Sir Ethan lived in a castle, high in the mountains, which was a special school for trainee knights. Sir Ethan and the other trainees had been very excited when they were selected for the knight school, but so far it had been a little disappointing. They had spent the first few weeks in the classroom, learning all about the Kingdom and the role of a knight. All very interesting, but hardly the life of adventure they had hoped for. Then, one morning, Sir Dave made an announcement.
“Today boys you are going to meet a new friend. This is a very special friend, who will be with you for the rest of your life. Please follow me.”
The young knights lined up behind Sir Dave, and followed him out of the castle. There was much-excited chatter amongst the trainees.
They arrived at the stables, but these were no ordinary stables for horses, as the boys were about to find out. Sir Dave asked them to line up across the courtyard, and then he called out in a loud voice.
“Emalcons, come and meet our new knights.”
A stable door opened, and, one by one, emerged strange creatures, the like of which none of the young knights had seen before. They looked like ostriches, with long necks and powerful looking legs, but they had much bigger wings and a long tail. Each one also had a saddle on its back. They formed a line in front of the trainees.
“The emalcons will now choose a knight,” said Sir Dave. “When an emalcon has made his choice he will touch you on the left shoulder, and introduce himself. Your response will be to place your right hand on his left shoulder and say your name. Right hand on left shoulder is the polite way all knights and emalcons greet.”
The emalcons wandered up and down the line of young knights, and, with a little sniff here and a quizzical look there, they started to make their choices. One walked up to Sir Ethan, stretched out his right wing, and placed the tip of it on his left shoulder.
“Greetings young knight. My name is Strimber.”
Sir Ethan followed Sir Dave’s instruction, and placed his right hand on Strimber’s left shoulder.
“Hello Strimber. I’m Sir Ethan.”
“Pleased to meet you Sir Ethan. Now, let’s see how well we fly together.”
Strimber knelt down, inviting Sir Ethan to climb onto the saddle.
“But I can’t ride,” said Sir Ethan. “I’ve never even been on a horse before.”
“Don’t worry. It’ll just be a gentle flight to begin with. We both have a lot to learn about each other, and the sooner we start the better.”
Reluctantly, Sir Ethan put his foot in the stirrup, and swung his other leg over the saddle. As soon as he had his foot in the other stirrup, Strimber stood up, spread his wings, and took off. Sir Ethan felt himself sliding off and grabbed hold of the handle in front of him. Strimber flew around the courtyard, just a few feet above the ground, joining in with the other emalcons and their new knights. After a few minutes Sir Ethan began to feel more confident.
“Can we go higher?”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, this is great fun.”
Strimber flew up over the stable roof, and began circling the field beyond, climbing ever higher, until the castle below looked no bigger than a doll’s house.
“Wow, this is great,” shouted Sir Ethan. “Can you go any faster?”
“One step at a time,” replied Strimber. “This is quite fast enough for your first time.”
“I’m holding on tight. I want to see how fast you can go.”
Strimber looked back at Sir Ethan with a crafty glint in his eye.
“Very well.”
The emalcon shot off so fast that Sir Ethan was taken by surprise. He lost his grip on the handle, and felt himself sliding off the saddle. His feet came out of the stirrups, and then he was plummeting towards the ground. He barely had time to realise what was happening when Strimber appeared underneath him. Sir Ethan landed on the emalcon’s back, half on and half off the saddle, and facing towards his tail. Whilst Strimber hovered Sir Ethan managed to twist round, and grab hold of the handle.
“You did that deliberately,” Sir Ethan accused the emalcon.
“You ungrateful young knight, I just saved your life.”
“But it was your fault I fell off in the first place.”
“You said you were ready.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t know you were going to go that fast.”
“I can fly upside down as well. Shall we give that a try?”
“No, no,” said a horrified Sir Ethan. “Let’s just go back to the ground.”
Strimber landed in the courtyard to a round of applause from the young knights. A serious looking Sir Dave walked over as Sir Ethan dismounted.
