MARY JANE & SNIFFLES -- A New Adventure
"Mary Jane's Giant Friend"
Mary Jane waited in her garden for her friend Sniffles the mouse to show up. It was fun, making herself as small as Sniffles to play and have adventures. But wouldn't it be fun if, just once, Sniffles was the giant and Mary Jane was the tiny one! Mary Jane thought it over. She was going to have a special surprise for her little friend today!
It wasn't long before she heard a familiar voice at her feet. "Hi, Mary Jane!" said Sniffles. "Let's play Hide-And-Seek!"
"Sure, Sniffles!" said Mary Jane. "But let me make myself small first so you don't have such an advantage!" Mary Jane grinned. Today SHE was going to have the advantage!!
Mary Jane put her hands over her eyes, crossed her fingers and said:
"First I close my eyes real tight,
Then I wish with all my might.
Magic words of Poof, Poof, Piffles,
Make me FIFTY TIMES SMALLER than Sniffles!"
Sniffles watched his friend shrink to his size. But she kept right on shrinking! Sniffles' eyes grew wide as he watched Mary Jane shrink so small she didn't even come up to his toe.
"Mary Jane!" exclaimed Sniffles, "you're no bigger than a grain of sand!" He picked up his giant friend, who, of course, now was his tiny friend!
"Wow, Sniffles," called Mary Jane, "you sure look big! How does it feel to be the giant for a day?"
Sniffles grinned. "It feels kind of nice to be big for a change. How about you? How does it feel to be itty-bitty?"
"I like it! I think we're going to have a lot of fun today!" Mary Jane replied. "Let's play! I'll hide first!"
Sniffles put down Mary Jane and closed his eyes. As he counted, Mary Jane saw an acorn in the corner of her garden. It looked as big as a house to her! Mary Jane ran to the acorn and hid under it. Sniffles stopped counting and started searching. It was such a strange feeling to watch Sniffles walk by, towering over her like a giant; she hoped he wouldn't step on her! But the acorn was plenty of protection. At the right moment, Mary Jane ran back to their base and yelled "Olly Olly Oxen Free!"
Sniffles ran back, laughing. "Now you know why I always used to win when you were person sized!" he said. "The smaller you get, the more places there are to hide! Okay, now it's my turn. I won't be able to hide in the places you can... but being bigger, I can walk far away more quickly!"
Mary Jane closed her eyes and started to count. But before she could finish, she heard a wicked-sounding voice: "So I finally caught you, miserable little mouse!! I'm going to take you back to my land!"
Mary Jane opened her eyes. It was the wicked witch that they had rescued the gingerbread men from... and she was clutching Sniffles in her bony hand! She was looking around the garden carefully. "I'm going to take you to my land," the witch repeated (awfully loudly, Mary Jane thought), "and turn you into a gingerbread statue! And then I'll come back and capture your bratty little friend and turn her into gingerbread too!"
"'Bratty?' How dare she!?" thought Mary Jane. But there was no time to talk back. The witch was flying off on her broomstick, and Mary Jane was going to have to follow her to save Sniffles.
"Mary Jane! What happened?" Mary Jane turned around to see her friend Nathan Gnat. It was so strange, looking up at Nathan. Usually he was so tiny, but to Mary Jane he looked as big as an elephant now!
"There's no time to explain, Nathan!" said Mary Jane, fearfully. "Sniffles is in big trouble. We have to follow that witch!" Mary Jane quickly climbed on Nathan's back, and the two flew off.
The gnat could fly fast enough to keep up with the witch. As they flew, Nathan asked, "If you don't mind me for asking, how come you're smaller than me today? I know usually you get mouse-sized to play with Sniffles, but that's still a lot bigger than gnat-sized."
Mary Jane explained how she had made herself extra small so Sniffles could be the bigger one for a day. Then she added, "Right now I can't think of anything except rescuing Sniffles from that awful witch. I'm just thankful she didn't see you or me!"
Nathan laughed. "That's one of the nice things about being so tiny!" he said. "As small as we are, people can't even see us as long as we keep still and don't fly right into their faces! To that witch, you were just a speck on the ground!"
They were approaching the witch's cottage. Mary Jane had to think about what Nathan had said. Maybe she should grow, at least to Sniffles' size. How much help could she be, barely bigger than a speck of dust?
Nathan and Mary Jane landed on the window ledge. Mary Jane started to hide, but Nathan said, "Don't worry about hiding. She probably couldn't see us if she looked right at us!"
The witch was tying up Sniffles to her broomstick. "Think you'll get away while I'm grabbing the girl, eh?" she cackled. "Don't even think of it! I heard you talking to her in the garden. I know you two -- she'll come after me and try to rescue you. That's why I spoke so loud in the garden! The spell that let me into your world will only work once. But I won't have to go back, because the girl will come to me! I don't know why I didn't see her in the garden, but when she gets here I'll turn you both into cookies and be rid of you pests forever!"
