The Goblin and a Magic Trail: Tales from the Forest of the Hooting Owl, #4

By Juliet Boyd

There are many long-held superstitions in The Forest of the Hooting Owl. Some are just that, superstitions, with no basis in fact. Others are not so harmless. Hare dares are such a case. On the day in question, Sprout does not look away from the hare in time and is given a dare. Can the young goblin manage to complete it and avoid the consequences of failing?

Sprout's day is further complicated by the appearance of Pickle Lily, the sprite he tricked out of a promise. She has some pressing demands of her own. Once again, Sprout cannot refuse, if he wants things to stay as they are.

Dark rivers, the Stock and Stuff market, faerie riddles and a visit to the most dangerous part of the forest. Is this Sprout's worst day ever, or his crowning glory? Time to find out.

The Goblin and a Magic Trail, Book Four in the Tales from the Forest of the Hooting Owl, is a tale for children of 8-12 years old and anyone else who is young of heart. Get your copy today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Juliet Boyd
• Release date: Nov 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386599166

Juliet Boyd

Juliet lives in Somerset in the south-west of England. She used to work in administration, but now writes full-time. Her main writing interests are fantasy, science fiction, weird fiction, horror and flash fiction. Details of her work are available on her website.

Book preview

THe GoBLiN aND a MaGiC TRaiL

TaLeS FRoM THe FoReST oF THe HooTiNG oWL

BooK FouR

Copyright © 2018 Juliet Boyd,

including interior illustrations.

All rights reserved.

Second edition: 2020

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and situations portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Any reference to an actual event, product or location is used in an entirely fictitious manner.

For those who believe life can be magical.

Hello, Sproutlings.

Guess what? It’s time for another adventure!

Have you ever wondered if any of those old sayings are true? I’m talking about what are usually called Old Wives’ Tales. They’re often things that sound a little ridiculous, but have a nugget of truth at their core.

As you all know, Sprout’s ma is full of sayings. I guess you’d call them Old Goblin Tales. One of those sayings has a big impact on Sprout in this adventure. It involves lots of unexpected turns and a little seasonal upheaval for everyone concerned. It also involves Sprout changing his perception of his ma. Do any of us really know our families well? We might think we do, but there are many things that are never told. What about our friends? I’ll bet there are even more things we don’t know about them and they’re people we’ve chosen to like.

Oh, dear. I think I went off at a tangent there. Just one more thing. Don’t forget Long Tooth’s Scribblings at the end of this book. Right, time to get back on the path.

Now, before you start, I want you to make sure you have your eyes peeled for any danger. Are you ready? Then, enter the forest very carefully.

a HaRe-RaiSiNG eNCouNTeR

Sprout averted his eyes as quickly as he was able and hoped, with all his might, that it was fast enough. He stood rigid, listening for anything that would give him an indication that it had gone and that he was now safe. That they were now safe. He tried to calm his laboured breaths and forget about the sweat that was slicking his brow. He couldn’t do either.

This was not in his plannings for the day. It had not been a day when he’d been intending to have adventures, good, or otherwise.

He and Wizard had come upon the hare as it ran across the glade, that led onto the path, that took them down to the tributary of The Raven River, the place where he usually had his wash (so he didn’t, as his ma often said, smell like the chewed up cud of an ageing cow).

He had seen a cow, once, in a field in The Big Lands. They did chew a lot.

This time, he was visiting the place for pleasure and to show Wizard a few more of his regular haunts. She also wanted to see where her ma had been, because that might give her a clue as to what her ma had been seeking, in the way of spelling ingredients. Even though Wizard wanted to learn wand spelling, she still had the desire to do learnings about other spelling. She was far more studious than Sprout had ever imagined anyone could be.

Sprout grabbed at Wizard’s arm and spun her around towards him. She stumbled a little, but didn’t fall. Don’t look, he said.

She wrenched her arm free and rubbed at her wrist. She didn’t seem happy, but when there were dangerous nasties around you had to act quickly.

Don’t look at what? she said. Her scowling face took a sneaky glance over her shoulder.

Don’t.

She raised an eyebrow.

Yes, he sounded panicked. Why wouldn’t he? His sensible brain was holding all his thoughts. The festers in his stomach started to grumble. Sprout shuffled from foot to foot, trying to quell everything he was feeling into a small ball of calm. It didn’t work.

He had no idea whether it was positively true or not, but he’d heard his mother say it so many times, since ... as long as he could remember, which was already quite a long time. He ran the saying over in his head.

‘If you stare at a hare, it’ll hit you with a dare. If you stare at a hare, it’ll hit you with a dare. If you stare at a hare, it’ll hit you with a dare.’

A dare was very much like the promise of a promise-bearer to Sprout’s mind, in that it held all sorts of problems within it that you couldn’t see.

Just don’t, he said. He worried at his lip as he decided what was the best