The Magic Ball
It was almost midnight. It shook, quaked, and the boy lost conscious.
He woke up. Grasshopperboy.
He got up and stood bolt upright. He took the stool out of the bag and unfastened the powder horn. He
leapt to the door and opened it. He put the stool on the threshold, rode it and manipulated the horn. It
flew higher and higher. When he reached the bushes, he noticed that the two men had taken off their
masks but they were still up, torturing the little girl.
He lowered the horn and swooped down on the folks. The guys were so shocked by the raid that they
couldn’t prevent the green creature from snatching the little girl, and flying away -Grasshopperboy,
himself, was astonished by the power that he had had.
He settled the little thing behind him and pressed the horn higher.
“Don’t worry. I am a friend.” said DinkyKindy when they arrived at the cottage, “I won’t hurt you.”
He looked at her straight hair with the fringe and the bow . His look made her more scared . She burst
in a hysterical sobbing. He hugged her tight to his chest. He tried to calm her panic but she became
more and more hysterical.
“Who are you?” she asked in a trembling thin voice. “I will say whatever you tell me. You said that
granddad told me something once about the rock. I’ll try to remember what granddad told me.”
“Stop it, girl!” yelled Grasshopperboy.
He was firm. The girl noticed it. She calmed down,
looked fixedly at the boy and asked: “Who are you?
What is this colour you have?”
“That’s another story.” replied he quietly, “For now,
let’s try to take you back home.”
She glared at him and got more suspicious.
“I don’t know the way. I was blindfolded.” said she,
“Please, I want to see my mum.”
He wanted to calm her down but she was hard.
He looked helpless:
“How can I?” murmured he,“ I have no candies.
Nothing that can tempt a little girl and distract herd he.
There’s only soap of different colours in this place! No toys...”
The idea of the toy loosened his tongue. He yelled:
“Eureka! I’ll give you something superb.”
He hurried to the bag and drew the crystal ball. “Look! How beautiful it is!”
Meet the author
is a senior teacher of English in the Area
of El Kef, Tunisia. He teaches English as a foreign languge
for secondary school students-15 - 20 years old.
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