Penelope’s Pickles

Once upon a time there was an old widow woman named Penelope, who lived in a small village a short distance for Deb U. She managed to make a living by selling pickled peppers. She made her pickles in a cast off water tank she had found, using a secret recipe passed down in her family. Since the village was quite small the demand for her pickles was correspondingly small and she barely made enough to keep a roof over her head and the holes in the tank patched.

One day, as she was selling her pickles door to door, she met the two Bunny Sisters, Rabbit and Usagi who had come to the village on an errand for their Mom, Birdly. Seeing the possibility of some new customers, she offered a sample to the girls.

They politely accepted the pickles and after each took a bite their faces beamed with happiness and contentment! "These pickles are fab!" Usagi exclaimed.

"Mrrumph!" Rabbit agreed around a big bite. Swallowing quickly, she continued, "You really ought to sell some at Deb U. I'll bet everyone will love them as much as we do!"

"Do you really think so?" The old woman asked. "That's a long way for me to walk and if they don't buy some it will have been for nothing."

"You should go see my uncle, warrior-bard," Usagi started.

"Oh yeah," Rabbit finished, "He owns the Battlefield Pub. I'll bet he'll buy a whole peck of pickles."

Encouraged by the girls enthusiastic talk of a big sale, the old woman packed up her pickles in a purple basket and the next morning she started off for Deb U. Not being familiar with the country near Deb U, Penelope was soon hopelessly lost. "Now which fork in which road did those bunnies say to take?" she mumbled as she trudged along. The day got hotter, time passed
and still she wandered in the woods.

Suddenly the ground began to shake under Penelope’s feet and in the distance she could see a great cloud of dust hovering over the trees. The poor old woman was very frightened but so tired from her long trip that she could only stand with her mouth gaping open and watch as a huge horde of animals thundered around the bend in the road and headed straight for her!

Fortunately she was near the side of the road and was able with great difficulty to scramble up on a large rock. From that vantage point she watched as the first of the animals ran past her, apparently fleeing from some fate so horrible that prey and predator ran side by side, with no fear of each other.

Penelope had always possessed a lively curiosity and as she watched she couldn't help but wonder at the strange behavior of these forest creatures. All of them were, with varying degrees of success, attempting to run on their hind legs while they kept their front leg-paws or hooves clasped firmly to their heads. This was difficult for all, but the raccoons, squirrels wolves and
bears could manage to run this way for several yards before dropping their front legs and assuming their normal gate for a time. The deer and other large hoofed animals could only run a step or two on two legs before resuming their four legged run. The faces of the animals on four legs were distorted as they grimaced in pain. "How peculiar," she murmured to herself as she
watched.

Curiosity finally got the better of her and as the rear of the stampede approached her rocky retreat she reached out her hand and grabbed at one of the animals passing her. The cloud of dust made seeing almost impossible but she managed to catch hold of an elderly squirrel by his bushy tail and pull him up on the rock with her. "What's the matter with all of you?" she shouted over the noise and dust. "Why are you so frightened?"

The squirrel, his paws still firmly clasped to his head shouted, which was fortunate since Penelope was more than a little hard of hearing, "It's Peter, the Giant! Flee, woman run for your life, for your sanity, RUN!"

"Paush and piffle" Penelope replied. "Everyone knows Peter the Giant is a kind, friendly soul. He wouldn't hurt a flea."

"That was before, you foolish woman!" the old squirrel exclaimed as he wiggled out of her hands and jumped down from the rock to resume his two legged-four legged shuffle down the road.

"Before what?" Penelope cried as the squirrel began to pick up speed. But the squirrel with his paws over his ears didn't answer.

As the animals and the sounds of their running and hopping faded in the distance Penelope could hear faintly the discordant notes of a pipe being played. It was either that or someone trying to drown a sack of cats in the river. The noise, even to her deaf ears was horrible!

Then bursting through the trees, she saw Peter the Giant! "Stranger and stranger," she thought, as she watched him come up on the road clutching a giant sized set of pipes in his hands. His face was all scrunched up in concentration as he attempted to play the pipes by blowing across the openings at the top.

"Arrrgh!" the giant moaned, "I've lost it! It's goneee." He sat down in the middle of the road and sobbed like a little child.

Partly from compassion and partly prodded by that ever present curiosity, Penelope crawled down from the rock and walked quietly over to the sad giant. "Whatever do you mean, Peter?" she inquired. "Lost what? Can I help you find it? Was it you who scared all the animals?"

"Yes," the giant nodded, as he pulled out a hanky the size of a banquet cloth, "I didn't mean to," he sobbed. "HONK!!" The wind generated by the nose blowing almost knocked Penelope off her feet. "The animals used to like to hear me play," Peter began again. "They'd gather in a large clearing and sit quietly while I played my pipes but today it went all wrong."

"There, there", Penelope, standing on her tip-toes was just able to reach the seated giants shoulder and give him a motherly pat, "Just tell me what happened."

"I started to play, but instead of beautiful music, a horrible noise came out of my pipes. The animals all jumped up and ran away. They were afraid of me and the noise my pipes made."

"Not afraid, Peter." Penelope replied, "The sound hurt their ears. That's why they ran away. The more you played the more it hurt. But you said you lost something, what did you loose? Can I help you find it?"

"I lost my pucker!" Peter, said softly, "Every piper knows you can't play without a proper pucker and once you loose it, it's gone forever."

A slow smile spread across the old woman's wrinkled face, "In that case I think I can help you!" And she scrambled back up on the rock to retrieve her Purple Pickle basket. "Try some of these", she said and offered Peter a big double handful of pickled peppers.

Peter carefully picked the pickled peppers out of the old woman's hands . The whole double handful hardly made one small bite for the giant and so regretfully she scooped out more and yet again more of the pickles.

Peter's lips began to pucker and soon he picked up his pipes and played a beautiful lively tune for Penelope. It was one she remembered from her youth and almost without thinking she began to dance the old steps that she had learned so many years ago. They both became so involved in the tune and the dance they hardly noticed the animals returning to peacefully sit around them to watch and listen.

For hours it seemed piper and dancer entertained their strange audience till suddenly Penelope realized it was dark. She stopped her dancing and said in dismay, "Oh dear, it's already dark! I was lost before all this started. How will I ever find my way home now?"

Peter the Giant gently picked up the old pickle seller and set her on his shoulder. "I'll see that you get home, he said, "It's the least I can do since you've restored my pucker."

The animals seeing the concert was over fading quietly into the forest as the giant and the old woman disappeared down the road.

"What a lovely way to travel, I can see for miles," from the old woman.

"You do have more, pickles, don’t you?" from the giant.

"Of course, but I may have to make more."

"Do you suppose we could make money performing for villagers?"

"I certainly hope so! You do take a lot of feeding!"


As they rounded the bend heading for the village, night settled over the now quiet, peaceful forest.