Tonkatina

Once there was a witch named Nannykotta who, though she was more powerful than any witch in the whole world, never grew older and would never die, was still unhappy because she couldn’t have children.

She’d tried making children in her octagonal cauldron; mixing together magical herbs and ingredients and chanting spells but the only things she could conjure up were hideous monsters and they never had souls and could never love her.

So she decided that she would have to steal a child and, getting into her magical wagon, a wagon pulled by two big dogs chasing four black cats chasing six white mice chasing a large yellow lump of cheese, she flew through the air looking for a little child.

And as she was flying over a forest she saw a little peasant girl called Tonkatina playing all alone with a ragdoll and, landing in the forest near to the little girl, she asked her, “Wouldn’t you like to come with me little girl and live in a palace with all the toys you could ever want and all the sweets and cakes you could ever eat?”.

But Tonkatina wasn’t unhappy with her life and told the witch, “No, I live in a little cottage with my Aunt and Uncle and I’m very happy. My aunty bakes cakes sometimes and they are delicious and I have my ragdoll suzy and she’s the only toy I want”.

The witch was disappointed, nevertheless she wasn’t about to give in and then she asked, “Well perhaps your doll Suzy would like to come”.

“Oh no”, replied the girl, “I know Suzy very well and I know she’s happy like me”.

But then, suddenly, the doll in her arms spoke up angrily, “What do you know about me? You’re a dull girl and I don’t want to play with you anymore; I want to go with the nice lady”.

And, saying this, the doll wriggled out of Tonkatina’s arms and, giggling, ran and skipped over to the witch before leaping into her arms.
“Come back now, Suzy!”, shouted Tonkatina, “Now don’t be naughty!”.

But the doll only stuck its tongue out at Tonkatina and blew a raspberry and the witch placed the doll like a passenger in the back of the wagon.

Thinking that Suzy, her only friend, was going to leave her, Tonkatina started to cry,
“Come back Suzy!”, she sobbed, “You’re the only friend I have”.

“Don’t be silly” said the doll, “Why don’t you just come with me?”.

And so, fearing that she would never see her doll Suzy again she got into the back of the witch’s wagon with her and the moment she did the Witch got into the drivers seat and, tugging upon the reigns, she made the wagon rise up into the air and soon they were flying off across the sky and before long they were at the witch’s palace.

“Now you will live with me as my daughter, little girl”, said the witch smiling and taking Tonkatina by the hand, “You will be very happy living in my palace because you will have hundreds of toys much better than your silly little ragdoll”.

And she led a reluctant Tonkatina into her palace and took her to a golden nursery filled with all the most expensive toys and a golden bed for her to sleep in.

“There now”, she said, “Don’t you think you’ll be happy living here?”.

But Tonkatina wasn’t happy,
“No, all I want is to go home to my Aunty and Uncle”, said the little girl.

This only made the Witch annoyed,
“Why, how ungrateful of you!”, she growled.

Then waving her wand she made golden bars appear over the windows of the nursery and the wooden door turned into a golden prison door and then she said, “Well you will have to learn to like it here because I won’t let you go home, ever”.

Then the witch went out and locked the golden door behind her and Tonkatina was left all alone in the golden room.

But instead of being happy all Tonkatina did was cry because she was afraid and missed home so much.

As she was crying, however, a little toy angel came over and sat next to her.

“Who are you?”, asked the little girl, amazed.

“Whatever you wish for in this room, you get”, said the angel, “You wished for a friend to comfort you and so I came to life”.

“Can’t I wish to be home again?”, asked Tonkatina, hopefully,“Or to have my Aunty and Uncle here with me?”

“No, the only things you can’t wish for are to be free or to go home or to have outsiders come here but you can wish for any object or amusement you would like and it will appear”, the angel explained.

But the little girl didn’t want anything except to go home.

“Then perhaps I might be able to let you see your home and your Aunty and Uncle”, said the Angel and, suddenly, in front of her, there appeared a magical mirror in which she could see her Aunty and Uncle’s faces.

But their faces looked worried and they were calling out, “Tonkatina! Tonkatina! Where are you Tonkatina!”.

And she saw that they were searching the forest looking for her and her Aunty was crying, saying, “Oh dear! Oh dear! Where can my poor little Tonkatina have gone?”.

And, wrapping her arms around the mirror and holding it close to her chest, Tonkatina started to cry.

But then, because it didn’t like to see her cry, the enchanted golden nursery made her fall asleep and, carrying her in invisible arms, laid her down upon the golden bed.

And the next thing she knew, the sun had risen outside and a rooster was crowing and then the witch came back into the room.

“Ah, good”, she said, smiling, “You’ve had some sleep. Now perhaps you might have changed your mind about being happy here”.

“No”, said Tonkatina angrily, “I don’t want to live here. I want to go home”.

“Home?”, asked the Witch, “To that little shack in the woods where you live with those two old paupers? Why would anybody prefer that place to this? Here you can have anything you want;
any toy; any sweet; any pretty dress. All you have to do is wish for it and the nursery will give it to you”.

But Tonkatina didn’t care about toys and sweets or pretty dresses.

“All I want is to be with my Aunty and Uncle”, she said, “I don’t care if they’re poor. I love them and I hate you and this horrible place”.

