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 baked 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 brown skin and big, brown eyes
And hair like long, black corkscrews.
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 eat you!”
“You must never get caught in the trees,” he said,
“Or the Evil Squint will beat you!”

The crocodiles all had crackerjack smiles
And their eyes had a moonlight glint.
But they’d meet their match if they could catch
That great big, bully-beef Squint!

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 he swung on a branch,
“And the hole in my tummy is aching.”
But rattle and bump!
His heart went ker-thump!
The ground at his feet started shaking....

...and out of the darkness, the Evil Squint
Came thundering over the tumps,
On a camel so tatty and squashed very flatty
With dips where most camels had humps!

“Get out of that tree!” cried the Evil Squint.
“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 to the ground and ran through the night,
Skidding and tumbling and sliding!
The sky overhead, like a magical hood,
Was black and close and hiding.

Then he rolled to the ground and curled in a ball,
With nothing to eat or drink ....

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

Bezi looked up .... he rubbed his eyes ....
... he could not 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,
“To eat something yummy and wickedly scrummy,
I’ll 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 Squint, rolling side to side.

“I’m wicked!” the Squint 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.
But, worse than a curse, he found himself ....
...at the end of a crocodile’s nose!

“Oh no!” cried Bezi, “I’m crocodile chips!
It’s all gone horribly wrong!”
But before he was eaten or wickedly beaten
He heard the crocodile’s song ...

The crocodile sang in a deep, sad voice
And a tear rolled out of his eye ...

“You must cross the uncrossable river and live
or stay in this land and die!”

Bezi looked at the tear on the crocodile’s face.
“You’re a crocodile,” he said.
“If I crossed the uncrossable river and lived,
You would eat me and I’d be dead!”

“You’ve nothing to lose,” the crocodile said,
as the Squint came thundering on.
He stepped into the river and the river
Shimmered and shone.

Then a ribbon 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!” cried Bezi
and off he went,
leaping from stone to stone!
But bouncing around, he 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 Evil Squint with an evil glint
Tried to block their path.

SNAP!!!

Went the crocodile’s sharp white teeth!

SNAP!!!

Went his crackerjack jaws!

NIP!!!

At the Squint’s fat bottom!

RIP!!!

Went his bully-beef drawers!

“Owwwww!!!!!!!!”
yelled the Squint like a baby,
as the children ran over the stones.
But the crocodile said
“you’re so well-fed, I’m nowhere near your bones!

“You had better go back to your trees,” he said,
“and you’d better run very fast.
You’re wicked and naughty and greedy
And I’ll never let you past!”

Then over the stones the river shone
With a whirl and a swish and a shiver.
You would never have known that a ribbon of stone
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.

THE END