Oh, my dears, what a terrible wet winter, it's not like being dry and cold it's wet and cold and that makes all the difference, being wet. Not even my cordial keeps the cold out, not unless you do a special little trick with it. When you first puts it on to boil, take a ginger root about the size of your paw and grate just a little into the mix. Then we you got it properly boiling, sling the rest in as well. That'll put hairs on your ear tufts. Her what does the stories says that where she come from you can get hot chilly stuff, well, is it hot or is it chilly, don't make no sense to me. Her favourite way of getting warm is staying in bed and not getting cold in the first place, and mind, these days on Mistmantle we can always get swans down for our nests, so I like a lie-in in the morning as much as anyone.
There's another way to keep warm and that's all getting together for a snuggle. Them otters, they spend all that time in cold water, you'd think they'd bee freezing, but there's nothing like a warm dry otter to keep you warm. Moles are a bit on the titchy side and smooth, but they need snugglin' just like any other animal. Here on the island the hedgehogs learn pretty early on how to flatten their spines down, but all the same it's best to wrap a hedgehog in a blanket before you give it a hug. Then you can all sit down around the fire and sing and tell stories and make buttered toast.
What do you think, now? Do you reckon one day they might tell stories about us? Folks might ather round a fire on a winter night and say, 'I'll tell you about Needle of the Threadings, Companion to the King', or 'Urchin of the Riding Stars?' And will they talk about Mistress Apple, who brought him up from a little scrap on the shore?
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Oh, dear Apple! She's putting me in mind of Samwise Gamgee...I believe he once asked Frodo if perhaps people would ever unspin tales about them. :) It's a wet winter for us, too! And no swan down or ginger roots for us, I fear. Our part of the country very rarely (once in a decade, perhaps) receives snow...even ice is quite infrequent! But still, our barometers do tip, and it's very wet and very blustery!
Hope you're well, Mrs. McAllister! Keep warm!
Will tales ever be told of the Mistmantle lot? I can assure you that the animals of Mistmantle will be talked about in our small school town of Kennett Square for years to come! I actually had one of my former second graders, now in high school, tell me that she bought and read all five books this past summer because it was her favorite memory from second grade.
Kaitlin - there's a moment in the book when everyone is singing songs about 'Frodo the nine-fingered' and Samwise, and he says something like 'Mr Frodo! All my dreams have come true!' and bursts into tears. I love Sam Gamgee. A true hero.
Jonny, thank you for telling me that. If you're in touch with her again, please tell her it turned my heart over.
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