The grass was damp from the morning dew, softening his steps so that they made no sound under his feet. He paused in a small clearing, turned his face up with his eyes closed and listened. The birdsong, a melodic sound high up above him.

"Knock knock."The sounds of knocking was faint at first so she tried to ignore it. Zzz..."Knock knock knock."She stirred in her cozy bed made of hay and sticks. No one has come around her neck of the woods for a long time. A reeeeally long time. She doesn't really know how long, but neither does she care... zzz...

"Stop knocking will you. I'm not deaf! What is it that you want?"Bang Boom Bish Boo. A series of sounds came from through the keyhole. It sounded like something crashed.. uncomfortably. What followed after was just silence. The voice beyond the keyhole stopped speaking.

She looked at the mess that was a plate of meaty sausages now on the ground, spilled."Fiddledrumpleskins.." She cursed under her breath. In between the sharp pain on the top of her head and the spilt meat, she was not sure which one of these situations is currently causing her more grief.

Kik.. kik kik kikkk. Click!It worked! He had ran back a short distance back home to borrow a bobby pin from his nanny (who was still napping soundly at the kitchen). Their house wasn't far away and this was the only thing he found that could work, and he was surprised that it did.

The boy stared at disbelief as what seemed like a long giant meat sausage chain circling round a giant's knees. Who would have thought meat sausages could chain up a giant like this! The irony of the scene was that these sausages smelled delicious.

The creature's head looked stuck, but there isn't anything in the strange room that could possibly help. Across the room, there was another open door to a corridor that could lead him upstairs.

"Louie? Louie who?" "I'm Louie..Louie of Nackersville. I am 10 years old." "Well Louie of Nackersville, 10 years old, get me out of this then."

On the floor laid the chain of sausages that bounded the giant, soft cushy and delicious looking. That could work to reach her, thought Louie as he headed down the stairs and pulling them up mid stairs to where the giant's sides were.

"Excuse me. What are you doing?" "Um. Tickling you?" "No kidding. Whatever that is, you may stop now. If the sausage thing you tried earlier was a 3, this is a minus 7. I don't feel nothing."

When Louie set out for his walk this morning (as he would like any other), he did not know that it would turn out to be an extraordinary walk, in which various extraordinary things happened. So far, he had...

Mr Pronobo looked up and surveyed the tall creature quickly, "Oh hoho. I think I know just what help you need here. But before that I bet you guys must be hungry! I made some extra sausages and omelette for breakfast, let me dish them out. Let's all have breakfast in my garden!" Mr Pronobo said chirpyly.

Följa tingled. A bubbly sensation grew from within her, first gently, then stronger with each passing second. She looked wildly at Mr Pronobo and Louie, the former a look of bemusement, the latter one of bewilderment. She looked down at herself.

Something is not right. Folja is finally shrinking back to her regular size, that part is true. But yet she is still feeling queasy ever since she bit into that sausage Pronobo gave her.Who is this Pronobo anyway? And what did he gave me? What in the rookedyblooks is a Sheep's Sorrel?

The Hootles were a known owl tribe in Knackersville that punishes kids who don't behave. Sometimes you'd find them sneaking up from behind you when you weren't looking. But once you do see or hear them, you'd know it's not a good sign.

The trio hastily got up from their food and headed into the stone house. Louie paused, turned around and picked Följa up onto his palm. "You'll move quicker here!" Louie explained.

The device looked heavy - a tube made of glass, with an ornamental brass trigger at the bottom."Now, come along and watch this." Mr Pronobo ushered Louie (with Folja peeking out of the front pocket of the boy's overalls) back to the front of his stone house.Pronobo raised the strange device with both hands above his head and it began to glow. A bright purple light pulsed within the glass tube.

"There, I've stoned all the Hootles. There's no way you'd ever be cursed again! Now let me see if I can fix you up and blow you back to size." said Mr Pronobo to Foljia. "Those birds! Going around cursing naughty kids here and there, that's totally the wrong way to teach kids what to do! That ought to teach all those birds a lesson for being bad birds!" Grumbled Mr Pronobo.

Folja didn't know how she became one-eyed. As long as she could remember, her parents just brushed it off whenever she asked, and she no longer bothered to find out again. She always lived alone in that 2 storeyed house hidden in the thick of the forest at the edge of Knackerville.

...homeless. Följa shuddered at that thought. For now though, she had a more pressing matter. She grabbed the side of Louie's overall and navigated her way up to his shoulder. She was surprised at how agile her own movements were at this size.

Ten years ago on a night where the crescent moon waned, Ebba felt a sharp pang in her tummy. Maybe it's finally time. It was a windy night, with strong gales howling 🍃.

"Åke! She's... She's here! Folja's finally here..." the exhausted mother called out to her husband."She's out? My baby! Let me take a look!" The father alma rushed forward into the dark house with his gas lamp. The warm glow of the lit the dim room where Ebba held the newborn in her arms. Åke was excited to meet their new daughter, their newest pride and joy. He lifted the lamp nearer to the baby's face to get a closer look.

"You..you knew my parents?" Följa asked, her voice trembled."Why, yes. It was a stroke of luck, really. That night, I was typhoon-hunting when your father found me. That would have otherwise not been the neck of the woods that I frequent.."

When Åke was just a young teen he's just a tad more playful than the rest of the Almas. He was an athlete, he was confident and smart. He had almost everything he ever had, good grades, good looks, good genes, you name it! Well except this beautiful young Alma's heart. He tried many things to impress her, he bought her flowers, he got her her favourite black peppered shauppish sausages but it all didn't seem to touch her at all. Åke was devastated.

Tuffing and Svärta, their two first-borns were conceived with perky rabbit-like ears and whiskers.And now their newborn daughter, Foljä, was born one-eyed.

Följa was silent after Mr Pronobo's stories. So it had not been her imagination with the owls all these time. She felt a little relieved.

Följa stood on Louie's palm and stepped forward bowing to apologise when suddenly, Louie interrupted. "This is not right. Actually why should Följa be the one apologising? Isn't her Dad the one who made the Hootles angry?"

"I just want to sleep.." Åke mumbled to Ebba. He had worked a long night shift. Ebba was telling him something, but it did not really register. Today, Åke and Ebba have been scheduled to drop off some food and necessities for Tuffing and Svärta.

Följa screamed "Mama! Papa!" standing in Louie's pocket. As Ebba heard the faint cries and looked around for that familiar voice, she finally spotted little Följa sticking out from the young boy's pocket. She got such a shock she dropped her basket of sausages.

"Ha ha ha! Who knew a sincere apology could be so powerful? We could have avoided all these nonsense if we knew! But never too late! Now we know. Adding one more important finding to the mystery of the Hootles..." Pronobo dug out a tattered notebook from his coat pockets and scribbled quickly.

"We're almost there, Rinalda."