and ushered them out of the shed, then she set off at a rapid stride round the back of a little stone house, towards what looked like a small orchard. As they followed the Lady, they saw that the stone wall around the orchard had been knocked down in one place and the stones were scattered around on the grass.
“The island’s bull,” she explained, gesturing to the wall. “He likes the apples, and he’s forever destroying the wall to get to them. If you could justbuild it back up like sweet children, I’ll go with Wilhelmina and prepare your spell.”
And she hurried off, unknotting her hair as she went so it flew out around her shoulders, and stooping to gather a few herbs on her way back to the house.
“Well,” said Max. “This seems simple enough. Just pile all the stones back into the wall.”
“Hmm,” said Ferocious thoughtfully. “I’ve got a feeling it might be a bit trickier than it seems.”
Ferocious was right. They carefully gathered up the scattered stones and started slotting them back into the gap, with Adolphus doing a lot of the fetching and carrying and Ferocious doing most of the directing from a perch on top of the nearest bit of unbroken wall. But after an hour of sweaty work the gap seemed no smaller, and the number of scattered stones in the grass looked exactly the same.
“Maybe we need to do it more quickly,” suggested Olivia, so they redoubled their efforts. But after another half hour, Max thought he was going to expire, and Adolphus had given up and rolled overonto his back with his tongue out. The wall looked exactly as it had at the beginning.
“We need to think about this,” said Ferocious. “There’s obviously a trick to it.”
“No trick!” came a voice from the trees on the other side of the wall. “Quite easy really. Quack!”
“Vortigern!” said Max. “I wondered where you’d gone!”
“Went with the Lady,” said the duck, emerging from the orchard. “She had some bread… Anyway, I heard her talking to Lady Wilhelmina about the wall. It’s a people wall. You have to say the name of a person your spell will help, and the stone stays put.”
“Oh, well, why didn’t we think of that before? How incredibly obvious ,” said Ferocious grumpily. “Right, then. Better get going before it’s midnight. Come on, Max. A stone for Merlin.”
Max heaved a large, flat stone into position and said, “Merlin.” Then he stood and watched the stone carefully. It seemed to stay – but then again, he hadn’t actually noticed any of the other stones disappearing,either. They just somehow didn’t manage to amount to a wall, however many you put there.
Olivia dragged up another, placed it next to Max’s, and declared theatrically. “For King Arthur!” Again, it seemed like the stone was going to stay, but it was hard to tell.
“Come on,” said Max. “We’ll just have to carry on and see what happens in the end.”
They dragged up more stones – for their father, for Lancelot, for Sir Lionel, for Sir Gareth, for Sir Boris… The wall was definitely getting higher, but not as quickly as it should have been. By the time they had run through every knight and lady in Camelot, it was half built, and they had to start on the squires.
“For Mordred,” said Olivia through gritted teeth. “For Peredur… for Percival… for Roderick…”
After that, it was the castle servants, the soldiers, the cooks, the stable lads.
Finally, the wall was almost completely built. There was only one stone left, but try as they might, no one could think of a single other person in the castle.
“The hawk boy,” said Max. “Richard.”
“No – done him,” said Olivia.
“Oh – I know!” said Adolphus. “King Arthur!”
They all rolled their eyes.
“Sir Lionel?” said Ferocious.
“No – he was outside the castle, remember?” said Max.
There was a silence. The Max clicked his fingers.
“Fred!” he said triumphantly. “Fred the kitchen boy!”
They
“The island’s bull,” she explained, gesturing to the wall. “He likes the apples, and he’s forever destroying the wall to get to them. If you could justbuild it back up like sweet children, I’ll go with Wilhelmina and prepare your spell.”
And she hurried off, unknotting her hair as she went so it flew out around her shoulders, and stooping to gather a few herbs on her way back to the house.
“Well,” said Max. “This seems simple enough. Just pile all the stones back into the wall.”
“Hmm,” said Ferocious thoughtfully. “I’ve got a feeling it might be a bit trickier than it seems.”
Ferocious was right. They carefully gathered up the scattered stones and started slotting them back into the gap, with Adolphus doing a lot of the fetching and carrying and Ferocious doing most of the directing from a perch on top of the nearest bit of unbroken wall. But after an hour of sweaty work the gap seemed no smaller, and the number of scattered stones in the grass looked exactly the same.
“Maybe we need to do it more quickly,” suggested Olivia, so they redoubled their efforts. But after another half hour, Max thought he was going to expire, and Adolphus had given up and rolled overonto his back with his tongue out. The wall looked exactly as it had at the beginning.
“We need to think about this,” said Ferocious. “There’s obviously a trick to it.”
“No trick!” came a voice from the trees on the other side of the wall. “Quite easy really. Quack!”
“Vortigern!” said Max. “I wondered where you’d gone!”
“Went with the Lady,” said the duck, emerging from the orchard. “She had some bread… Anyway, I heard her talking to Lady Wilhelmina about the wall. It’s a people wall. You have to say the name of a person your spell will help, and the stone stays put.”
“Oh, well, why didn’t we think of that before? How incredibly obvious ,” said Ferocious grumpily. “Right, then. Better get going before it’s midnight. Come on, Max. A stone for Merlin.”
Max heaved a large, flat stone into position and said, “Merlin.” Then he stood and watched the stone carefully. It seemed to stay – but then again, he hadn’t actually noticed any of the other stones disappearing,either. They just somehow didn’t manage to amount to a wall, however many you put there.
Olivia dragged up another, placed it next to Max’s, and declared theatrically. “For King Arthur!” Again, it seemed like the stone was going to stay, but it was hard to tell.
“Come on,” said Max. “We’ll just have to carry on and see what happens in the end.”
They dragged up more stones – for their father, for Lancelot, for Sir Lionel, for Sir Gareth, for Sir Boris… The wall was definitely getting higher, but not as quickly as it should have been. By the time they had run through every knight and lady in Camelot, it was half built, and they had to start on the squires.
“For Mordred,” said Olivia through gritted teeth. “For Peredur… for Percival… for Roderick…”
After that, it was the castle servants, the soldiers, the cooks, the stable lads.
Finally, the wall was almost completely built. There was only one stone left, but try as they might, no one could think of a single other person in the castle.
“The hawk boy,” said Max. “Richard.”
“No – done him,” said Olivia.
“Oh – I know!” said Adolphus. “King Arthur!”
They all rolled their eyes.
“Sir Lionel?” said Ferocious.
“No – he was outside the castle, remember?” said Max.
There was a silence. The Max clicked his fingers.
“Fred!” he said triumphantly. “Fred the kitchen boy!”
They
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