Wanda didn’t care about dinner, her friends were all in terrible danger, she had to warn them, she had to do something to help them. She ran all the way to the woods and only slowed down as she entered the cool green shade of the big beech trees.
“The suits mustn’t cut down the trees.” She muttered to herself stroking the smooth grey bark of the nearest towering beech tree. “They mustn’t.”
It wasn’t so long ago that Wanda had had her adventure with the weasels Griff and Niff. She had been very rude about weasels and they had used their wood mud magic to shrink her down to their size to teach her a lesson, but they had made a mistake and given her weasel powers too.  While she had been a ‘weasel’ Wanda helped Griff and Niff to rid the woods of the killer cat Tibbles. This brave act had sealed their friendship and fulfilled the spell so that she had grown to her normal size again. Now she was back in the woods and she had to find her friends the weasels.
But even as she was wondering how to find them, she heard loud high pitched voices chattering at her; there on a fallen log were the weasels both shouting up at her.
“Griff, Niff !” She exclaimed happily.
Plop ! It had happened again, Niff had thrown the mudball, Griff had cast the spell and Wanda had swallowed the mudball.
It’s a strange thing about wood mud magic, if you are lucky enough to taste it more than once, it never tastes the same twice. Now Wanda had the sensation of a sweet nutty flavour accompanying the slightly musty mouldy taste she remembered. But the thing that did not change was the dizzying speed at which everything seemed to spring up towards the sky and then halt with giddy suddenness. Griff and Niff leapt down from the log and both began to speak loudly at once, then they started pushing each other and their already high voices got even higher and more agitated. They were having an argument !
Wanda frowned at them, this was no time for petty weasel feuding
“Manners.” Wanda told them with a wagging finger and then bowed.
Both weasels stopped arguing, and with a slightly sheepish look, bowed back. They had been so excited that they had completely forgotten their manners.
“I’ve got terrible news.” Wanda said as they finished their bow and they were about to start speaking together again.
“You what ?” Griff asked.
“Terrible ? What’s so terrible ?” Niff demanded looking around nervously.
“The suits want to cut down all the trees.” Wanda explained waving her hands up at the truly gigantic beeches that towered over them.
“Suits. Cut down the trees.” Griff said scratching his head.
He didn’t know any animal called a ‘suit’ and certainly not one capable of cutting down a tree, it was just too hard.
“Never mind that.” He dismissed Wanda’s warning. “Rom’s got a thing stuck on his neck.”
Wanda gaped at Griff, how could he dismiss her dreadful news so easily, so what if one of Olf’s the badger’s boisterous cubs had got something wrapped round his silly neck ?
“That’s a problem ?” She asked a little tartly.
“Course it is.” Niff said excitedly. “Rom’s not happy about it, he wants if off.”
Wanda sighed, perhaps if she sorted this out first she could get onto the serious business of saving the woods.
“Show me.” She said decisively.
“Come on Griff.” Niff called as he bounded away with Wanda leaping nimbly beside him.
Griff sat on his haunches for a moment longer, what if there was something that could cut down all the trees ?
“Nah.” He shrugged.
Wanda was still a bit hyoomin he supposed, and hyoomins were a strange bunch of animals and no mistake.
He caught up with them just as Niff was pointing to a bright sickly yellow green mark on a tree, and both he and Wanda’s noses were twitching up at it, those were new.
“Horrible.” His friend said sticking his tongue out.
Wanda sniffed the fluorescent paint, it was perfectly foul here in the woods. She looked around and saw with growing horror that all the trees had been marked with crosses in the same way. She knew what those crosses meant.
“These are the trees they want to cut down.” She said in horror.
The weasels looked at each other, it just wasn’t possible to cut a tree down, trees were just too big.
“Nah.” Niff said dismissively. “Come on, lets get on and help Rom.”
Unwillingly Wanda followed her furry friends as they slipped in and out of the brambles and bushes, following the little weasel trails that only they knew.  But just outside the dell where the wood moots were held, the weasels suddenly stopped and sniffed the air.
“Hyoomin.” Griff said softly.

They all crept forwards very quietly and peeped over the roots of a huge gnarled old oak tree. Wanda peered at the man who was sitting on the leaf strewn floor of the dell. He looked a little familiar. He also looked very unhappy, he had his chin in his hands and he was making sighing noises.