“That was not very clever, nearly getting yourself killed on you first emalcon ride. If Strimber had not been so quick we would have had one less trainee knight.”
“But he…,” Sir Ethan started to protest.
“You have only yourself to blame,” said Sir Dave. “And so you remember this lesson, you will miss lunch. I’m sure Strimber has some chores you can do in his quarters.”
“But….”
“No ‘buts’,” said Sir Dave, pointing towards Strimber’s stable.
As he trudged sulkily away, Sir Ethan did not see the wink Sir Dave gave to Strimber behind his back.
So, whilst his friends were in the castle dining room tucking into lunch, Sir Ethan was in Strimber’s stable, replacing hay for his bedding, fetching fresh water for his trough, and polishing his saddle. He had been hoping there would be a chance to sneak a biscuit from the kitchen on the way back to the classroom for afternoon lessons, but he was to be disappointed.
“We’re all meeting in the courtyard again,” said Strimber. “We’re on guard duty this afternoon.”
“Guard duty? What are we guarding?” asked Sir Ethan.
“Sir Dave will explain.”
Sir Ethan and Strimber joined the other knights and emalcons in the stable courtyard.
“This is the time of the year when the jelly babies start to ripen,” said Sir Dave. “And most of our time over the next few weeks will be spent guarding the orchards in Jelly Baby Valley. I shall tell you more when we get there. In the meantime I want you to concentrate on your emalcon riding. Your emalcons know the way to Jelly Baby Valley, so all you have to worry about is not falling off.”
The young knights mounted their emalcons, and they all set off at a gentle pace towards the mountains. Everyone was excited about what Sir Dave had told them. They all knew what a jelly baby was, and how rare they were. Everybody in the Kingdom was allowed one each year, as a special treat on Christmas afternoon, but they had never bothered to ask where they came from and why they were so rare.
The emalcons flew towards one of the highest valleys in the mountains, and, as they entered it, the young knights could see hundreds of trees below them. Each tree was laden with jelly babies, hanging in large bunches from every branch. On most of the trees the jelly babies were all the same colour, but, occasionally, there was a tree with multi-coloured ones. The trees covered the valley floor for as far as the eye could see. There must have been millions and millions of jelly babies, so how could they be so rare?
The emalcons landed near one of the trees. All around the tree there were ladders leaning against the branches, and people were picking bunches of jelly babies and dropping them into large baskets. Sir Dave spoke to the young knights.
“Every year, when the jelly babies ripen, the Bonkers come down out of the mountains and steal the crop. There are too many of them, and they are too big and powerful, for us to fight them off. Instead, when they come, all the pickers move to one tree, and the knights and the emalcons form a barrier around them. There are many other trees, and the Bonkers are usually too busy with them to bother about us. But, if they do attack our tree, your job is to rescue the pickers and get away as quickly as possible. Don’t try to fight them, you will never win.”
“How will we know when they’re coming?” asked Sir Ethan.
“Don’t worry, you will hear them,” was all Sir Dave would say.
Sir Ethan and his friends sat nervously on their emalcons waiting for the Bonkers. Suddenly, there was a loud noise, like a foghorn, from high up in the valley. It echoed around the mountain walls, and then there was another, and another. Many more joined in, and the noise was so loud the knights had to put their hands over their ears.
“They’re coming,” shouted Sir Dave, unnecessarily, because no one could hear him.
The pickers in the other trees quickly climbed down, and ran across to the tree where the knights were gathered. Strimber and some of the other emalcons took off, and began flying around the top of the tree. The rest formed a protective circle on the ground. From his position on Strimber’s back, Sir Ethan anxiously looked towards the head of the valley, wondering what sort of creature it was making this terrible noise.
Then the Bonkers burst into the orchard. They were enormous, nearly as tall as a jelly baby tree. They were covered from head to toe in thick fur. They ran on two legs, with huge feet that made the ground shudder as they poured into the valley. They had two arms with gigantic hands, which could easily swat an emalcon out of the sky. But the most amazing thing about them was on the front of their face. Instead of a nose each Bonker had a something that looked like a giant funnel, which they used to make the foghorn noise.
