CAKES AND BUTTERFLIES

                                                                                                    

Danny was pretending he was shipwrecked on a desert island. He was looking for signs of pirates and had found an old coin and a bit of rusty metal that just might have been a dagger, but nothing like proper treasure.  He was in his granddad’s garden which was a wonderful place to play because it was so overgrown it was more like a jungle, and Danny could pretend just about anything he liked.

He often stayed with Granddad. His mother had died when he was very young, and his father had to go away a lot because of work, so most of the time he lived with his aunt Jessica, except when he was at Granddad’s.                                                

He was about to go in and see if tea was ready; granddad had told Danny not to be long, when he looked up and saw something really interesting:                                     

Five butterflies fluttered past, their blue and red wings flashing in the sunlight.  To Danny's amazement, they were flying in formation.  They made a sort of square shape with one in the middle, just like five spots on a domino.  

Swooping and diving they looped the loop, and as they flew, patches of blue and red light spilled off their wings and splashed onto the ground around Danny.  

They flew to the bottom of the garden, over the low wall and into the woods. Danny couldn't take his eyes off them and scrambled over the wall after them. He'd never been over the wall before, and he knew he wasn't supposed to, but he thought it would be all right to go just a little way.  

Once over the wall they seemed to fly faster and Danny found it hard to keep up.  Before long he lost sight of them as they fluttered up into the treetops, still staying in the same pattern.  

He turned to go back, but he'd been so busy running around after the butterflies that he hadn't paid any attention to where he was going and had no idea which way was back.  

"That was stupid." Thought Danny.  He had been enchanted by the butterflies, but now they weren't there he just felt cross. He was lost in the woods where he wasn't supposed to go, and he was going to be late for tea, all because of some stupid butterflies.  

He had no idea which way to go, so he set off along a path and hoped it would lead in the right direction.  

"It must go somewhere." He said thinking aloud. It did of course go somewhere, but it wasn't the somewhere he was hoping for.

Before long he reached a small cottage standing in a clearing. It was a strange shape, and Danny realised that it had five walls instead of four. It was very old, and had five small windows and a door of solid oak.                                                   

Five chairs sat around a table in front of the house, and in one of them, fast asleep, slumped a small strange man. His brown curly hair rested on his shoulders, his beard was bright ginger, and he was dressed from head to foot in blue and red patchwork. He reminded Danny of the butterflies; only the colours didn't spill off in the same way. Even his boots were made from patches of blue and red leather, and his patchwork hat had five coloured bells on it.  

Cautiously Danny approached.  "Ahem, excuse me, he began.

The little man awoke in an instant.  

"Splendid.  A visitor!  Have you come to stay for long? I don't often get visitors these days." He jumped to his feet and danced a jig that made the bells on his hat play a tune. "Do sit down. My name is Frolly. What young sir is your name?" His bright blue eyes twinkled beneath his bushy brows as he bowed.  

"My name is Danny, and I'm lost and I need to find the way back to my granddad’s cottage." He replied in a rush.  

"It's not always so easy to go back, you should have been more careful." Frolly looked serious for a moment, but quickly brightened up.  

"Are you good at riddles?" He asked.  

"Not particularly." Danny replied.  "Look, I don't want to be rude, but really I just want to get back, you see....."                                     

"Well if you want to get back, then you'd better listen.  You can't expect to enter an enchanted wood and be able to walk out again just like that. You have to pay a forfeit, and solving a riddle or two isn't much to ask is it?"  

"I suppose not." said Danny, "But I didn't know the wood was enchanted and I..."                      

"Well it is." said Frolly. "Now Try this."  

Sometimes it's so slow it can seem to stand still

It can be quite boring if you have some to kill

It can never go backwards, although it can fly

It can last a whole life, are you ready to try?  

Danny thought.  Well tortoises are slow, but they don't fly and he wouldn't want to kill one. Birds can fly but not slowly.

His teacher, Mr Grimshaw was certainly slow, and boring, but nothing quite fitted.

"Give up?" Asked Frolly  "Dear dear, we'll never get you home at this rate.  Try this one.  The answer is almost the same.  

