Sandy and the Unicorn. Part One

Part One: The little kitchen worker

Once upon a time there was a little boy called Sandy, who worked in a big kitchen, in a big palace that belonged to a very wise Queen.

Now the Queen ruled her country very well. She’d often hold banquets for her subjects. She’d have a banquet for the nobles, or a banquet for the grannies, or a banquet for the people who swept the roads. These banquets were held in a long hall lit by silver and golden lamps, all decorated with glittering precious stones.

Because of the banquets the kitchen was always a very busy place, with scores of people working away to get the meals prepared. But there was also plenty of time for rests, and the pay was good, and best of all, the kitchen workers always got free fancy food; like cakes, biscuits and ice-cream.

The only problem was that the Queen’s country was on the border of two bigger countries ruled by Bad Kings. The Bad Kings were often at war with each other, and in the distance the sky was frequently filled with the thunder and flames of their terrible battles.

Each Bad King was determined to capture a Unicorn that wandered alone through the vast forest. Neither the forest nor the Unicorn paid any heed to the borders of the three countries. The forest was the biggest forest in the entire world, and the Unicorn was the most pure and most good of all the creatures in it.

Many people believe that if a Unicorn falls in love with you then you will gain great magical powers. This is the reason the Kings fought, to try and see who could capture the unicorn and then make it fall in love with him. But no matter how hard they fought each other, and no matter how many countries they invaded and spoiled with their warring, the Unicorn always remained free.

One day Sandy was sitting on the back door step of the kitchen. He was pealing a huge heap of potatoes, and daydreaming about the beautiful lights in the banquet hall. As he worked, he thought he saw something behind the big trees that grew near the kitchen. He looked closer and suddenly he glimpsed a silver mane, and the spark of a hoof striking a stone. And then, just for the briefest of seconds, he thought he saw a long ivory horn rising up from above two dark beautiful eyes.

Just then a voice cried out, “Sandy are the potatoes ready yet?” Sandy hurried back to work, but later, just before he went to bed, he left a biscuit on the back door step. The following morning the biscuit was gone. Next night Sandy left a bit of cake, and it too was gone in the morning. However, something else had been left on the step: a small crunchy apple. This went on for weeks. Sandy would leave a slice of cake, or bit of plum pie out at night. And in the morning he’d find a gift had been left for him, like a carrot, or a lump of sugar, or some purple clover.  

Now read: Sandy and the Unicorn. Part Two