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THE WILLIGREWS AND THE SKRAKS
Long ago, in the distant future, in a place not far below the earth and
not all that far above it, there lived a small tribe of creatures. Or should that be a tribe of small creatures? Anyway
the tribe was small and so were the creatures.
They were called the Willigrews, which was strange because not one of them was called Willie and they
never grew, which was why they were so small.
Now the Willigrews were
odd-looking things. They were about the size of a golf ball (not that they ever played golf, which was just as
well). They all had legs, but not all of them had the same number. It all depended on which family
they came from.
Most of them, however, had two legs, which started at the bottom
of their little round bodies and finished on the ground . . . just. THE
WILLIGREWS AND THE TIME CASE . . . .
Krowfin's favourite pastime was sitting in his favourite chair with his feet on his second favourite stool and counting
his blessings.
He thought, for example, of how lucky he was not to have caught a cold three weeks ago when
Doc Dickery was on holiday.
Then he thought how lucky he was not to have been
hit by a falling tree branch, and how fortunate it was that the branch hadn’t fallen in the first place.
One particular night, as Krowfin sat counting his blessings, he heard a noise coming from outside. It
was very late and all the other Willigrews should have been in bed. He decided to take a look. He
opened his front door and peered into the darkness. He looked left and right, but saw nothing. 'Must have been my imagination, although that never
made a noise before,' he thought. He turned to go back, but as he did so, he heard the sound again.
He listened intently and this time he heard a voice - a small quivery voice. THE WILLIGREWS AND HEAFOD
. . . . The danger was not over yet, though, not by a long way. The next thing they knew, Krowfin, in
his haste, had run straight into a web of sticky strands, which were strung across the tunnel. He was stuck fast (well,
he was running).
'Help, help!' he shouted. 'I’m stuck fast1'
Bronglay
and Zamborina tried to get him free, but the strands were too sticky.
Bronglay
sensed serious danger and he was right: coming towards them along the tunnel was a creature that looked like a cross
between a scorpion and a centipede. Sticking out from its head were two enormous eyes. It had about
50 little legs, but, horror of horrors, at the end of its tail, which was arched above its back, was a huge sharp stinger,
poised ready to strike at Krowfin.
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