Bezi

A long, long time ago, and very far away, there was a land where people grew on trees.

The trees were tall. The people were small.

They grew like bananas curled up to their knees.

They slept in the sun. Then they stretched their arms.

Falling from trees was easy.

And in that land, made of river and sand, there lived a boy named…

…Bezi!

He had bare feet and ripped-up clothes and long, black wiggly hair.

But he lived like a mole, in a hole in the ground, and he only came out at night…

One night, he crept from his hole and gazed at the stars in the cool night sky.

A shimmering moon, like a big balloon, rose up from the river and floated by.

‘You must never go down by the river,’ he said, ‘Or the crocodiles will bite you!’
‘You must never get caught in the trees,’ he said, ‘Or the horrible Giant will fight you!’

The crocodiles all had crackerjack smiles and their eyes were a moonlight green.

But the Giant was rude! He ate all the food!  He was nasty and bully-beef mean!

Bezi climbed up a sand dune, spread out his arms

and went sand-surfing down on the breeze.

With a shuffle and skip and a slithering slip, he beetle-hopped into the trees.

‘I’m hungry,’ he said, as the branches leant down. ‘And the hole in my tummy is aching.’

But before he could eat, the sand at his feet started rolling and shifting and shaking…

…and out of the darkness, the Giant appeared, thundering over the tumps,

on a camel so tatty and squashed very flatty with dips where most camels had humps!

‘Get out of the trees!’ the Giant cried, ‘I’m wicked and naughty and greedy!

I’m as gorgeously big as a gorgeous, big pig. But you’ll always be little and weedy!’

Bezi dived through the dark and ran for miles, skidding and tumbling and sliding.

The sky overhead, like a magical hood, was black and close and hiding.

‘I’m tired,’ he said, as he rolled to a stop. ‘And I’ve nothing to eat or drink’

The sun rose up over the river and washed the desert pink.

Bezi sat up. He rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he saw…

…across the river a beautiful land that he’d never seen before.

There were fields of wheat and fields of corn, all waving in the sun.

There were trees that were calling out to him, with fruit for everyone.

‘I never saw this down that horrible hole or out in the dark!’ he cried.

‘If the river was not so wide and deep, I’d cross to the other side!’

But all of a sudden, a shadow fell. And the sand began to slide.

And the camel came staggering over the hill…

…with the Giant, hung over one side.

‘I’m wicked!’ the Giant yelled down to him. ‘I’m wicked and naughty and greedy!

I’m mean and I’m rude and I eat all your food, so you’ll always be little and weedy!’

Bezi dived down the bank to the water’s edge, shaking from head to toes.

And worse than a curse, he found himself…

….at the end of a crocodile’s nose!

‘Oh no!’ said Bezi. ‘I’m crocodile chips! I’ll never get out of this place!’

But a tear rolled out of the crocodile’s eyes and onto his shiny, green face.

‘You’ve nothing to fear,’ the crocodile said, as the Giant came thundering on.

He swished his tail in the river and the river shimmered and shone.

Then a pathway of stones crossed the water, as far as the other side.

‘The river is not impossible,’ he said, ‘Though it’s deep and wide.’

‘Thank you!’ said Bezi and off he went, leaping from stone to stone.

He bounced around and suddenly found that he was no longer alone!

Out of the hot, dry desert, like hundreds of little moles,

hundreds of children came running, out of the horrible holes.

The tatty old camel ran with them and the children started to laugh.

But the Giant came thundering, thundering on and tried to block their path.

SNAP!

Went the crocodile’s sharp white teeth!

SNAP!

Went his crackerjack jaws!

NIP!

at the Giant’s fat bottom!

RIP!

Went his bully-beef drawers!

‘OWWWWWW!’ wailed the horrible Giant as the children ran over the stones.

But the crocodile said, ‘You’re so well fed, I’m nowhere near your bones.’

‘You’d better go back to the trees,’ he said, ‘And you’d better go very fast.

You’re wicked and naughty and greedy and I’ll never let you past.’

The water began to cover the stones, with a swish and a swirl and a shiver.

You would never have known that a pathway of stones had crossed the almighty river.

 ‘Hooray!’ said Bezi. ‘Happy again! Now we can eat what we please!’

So the camel all tatty who longed to be fatty led them into the trees.

Bezi shinned up a trunk to pick the fruit and the trees all shook with laughter.

Then the children, the camel and the crocodile lived happily ever after.