| abstract
| - Back at the now-clean cottage Susan (dressed in an ocean blue undershirt with a periwinkle star on it and matching pants) held a lit candle in her hands and walked over the stairs with the forest animals. "Let's see what's upstairs." Susan told her friends, as she led them upstairs and into a small room. Only the turtle didn't come upstairs; he was knocked backwards. So he decided to climb up the stairs himself. "Oh, what adorable beds!" she squealed, as she noticed seven beds against the walls. "And look, they have their names carved on them." Susan said to the forest animals. "Augie Doggie, Pixie, Dixie, Boo Boo Bear. What funny names for children!" she giggled while she continued reading the remaining names on the beds. "Shag Rugg, Baba Looey, and Ding-A-Ling Wolf." Susan yawned and rubbed her eyes. "I'm a little sleepy myself." The forest animals began to yawn as well. "Oh! Oh!" Susan lay down across Augie's bed, Shag's bed, and Dixie's bed. As Susan fell asleep, a bluebird put out the candle while the other three covered up the sleeping girl. Soon, the forest animals fell asleep on the other animal boys' beds as well. As the turtle was still climbing up the stairs, music began to fill the bedroom as the seven animal boys came closer and closer to the cottage. Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo: Hi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHi-ho As the music got louder, the forest animals woke up and jumped off the beds. Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo: Hi-hoHi-ho The forest animals ran out of the beds and down the stairs, knocking over the turtle again. Then they ran over to the window and saw the animal boys come closer and closer to the cottage. Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo: Hi-hoHi-hoIt's home from work we goHi-hoHi-ho!Hi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHeigh-hoHi-hoHi-hoIt's home from work we go As the singing grew louder, the forest animals ran out of the cottage, forgetting that they had knocked over the turtle. Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo: Hi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHi-hoIt's home from work we go The forest animals ran back into the forest, making sure the animal boys didn't see them. Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo: Hi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHi-hoIt's home from work we goHi-hoHi-hoHi-hoHi... "Look!" yelled Augie, as he stopped walking and pointed to their house, causing the bears, mice, wolf, and donkey to bump right into him. "Our house! The lit's light... Uh, the light's lit!" Augie told his friends in shock. The puppy, bears, mice, wolf, and donkey poked their heads out from behind three different trees. "Jiminy Cricket!" they gasped. "The door is open." said Augie. "The chimney's smoking." said Pixie. "Something's in there." said Dixie. "Maybe a ghost." suggested Pixie. "Or un duende." suggested Baba Looey. "A demon." suggested Augie. "Or a dragon." suggested Dixie. "Mark my words, there's trouble a-brewin'!" warned Shag. "I felt it coming all day." He lifted up his right foot and pointed to it. "My paws hurt!" he nodded in a haughty way. "Cielos'"!" said Baba Looey. "That's a bad sign." said Dixie. "What will we do?" Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo asked in unison. "Let's sneak up on it." suggested Baba Looey. "Yes. We'll, uh, squeak up... Sneak up." said Augie before he cleared his throat. "Come on, guys. Follow me." So armed with their pickaxes, Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo snuck to the front of their cottage and looked inside. "Psst!" whispered Augie, as he snuck into the cottage with the bears, mice, wolf, and donkey right behind him. When they were all the way in the cottage, Boo Boo slammed the door behind him. The puppy, mice, wolf, donkey, and other bear scrambled around in terror, ready to attack. "Shhhhhh!" They all shushed Boo Boo, startling him. "Shhhh!" Boo Boo shushed the door, as well. "Why did I have to shush the others?" he said to himself. "Careful, everyone. Search every cook and nanny... Hook and granny... Crooked fan... Search everywhere." Augie told his friends, as they split up and began to search the entire downstairs for whoever was in the cottage besides them. But all they found was a clean cottage. Augie pointed to the floor with Baba Looey and Dixie right behind him. "Look! The floor, it's been swept!" They looked at the floor with suspicion. Shag wiped his fingertip over one of the chairs. "Hah!" he exclaimed, "Chair's been dusted!" Pixie looked at the clean window and opened it. "Our window's been washed." "Cielos, our