There's dinner and breakfast and supper and free

And past and lesson and Christmas and tea

School and table and lesson and bad

Bath and bed and happy and sad.  

Danny thought. He felt he knew the answer but couldn't quite get it.  He felt hungry and wished he was back with granddad having tea.

"Of course!" Cried Danny. "Tea time! And dinner time and

lesson times and happy times and sad times.  They're all times! And the first riddle is about time too. Going slowly and having time to kill and time flying."  Danny felt very pleased with himself.        

"Splendid!" Exclaimed Frolly and he danced a little jig which made the bells on his hat jingle and play a little tune.  

"Can I go now?" Asked Danny, thinking about granddad’s cakes. "I'm expected back, and Granddad will worry about me." He added.  

"Not so fast," answered Frolly  "I hardly ever get visitors, and we haven't had tea yet."  

Danny brightened up at the thought of tea.  

"I'll pop the kettle on." Said Frolly disappearing into the house. Danny felt very pleased with himself, working out all those times. He thought about the riddle again. Lesson times and sad times, Christmas times and table times. "Hang on." he said as Frolly re-appeared with a tray laden with cups and plates and a large jug of lemonade. "What are table times?  

"Oh I cheated a bit. It should be times tables, but it wouldn't fit in the riddle any other way." Frolly disappeared into the house again.  

He returned in an instant with two cakes. Not just any old cakes: Huge cakes, laden with fresh strawberries with dollops of cream oozing down onto the plate.  

Danny was about to take one when Frolly stopped him. "Not so fast." He disappeared back into his house, and came out with two more cakes.

This time a pair of cherry buns, with blue cherries as well as red ones sparkled like the butterflies wings and made coloured patches of light on the table. Danny could hardly believe his eyes and was impatient to try one, but had to wait while Frolly went back for more.  

Two custard tarts appeared, still warm from the oven, sprinkled with grated nutmeg and chopped nuts.

Danny was beginning to wonder how Frolly managed to have warm custard tarts and fresh cream cakes to hand, but before he could ask, he brought out a pair of doughnuts topped with pink icing and sprinkled with almonds and sparkly bits.  

Frolly disappeared again; quickly returning to proudly set down two chocolate ice cream gateaux topped with black cherries and sliced peaches.  

Danny had never seen such delicious cakes, and wondered what Frolly would bring out next, but he just sat down at the table and grinned at Danny.  

"Would you like to start?" He enquired mischievously.  

Danny chose a cherry bun.  It was delicious.  The cherries all tasted different, and the blue ones were especially scrumptious, like sweets, only much nicer. He wondered if it was because he was in an enchanted wood.                                                           

"Now," said Frolly, "Can you count in fives?"  

"Sort of." Danny was more interested in eating cakes than counting, but thought he'd better try.  Mr. Grimshaw had been trying to make the class learn but Danny hadn't paid much attention.  

"Five, fifteen, twenty five..." He began.  

"Haven't you missed some out?"  

Danny took another bite of cherry bun and began again.  

"Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, thirty.." Crumbs flew everywhere and they both laughed.

Frolly gave Danny a mug of lemonade and he took a large gulp.

It zinged and sparkled and tingled like it was alive. The taste of real lemons fizzed all the way down to his tummy.  He burped loudly and they laughed again.  

Danny tried once more:  "Five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty five, thirty, thirty five, forty, forty five, fifty." The counting took on a rhythm of it's own, and Danny didn't even need to think about it. "Fifty five, sixty, sixty five, seventy, seventy five, eighty..."  

"Whoa. That's enough.  Brilliant, well done!" Frolly got so excited that he leapt onto the table and did a little dance, shaking his head so that his hat bells played another little tune.  

He ended with an especially graceful leap into the air. He would have bowed, but he landed with one foot on a strawberry cream cake, slipped, and landed on his bottom, demolishing what was left of the cake. Of course, it was the creamiest squashiest cake of all, and cream and strawberries squished all over the table making it very slippery. Frolly tried to get up but kept falling, and he was a messy sight when he finally got back onto his chair.  

