Adventures of the Magical Girl and the Flying Horse — Chapter 3 — Picnic on the hills
One day during the Diwali holidays, Tinku and her friends, decided to go for a picnic to the nearby hills. They could all ride bicycles, and decided to cycle up the hill. They were going to carry their favorite food to eat during the picnic.
They started in the afternoon, a bit later than they had decided, since Mini got late. There was a good road to the top of the hill and they had a great time riding their bicycles to the top.
The view from the top of the hill was magnificent . There had been good rains that year, and the hill was covered with grass. The trees were all covered with green foliage … greenery all around. There were birds chirping in the trees and peacocks could be heard meowing in the distance.
The children had got a rubber ball along. They located some flat stones and tiles lying around and started to play a game of lingorcha. The game was fun and everyone enjoyed a lot.
After playing for a while, running around, everyone was hungry and remembered the goodies they had got along. It was a grand feast ! Ladoos, Chiwda, Chakli, Sandwiches, Karanji … The children finished everything, and were content with their tummies full.
Everyone was having a good time, that no one noticed the sun going down, and darkness setting in. Winter had started and the days had become shorter.
With the light fading, a bit of fear set in … but they had all come to the hill many times with their parents and were confident of finding their way back. They started wheeling their cycles to the road. But soon it was really dark and they could hardly see anything. Due to the Diwali vacations, most people were traveling out of the city and the hill top was very lonely.
Suddenly there was a sound in the distance .. and it was not the peacocks meowing .. But some sort of growling. There was news of a leopard being spotted near the hills .. and the sound terrified the children. Sharayu, who was the smallest among them started crying. The children were now frightened and did not know what to do …
Suddenly there was a light in the sky .. and a White horse was flying towards them. On it was seated a girl dressed up in a golden dress and pink cape.
It was Tinku ! Tinku had got a gift of Magic from a fairy when she was small. Tinku had quietly gone behind a tree and waved her wand ..
“Abra-ka-dabra gili-gili-chu ..Pegasus my flying horse come here”
“Abra-ka-dabra gili-gili-chu .. Dress me up like a warrior princess”
Tinku had quickly jumped on top of Pegasus, had lit up her wand, and flew towards the kids.
Seeing the light .. the kids felt some fear ebbing away. Tinku landed near the kids and said, “Don’t worry, I will help you go home”.
The kids were not afraid now. They liked the flying horse and the warrior princes. But no one wanted to ride down the hilly road on their cycles with darkness all around.
The warrior princess said .. “Don’t worry, get on your cycles .. I will guide you to your homes”. Everyone got on their cycles.
“Abra-ka-dabra gili-gili-chu .. Let all the cycles fly in the air”
And everyone was up in the air ! They were very excited to be flying.
Pegasus and Tinku flew ahead and the children on their bicycles followed .. They were flying over the city .. taking in the awesome sight of the well lit city from up above. Since Diwali was recently over, lot of homes and shops were still lit up adding to the beauty.
There was a chill in the air, but every one was enjoying too much to notice the cold. They were living their fantasy of flying like Harry Potter and the children from ET. Pegasus traced a long path which took them over most of the city, and finally got them back to their society. They landed just outside the society gate.
No one wanted the flight to end but were really glad to be finally home.
Tinku had quickly sent back Pegasus and landed along with the other kids on her bicycle. She quickly did a magic spell so that no one remembered her riding Pegasus, and thought that she had rode on the bicycle, just like them.
The parents were really worried, since it was dark and the kids had not returned back from their picnic. They were about to go out to search for the kids, and were really relieved see the children back, safe and sound.
The children made a cacophony of sounds … telling the fantastic story of a flying horse .. and flying behind the horse on their bicycles. Alas, none of the parents believed the story. The parents thought the kids were making up tall stories to avoid anyone scolding them. The kids gave up frustrated .. If only elders believed in magic as easily as the kids.
Only Tinku’s mother was smiling silently. Knowing well that Tinku was surely behind all this !
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PS: If you like this story, you may want to read the first two parts in the series