"Pests?" said Mary Jane. "The nerve of that witch!"
"Quiet!" whispered Nathan, "she can still hear you if you're too loud."
The witch leaned her broomstick against a table so Sniffles' feet dangled just over the tabletop. Then she set flypaper around Sniffles, flat on the table and crumpled around him too. "Now, when your little human friend gets here, she'll get stuck like a fly! By then my potion will be ready, and I'll be free of your meddling!" The witch cackled an evil laugh as she left the room.
Mary Jane swallowed hard. She had to act fast, or Sniffles would be turned into gingerbread! But she couldn't get big again, because then the witch would turn both of them -- and maybe Nathan, too -- into gingerbread cookies! "Nathan," she whispered, "do you think you can fly around that flypaper?"
"No problem," whispered the gnat, "that witch didn't put it that close together. I guess she didn't think when you arrived you'd be so tiny!" Mary Jane climbed back onto Nathan, and they flew, very carefully, over to the broom.
"Mary Jane!" said Sniffles, excitedly but ever so softly, "am I ever glad to see you! Whatever you do, don't let the witch know you're here. I don't think she'll cast her spell until she's sure she'll get both of us." Then he added, "Hi, Nathan; sorry you got messed up in this."
"Don't mention it," answered the insect, "what are friends for?"
Mary Jane was worried. "We need to hurry anyway," she said. "I don't want to take a chance that she'll tire of waiting. Let me see if I can untie these ropes."
Luckily, the witch had only tied Sniffles' hands to the broom stick. But as tiny as Mary Jane was, the rope (really string) was as thick as her body! With help from Nathan, though, she loosened the knot enough for Sniffles to work it free. Sniffles shimmied down the broomstick onto the floor. "Thank goodness that witch didn't put any flypaper on her broom itself!" said Sniffles, wiping his brow with relief.
"She probably figured that Mary Jane couldn't climb up the broomstick in time, even if she did think of it!" said Nathan.
Sniffles looked around. "We're going to have to make good time, so Mary Jane, you ride with me now." Mary Jane hopped off Nathan's back into Sniffles' hand. "Nathan," Sniffles continued, "you lead the way, since you saw the route the witch took to get here. And don't fly too fast, or I won't be able to follow."
The threesome quietly made their way out of the cottage. Mary Jane asked, "Sniffles? Can you see Nathan okay?"
"It isn't as hard for me to see him. He doesn't look as small to me as he would to a human," Sniffles explained. "In fact, he looks bigger to me than you do now, and..."
"COME BACK HEEEERRRRE!!!!!" The witch's shriek pierced the air.
"RUN FOR IT!!" yelled Nathan. Sniffles quickly slipped the tiny girl into his vest pocket and ran as fast as his feet would carry him. The witch was right behind them, but they had enough of a head start to get back to their world in time. At least they hoped so!
Mary Jane peeped out of Sniffles' pocket. The witch was closing in on them; and she had a vial of potion in her hand. "Oh no!" she thought, "If she catches us we're goners!"
The witch came closer and closer, but suddenly she stopped cold in her tracks, as if she had hit an invisible wall. Sniffles stopped and turned around. The witch was shouting and screaming at them...but try as she could, Mary Jane couldn't hear her!
"What happened?" she asked.
Sniffles was smiling. "We made it back to our own world," he explained. "The spell she used to come here to capture me could only be used one time, so we never have to worry about her again." The image of the witch faded. Sniffles added, "In fact, the only reason we could see her just then is because we spent time in her land!"
Mary Jane hear a buzzing sound next to her. "Nathan!" she exclaimed, "thank goodness you got out okay!" She reached out of the pocket and gave Nathan a hug.
Sniffles sat down and held both his tiny friends in his hands. "And thank goodness you came to rescue me," he said gratefully, "because if you hadn't, I might have been dessert right about now!" It was a grisly thought, being turned into a gingerbread cookie, but they could laugh about it now that the danger was past. Sniffles got up. "So, why don't you come by my house for some tea? We could have a little party!"
"That sounds great!" said Nathan.
"Yeah, let's!" said Mary Jane.
At Sniffles' place, the threesome sat at a table sharing their experiences. Mary Jane had ridden in Sniffles' pocket to his house in the tree. She and Nathan were sitting on the table, drinking from glasses just small enough for them.
Mary Jane had something she wanted to say. "I think I found out that sometimes being big isn't important to do something right. If I had grown in the witch's cottage, even to human size, we would all have been doomed."
"Yeah, Mary Jane," said Sniffles, "because you stayed so tiny, we were a step ahead of the witch."
Nathan hadn't said much, but now he started to speak. "You know, when you're a gnat, most everything in the world is bigger than you are. Sometimes you start to thinking there's nothing you can do, just because you're small. But Mary Jane was even littler than me, and she saved the day! I don't think I'm ever going to think 'I can't' just because I'm small, ever again."
