Munoola's Toes, Chapter 2

By Teal Rain and Camille Kay

By the middle of the day, after hours of walking, she came to a beautiful green field of wildflowers. There was a bubbling, chattering creek under the cover of some willow trees. All around were little buzzing bees, colorful butterflies, and all sorts of pretty bugs.

Gratefully, Munoola fell to her knees by the stream and plunged her beak in, slurping the water loudly. It had a faint aftertaste of something Munoola couldn't identify; something vaguely familiar, but she couldn't remember what it was. Slightly spicy, but also sweet. She drank until her stomach was about to explode, then curled up in the shade of a willow tree to take a nap.

Right as she was about to doze off, she heard a strange sound behind her. Flying up in fear, she grabbed a long willow branch that had fallen on the ground. Waving it around like a madman, she screamed, "Who's there?" After a moment, from under the shadow of a willow tree, out stepped a beautiful elf, reminding Munoola of her elf family in the Dark Forest of No Light.

The elf had long, flowing purple hair that brushed the ground and swirled around herself. Peeking out from under the hair were the most splendorous toes Munoola had ever seen. The ostrich gasped as she stared at the elf girl's beautiful feet.

"Those are the most wondrous toes I have ever seen!" Munoola breathed. The elf looked at her, big brown eyes sparkling.

"Indeed, I have the best toes of my village. All the young elf men battle for my attention. My name is Lizabella."

"I'm Munoola," Munoola replied. Then, looking up shyly, she asked, "Did you get your toes from the Toe Fairy? I'm looking for her. You see... I don't have any toes." She showed the elf her shamefully bare feet. "A fish told me to go to the Buttermilk Mountains, but I don't have any mangoes," she continued.

Lizabella cocked her head curiously. "My dear girl, the Toe Fairy is the Queen of the Buttermilk Mountains. If you want toes from her, you must be willing to pay a price."

"A... price?" Munoola asked.

"Surely you didn't think the Toe Fairy simply gives toes away," the elf said, looking down her spiral-shaped nose at Munoola.

"Well..." Munoola stared at the ground. "What kind of price?" she asked.

"The Toe Fairy will decide," the elf replied airily. "No toe-seeker pays the same price, you know."

"But I don't have anything with me," Munoola said. "I gave my bag of worms to the fish." The elf said nothing; only flipped her long hair with her hand and walked back through the branches. "Wait!" Munoola cried. The elf-girl ignored her.

Munoola sank to the ground in despair. Why did this have to be so hard? Why couldn't she get her toes like every other good little boy and girl? She let out a wailing sob at her hopeless situation.

Munoola heard a whooshing sound behind her. She looked up and saw a giant hand made of water rising out of the stream. Munoola began to gag as the giant hand picked her up and pulled her into the stream. Down, down, down she went into the surprisingly deep stream. Munoola's lungs burned from lack of air. All she could see around her was water, water, water, and then darkness as she lost consciousness.

When she came to, Munoola slowly opened her eyes. Her head was throbbing badly, and her tail was very tender. She looked around. She was in some sort of cave. It was dark and dank, and very cold. Munoola shivered. She was lying on a hard bed of rocks, and there was a small table next to her. On it was a single pink sunflower.

Munoola sat up slowly and sniffed the delicate flower. It was out of place in this cold stone cave. She stood up and tried to walk to the wall, then discovered why her tail was so tender--a rope was tied around it, not allowing her to stray far from the stone bed. Munoola fumbled with the knot, but her clumsy wings couldn't untie it.

Just then, there was a 'pew pew' sound, and Munoola whipped around towards the entrance of the cave. In stepped a large bear. It was black and hairy, and wearing a top hat. Munoola stared gagging and screaming at the same time. The bear screamed too, the sound was so horrible. It covered it's small ears with it's large paws.

Munoola tried to scramble away and tripped over the stone bed, falling flat on her beak. The bear rushed over and tried to pick her up, and Munoola screamed again. "Please," the bear said in a peculiar accent. "Please to not struggle. I want to the helping you. I wanting not to harm the bird pretty."

Munoola stared at the bear in confusion. "What kind of an accent is that?" she asked.

"From away land far, from is I. Is called me Yorkston bear home." it replied.

"Why did you tie me up?" Munoola pointed at the rope around her tail.

"Because since the bird pretty might scared of Yorkston bear me," the bear replied. "No good is running is. Be outside is the danger. Cave safe. Bird pretty must stay."

"No," Munoola replied. "I have to get to the Buttermilk Mountains to find the Toe Fairy!"

The bear ignored her. "Cheese be getting for eat," he said. "Bird pretty enjoy the cheese eat?"

"NO! I want to leave! I need to get my toes!" The bear frowned.

"Enjoy cheese not eat?"

Munoola glared at the bear. "I. Need. To. Leave." she said very slowly. The bear just stared at her.

Munoola pointed at the rope. "Take if off," she said. The bear shook his head.

"Bird pretty not must," he insisted. "Danger the outside is. Cave safe."

"I know the cave is safe," Munoola said angrily, "but there aren't any toes here!" The bear nodded.

Munoola smiled--the bear finally understood! But then it said,

"Cheese," and walked out of the cave. Munoola sat on the stone bed and rested her head in her wings hopelessly.