"Oh dear.  I’m getting a bit old for this sort of thing.  You'd better have mine."  He said, sheepishly handing Danny the other strawberry cake, and licking the remains of his from his fingers.  

Danny tried hard to look concerned and not laugh, but he didn't manage very well.  

"Now, here's a puzzle for you," continued Frolly, as he got down from the table. "When we sat down there were no cakes on the table?  

"Yes."  

"Then I brought two out."  

"Yes."  

"Then I added another two."  

"Yes."  

"Then two more.  Then another two, and then two more?"  

"Yes." said Danny who really couldn't see the point.  

"So how many were there in the end?"              

"Ten." Answered Danny.  

"And how many times did I add two, including the first two?"  

"Five." answered Danny.  This was really easy.  

"So I added two five times and got ten!"  

"Two five's are ten."  Said Danny without thinking.  

"Brilliant.  You've got it.  The five times table!" He said banging the table to emphasise his point.  He was about to leap onto the table again, but thought the better of it and made do with a few somersaults on the grass.  He still had strawberry cream cake all over his trousers, and had even managed t get some in his hair  

Danny couldn't see what the table had to do with it but he thought he understood.  

"You see, I added two five times. Five times. That's why it's the five times table. You add up five times, except that you do it all at once. It's a quick way of adding up.  It saves a lot of time and it's simple once you've learned a few tables. It works for the other one's too.  The seven times is like adding something up seven times all at once! Have another cake."  

"Yum." said Danny, tucking in to an egg custard. It was quite the yummiest egg custard he'd ever tasted, although it was a bit runny. Frolly had one too but quite a lot of it ended up in his beard, and some got in his hair too, which was by now becoming very sticky.  

"What if I'd brought three cakes out each time?" Asked Frolly, speaking with his mouth full. "What would three times five be?"  

"Fifteen." Replied Danny after moments thought.  

"That's right, three fives are fifteen. See if you can do the five times table for me. It's just like counting in fives."  

"Two fives are ten, three fives are fifteen, four fives are twenty, five fives are twenty five." The custard was like warm ice cream pie only better. "Six fives are thirty, seven fives are thirty five.." He could do it without thinking it was so easy..."Eight fives are forty, nine fives are forty five, ten fives are fifty."  

He could have done more but Frolly seemed to think ten times was enough.  

"Well done.  I think that will do. Now you understand how multiplication works, you'll be able to get out of the wood. You see everything here multiplies, and until you can do it you're stuck, and you'd never get out of an enchanted wood."  

Danny had quite forgotten.  He'd been here ages eating cakes and learning multiplication.  Granddad must be extremely worried.  

"I really must go, thank you for the cakes, and the lemonade, and teaching me to do tables," he stammered. "But I'm terribly late, Granddad will be so worried about me."  

"Don't worry, time multiplies here.  Although you've been here ages, as soon as you get back you'll be back in your own time. No one will ever notice you were gone. You might as well finish the cakes."  

Danny did his best, and ate most of the ice cream gateau but was too full for any more.  

"You can take the doughnut." Chuckled Frolly. "Now, you must be careful." Suddenly he looked serious.  This is an enchanted place, and because everything multiplies instead of just adding up, then mistakes get bigger too.  It's further than you think to your garden.  If you want to get back you must say your tables as you walk. Now off you go.  Take this path and concentrate on what you are doing."

Frolly waved as Danny set off down the path.  

"Two fives are ten, three fives are fifteen, four fives are twenty, five fives are twenty five.." Although he was walking, the trees seemed to be flying past.  "Six fives are thirty."  Danny wondered if he would ever see Frolly again.  He was such a jolly fellow, and those cakes were simply wonderful. "Seven fives are seventy five, eight fives are eighty, nine fives are ninety five..." Oh dear, that wasn't right.  He hadn't been concentrating.  The trees at the sides of the path were just a blur he was travelling so fast. Everything seemed to be spinning. Then he landed with a bump and the doughnut fell out of his hand and rolled away.  

"My, where did you come from?" Enquired a majestic voice.

THE END

 

 Copyright M. Rawlinson 1999

  All Rights Reserved

   

Click here for the next story:   The Queen of Tentown

In which Danny learns the Ten Times Table.