cobwebs are missing." gasped Baba Looey. Augie looked surprised. "Why, why, why, why, the whole place is clean!" he said. "There's dirty work afoot." Shag said with suspicion, as Augie nodded at him. Dixie looked in the sink to see that it was bare. "Sink's empty. Hey! Somebody stole our dishes!" he cried. "They're not stolen, they're put away." Pixie said, pointing to the cupboard with his thumb. Baba Looey took out his clean light blue cup. "My mi taza has been washed." he said. Then, he swiped around the inside of the cup with his hoof and sadly said, "Sugar's gone." Pixie and Boo Boo were standing by a cauldron that was cooking over the fire in the fireplace. "Something's cooking." said Pixie, as he and Boo Boo sniffed the air. "Smells good." He grabbed a spoon and was about to taste what was inside the cauldron before John Shag stomped towards him and Boo Boo. "Don't touch it, you fools!" snapped Shag, as he shoved the mouse and bear aside from the pot. "Might be poison." The pot's contents hissed with steam, and the lid rattled. "See?" Shag explained, "It's witch's brew." "Look what's happened to our stable... Uh, table." said Augie, as he noticed the now-clean table with clean dishes and a vase filled with white daisies and red roses on it. Baba Looey stared at the flowers that had been put in the vase and took them out. "Flores!" he exclaimed, as he took a sniff. Dixie looked at him. "Huh?" "Look! Honeysuckle!" He shoved the honeysuckle flowers in the mouse's face, causing him to push the honeysuckle away and step back. "Don't do it! Take them away!" sputtered the vest-wearing mouse. "My allergies! I'm allergic to pollen! You know I can't stand it! I ca- I ca-" The poor mouse with the red vest, was about to sneeze until the puppy, the bears, the wolf, the donkey, and the other mouse rushed to stop him from sneezing. "Look out!" "I know how to stop him!" "No! Hold his nose!" "Don't let go!" The six animal boys stopped him from doing so by putting their forefingers under his nose. Dixie sighed. "Thanks, guys; I'm OK now." With that, the other animal boys walked away. But he wasn't OK, oh no! "AAAAAHHHHHH-CHOO!!!!" With a great sneeze, he blew out a mighty gust of air that sent Boo Boo, Baba Looey, Pixie, and Augie flying off their feet. Only Shag managed to keep his feet on the ground and across the room. "Hey!" He fought against the wind by walking towards Dixie, holding his straw hat. Ding-A-Ling and the other four animal boys crashed against the wall and ended up in a big pile. They shushed Dixie, who rubbed his nose with a finger. The bear with the straw hat angrily stomped towards Dixie. "Dixie, you imbecilic buffoon!" he shouted, "Why did you have to sneeze?" "I'm sorry, I can't help it. You know I'm allergic to pollen." declared Dixie, "It's natural, so when you gotta, you gotta." Then he felt another sneeze coming on. "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah! Oh, it's coming!" Dixie was going to sneeze again until Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, and Boo Boo piled on top of him and tied his vest around his nose to stop him from sneezing again. "Get him!" Baba Looey shouted. "Don't let him!" cried Ding-A-Ling. "Tie it tight!" Boo Boo wailed. "I'll make a hard knot!" said Pixie, "There! That oughta hold him!" "Thanks again." sighed Dixie just before Pixie shushed him again. "Quiet, you fool!" Shag snapped indignantly, "Do you wanna get us all killed?" Suddenly, three bluebirds, who were hiding in the rafters, looked at each other and smiled before they tapped on a wall, causing the animal boys to look around the room, thinking that the creature was in the room. "Wh-wh-what's that?" gasped Dixie. "That's it!" Augie whispered to his friends. "The monster is in this very room right now." added Shag. Then the bluebirds, causing the animal boys to run around the room, scared and hiding in different places. Dixie hid in a pot. Pixie hid behind a chair. Ding-A-Ling hid in a bucket with a broom on his head. Boo Boo hid in a woodpile with an axe on one of the logs. Shag hid in a sack of potatoes. Baba Looey hid under the stairs. Augie and his friends crawled out of their hiding places and tiptoed towards the steps where Baba Looey was hiding. "It's up there." Augie said, pointing up the stairs. "Yeah. In the bedroom." said Ding-A-Ling. "One of us has to go down and chase it up. Up. Down." said Augie, as the others nodded in unison. Then they turned their heads toward Boo Boo, who tried to escape. "I'm outta here!" Augie handed Boo Boo the candle. "Here, take it." "But I don't want to do it." said Bartholomew, sweating buckets. "Don't be nervous," Boo Boo smiled. "Don't be afraid. We're