AUTHOR’S NOTE: When I was a child, I was a huge Enid Blyton fan. I though I would try my hand at a similar style. It's nowhere near as good as EB's, of course, :( I realise that, I was just curious to see what people think::)


One sunny day Minty the garden gnome was bored of standing still in the garden.

“I’m going for a walk,” he told the other garden gnomes who stood round the pond.

“But you can’t!” they said. “You know we’re only supposed to go off at night when everyone’s asleep.”

But Minty wouldn’t listen. He wanted to go for a walk and that was that. He set off down the garden path. It was a lovely day. He whistled happily.

Tam the fairy came out of her flower bed to see who was whistling.

“Oh, it’s you, Minty,” she said. “I thought it was the pixie with the lemonade I ordered. Where are you going?”

“I’m off for a walk,” said Minty. “I’m bored of standing still.”

“Well, do be careful,” said Tam. “Kitty, the big cat, is asleep on the step and the man who lives in the house is working in the garden. You are a silly gnome, going off in the daytime!”

“Don’t care!” said Minty.

Tam went back inside her flower bed and Minty walked on. He had a lovely time. He kicked a pebble down the path. He sniffed the flowers. He jumped in a puddle. It was much more fun than standing still all day!

The man who lived in the house was building a little brick wall at the bottom of the garden. Minty had to be very careful he didn’t see him, but the man was very busy and didn’t look round once. Minty got very daring. He crept up behind him and pulled the most awful faces. It would have been dreadful if he got caught. But Minty wasn’t caught. The man went into his house for a mug of tea. Minty followed all the way to the door, dancing a silly little dance, poking out his tongue and pulling his ears, but the man didn’t turn around. Minty was very, very lucky.

“Hi, there, gnome!” someone called. “Do you know where Tam the fairy lives? She ordered some lemonade.”

It was a pixie with a very red face. He had put down the bottle of lemonade to wipe his hot forehead. All of a sudden Minty had a naughty thought. He chuckled.

“Yes, I know where Tam lives,” he said. “I could take it to her for you.”

“Well,” said the pixie, thinking Minty was a very rude gnome to laugh at his red face. “It is so hot and the bottle is so heavy. Very well. Tell Tam she may pay at my shop next week.”

And away he flew again, feeling very cross to have met such a rude gnome. But Minty hadn’t been laughing at his red face. No, he was chuckling about something much naughtier! The bad gnome sat down and took the top off the bottle.

“I’ll tell Tam I dropped the bottle and it smashed,” said Minty, and he drank every last drop!

The lemonade tasted lovely. Minty smacked his lips and threw the bottle over the little wall. It was very hot and he was very tired after being so busy. He lay down in the shade, gave a big yawn and closed his eyes.

He was just about to fall fast asleep when he heard a loud miaow. The big cat had been woken up by the sound of a bottle smashing and come to see what it was. Poor Minty jumped so high in fright that he landed on the garden wall. The big cat thought all small folk that moved were mice. He would have to stand very, very still and hope she wouldn‘t notice him.

But Kitty did. She was very surprised to see a garden gnome standing on the wall. She thought garden gnomes stood in gardens all day. Perhaps he was really a mouse? Kitty padded over to see. If he moved, she’d know he was a mouse and chase him.

She sat down and stared at Minty. Was he mouse? She thought long and hard about it, twitching her whiskers. Minty didn’t dare move. He wished and wished and wished that Kitty would go away. Kitty tired of waiting for the creature to move. If he really was a mouse and not a garden gnome, she must do something about it. She sniffed him everywhere. She put her paw on his hat. She licked his face. It was very, very frightening but at last the big cat decided he wasn’t a mouse after all and went away.

“I’ll jump down now,” thought Minty, but, oh! He found he couldn’t! his feet were stuck to the wall!

Poor Minty began to cry. His tummy was aching from drinking all the lemonade. His feet were stuck. What if the big cat came back? What if the man who lived in the house saw him? He wept and wept.

Tam came by looking for the pixie.

“I’m stuck, Tam!” Minty called. “Please help me!”

Tam looked. “Your feet are stuck in the cement,” she said. “I’ll make a spell to free you later. I can’t stop now. I have to see the chief pixie at once. The bad pixie who came to deliver my lemonade smashed the bottle on the path and didn’t tell anyone. I had to make a spell to make all the broken glass disappear before any animals or birds cut themselves.”

There was nothing for it. Minty had to tell Tam what had happened, his tummy hurt so much and he was so scared of the big cat coming back.

“You are a bad gnome to drink my lemonade and smash the bottle,” said Tam. “But I think you’ve been punished enough. I’ll mix a magic spell to free you and then you must have some medicine. It tastes awful but it will make your tummy better.”

So Minty had a big dose of medicine but Tam was a very kind fairy and gave him a sweet to take away the nasty taste. Wasn’t that nice of her after he’d been so bad?