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Praxis, the pixie whose skin changes colour according to his mood, was bright, bright blue. He was feeling very fed up. All by himself with nobody to play with, he had nothing to do but get into mischief. His mother was annoyed with him for eating all the jelly she had ready for tea, and she had ordered him out of the toadstool.

The Wise Old Pixie, the only other pixie with skin that changed colour but who was so wise and loving that his colours blended to pure white, was angry with Praxis too. He had been told that Praxis had skipped school, and even though Praxis had explained about his really important errand, helping the youngest squirrel to find the hazelnuts he had buried last year, the Wise Old Pixie had not been impressed.

"School is a gift, Praxis," he had said. "If you don't attend school, you can't learn."

"But I learn so much more out of school, in the woods," Praxis had argued, but it was no good.

The Wise Old Pixie ordered Praxis to spend the next two Saturdays in school.

Praxis had turned bright red with fury, for all his Pixie friends would be out playing while he was alone in school. Now that he was out of school, all his friends had finished playing and had run home, hence Praxis was blue.

He wandered off into the woods, and because he was so bored and so lonely, he made his way into the deep, dark wood, where all the pixie children were forbidden to go. "I don't care," Praxis thought. "Nobody loves me so it doesn't matter what I do. I shall go there if I like. Then I'll go back and tell my friends all about it."

At the thought of boasting to his friends about his bravery in venturing alone into the deep, dark wood, Praxis brightened. His bright blue skin became paler and paler as Praxis' miserable mood disappeared.

As he pushed his way through the brambles and the bracken, the thorns and the thickets, Praxis heard voices. It was then that he remembered why the pixie children were told to avoid the deep, dark wood. It was because the goblins lived there, and as every pixie knew, goblins were evil and loved to capture pixie children whenever they could.

Now very afraid and becoming rather yellow, Praxis turned to go as quietly as he could, but goblins have acute hearing and their little pointed ears pricked up. Standing perfectly still, scarcely daring to breath, Praxis stopped, but his yellow skin was growing brighter and brighter with fear. He dropped to his knees and began to crawl slowly back through the wood, hoping he wouldn't be seen by the goblins, but he was spotted immediately. With a whoop and a cry, six goblins began to race toward him.

Praxis waited no longer. He leaped to his feet and began to flee, tearing through the wood, ignoring the thorns and the prickles that clawed at his skin and tried to stop him. He ran and he ran and he ran, until the voices faded and he could run no more. Then, gasping for breath, he stopped to listen.

There were no goblins anywhere near. He didn't know it, but once they had chased Praxis away, they had swaggered back, laughing and jeering over the frightened pixie.

But now Praxis had another problem. He had run and run and run until he had no idea where he was, and the sun had gone down. It was now quite dark.

Praxis began to cry. As the tears trickled down his little pixie cheeks, they left blue streaks of misery in the yellow of fear. Praxis didn't know which way to go, or what to do.

"Oh, please help me," he sobbed.

As if someone had heard his plea, he suddenly glimpsed a light flickering in the distance. Praxis began to make his way toward the light, which grew stronger with every step he took. At last he burst out of the wood and found himself outside his very own toadstool house. His mother had lit the lantern to guide him home.

Praxis ran in and hugged her. "Thank you for the light," he cried. "It showed me the way and brought me home!"

And his skin changed to a bright, shocking pink.