Search for the Sunlight

The resulting brew was a triumph. Harry had chosen Gouldong Green, and as they sipped the strong, sweet aromatic infusion, they all became suitably mellow.

The Beeble lay stretched out to his full length in front of the fire. He was supporting the weight of his huge head on his right hand and his feet reached off so far into the distance that they were lost in the fog. He loosened the buttons on his waistcoat, belched loudly and began to speak...

“What business brings you to these parts?” he asked, directing his question mainly at Basil.

Basil was about to start at the beginning, but when he looked into the giant’s empty eyes, he could see clearly that the big man’s mind was too fogged up and soggy for him to participate in any meaningful dialogue, particularly on the subject of the long term effects of zero sunlight on the forest, and the world at large. He was already showing the advanced signs of narcolepsy, and it was obvious that he was about to fall asleep at any moment.

“We’re on a quest to find the sunlight,” was all that he said in the end.

Swaying precariously to and fro on his elbow, The Beeble’s eyes rolled back into his head and as he nodded, just the once, in acknowledgement of Basil’s brief answer, his supporting hand slipped from beneath his chin and he crashed, face down, onto the ground.

The sudden impact awakened him with a start and as he rolled over on his left side, his long grey beard caught alight in the fire.

With thick flames licking past his ears, he leapt to his feet and like a medal winning athlete, ran off, shouting and screaming into the distance.

The travellers looked at one another with grave concern. There was no denying that The Beeble’s beard fire was indeed a very serious affair, and as they raced to the top of a nearby hill to see where he had gone, they could see him, in the distance, kneeling down on the banks of a vast Loch extinguishing his facial inferno.

“My beard, my life!” He bubbled, as he lifted his head from the water.

“Blimey, that was a close shave!” Harry choked. He was trying desperately to hold back his laughter, but when the big man turned to face them, the sight of his blackened and still smouldering face set him off again.

All five, including the cat, fell to the ground, wheezing and laughing at the charred figure that knelt before them on the stony shoreline.