right behind you." "Yes," Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, and Dixie added. "Right behind you." Boo Boo took a deep breath and nodded. "OK." Nervously, he crept up the stairs, pushed opened the door, and looked into the room. As Boo Boo spun in the room, he heard a groaning noise as he saw Susan stretching with the covers over her. "IT'S A MONSTER!" screamed a terrified Boo Boo, as he ran right back down the stairs where the other animal boys were waiting. But Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, and Dixie thought Boo Boo was the monster, so they ran out of the cottage and locked Boo Boo in the cottage. Finally, Boo Boo pulled so hard that he broke the door knob and ended up falling into the pots and pans, making him look like a monster. As he ran out of the house, Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, and Dixie were hiding behind a tree. "Here it comes!" gasped Dixie. "Now's our chance." said Pixie. The two mice and the rest of the animal boys were ready to attack the creature. "Give it to 'im!" Augie shouted. "Don't let him get away!" cried Baba Looey. "Take that, and that, and that!" snapped Ding-A-Ling. But when they did, they ended up knocking all of the pots and pans off of Boo Boo. "Hold on there. It's only Boo Boo." said Augie. The animal boys began to ask Boo Boo what the monster looked like, but they kept asking their questions all at the same time confusing the little bear. "Did you see it?" asked Augie. Boo Boo nodded. "Yes." And he started to do some gestures. "How big was it?" asked Baba Looey, as Boo Boo spread his arms open wide. "Was it a dragon?" asked Dixie. "Has it got horns?" Shag questioned in wonder, as Boo Boo put two index fingers on top of his head and wiggled them. "Was it breathing fire?" Pixie wanted to know, as Boo Boo stuck his tongue out and spat. Boo Boo's tongue then started to emit saliva. "Was it drooling?" Ding-A-Ling asked. "What was it doin'?" questioned Baba Looey. Finally, Boo Boo managed to tell them that the monster was sleeping in their beds. "Like this." Boo Boo demonstrated by tilting his head to the right, putting it on his clasped hands, closing his eyes, and snoring. "He says it's a-a monster...asleep...in our beds." said Augie. Dixie called out, "Let's grab it while it's sleeping!" "Yeah, while it's sleeping!" agreed the six animal boys in unison. "Hurry, men!" Augie ordered, "It's now or never!" "Off with his head!" Pixie yelled. "Break it to pieces!" Dixie yelled. "Chop it to pieces." Ding-A-Ling corrected. "Don't stop until it's dead!" Shag agreed. They marched back inside the cottage. Boo Boo was the last one to go into the cottage, his foot still caught in a pot. Cautiously, Augie, Shag, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo entered their bedroom, where Susan was still moaning and stretching under the covers. "Jiminy Cricket!" gasped Dixie. "Cielos!" added Baba Looey. "Gee!" Ding-A-Ling explained. "What a monster!" Boo Boo exclaimed. "And it's sleeping on my bed!" complained Shag. "Let's kill it before it wakes up!" a determined Augie exclaimed. "Which end do we kill?" asked Pixie. Augie, Shag, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo glared at him. Then the seven animal boys rushed towards their beds, holding up their weapons (pickaxes, clubs, swords, and whatnots). When Augie pulled off the covers, he and the other animal boys were amazed to see little Susan Test snoozing peacefully. Augie pointed to the red-haired girl. "Why!" "What is it?" asked Pixie. "Why it-it-it's a girl! And she's got red hair!" stuttered Augie. "She sure is purdy!" Dixie gushed. "Es hermosa," Baba Looey beamed with hearts in his eyes. "Just like una angela." "Angel? Ha!" Shag scoffed. "She's a female and all females are poison! They're full of wicked wiles!" "What are wicked wiles?' asked Baba Looey. "I don't know, but I'm against 'em, you know!" Shag remarked the donkey. Augie shushed the bear with the straw hat, "Not so loud! You'll wake her up!" "Oh, let her wake up! She don't belong here no how!" Shag complained loudly. Augie, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, Dixie, and Boo Boo glared at Shag and shushed him again. The animal boys saw Susan moving around. "Look out!" Ding-A-ling cried, "She's moving!" "What'll we do?" Dixie gasped, hugging Baba Looey. "She's scratching herself!" Pixie noted, as he saw Susan scratching her head. "She's really waking up!" Boo Boo guessed. "Hide!" Augie cried. He and the other animal boys scrambled around, and, eventually, they all hid at the foot of the beds. Susan woke up and yawned. "Oh, dear. I wonder if the children are. . . oh!" As she noticed the