The Treasure Praxis Found
Children's Story
Praxis the colourful pixie was wandering through the woods by himself, gazing at the ground. He had discovered the ground to be a great source of treasure, especially after the woods had been visited by humans. When Praxis found a likely looking piece of treasure, he would slip it into his pocket. Later, he would fetch it out to show all his pixie friends, and sometimes he made a good sale. Once he had found a shiny penknife, and became the envy of every pixie in the woods. On another occasion he had found a lipstick and a comb, and all the little Pixies had enjoyed face painting with the lipstick and making music with the comb and a piece of tissue paper.
Mostly Praxis only found rubbish, and when that happened he would return from the woods looking very blue. On those occasions all the other Pixies left him alone. But when he returned looking bright pink, they knew he was pleased and happy and they would gather around him to see what he had found.
On this particular day Praxis noticed a strange object half hidden underneath a leaf. He bent down to examine it then slipped it quickly into his pocket. It was soft and stretchy to the touch, and shaped like a tiny vase only flat. Because he'd never seen one of these objects before, Praxis was immensely proud of himself and very excited. When he reached the dell which was home he was a beautiful golden colour.
The other Pixies were very curious, for they seldom saw Praxis shining gold. They all examined the object with great glee, but nobody knew what it was for. One of them pulled it and stretched it, but it simply returned to its original shape. One of them threw it in the air and caught it again, but it didn't make much of a ball. One of them put the neck of the little flat vase to his lips and blew, but nothing much happened.
After a while the pixies grew bored with the strange object and began to drift away. His gold colour faded as Praxis allowed his disappointment to show. He wandered over to the pond and sat on the bank dangling his legs in the water. Then he leaned over and dipped the mystery object in the water. To his surprise, it began to fill with water and grew bigger and bigger. But that made it very heavy, and Praxis didn't think it was a very good water carrier for it jumped and danced around like elastic.
He emptied out the water, and noticed that the object remained a little bit stretched. He put it to his lips and began to blow. The object grew bigger and bigger and bigger, and as it grew so the material of which it has made became thinner and thinner. When he had puffed all the air he possessed into the object, Praxis saw that if he pinched the neck very tightly so that all of the air remained inside, the object became a thing of beauty, very large and with firm walls. But it was difficult to hold the neck pinched, and he let go.
Immediately the object took off. With enormous power it shot into the air and flew around in circles becoming smaller all the time until at last it came to rest, tiny and flat again. Praxis was enchanted. He ran to gather his friends and give them a demonstration of the object's power. They were all entranced, and spend hours playing. Then one of them discovered that if they blew into the object, then tied the neck tightly with a long strand of creeper, the object remained large and light and they could toss it round like a special sort of ball.
"Isn't it funny," said Praxis, "this strange object is nothing unless you fill it with air. But when you breathe into it, it completely changes. Suddenly it has enormous power, it becomes beautiful, and it's such fun."
And the other Pixies nodded and laughed and went on playing with the first balloon they had ever seen.
Mostly Praxis only found rubbish, and when that happened he would return from the woods looking very blue. On those occasions all the other Pixies left him alone. But when he returned looking bright pink, they knew he was pleased and happy and they would gather around him to see what he had found.
On this particular day Praxis noticed a strange object half hidden underneath a leaf. He bent down to examine it then slipped it quickly into his pocket. It was soft and stretchy to the touch, and shaped like a tiny vase only flat. Because he'd never seen one of these objects before, Praxis was immensely proud of himself and very excited. When he reached the dell which was home he was a beautiful golden colour.
The other Pixies were very curious, for they seldom saw Praxis shining gold. They all examined the object with great glee, but nobody knew what it was for. One of them pulled it and stretched it, but it simply returned to its original shape. One of them threw it in the air and caught it again, but it didn't make much of a ball. One of them put the neck of the little flat vase to his lips and blew, but nothing much happened.
After a while the pixies grew bored with the strange object and began to drift away. His gold colour faded as Praxis allowed his disappointment to show. He wandered over to the pond and sat on the bank dangling his legs in the water. Then he leaned over and dipped the mystery object in the water. To his surprise, it began to fill with water and grew bigger and bigger. But that made it very heavy, and Praxis didn't think it was a very good water carrier for it jumped and danced around like elastic.
He emptied out the water, and noticed that the object remained a little bit stretched. He put it to his lips and began to blow. The object grew bigger and bigger and bigger, and as it grew so the material of which it has made became thinner and thinner. When he had puffed all the air he possessed into the object, Praxis saw that if he pinched the neck very tightly so that all of the air remained inside, the object became a thing of beauty, very large and with firm walls. But it was difficult to hold the neck pinched, and he let go.
Immediately the object took off. With enormous power it shot into the air and flew around in circles becoming smaller all the time until at last it came to rest, tiny and flat again. Praxis was enchanted. He ran to gather his friends and give them a demonstration of the object's power. They were all entranced, and spend hours playing. Then one of them discovered that if they blew into the object, then tied the neck tightly with a long strand of creeper, the object remained large and light and they could toss it round like a special sort of ball.
"Isn't it funny," said Praxis, "this strange object is nothing unless you fill it with air. But when you breathe into it, it completely changes. Suddenly it has enormous power, it becomes beautiful, and it's such fun."
And the other Pixies nodded and laughed and went on playing with the first balloon they had ever seen.