“If only there was another way.” He sighed quietly, but to Wanda’s super sensitive ‘weasel’ ears it sounded like a great deep booming shout.
“I used to play here.” The man continued mournfully.
“Give it up Gerry.” Another voice replied in similarly deep tones as a second man descended into the dell. “Its not like the whole wood is going to be concreted over, just this bit. It’ll pay for the repairs and leave you a nice nest egg into the bargain.”
“A ‘suit’.” Wanda hissed as she saw the second man.
He had been at the meeting.
“That’s a suit ?” Niff enquired. “Smells like a hyoomin.”
“He’s one of the men who want to cut down the trees and to make hyoomin houses here.” Wanda tried to explain to her friends.
“Hyoomin houses, what like burrows ?” Griff asked her.
“No, above the ground.”
“Like nests ?” Niff suggested.
“A bit, but not in the trees. Houses like where I live, like where Tibbles lives.”
“The Killer.” Both weasels said with a little shiver.
They had chased the bewitched Tibbles back to a big strange thing and the cat had vanished into it. It was like a huge stone, as tall as a tree but so very wide. Slowly it dawned on the weasels, the hyoomins wanted to put those big rocks here and put Killers in them too no doubt. Now they were much more concerned about Wanda’s news, poor Rom would have to wait.
“Oh, now that’s not on.” Griff huffed.
“Rocks for Killers.” Niff added angrily. “That’s out of order, needs sorting that does.”
He began to dance up and down on his hind legs punching the air with his paws.
“No rocks for Killers.” He declared.
He looked ready to run down into the dell and punch the men, but Wanda put a hand on his shoulder.
“Yes it needs sorting, but not that way.”
“Ahh.” Griff said, with a knowing gleam in his eye. “A bit of wood mud magic.”
“Yes.” Wanda agreed.
The man remained sitting on the ground as the ‘suit’ walked away from him.
“On him. We need to have a talk with him.” Wanda pointed at him
“Righto.” Niff said brightly and stood up to sniff the air. “There’s a luvverly patch of mud just over there.”
Off he bounded to scoop up pawfuls of the luscious brown mud and mould it into a nice neat little ball, perfect for throwing.
“We mustn’t make him weaselly.” Wanda explained to Griff. “Just small.”
“Okay.” Griff nodded, his whiskers all a twitch. “Not same as us, just small as us.”
“Perfect.” Wanda clapped her hands together.
Now they were all working as a team again, they would save the woods for all the animals.

The man, whose name was Gerry, sat alone and sad in the dell. He didn’t want to have this beautiful place buried under houses, but he had to have the money to save his own home, the crumbling old Whythington Hall. He was so tied up in his morose moping that he wasn’t aware that three small figures had emerged from the roots of the old oak tree where he had played as a small boy. Nor was he aware that one of them was carefully taking aim at him, and another was beginning to cast a spell with his paws.
He certainly felt the cool wet splat on the back of his head and even as he put his hand up to feel what it was, his eyes began to play tricks on him. As an adult he knew that trees couldn’t possibly grow as fast as they appeared to be doing, they were rocketing upwards, so it had to be something wrong with his eyes. He rubbed his eyes with his hands and looked again, nothing was growing too fast now. He drew in a relieved breath.
“Must be the stress.” He muttered and stood up to leave.
The dry leaves crackled under his feet, but as he looked down he saw with horror that they were now as long as his arm. He stood very still. Leaves just weren’t that big. There was a sound of leaves moving behind him and voices speaking in a strange squeaking squawking language. Fearfully he looked over his shoulder and saw three figures looking back. He spun around, and then wished he hadn’t, as two pairs of dark eyes glared back at him angrily, two noses sniffed at him noisily and two pairs of dark furry ears twitched back and forth. He recognised weasels when he saw them, but these weasels were as big as he was !
“I…” He tried to say something but his tongue didn’t seem to be working any more.
“Why are you cutting down the trees ?” The third figure standing between the two weasels demanded hotly. “You can’t cut down the trees, my friends live in them.”
He stared at Wanda with his mouth open, the green and brown clothes, the yellow petal hat. She was an elf. An elf like he had dreamed of meeting once long ago when he had played in these woods as a young boy.
“I…sorry.” He tried again. “Who are you ? Are you an elf ?”
