Adventures of Emma and her cat, Elsie

“Oh my God, I just can’t believe my eyes!” screamed Emma with happiness. “I am lucky to have found this land”

Emma was a lovely young girl with a rotund face and big moist, green eyes that were full of expressions. She was dressed in a lovely pink frock with golden-brown hair neatly combed into two braids. She was a bubbly, enthusiastic girl who loved adventures.

Emma had a cute little brown cat with fur so fluffy that you could mistake it to be a pillow if she didn’t move. She was very fond of her cat, Elsie. She and her cat were almost inseparable.

Both Emma and her cat loved wandering around and most of the times, they would wander and end up in troubles but somehow, their luck had always been on their side and their misadventures usually turned up in happy endings.

On one such wandering spree, Emma and Elsie were walking down the long pathway behind their house that led to the forest. Long time passed by or short…no one knows but, soon, Emma and Elsie found themselves in a fantasy land….a land they had never seen before in their earlier adventures.

The fantasy land was something they had always wondered if it ever could exist. There was a golden glow around everything on the land, as if it had been blessed by God with his special aura. Everyone they met on their way was smiling with happiness and they chattered merrily as they went past Emma and Elsie. It was lush green all around with trees with exotic fruits and sweets and chocolates and gardens full of flowers of all colors and shapes and sizes one could ever imagine. The air was so fresh and nice and filled with enchanting fragrances that it felt like a pleasure to breathe. There were beautiful and colorful birds, perched on top of trees and houses, singing songs with a musical voice no one had ever heard before. Everything just seemed to be magical and if it were a dream, Emma wished it would never end.

“Oh my God, I just can’t believe my eyes!” screamed Emma with happiness. “I am lucky to have found this land”

They walked and walked, taking in the beautiful sights. They wanted to explore each and every part of this land. But, little did they know of the cruel and scary looking witch, Cruella, who stayed in a castle on the outskirts of this town. No one dared go near her castle, for she was known to punish anyone who dared to tread near her castle. She hanged trespassers upside down on the trees in her backyard and let the bats out on them or she make them drink magical potions she would meticulously make in her cauldron and cast a horrible spell on the poor innocent people who had wandered into her castle. She would put them in the cellar in her castle and let them go hungry and thirsty for days and nights until they begged for mercy but she would never grant them any mercy.

Emma and Elsie wandered up too close to the castle. Cruella was observing them in her magical glass ball, which could show anyone or anything Cruella wanted to see in the world. She saw that the beautiful girl was nearing her castle, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. The instant she saw Emma, she was raging with envy to see such a beautiful girl. Cruella had never been beautiful in her life. She was the ugliest looking witch in the whole town and her own clan had made fun of her, all her life, so much so that she now hated everyone in town and wanted to take revenge on everyone for making fun of her, teasing her and troubling her. And, her witchcraft only came handy to her. But, little did she understand that beauty was only skin deep. As people grow old, their beautiful looks betray them but all that remains and is remembered of them, is their 'good character' and loving nature.

Emma and Elsie, unaware of the witch, were amazed to see the castle and thought how lovely it would be to go inside it and see the town from the top of the castle. They went to the door of the castle and knocked on the door and asked, “Is anyone there?” But, Cruella wouldn’t answer, lest the prey escape. She waited patiently for Emma to enter the castle so that she can make her pay for trespassing. Emma asked again but when she heard no answer, with Elsie in her arms, Emma walked inside the castle but to her horror, the moment she stepped in, the doors of the castle closed behind her. She got scared; she did not know how to respond…she tried banging on the door in an effort to open it but in vain. She ran helter-skelter to find a way to escape when she saw Cruella grinning before her. She held tight to her cat in fear. Cruella laughed, very pleased at having scared little Emma. She roared, “How dare you enter my castle? I don’t like trouble-makers in my place. Wait and watch how I punish you for trespassing. I will make the best of my magic potions in my big cauldron and make you drink it. It is no ordinary potion; it will make a dirty slimy frog cum fish cum porcupine…it will serve you as the right punishment for coming into my castle. You will run trying to save your life all your life and be sorry forever to have come here. But, until I make it, I will lock you up in the cellar with the other prisoners.” Scared, Emma was trembling and she could hardly move a step. Cruella dragged her and Elsie to the cellar and locked her up. For a while, Emma found it hard even to breathe in the dark, smelly cellar. She could only hear noises around her; noises of screaming in pain, yelling, crying, hushed murmurs…all praying to be saved from this living hell. It took a while for her to get a grip of her situation and then, when she got hold of herself, she started thinking of a way to escape. The best part of Emma was that even in the most dangerous of situations; she never lost hope nor gave up. She kept thinking of a way of escape and tried to talk to people around her. She calmed them down and gave them a ray of hope, a hope that they could be free again. She asked them if there was any way of escaping, some backdoor or something. When they replied in the negative, she asked them if they knew of Cruella’s weaknesses. Humans or witches or anyone was bound to have some or the other weakness. One of them replied, “Yes, I know of her weakness. She has an owl in her kitchen where she makes those magic potions. She has cast such a spell that she would lose all her magic powers if one plucked a feather from the owl's right wing. If we want to save ourselves from this living hell, we need to pluck that owl's right feather or else there is no escape. But, the question now is how do we catch hold of that owl? We have to get out of this cellar to do that.”

Emma was busy thinking when Elsie jumped out of her hands and got out of the bars of the cellar. She quietly sneaked into Cruella’s kitchen and saw the cellar key hanging on a coat stand and she quietly picked up the key and ran back to Emma. Emma was pleasantly surprised when she saw the cat with the key. She lost no time and quickly freed herself and others from the cellar and asked others to wait until she could get rid of Cruella. She quietly sneaked into the kitchen and saw the owl perched on a shelf near the exotic spices Cruella had kept for her magic potions. She jumped at one go and caught hold of the owl and slowly plucked out the feather of the owl's right wing. With that, Cruella started feeling suffocated too and realized what was going on, behind her back; but, it was too late. She had lost all her magical powers and could harm no one ever again. Seeing that the witch started sobbing and Emma went near her and soothed her and explained to her that magical powers were supposed to be used for doing good and not harming people. She promised, "Cruella, if you are good to people, God will surely give you another opportunity to get your powers but use it for doing good and you will see that the whole world wants to be your friend " and she left.

Everyone was safe now. Emma called on to the others and they were very happy to have found freedom at last. They thanked her profusely and asked her if there was something that they could do for her. Emma humbly said, “It’s my pleasure to help you. Kindly let me know the way to Manhattan, the city I come from. My mom must be really worried for me and Elsie. I want to go home.”

And, since with freedom, they had all gotten back their magical powers, they chanted some hymns and cast such a spell that as Emma blinked and reopened her eyes, she found herself and Elsie, lying on their warm and comfortable bed, back in ‘Home Sweet Home’.