The gardener then turned around to quite an atonishing scene , because gathered around behind were all the faerie folk of Fairyville so he spoke up saiying " Ah yes , JUST what have I got myself into "? He released the goblin from his hold and gave him a swift kick in the hindend while all the faerie folk cheered and laughed and the goblin was sent on his way , he swayed and staggered abit but then ran off .

" Come , come , " all the faerie gleefully cried out in such a sing song way that was ever so enlightling joyful , " come sit with us and make merry " as they lead the way back to the village clearing with the gardener bewilderly in tow . He sat on the creek banks which were carpeted with lush soft mosses and they all exchanged many tales into the night time , the star littered sky glittered .

"There is someone you should meet and you will if you stay here " the gardener was told , " for a remarkable lady , a big people being sush as yourself , will be stopping by in the morn , she is the mushroom lady , a real enchantress ."

And so it was , that the next morning , with tinkering bells , the lady did arrive and when she and the gardener met it was magic and love and they together, of course ........... lived happily ever after,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, there in the forest with mosses , mushrooms and faerie folk .

As the blissful Mr Sun waned and was easing out the day , the fine faerie folk of Fairyville were enjoying the coming of the ever so wondrous evening sky , the goblin snuck up near as he possible could to the tree boarders . Oh how he was grinning his hideous evil grin carrying the sack full of fireworks and a bottle or two of booze and snickered as he set down the sack and started gathering up twigs to build a small camp fire to use to light the fuses to the fireworks. There were all kinds in that sack , rockets, flares, sparklers, crackers, boomers, twirlers, twisters, his favorites though were the rockets , he wanted to send them over the roofs of the village homes and shops aiming as close to the roofs as possible while sending some with the boomers into the flowing creek waters . So while waiting for the camp fire to start burning well without smoke , he took to swigging of the booze and started setting up the order of his strategy of war gaming . The goblin was himself quite light up and he became to rub his hands together with an even eviler grin and mumbled fowl language but just then a red fox ran past him calling him funny names and mocking him to a chase . With the booze on his breath the goblin was the more enraged at the fox and so grabbed up a large branch of a rotted tree and throw it at the now out of range fox , in those movements without noticing the goblin knocked some dry twigs between the fire and the sack still with a lot of fireworks in it . Seeing now that the fox was far gone and the fire was now burning good he decided it was now time to begin his 'fun' . First he throw a few firecrackers into the slow moving waters of the stream full filling his plan at scaring the faerie folk , he kept the action going by tossing big boomers at the edge of Fairyville and then firing off the rockets high above firstly then each one after , lower . Backing up laughing , the drunken goblin tripped backwards into the burning twigs and scattering them about and some caught the dry twigs aflame . He just laid there laughing his terrible laugh not noticing the increasing fire , then the flames caught the sack on fire , well we all know what happened then ! More 'fun' then the goblin dreamed up . His 'fun' now became his scare and he ran off and hid in cover . Oh there were all kinds of fireworks exploding , with rockets racing on the ground , spinners spinning, flares flaring, twirlers twirling, sparks and ciders flying and setting aflame to dry pine needles . Just then though a really strange thing happened .............. for out of thin air , a gardener appeared [ a big people gardener ] one from another place and time . Yes just like that , out of thin air there he was and get this , he had his gardening bucket with him and it shimmered in the fire light . Now for him , one thing was for sure , seeing the fire going out of control , he know he had to put it out so he quickly ran down to the stream and filled his bucket with water and after a few more trips , the fire was out . The gardener spotted the goblin laying behind a boulder , pinned him down with his foot and looking around exclaimed " What have I got myself into now ?" ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,TO BE CONTINUED ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Meanwhile , back at Hopes halloween garden party a close friend of the artist with the wizards hat , had a story to tell . Yes she was quite the storyteller and for this party , she was dressed as a magician for she conjured up some magical tales all the time . She cleared of a table or two , grabbed a lantern and jumped up on the table to set her stage presence and began something like this ; " oh I've a story to tell [ she winked at artist friend ] it is called ' A goblin , some fireworks , and the gardener who came to Faerieville ' ". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So there was a gardener , he was an human being who came to faerieville out of thin air , how about that , isn't it strange ? But it s not so strange really , because after all , it is Faerieville , in the land of Somewhere's Else , where faerie magic flourishes and is the science in the way of life . Well , let me tell of Faerieville . Faerieville is a quaint little village [ and I mean little , for little are the wee folk ] . It is in the pine woods within the forest , comfortably nestled under pines big and small , the wee folk have made a fine art craft out of sapping the pines and farming of the many varieties of mushrooms . There are many faerie of various sizes and shapes , colors , winged and wingless as well as water nymphs living there. So it is the same with their homes made in so many different ways . The workshops , mills and homes are spread out on the banks of a winding creek that flows vigorously into a rather slow moving stream . Then there are some grand buildings carved magnificently inside and outside of old tree trunks and stumps and believe it or not , tree roots hallowed out and crafted into cozy huts but most of the homes and shops are built using the big peoples old farming equipment , wheels and gears are used as waterwheels . Now much of the time , things were very pleasant and easy going there in faerieville , no problems with any of the forest animals , birds , insects , in fact they got along quite well . Yes all was nice except that they had a neighbor who happened to be a nasty , troublesome goblin , now he was a traveling goblin so he was away often , the reason being , doing what he wanted which was - stealing ! But when he returned to his lair with his loot to abuse turning all into a pile of junk . Sometimes he burnt it to make bad fumes and choking smoke and then get plenty drunk and annoy anyone he could . That is why Faerieville had large downed trees as a fence boarder between the village and his lair . Then this one day the goblin stole some fireworks from the big people who were celebrating at a festival , he thought he'd have some 'fun' with the folks of faerieville . ----------------------------------------------------------------------- TO BE CONTINUED ......

