Seleke Makes Butter

One day there was a girl named Seleke (sell-a-key) who lived in a house with her mother. She lived not at the bottom of a cliff, not at the top, but half way up in a place called Betwickt. Above lived packs of Snarling Wolves, and below lived the Ugly Giants.

Today Seleke was out milking her goat. You probably get your milk from a cow, from a store, in a milk carton. But there are no stores near Seleke's house, and cows can't live on cliffs. Seleke's family kept mountain goats for their milk.

The goats were named Andi and Sandi. They had white curly hair, and they were both girls. They lived in a little shed near Seleke's house, and sometimes they ran around on the cliff eating whatever grass and twigs they could find.

As Seleke was milking she heard a deep, low rumble. She crept to the edge of the cliff and peaked over. Below she saw two Ugly Giants talking to each other.

The giant named Bok said, "Me so hungry. Smell goat, Shok."

The giant names Shok said, "We have plan. Found way up cliff!"

"Up cliff?" asked Bok.

"Yes," said Shok, "Up cliff. Get goats. Meet here at midnight."

"Midnight?" asked Bok.

"You deaf?" said Shok.

"Deaf?" asked Bok.

"Meet here. Midnight. Climb cliff. Steal goats." said Shok.

The two Ugly Giants walked away down the beach.

Seleke thought, "Oh no! The giants a planning to sneak up here and steal our goats. Tonight!"

Then she had an idea. Seleke milked both goats and poured all the milk into a great big butter churn. All day long she churned the milk. When she made butter, she would get more milk and churn it again. When the sun set Seleke's arms were aching. Her shoulders hurt so much she could hardly carry all the butter. But she did carry it, out to a big iron pot near the edge of the cliff. Beneath the pot she built a fire, and as the stars came out Seleke was stirring the melted butter.

Soon the moon rose overhead. It was midnight. On the beach below, Seleke heard the two giants come stomping up. Ugly Giant are too big to be sneaky, but since they are so big they don't really need to be.

"Climb cliff!" said Shok.

"Steal goats!" said Bok.

Seleke saw the giants climbing up. Although they were tall, the cliff was much taller. The giants grunted and struggled to climb. When they were nearly at the top Seleke tipped over he huge pot of butter. It ran down the cliff, coating the rocks and the giants.

The slippery butter made the giants lose their grip. First Shok slipped off the rock. He fell right into Bok, who also lost his grip and 'ker-boom!' both giants slammed into the beach below. They got up, tried to climb again, got a little way up and 'ker-boom!' slipped to the bottom. Again they climbed a little way, but the butter was too slippery and again they crashed 'ker-boom!' into the sand.

The Ugly Giants gave up. As they walked down the beach Seleke heard them licking their fingers and saying, "Butter... yum!"

The End
(c) 2008 Ken Demarest