Wanda put her hands on her hips, an elf ? Was he mad ? Then she thought for a moment and then remembered what her Mummy had said as she had dressed her before the meeting this morning.
‘There, you look just like a proper little elf now.’
She was still wearing her elf costume. Perfect.
“Yes.” She said boldly. “I am Wanda the wood elf and these are my weasel friends Griff and Niff.”
“I…umm, hello.” He said in a tiny nervous voice.
“Who are you ?” Wanda asked him.
“I’m Gerry, that is I’m Gerald Mansfield.”
“What are you doing in our woods ?”
“Your woods ? I own these woods.”
Now Wanda recognised him. He had been the quiet man who had looked rather upset by all the shouting in the meeting. She stepped up to look him right in the eye. That was very satisfying for Wanda, she was as tall as he was now, because Griff had shrunk him down to their size.
“Why do you want to cut down the trees and build houses ? Griff and Niff won’t have anywhere to live.” Wanda said prodding him in the chest.
“I…” He began to speak but shut up as Griff and Niff hopped up beside Wanda to stare at him from just a whiskers length away.
“Don’t you know how many birds and animals will lose their homes ?” Wanda demanded.
“I suppose a few birds will have to build new nests.” He replied nervously. “But what animals ? I’ve never seen any.”
“What is he saying ?” Griff asked her.
“He is asking what animals live here.”
“Is he stupid ?” Niff queried. “I mean, there’s the dormice, the foxes, the badgers, the rats..”
“And the bats and shrews and the squirrels, the voles…” Griff interrupted.
“And us !” They both said loudly together, which made Gerry jump in fright.
“Lots of animals.” Wanda told Gerry. “I’ll prove it.”

She put her cupped hands up to her mouth and called out in a high wavering voice that all the animals would hear, she was calling for a moot.
“What was that ?” Gerry asked her nervously.
He hadn’t understood the call but he had felt its power and the air still seemed to be echoing it silently back and forth between the towering trees of the dell.
“I have called all the woodland animals and birds to a moot.” She told him. “All the animals and birds that you will make homeless.” She added with an accusing finger.
Gerry opened his mouth to deny this, but it hung open slackly as he saw a fox trot into the dell and sniff him like he might be an interesting snack.
Wanda bowed to Redpaw and the fox dipped his elegant head in reply, before sitting down still gazing at Gerry with hungry eyes. Then Eeks and his family scuttled into the arena and Wanda bowed very deeply to the brave dormouse who had helped capture Tibbles the killer cat. Fevvers and his brood landed noisily up in the oak tree boughs and called down cheerfully, while other branches were occupied by chaffinches, bullfinches, blackbirds, thrushes, tits of all shapes and sizes and several very severe looking owls. The dell was rapidly filling up with wood mice and voles, toads, hedgehogs and a few large brown rats that kept in a group to oneside. A rowdy bunch of squirrels restlessly chased each other round and round the oak’s trunk before settling on its exposed roots, their bushy tails held high and twitching. There was a noisy cawing up in the trees and two jays landed in a flash of blue just before the topmost branches of the old oak filled up with raucous rooks. Things seemed to be settling down when with heavy black wings outstretched, a pair of ravens swooped low over the animals and landed arrogantly in front of the toads. Finally, with a fair amount of ill tempered pushing and shoving Olf and his family of badgers found a space at the back of the crowd.
Wanda bowed to them, one and all, and they all bowed back while Gerry stood as still as a stone, petrified with fright.
“All these animals and all these birds live here.” Wanda told him. “If you build houses here they will all have no homes anymore.”
Gerry gazed around the dell, there wasn’t an inch of ground that didn’t have an animal, or raven, sitting on it staring back at him, noses and whiskers sniffing and twitching. He looked up to see every branch and bough covered in birds big and small. He would never have believed that so many creatures had their home in these quiet woods.
“But I must have the money to repair Whythington Hall.” Gerry pleaded. “Its been my family’s home for generations, I can’t let it be sold, where would I live then ?”
“What did the hyoomin say ?” Redpaw asked her.
“He will lose his own home unless he builds houses here in the woods.” Wanda told him.
“Hmmm. A tricky problem, but he is one and we are many.” Redpaw mused.
