.

  For more information, go to: www.illustratoriet.dk.

  Other books by this author