The Flower Children & The Unicorn Hunters - Part 1

One night, when the sky was torn and cracked with thunder and lightning and wild wind was blowing through the magical forest, an injured mother unicorn and her child came to the toadstool house.

The mother unicorn’s injury was deep, for she had been struck with the arrow of a hunter and the poor baby unicorn was afraid for its mother and gave out an anguished bleat when it saw the worry in its mother’s eyes.

But the mother unicorn was sure this would be a place of safety, for all the creatures of the forest knew about Clara who lived in the toadstool house and was so kind to nature and, using her golden unicorn horn , she banged against the door of the house.

“Yes, yes, I’m coming!”, said Clara, rising from her bed, putting on her long dressing gown, and going to answer the door, “Who can it be at this time of night?”.

And Rose, Lilly and Violet all got up from their beds too, lighting candles as they also hurried to see who the midnight visitor could be.

But when Clara opened the door, she gave out a loud gasp, because the mother unicorn had collapsed in the mud and, in the earth, she had written, with the end of her horn, the word HELP.

Immediately, Clara and her three daughters brought the unicorn inside and laid her down upon a blanket in the kitchen and Rose fed her some broth while Clara removed the arrow and tended to her wound.

“Why have men done this to you?”, asked Violet, forlornly, for she had the power to talk with animals.

“Because they want my golden horn and that of my child”, said the mother unicorn as her infant stood shyly in a corner, looking timid and afraid, “The horn of the unicorn is very powerful. It can mend bones and heal wounds; cure sicknesses; even make wilting flowers bloom but, most importantly to the foul men who were hunting us, It can grant three wishes”.

“Oh, some men are truly terrible!”, said Clara, angrily, “They care more about personal gain than the life of a beautiful creature like the unicorn”.

But, just then, they all heard the sound of hunting horns blaring from outside the house and the head of the hunters, who was an old man with a long, tangled, grey beard and a mean, cold glint in his one good eye called out to them, “Old woman who lives in that house. We know you have our unicorns. You just bring them out to us or, you have the word of Finnegan Fee, we’ll break down your door and take them ourselves”.

“I shall show them!”, said Rose, angrily, heading towards the door, “I’ll hit them with a thunderbolt where it hurts and then they’ll think twice about coming into our forest again”.

But, even with Rose’s magical power, Clara still worried for her safety and, pulling her back from the door, cautioned her.

“They may not have thunder at their fingertips”, said Clara, “But spears and arrowheads hurt just as much and I wouldn’t wish to risk you getting hurt”.

However, then Lilly removed the magic pendant that the gnome had given her and handed it to Rose, “I’ve only thought of it as a toy up until now but, if you wear this then you will be invisible and those hunters will not be able to harm you”.

Knowing that she would be invisible, Clara then agreed to let Rose go out and then, to their terror and amazement, the hunters saw blue, crackling thunderbolts shooting towards them, seemingly out of the air and heard a young woman’s voice laughing and shouting, “I’ll teach you to hurt poor, defenceless animals, you horrible men!”.

And all the hunters turned around and fled into the forest, yelling and panicking; terrified of the strange electrical ghost.

Only the old grizzled leader of the hunters, who Rose now saw had a peg leg made from a large, twisted unicorn horn, did not seem afraid and, shaking his fist at her, yelled, “I’ve got two wishes left upon this old left leg that I don’t wish to waste upon the likes of you but we’ll be back tomorrow with magic of our own. You have the word of Finnegan Fee!”.

The next day all seemed very peaceful outside; so peaceful that it was hard to imagine the commotion of the night before. Birds were chirping in the trees and a warm sun was shining through the window upon the injured unicorn and her sleeping child.

“I think my wound is healing, thanks to your magical doctoring”, said the unicorn to Violet.

“All the same”, said Violet, “With those hunters out after you, it’s better if you and your child stay with us and we’re very happy to have you here as our guests”.

But then, out of the corner of her eye, Clara saw a crow sitting upon the window sill and also noticed that it had an injured left leg and was blind in one eye.

“Oh dear”, she said, bringing the bird inside, “Another patient that needs my attention”.

But Rose was wary of the strange bird when she saw how it had been injured.

“One of those hunters last night”, she said, “I think it was their leader. The man who called himself Finnegan Fee. He had an injured left leg and was blind in one eye”.

But Clara wouldn’t listen, “Well, what if he was. The only thing this bird preys upon is berries and worms”.

However, then Violet, who could speak the language of all the creatures of nature asked the bird, “What happened to your leg and your eye, Mr Crow?”.

And the crow, with a pitiful croak, replied, “It was a cat that did it, so it was. A terrible brute of a tomcat that leapt down upon me from the upper branch of a tree and tore up my old left leg and my poor right eye with its horrible sharp claws”.

This seemed to satisfy Rose but then Lilly complained that she had heard that terrible noise again, the sound of a lie being told and the crow, seeming to understand that its lie had been seen through suddenly got up and flew around the room sqwaking, “Yes! It’s me, it’s me, it’s Finnegan Fee!”.

And then, in a flicker, the crow suddenly turned into the grinning, old, grey-bearded, one-eyed hunter and, snatching up the sleeping baby unicorn, said, “I’ll take this and if its mother wants to see it again then she’ll come for it”.

Then the old villain made a wish upon his peg leg and disappeared.

“My baby!”, cried the distraught mother unicorn, “He’s taken my baby!”.

“Don’t worry”, said Clara, determinedly, “We’ll get him back for you and this time we won’t let that awful Finnegan fellow get away”.