He might have said more but just then Olf’s cubs Rom and Dom got bored and started a fight between themselves, tumbling end over end down into the dell, narrowly missing squashing some of the mice and toads.
“Hoi, behave yourselves !” Griff shouted into the cub’s faces and stopped their squabble.
You don’t want to mess with an angry weasel and right then Griff was a very annoyed weasel.
“Sorry.” They mumbled and were about to slink away when Gerry gave a little cry of surprise.
“Gold.”

“What ?” Asked Griff.
“What ?” Niff repeated.
“Gold ?” Wanda echoed.
Gerry pointed at one of the cubs who had a yellowish object around its thick furry neck.
“There.” He stated. “That’s gold.”
Wanda had heard of gold, it was like money only worth lots more. Grown ups wore gold rings and necklaces and liked to show them off.
“Ask it where it found it.” Gerry demanded excitedly.
“He is called Rom.” Wanda said tartly.
“Oh. Sorry.” Gerry said contritely and gave a little bow to the surprised badger cub.
All the animals drew in a breath, the hyoomin had been polite.
“Would you ask Rom where he found that ?”
Wanda looked at him, he was clearly excited by the gold and she wondered if he just wanted to fill his pockets with the gold.
“Why ?”
“Because…..because if there is enough gold there, I won’t need to sell the woods for houses.” He said in a rush.
Wanda turned to the baffled badger cub who hadn’t understood any of Gerry’s strange hyoomin speech.
“Rom, where did you find the bracelet ?” She asked it in the squeaking, squawking woodland language.
“Bracelet, what bracelet ?” Rom asked while scratching at that self same bracelet.
“It’s what you have round your neck.” She explained.
“Oh this. I got it stuck on my neck when I was playing in the old sett with Dom. Right nuisance.” The cub replied scratching harder at the golden bracelet but failing to dislodge it.
“What did Rom say ?” Gerry demanded excitedly.
“He was playing in the old badger sett.”
“Can you get it off ?” Rom asked plaintively.
He was fed up with it, it itched terribly.
“Oh, sorry Rom.” Wanda looked at the bracelet then tried to prise it off. “Sorry, its too hard for me.”
Griff and Niff tried to pull it off, but for all their huffing and puffing, the bracelet didn’t budge. They looked at each other and seemed about ready to start arguing about who wasn’t pulling hard enough when a hyoomin voice spoke.
“Err, excuse me.” Gerry ventured.
All the animals now looked back at him and he remembered just how small he was.
“If… that is, you know, if I was…big again…” He said nervously.
Wanda nodded, yes that would solve the problem of the bracelet, but not the problem of the woods.
“Before we make you big again you must swear a solemn oath to all the animals of the wood moot that you will not cut down the trees and build houses here in the woods.” She told him with a very serious face.
“Of course, of course.” He replied. “I solemnly swear….”
“No.” Wanda interrupted him. “You must swear it in woodland language.”
“But…but I can’t speak woodland language.” Gerry protested weakly.
“You will repeat after me.” Wanda said, copying her teacher at school.
“I swear by the roots that tie me.” She began in the squeaking, squawking language of the woodland, and Gerry copied her.
“I wear by the boots and tie me.”
Well he tried to copy her but not very successfully.
“That I will never cut down the woodland trees.”
“That I will ever butt town the hood and trees.”
“Nor will I ever build big rock nests in the woods.”
“Bore will I ever tiled big sock rests in the hoods.”
“For as long as I live.”
“Sore as bong as I leave.”
The animals were muttering to each other, they didn’t think that he had made a binding oath, it was just hyoomin gibberish.
“And just in case you don’t keep your word.” Wanda said. “Griff will cast a re-shrinking spell on you.”
Gerry looked rather worried by that.
“A re-shrinking spell ?”
“You’ll be made small again.”
“Oh.”
When Wanda repeated to the animals the threat in their own language they all chattered happily, that should keep the hyoomin on the straight and narrow, and they heartily approved of that.

“Will you make me large now ?” Gerry asked her hopefully. “And show me where the old badger sett is ?”
“What’s he saying ?” Niff interrupted before Wanda could reply.
“He wants to be big again and see the old badger sett.”
“If he wants to see the old sett he has to be small.” Niff replied.
How else could the silly hyoomin fit inside the tunnels ?
“Come on, this way.”
