Secrets of Whimsyville

By Suverchala Kashyap, Surekha Srinivasan and Zia K. & Prisha R

EXPLORE WHIMSYVILLE, A WHIMSICAL TOWN WITH CHILDREN SOLVING THE MYSTERIES...





• Language: English
• Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing
• Release date: Feb 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9789361728440

Book preview

The Knight of Whimsyville

By Suverchala Kashyap

1

T

he nightmares just wouldn’t stop. Relentless in their pursuit, she just couldn’t shake them off. She had tried almost everything to make herself feel better and get a good night’s sleep but in vain. Unable  to share the issue with her mother, she had it all bottled up inside her, causing her to feel fatigued all day, facing great difficulty in going about the daily chores.

The terrible journey had started about two months ago with the visions being so frighteningly detailed that every night she would wake up sweating to the core of her being, even when it was cold outside. Once awake, falling back to sleep was a near impossibility. 

Shirin had always been a giving person, benevolent to a fault. She rarely if ever asked anyone for help.  But now almost a fortnight into the terrible nightmares, she was contemplating a strategy to overcome her quandary. It wasn’t going to be easy she was very certain of that but decided to draw up a detailed plan of action before actually asking for help.

Walking was her refuge and more often than not she managed to get answers to her most pressing questions during these jaunts. But sleepless nights had sapped all her energy and even getting out of bed was a task as she only managed to grab a few winks in the early morning when it was time to wake up.   

Perched on a hill, with a meandering verdant path, lay the open ground where she often culminated her walk and lay flat on her back, resting her head on a soft natural mound in the meadow. She craned her neck, tilting it all angles, looking up at the sky, surrounded by the tall pine trees: that looked taller from the angle and the sky looked bluer than blue from here.

The meadow was not frequented much as it was a little off the main track from the village to the other side of the forest and people usually took a shorter route and it was only a lone shepherd or two, usually with their flock of fluffy sheep, as the grass on this side of the mountain was certainly greener.

Shirin seldom came across a shepherd or two on her way to her secret hideout but if she timed her walk well she certainly met one extremely handsome and knowledgeable old man, wizened with time and age. She would stop by the river where he rested while the sheep spread out and fed on the fresh nutritious grass. Their chats were soulful and punctuated by munching on some walnut kernels that she generously and in return he would tell her the most interesting tales of the forest and beyond: especially of places she hadn’t seen.

Some of his stories were bizarre: of a time when everything seemed like a fairytale and very different from her childhood. Sometimes his tales were extremely mystical and almost unreal. Though he professed that they were as real as the meadow she rollicked in. She liked to believe everything he told her and since she was a young woman now and no longer a kid, she wondered if he deliberately made these up for her. Sometimes, just to tease him she would ask him to recount one part of a story he had narrated to her months ago and interestingly he would be able to do it with aplomb with