As the gardener entered the heavily overgrown arbor , many small animals scurried away and various birds flew off but his jaw dropped at the sight of what was before him there . A very old man with a beard so long and white , it was like a woman's wedding dress train as it fanned out wide and flowed on the ground and he was sitting there so still he resembled a statue which at first it's what the gardener thought . Now what really startled him was the old mans movement with was very slow and yet even stranger was that this old man was simply reading a book . So when all the commotion happened the ancient man looked up, pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and began to speak . It was odd also when he spoke for his voice was strong and clear and he said to the gardener , " I have here the book of your life , the story of which you yourself have written and I have been reading it with some interest " . "Are you death , the grim reaper ? " asked the gardener with his head bowed low . " No " said the old man , he smiled and continued " I am life as it should be , the bringer of a new chance " and his smile became a slight laugh . " I am you guide I have came to open the door for your real life to live where you will be much appreciated ." He stood up [ very slowly of course ] being very tall and long in limbs he pushed back the tangle of willow tree branches that were hanging right down to the ground revealing the trunk of the tree how it was split three ways in which cradled a very large clear as crystal sphere , yet it didn't seem so solid but more like a liquid held in a sphere shape . Inside was an image of a castle and village like no other that the gardener had ever seen because this castle and village was of the faerie folk kind , he walked up closer as the old man waved him on and he glazed deeper into the globe and saw many strange but wondrous faerie folk milling about . " Go ahead and touch the globe " the old man said and the gardener reached out his hand and it passed though it as if it were of mist . " Now" said the ancient man " you must commit yourself to this new life within the sphere of a distant land you must step inside the globe which you have to trust my word that I m not deceiving you with trickery ". Without a word the gardener stepped into the globe , when he did , he and the sphere vanished with a blink of the eye , the old man faded away and the trunk of the tree had the likeness of the gardener carved into it . The gardener never saw or heard of that old man again as long as he lived which was a long long time . I could say he lived happily ever after which is true , but this is the story that was on the scrolls . Yet there is a story of a gardener who came to a special faerie kingdom and village ...........................

AT HOPES GARDEN PARTY ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Now an artist [ sporting a wizards hat illustrated with the glowing Mr Sun ] took the floor and proceeded to unravel large and long scrolls which he laid out , some on provided tables and some strung to grape vine trestles for everyone to view . The scrolls where actual beautiful detailed colored ink renderings with wonderful calligraphy in a sequential story form . The whole scroll told a story yet there where stories in each frame as well . ' The story ' [ at least this is my vague interpretation of it since it was as I say flowing and whispering on the winds with the renderings as a twilight zone vision ] started out as such . ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once there was a humble gardener who was always a hardworking and helpful fellow , though those he worked for did not acknowledge it . One day he received a job offer to clear out and rebuild an old abandoned estate garden that had gotten wildly overgrown all around the grounds of the withered victorian mansion , that was now being refurbished , oh what was to be found there .................. or lost . Well you see something was lost , for he , the gardener got lost there , for as he started work in the deepest darkest most overgrown part of the garden grounds , he disappeared , never to be seen again in the town where he lived . But this was a good fortune for him , for actually he was found , that is I mean he found himself in a strange wondrous land . And by the way , what was found in that garden was his likeness skillfully carved into a willow tree trunk which many people refer to as [ you guessed it !] the goblin tree . Sssssoooo where did did the gardener go ? .............. TO BE CONTINUED ............