This made the Witch very angry and she was about to lose her temper and zap Tonkatina with an evil spell when another idea popped into her head that softened her temper.

“Yes, that’s it”, she said, smiling at her own ingenuity, “I shall mix up a potion of forgettance”.

“Forgettance?”, asked Tonkatina, fearful.

“Yes. A forgettance is the opposite of a memory. Forgettances are all the things we’ve forgotten and when I give you this potion you’ll forget all about your dear old Aunty and Uncle and you’ll want to stay here”, said the Witch and then, cackling with glee, she went out of the room locking its golden door behind her.

“What am I to do now?”, said Tonkatina to the toy angel, sobbing and feeling that all hope was lost, “If I forget about my Aunty and Uncle I’ll never see them again”.

Putting his haloed head in his hands, the angel sighed, “I can grant you any wish but not freedom. If only you could think of something you could ask me for that would set you free”.

But just then, Tonkatina stopped sobbing and a thought popped into her head that brought a smile to her face.

“Can you grow bigger than this room?”, she asked.

“Yes”, said the angel, his own face brightening, “I think I’m allowed to do that”.

And, putting his arms around Tonkatina to protect her, the toy angel started to grow and grow; to the height of a tall man at first but then to the height of a giraffes head and then to the height of a towering church spire and, as it grew its golden angel wings spread wider and wider so that they burst through walls and then the golden spikes of its halo came bursting upwards through the ceiling.

When the witch, Nannykotta heard the noise of crashing, crumbling roof and ceiling; she immediately came running in and, looking up, saw Tonkatina cradled in the arms of the giant angel.

“Why you treacherous toy!”, she yelled at the angel, “My magic made you and yet this is how you repay me”.

“It was Tonkatina’s wish that made me”, said the Angel, “And my goodness came from her own good heart”.

So then the Witch ran to that dark box where she had locked up all the monsters born from her cauldron; little, wicked children with the heads of animals and snapping jaws and tearing claws
and letting them out she said to them;

“If you have inherited your mothers evil heart, then go my children and kill that angel and that ungrateful, foul child called Tonkatina”, she said.

And all the wicked little monsters, skipping and leaping with joy started to climb up the long white robes of the toy angel using their sharp claws to hang on no matter how the angel shook.

“Quick now, Tonkatina”, said the Angel, “You must make another wish and make it a good one”.

Tonkatina didn’t have a clue what to wish for but then, looking down, she noticed a bottle in the witch’s hand; the bottle containing the potion of forgettance.

“Make the Witch drink her own potion”, said the little girl, “Please”.

The angel wasn’t sure if he could but he tried with all his magical might and suddenly the witch felt something taking control of her hands and then her left hand uncorked the bottle in her right.

“Garrah! How dare you”, she shrieked, wrestling with the hand holding the bottle and conjuring up two other arms to help it, “Do you honestly think you’re any match for a supreme sorceress like me?”.

But the Angel knew that what he was fighting for was an important cause because he had Tonkatina’s goodness inside of him and, bundling up all his strength and love and courage together,
he managed to push the bottle to the evil witch’s warty lips.

And though she tried gritting her teeth, fortunately one of her front teeth had rotted away and was missing and the magic potion trickled down through the gap left by it and then, entering her brain and heart like hundreds of tiny thieves, the potion took away all her memories; everything from the cradle to that moment and the witch collapsed on the ground becoming like a gurgling infant; sucking her thumb and looking at the world with confusion and wonderment.

But the witch’s evil, animal headed children were still clawing their way up the angel’s robes; however, now that the witch had lost her memory, the Angel was completely free of her restrictions
and, in a blink of blue eye and a flicker of golden eyelash, the angel made the monsters crawling up its robes into golden flowers and pearl beads so that now its robes were covered in bright ornaments.

“At last”, said Tonkatina, “Now can I go home?”.

The angel smiled, “As you wish, Tonkatina!”, he said.

Then, in a flash of silver and gold, Tonkatina was back in her forest and standing in front of her Aunty and Uncle’s old house and, beside her and holding her hand, was the angel, not gigantic anymore but the size of an ordinary man and then the angel knocked upon the door of the old house.

“Great heavens!”, said her uncle with surprise, seeing the angel and Tonkatina.

“Your little girl got lost in the forest but I found her and brought her home to you”, said the Angel.

Then Tonkatina ran and hugged her Uncle tightly and she ran inside and hugged her Aunty too and her Aunty baked a celebratory fruit pie that they all ate with custard and which the Angel enjoyed
very much.

“But what will become of the witch?”, Tonkatina asked the Angel as he was spreading his wings to leave, “Now that she has lost her memory?”.

“Don’t worry”, said the Angel, “I will take care of the witch. Now that she has lost her memories, she has forgotten all those hardships that gave her a hard heart and she has a second chance to be good;
I will teach her the goodness that you gave to me”.

Then the angel disappeared in another flash of silver and gold, leaving behind a single, solid gold angels feather as a memento for Tonkatina to keep and, hugging her together, her aunty and uncle sang a little song which has the tune of ‘Frère Jacques’,

“Tonkatina, Tonkatina;
we love thee, we love thee;
happy ever after, happy ever after;
shall we be, shall we be”