Niff bounded away up the side of the dell and a path cleared through all the assembled animals for Wanda, Gerry and Griff to follow him.
Gerry found the experience of running and jumping over the woodland floor very exciting. Toadstools, red and brown were just the right height for an elf to sit on, carpets of moss were so deep and spongy that they would have been ideal elfin beds. A sycamore leaf was big enough to be an umbrella, a blackberry was a feast in its own right, he could have happily explored this new world for hours, days even. He kept stopping to examine them, much to the weasels annoyance. After he had stopped for the seventh time Griff had taken one hand and Niff the other in their paws and hurried him on to the great dark holes in a bank that were the entrances to the old badger sett. Before Gerry could protest Griff and Niff dived straight down the nearest one dragging him with them.
It was very dark in the tunnels and Gerry kept tripping over bits of roots and twigs until Wanda stopped the weasels and took his hand to guide him past these obstacles, which were so clear to her weasel senses. They twisted and turned through the lightless passages until Gerry’s head was spinning with it all and he was quite, quite lost; abruptly they stopped.
“This it then ?” Niffs voice sounded close beside Gerry in the blackness and made him jump.
“Pardon ?”
“The gold.” Wanda explained and put his hand on a huge piece of cold metal.
Gerry couldn’t see the object but he could feel the smooth twisted strands with his hands.
“I think so. It would be worth a lot of money. Can we get it out ?”
They all tried tugging at the gold but it was too heavy for them.
“Niff, please bring Olf and his family.” Wanda requested her friend.
“Righto.”
There was a light scuffling of paws and Niff had disappeared back out of the sett to bring the badgers back with him. It wasn’t long before they heard the heavy steps of the big badger and Wanda explained what needed to be done.
There was a bit of shoving and heaving and the gold was dragged away, then the other badgers took hold of other objects in the passageway and dragged them out too, so that when Wanda and Gerry emerged from the gloomy tunnels the badgers had made a tidy pile of yellow metal objects.
“This is amazing !” Gerry said in delight as he saw the muddy pile.
There was a shuffling and a snuffling all around and Gerry looked up from the golden relics to see all the animals from the dell regarding him. Then he remembered his promise. He bowed to the animals.
“I promise will not let anyone build any houses in the woods.” He told them and Wanda translated his promise.
“The hyoomin has been polite, I see that he is our friend.” Redpaw said in his dignified voice. “Cast the spell Griff.”
Griff sat up and cleared his throat and began waving his paws at Gerry.
“Weasels is as weasels does, this hyoomin is friends with us. But if he’s bad and makes us frown, then his size will come back down.”
It was like going up in a very fast lift and Gerry felt as if he had left his stomach behind on the ground for a few moments as he grew and grew at tremendous speed. He blinked a couple of times and saw that he now looked down on all the animals. Then he knelt down before Rom. The badger cub was very nervous of this new big hyoomin but Wanda stroked his broad back until he calmed down and stayed beside him while Gerry very gently opened the golden bracelet around the cub’s neck and slipped it off.
“There you go Rom.”
Rom gave a delighted bark of thanks and happily raced away with his brother for another game of rough and tumble.
“Gerry.” A voice echoed through the woods. “Gerry, where are you ?”
“I better go. That’s Ralph, the developer.” Gerry said looking down at Wanda and the weasels. “Thank you for saving my home. Thank you for saving everyone’s homes.”
“Gerry !” The voice was very near now,
“You had better leave.” He told them and quicker than you could say ‘suit’ Wanda and all the animals had vanished into the bushes.
The two hyoomins had a short conversation that led to the developer stalking away in a huff, there would be no houses built in these woods !
“Thank you Wanda.” Gerry called out softly to the hidden watchers. “Thank you all.”
As Gerry turned away and walked out of the woods Wanda noticed that she was getting bigger again, the weasel spell had been fulfilled and she was returning to her normal size.
“Bye Griff, bye Niff.” She said to the weasels by her feet. “I have to go home now.”
“Bye Wanda.” All the animals chorused and she waved to them all, before happily skipping away down the path.
Gerry heard the sudden calls of all the animals and birds and looked over his shoulder to see a girl dressed as an elf, skipping lightly away from him through the trees and bushes of the old wood. Had he imagined it all ? Had it all been a dream, of badgers and foxes, of weasels, and of Wanda the wood elf ?