The Shellkin

One warm summer day, a little girl call Sally was playing in her garden when she saw a shiny object lying under a bush and going over to see what it was she realised, to her amazement, that it was a shell of silver and gold and covered in tiny jewels.
"Wow", she said, holding it up to the sunlight and turning it round so that it glittered, "I wonder what kind of a creature lives in a shell like this".
But then suddenly, from out of the top of the shell, Sally saw a little head pop like the head of a little man and then she saw the little mans feet pop out of the bottom of the shell and his arms pop out of its sides.
Unfortunately, then the little man started to get angry.
"Put me down you old witch", he shouted, "You're not having my shell and thats that".
"Old witch?", asked Sally, giggling, "I'm not an old witch. I'm a little girl".
"Oh", said the little man, surprised, "I'm sorry. I thought you were someone else. Theres an old witch. Crabitha, her name is and she's always after our shells".
"But what are you?", asked Sally.
"Don't you know?", asked the little man, "I'm a Shellkin. A kind of fairy".
"But Fairy's have wings", said Sally, "Like Butterflys".
"Oh there are lots of different types of fairies", said the little man, "Some have wings, thats true. Others have fish tails and they are called merpeople and some have hooves and are called centaurs. I have a shell and thats why I'm called a Shellkin".
But then Sally remembered something about fairies.
"Hmm?", she said, "If your a fairy. Do you grant wishes?".
"Oh not you aswell", said the Shellkin, "Thats why Crabitha wants to get hold of our shells because she knows a shellkin shell is the most powerful wish granting thing of them all".
"Oh but I would never hurt you", said Sally, "All I wanted was one tiny wish".
Just then however, from behind her, Sally heard a loud, frightning cackle and an old womans voice say,
"Aha! I knew there were shelkins round here".
And, turning round she saw an old woman dressed in a long black dress with a tall pointy hat upon her head.
"Oh no!", said the Shellkin, "Thats her! Thats Crabitha".
But then the witch held out her hand and said,
"Hand that Shellkin over little girl. It belongs to me".
"Don't listen to her", said the Shellkin, "She's lying".
So then Sally hid the Shellkin behind her back.
"No", she said, shaking her head and backing away from the witch, "I won't give it to you".
"Very well", said the witch, taking off her pointy hat and pulling a wooden wand out of it, "Then I will just have to take the shellkin and you too".
Then, waving her wand the air, the witch said, "Abracadabra- abracadee. Shrink right down to the size of a flea".
And, the moment the witch said these words, suddenly, the little girl began to get even littler, shrinking and shrinking until even the daisies and the dandelions in her back garden  towered over her head.
Then, bending down the witch scooped up Sally and put her into a glass box.
"There", said the Witch peering into the box, "Now your coming home with me".
And waving her wand again the witch said the word, "Transporto!" and suddenly there was a bright flash of light and a puff of smoke and, when the smoke cleared, Sally saw that they were not in her garden anymore but in the witch's house.
"Hee! Hee! Hee!", cackled the witch putting the box down on a table and then, grinning, she said to Sally, "I shall have little girl soup I think once I've removed that Shellkins shell".
But then the witch said she had to go and find her Shell removing spell and so she went to look at the dusty old books on her bookshelf and while she did Sally, sitting down within the box began to cry.
"Oh no", she said to the Shellkin, "What am I going to do? That Witch is going to put me in a soup".
"Don't worry", said the Shellkin, who she was still holding in her hand, "You can use me to make a wish remember".
"Oh yes", said Sally, smiling, "Thats right. Well then I wish I wasn't as small as a flea. I wish I was back to my normal size again".
And no sooner had Sally said that when there was a bright flash and then, suddenly, when the flash had faded, Sally saw that she had been restored to her original size.
But then the Witch, noticing the bright flash, turned round from the magical book she'd had her nose pressed in and saw Sally grown to full size.
"Quick!", shouted the Shellkin, "Before she zaps us again with her wand. Make another wish".
"Okay", said Sally, trying to think of a wish she could make, "I wish...I wish her wand was a stick of rhubarb".
And the witch was just about to reach into her hat and pull out her wand when Sally said this but then, to her astonishment, instead of pulling out her wand she pulled out a long purple stick of rhubarb and, seeing this, the shellkin leapt up and down with glee.
"Ha! Ha!", laughed the Shellkin, "That'll teach you, you old witch".
But then, to Sally's and the Shellkins surprise, the Witch got so angry, that growling and snarling like and angry warthog, her eyes glowing with rage, she rushed towards Sally grabbing the Shellkin from her hand.
"Oh no", said the Shellkin, startled, "That wasn't supposed to happen".
"Hee- hee- hee", cackled the witch, evilly, as she looked at the shellkin, "Now I've got the shellkin and I'm the one whose going to make the wishes".
Terrified, Sally backed away from the witch until, feeling a wall behind her she realized that she had nowhere to run.
And then she heard the witch say, as she was scratching her old hairy chin,
"Now let me see. What is the most evilish wish I can make. What is the most horrible thing I can turn a little girl into".
But then, suddenly, just as Sally was wondering what she would do if she were turned into a frog or a mouse her hand bumped into something that was leaning against the witches wall; something with a long wooden handle and a head made of bristles; a witches broom.
Quickly, realising it was her only hope, Sally grabbed hold of the broom by its handle and swinging it round, whacked the witch with it, right in her pointy nose and when she did she hit her so hard that she knocked the witch right off of her feet.
But, more importantly, she knocked the Shellkin right out of her hand and, falling to the floor with a bump and loud cry of 'Ouch!' the Shellkin rolled towards her.
Dazed and bewildered, the Witch picked herself back up and dusted herself off but then, looking up, to her horror, the witch saw that Sally had already picked up the Shellkin and then, before the Witch could do anything, she heard Sally say,
"I wish that the witch would turn into a frog".
Then, suddenly, no sooner had Sally spoken when there was a bright, blinding flash and, when the flash had faded, instead of a witch standing before her, Sally saw a little hopping and croaking frog with a tiny pointed witches hat upon its head.
"I'll get you...ribbit... for this", croaked the frog witch hopping away, "You'll...ribbit...see".
But then Sally, smiling with relief that it was all over, made another wish, wishing herself back home to her garden.
"Sally", she heard her mother shout from the door of her house, "Stop playing in the garden and come into the house. Your dinner is ready".
"Okay, mum", said Sally but then, putting the Shellkin back down upon her lawn she said to him, "Well the Witch is gone now. Your free to go".
"Go?", asked the Shellkin, "I can't go".
"But why not?", asked Sally.
"Because", said the Shellkin, bouncing like a rubber ball back up into Sallys hand, "I've made a new friend today and when a fairy makes a friend there a friend for life".
Hearing this, Sally spun round and jumped in the air with happiness but then she ran inside and had dinner and, from that day on, Sally and the Shellkin lived happily together and had many even more marvellous adventures.