Whizardy Witch and The Injured Bat Whizardy Witch is always whizzing around. She is the fastest witch in the Land of Magic. “Zoomedy zoom, let’s go broom,” she squeals, making her broomstick go faster. Whiz, and off she whizzes. One day, Whizardy Witch was flying far beyond the dark forest when she saw a big cave in the side of a hill. “Let’s explore inside there broom!” she suggested. On the floor of the cave, piles of smelly droppings covered the ground. “I wonder what caused all this smelly pooh?” she said. Suddenly, thousands of bats flew out in a seething cloud heading off into the forest. Whizardy Witch ducked instinctively as they swept over her head, rushing off in a stream of high-pitched squeaks. “Wow! Look at them broom. Have you ever seen such a sight before?” Broomstick quivered in response. After the bats had disappeared into the distance, Whizardy Witch walked into the cave trying carefully to avoid the deepest piles of smelly pooh. Hanging from the ceiling was one single bat. Its wing hung awkwardly. “Are you okay bat?” Whizardy asked kindly. “A great eagle swooped down on me as I was feeding in the forest and hurt my wing. Now I cannot fly, and I am very hungry,” the bat explained. “What do you like to eat?” Whiz enquired. “I eat the fruit from the plum trees on the western edge of the forest. My friends will all be there now.” “Come with me,” said Whizardy Witch. “I will carry you to the trees so you can eat some plums.” The bat gratefully accepted Whiz- ardy’s offer. Soon, they were zooming off across the forest head- ing for the western edge. Sure enough, thousands of the bat’s friends swarmed over the fruit laden trees. Whizardy selected one, without many other bats, and put the injured bat on a branch next to a very ripe plum. Together, they feasted on the sweet juicy fruit. Whizardy Witch filled her satchel with dozens of plums to take back for her mum, dad, and Cousin Whiz- bang Wizard. After the bat had eaten a stomach full of fruit, he asked to be taken home. “Let me have a look at your dam- aged wing first,” said Whizardy. The bat tried to spread out the in- jured wing, but it remained limp and broken. “We need some powerful magic to heal this,” she said. “Can you do that?” the bat asked hopefully. “No, I’m too young.” The bat looked sad and deflated. “But I do know someone who might be able to help,” she suggested. Whizardy Witch called to her broomstick. “Zoomedy zoom, let’s go broom,” she said directing them to the magic castle. Deep underground she zoomed to the wooden door, with a sign written on it, KEEP OUT – PRIVATE in big letters. Whizardy Witch knocked politely on the door and opened it slightly. A tall wizard, with an even taller hat, stood at the far end of the long room. He scowled at Whizardy and said, “Can’t you read!” Whiz ignored the Great Skyler’s question and bustled between all the magic experiments and equipment. She walked confidently up to the wizard and said, “Hello again, do you remember me? I’m Whizardy Witch; I came to see you before.” The Wizard looked down his long nose, over the top of his glasses. He studied Whiz closely and then turned back to his work. He said over his shoulder, “Go away, I’m busy.” Whizardy Witch lifted the injured bat and placed him in front of the Great Skyler, “My friend here has a broken wing. He was attacked by one of the eagles in the dark forest and now cannot fly.” The wizard pushed the bat to one side and said, “I do not have time for this Whizardy Witch. I have very important work to complete for the king, you know. I cannot waste time healing injured bats.” “I would heal him myself if you would show me the spell,” said Whiz cheekily. “You!” the Great Skyler laughed. “What do you mean? You would use one of my spells. The cheek of it, now go home before I turn you into a bat.” “This poor bat cannot feed and will die if you do not help him. Or is it that you don’t know any spell to cure this injured wing,” she challenged. The tall wizard stood up straight, towering over Whizardy Witch. “What is that you say? I, the Great Skyler, not know a spell. Of course, I know a spell to cure an injured wing. I have a whole book full of healing spells.” The wizard stepped over to the large bookcase and took a dusty old book from the top shelf. As he blew off the dust the book changed shape into a bat. Flicking open the pages he found the spell he was looking for. “So, you think you can command a powerful spell do you young Whiz- ardy. Well here it is.” The wizard showed her the page. “You must find a purple frog at the top of the jagged mountains. Only then can you hope to complete this spell, if you are strong enough.” Whiz memorized the spell and thanked the great wizard for sharing his secrets. “Now will you please let me get on with my work?” the wizard tutted, turning back to his bubbling potions. Whiz sped off to find her cousin Whiz-bang Wizard and quickly told him the story. The two zoomed off to the top of the jagged mountains. They found the lake filled with purple frogs. “Catch one and let’s see if the spell works,” said Whizby. The two chased after the frogs, but every time they tried to catch one, the frog simply disappeared and re- appeared somewhere else. After ten minutes the two realised the task was impossible. “What about a magic net Whiz?” Whizbang suggested. He quickly conjured one up and used it to trap several frogs with one swipe. As soon as he tried to grab hold of a frog, it disappeared again. “These frogs must have powerful magic Whiz,” complained the boy. “ribbit, arribbit, erribit,” croaked a frog. The two looked at the frog but did not understand purple frog lan- guage. The frog hopped closer and looked intently at the young wizard and witch. “Why you try catch me?” he said very badly in their language. “Me no do nothing to you, arribbit.” Whizardy Witch quickly showed the purple frog the injured bat and ex- plained their intentions. “Why you no just ask, erribbit?” the frog complained. “Put bat here, arribbit.” Whizardy placed the bat carefully next to the purple frog and sang the powerful spell, “Potions mix and doctors tricks, now heal this bat, its wing to fix.” Immediately, all the frogs changed colour from purple, to red, then green, then blue and finally a deep orange. They all croaked together in a loud ribbet. The bat started to change colour too. He went a very deep shade of purple as the magic healed the broken wing. “Colour change back in few days, arribbit,” said the frog to the bat. He then hopped off with his friends into the purple lake. The orange washed off and they all returned to purple. “Thank you,” said Whizardy witch gratefully. “Wow! It worked Whiz,” said Whizby. “Excellent. That is an amazing spell.” The bat thanked them both and flew off to his home a very happy bat. *** And that is the story of Whizardy Witch and the Injured Bat.