Tilly Mint Tales by Berlie Doherty

Author:Berlie Doherty [Berlie Doherty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781446405789
Publisher: RHCP
Published: 2003-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

“But what are they all doing here, Mrs Hardcastle, in this tree house?”

“Have an apple, and I’ll tell you all about them. You’re in the Hideaway Woods, by the way. Some of the most special creatures in the world live here.”

She took two apples out of the pocket of her pinny and handed one to Tilly. They were the noisy sort that scrunch when you eat them, the juicy sort that trickle down your chin when you bite into them, the sort that smell so sharp and sweet that they make your throat ache to think about them.

“We’ve got a lot to do,” said Mrs Hardcastle, when she’d crunched through the first half of her apple. “You’ve got to help me save a lot of birds and flowers and animals that are in terrible danger. Will you help me, Tilly Mint?”

Tilly sucked her apple core.

“What do you want me to do, Mrs Hardcastle?”

“I want you to listen to a very sad story, and then I want you to tell that story to every child you meet. Every single child. Will you promise me that?”

Tilly nodded. Above her head a family of bats were hanging upside down like a row of folded black umbrellas in their nursery roost. One of them shifted its raggedy tattered glove of a wing and peeped down at Tilly; a little mouse-face, dark and fuzzy as a bee, blinking with sleepy surprise; then it tugged its head in again and went back to sleep.

“Those are special bats,” said Mrs Hardcastle. “They’ve been in terrible danger, Tilly, and there’s not many of them left. But they’re quite safe here, while I’m minding them.”

As Tilly watched them she felt something watching her. A creamy-backed barn owl swooped down from the high lip of the tree’s opening to stare at her.

“Quite safe,” Mrs Hardcastle told her. “You’re quite safe with Tilly Mint. She’s my friend, too. Now, Tilly, have you brought me the things I sent for?”

“The special things from your attic? Yes, I have.”

Tilly bent down to pick up the basket from the floor, and realized that there was an acorn-cup balanced on the edge of the stump next to hers, with a water-beetle floating on it. The water-beetle peered up at Tilly then nose-dived down out of sight. The tree stump was hollowed out and filled with rainwater. There were two bubbles in it, and as she watched one of the bubbles winked at her, and then the other.

“They’re eyes!” gasped Tilly. “Mrs Hardcastle, there’s somebody in this tree stump!”

“That’s Natterjack!” Mrs Hardcastle laughed. “Hop out, Natterjack, and say hello to Tilly.”

A small toad hopped onto the side of the stump and blinked at Tilly with its jewel eyes.

“You look a bit fed up,” said Tilly.

“You’d be fed up if you were me,” Natterjack croaked. “I’ve lost my pond. I only hopped away for a couple of days, and when I went back someone had filled it up with stones and soil. All the water had gone!”

“But you’re very welcome here,” Mrs Hardcastle reminded him.

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