heads of the seven animal boys she gasped in shock, and she grabbed the covers to cover up needlessly, since she was still wearing her pajamas. Of course, Susan realized that a teenager like herself couldn't have boys see her in her pajamas. "Why, you're a puppy, two mice, a wolf cub, a young burro, and two bear cubs! How do you do?" The animal boys popped their heads up from under the foot of the bed and looked at each other sceptically. "I said, how do you do?" Susan repeated. "How do ya do what?" snapped Shag, angrily crossing his arms. Susan laughed. "Oh, you can talk! I'm so glad! Now don't tell me who ya are. Let me guess." She looked around and said to Augie. "I know, you're Augie Doggie." "Why-why, yes, yes. That's true." said the puppy. Then she looked at the donkey. "And you," she said. "You're Baba Looey." Baba Looey's face turned beet red. "Oh, cielos!" he giggled bashfully while twisting his sombrero in his hooves. The little red-haired girl looked at the wolf cub, who was yawning. "And you, you're Ding-A-Ling Wolf." "How'd you guess?" said the wolf cub, smacking his lips. Susan looked at the mouse wearing the red vest. "And you?" "Ah...ah...ah...ah..." Dixie was about to sneeze before Shag and Boo Boostopped him with the finger trick. "You're Dixie." Susan smiled. Dixie sighed after Shag and Boo Boo removed their fingers from his nose. But before anything else could happen,... "Ah-choo!" Dixie sneezed, causing the little girl and the rest of the animal boys to giggle. Susan then looked at the eye mouse wearing the blue bowtie and the bear cub wearing the purple bowtie. "And you must be..." "Pixie, miss," said the mouse in the blue bowtie. "That's me." "And I'm Boo Boo Bear." said the bear cub in the purple bowtie. "I can't help raid picnickers' food." "You mean you like to take food from those who have picnics?" Susan asked hopefully. "I don't know," said Boo Boo. "I always do." Augie, Pixie, Ding-A-Ling, Baba Looey, and Dixie only laughed. "That's too bad!" Susan said sadly. Then she turned to look at the shorter bear cub, who was wearing the straw hat and crossed his arms in defiance. "Oh! You must be Shag Rugg." "Who's that?" Augie asked, as he pointed to Shag while he and the remaining animal boys laughed. "We know who we are," exclaimed Shag. "Ask her who she is and what she's doing here." "Yes," Augie said briskly. "What are you and who are you doing here? What are you..." Finally, Augie managed to change from a sharp tone of voice to a kind one. "Who are you, my dear?" he asked politely. "Oh, how silly of me!" the red-haired girl said. "I'm Susan Test." "Susan Test?" asked Augie. "The princess?" the other animal boys asked in unison. "Yes!" "Well," Augie smiled before stuttering a bit. "My dear quincess...er, I mean princess, we're honored. We're...um...We're...um..." "Mad as hornets!" Shag finished. "Mad as hornets!" Augie repeated. But then, he snapped out of what Shag saying and got back to what he was saying. "No, we're not! We're bad as cornets, no, as bad as...What was I saying?" "Nothing!" Shag growled, "Just standing there sputterin' like a doodlebug!" "Who's butterin' like a spoodledug? Who's rud, uh...the gutter bug?" Augie snapped. "Ah, shut up and tell her to get out!" Shag snapped. "Please don't send me away!" Susan begged the animal boys. "If you do, do, she'll kill me!" "Kill you?" gasped Augie. "Who will?" asked Pixie. "Si, who?" added Baba Looey. "My stepmother, Penelope Spectra." Susan said. "Penelope Spectra?!?!?!" gasped all seven animal boys in unison. "Es malvada!" gasped Baba Looey. "She's bad!" Pixie said. "She's mighty mean," Dixie cried. "She's an old witch!" Shag added, "I'm warning you guys! If Penelope Spectra finds her here, she'll swoop down and reek her vengeance on us!" Susan shook her head. "But she doesn't know where I am." "Oh, she doesn't, huh?" Shag yelled angrily. "She knows everything! She's full of black magic. She can even make herself invisible! Might be in this room, right now!" The animal boys looked around nervously. Boo Boo lifted up Pixie's tail. "Stop that!" Pixie conked the bear cub with his fist. "Oh, she'll never find me here. And if you let me stay, I'll keep house for you," Susan suggested, "I'll wash, and sew, and sweep, and cook. . ." "Cook!" All seven animal boys exclaimed in unison. "Can ya make dapple lumplings, lupple damplings?" Augie stuttered. "Apple dumplings!" Shag and Ding-A-Ling corrected him in unison. "Yes, Crapple Dumpkings." said Augie. "Yes," said Susan, "and plum pudding, and gooseberry pie,..." "Gooseberry pie?" all the animal boys (except Shag) cheered, "Hurray, she stays!"
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)