Suddenly, the noise stopped, and the Bonkers started to put their funnels to their other use. Each one stood beside a jelly baby tree, and, with a huge sniff, sucked several bunches off in one go. Each Bonker had a large pouch on the front of its tummy. The jelly babies were dropped into the pouch, and the funnel sniffed another load from the tree.
Slowly the Bonkers made their way down the orchard, each tree stripped bare of its jelly babies in a matter of minutes. Then, when their pouches were full, they started up their trumpeting again, and ran off back into the mountains.
“They’ll be back again tomorrow,” said Sir Dave. “They only come once a day, but in two or three weeks they will strip the orchard bare. Meanwhile, the pickers will work through the night, and try to pick as many jelly babies as possible.”
“Why don’t we have more pickers?” asked Sir Ethan.
“That was tried many years ago. Everybody in the Kingdom, who could be spared from other work, came to Jelly Baby Valley to pick. They worked so fast the Bonkers were only able to make three visits before the entire crop was harvested. This upset the Bonkers so much they raided the store houses, stole as many jelly babies as possible, and destroyed the rest.”
Sir Ethan was sure that there must be some way to stop the Bonkers. He thought about their huge noses, and, suddenly, he had an idea.
“Why don’t we cover some of the trees in pepper? Then, when the Bonkers sniff up the jelly babies, they’ll get the sneezes.”
“It’s a good idea,” said Sir Dave. “But the same thing will happen. They will take revenge, and destroy the crop.”
“Not if they don’t know we had anything to do with it. If we put the pepper on at night they’ll just think there is something wrong with the jelly babies.”
“That might work”, said Sir Dave. “We’ll give it a try.”
So, after dinner, the knights and emalcons gathered once more in the stable courtyard. Sir Dave gave them their instructions.
“As soon as it’s dark we’ll set off for Jelly Baby Valley. Each of you will carry a sack of pepper. Pick a tree each, nearest the mountains, which still has jelly babies on it, and fly over it, sprinkling the pepper. There are masks for both knights and emalcons, to stop the pepper from going up your noses. And remember, you must be as quiet as possible. As far as we know the Bonkers don’t like coming out at night, but we must make sure they have no idea we’ve been up to anything.”
It was in the early hours of the morning before they returned to the castle. The operation had gone off without a hitch. The emalcons had flown as silently as owls, and the knights had covered as many trees as possible with a good dusting of pepper. Everyone fell into bed exhausted.
Nevertheless, everyone was up again at first light, anxious to see if their plan was going to work. Everything was as normal, so as not to raise the Bonkers’ suspicions. The pickers were doing their job, and, as soon as they heard the Bonkers’ foghorn cries, they moved to trees, which were being protected. Just like the previous day, the Bonkers headed for the nearest trees, and began sniffing up bunches of jelly babies. The effect of the pepper was immediate.
The Bonkers let out loud sneezes, which echoed around the mountains. The sneezes were so powerful they blew the Bonkers off their feet, and sent them crashing into each other and into the trees. The stolen jelly babies flew out of their funnel noses, and rained down all over the orchard. At first the Bonkers did not realise what was causing their sneezing, and continued stealing jelly babies, which made things worse. Soon their noses became very red and sore, and their eyes were watering so much they could hardly see where they were going.
The Bonkers had had enough, and retreated back into the mountains, where they could still be heard sneezing long after they had disappeared from sight.
“Well done Sir Ethan,” said Sir Dave. “That was a brilliant idea. We’ll do the same thing tonight and every night, until the Bonkers learn to leave our jelly babies alone.”
He bent down, picked up a fallen jelly baby, and popped it in his mouth. He realised his mistake, and was about to spit it out, then changed his mind.
“Hey, they taste quite good with a drop of pepper. Not only have you solved our Bonkers problem, but you’ve found a new way of eating jelly babies.”