"Oh, Nathan," said Mary Jane, "I couldn't have gotten to the witch's land without your help." She got up and gave Nathan another hug. It was hard to tell with a gnat, but Sniffles thought he saw Nathan blush!
Nathan started to fly. "Well," he said, "it's about supper time for me, so I'd best be on my way." He flew off, waving good-bye to his two friends.
Mary Jane got up. "I guess I'd better go, too. It'll be my dinner time in a couple of hours."
Sniffles spoke up. "Aw, Mary Jane," he said, "do you have to go right now? Why not stay here and play some more? We can have a lot of fun in two hours!" He stuck out his finger in his friend's direction and rested it on the table.
Mary Jane took the hint. Grinning, she stepped onto his finger. "Why, Sniffles!" she said as he picked her up, "I think you like seeing me this tiny!"
Sniffles was grinning, too. "You're right, Mary Jane!" he replied. "It was fun, holding you in my hand... and carrying you in my pocket... and feeling you scamper down my arm. It's usually the other way around!"
Mary Jane laughed. She looked into her friend's smiling face, which was huge to her. "Well," she said, "I like being so small, too! I don't think I'd want to get this small all the time. But once in a while, it's fun to have you for my giant friend!"
Mary Jane and Sniffles had a wonderful time that afternoon.
THE END
"Mary Jane's Giant Friend"
Mary Jane waited in her garden for her friend Sniffles the mouse to show up. It was fun, making herself as small as Sniffles to play and have adventures. But wouldn't it be fun if, just once, Sniffles was the giant and Mary Jane was the tiny one! Mary Jane thought it over. She was going to have a special surprise for her little friend today!
It wasn't long before she heard a familiar voice at her feet. "Hi, Mary Jane!" said Sniffles. "Let's play Hide-And-Seek!"
"Sure, Sniffles!" said Mary Jane. "But let me make myself small first so you don't have such an advantage!" Mary Jane grinned. Today SHE was going to have the advantage!!
Mary Jane put her hands over her eyes, crossed her fingers and said:
"First I close my eyes real tight,
Then I wish with all my might.
Magic words of Poof, Poof, Piffles,
Make me FIFTY TIMES SMALLER than Sniffles!"
Sniffles watched his friend shrink to his size. But she kept right on shrinking! Sniffles' eyes grew wide as he watched Mary Jane shrink so small she didn't even come up to his toe.
"Mary Jane!" exclaimed Sniffles, "you're no bigger than a grain of sand!" He picked up his giant friend, who, of course, now was his tiny friend!
"Wow, Sniffles," called Mary Jane, "you sure look big! How does it feel to be the giant for a day?"
Sniffles grinned. "It feels kind of nice to be big for a change. How about you? How does it feel to be itty-bitty?"
"I like it! I think we're going to have a lot of fun today!" Mary Jane replied. "Let's play! I'll hide first!"
Sniffles put down Mary Jane and closed his eyes. As he counted, Mary Jane saw an acorn in the corner of her garden. It looked as big as a house to her! Mary Jane ran to the acorn and hid under it. Sniffles stopped counting and started searching. It was such a strange feeling to watch Sniffles walk by, towering over her like a giant; she hoped he wouldn't step on her! But the acorn was plenty of protection. At the right moment, Mary Jane ran back to their base and yelled "Olly Olly Oxen Free!"
Sniffles ran back, laughing. "Now you know why I always used to win when you were person sized!" he said. "The smaller you get, the more places there are to hide! Okay, now it's my turn. I won't be able to hide in the places you can... but being bigger, I can walk far away more quickly!"
Mary Jane closed her eyes and started to count. But before she could finish, she heard a wicked-sounding voice: "So I finally caught you, miserable little mouse!! I'm going to take you back to my land!"
Mary Jane opened her eyes. It was the wicked witch that they had rescued the gingerbread men from... and she was clutching Sniffles in her bony hand! She was looking around the garden carefully. "I'm going to take you to my land," the witch repeated (awfully loudly, Mary Jane thought), "and turn you into a gingerbread statue! And then I'll come back and capture your bratty little friend and turn her into gingerbread too!"
"'Bratty?' How dare she!?" thought Mary Jane. But there was no time to talk back. The witch was flying off on her broomstick, and Mary Jane was going to have to follow her to save Sniffles.
"Mary Jane! What happened?" Mary Jane turned around to see her friend Nathan Gnat. It was so strange, looking up at Nathan. Usually he was so tiny, but to Mary Jane he looked as big as an elephant now!
"There's no time to explain, Nathan!" said Mary Jane, fearfully. "Sniffles is in big trouble. We have to follow that witch!" Mary Jane quickly climbed on Nathan's back, and the two flew off.
The gnat could fly fast enough to keep up with the witch. As they flew, Nathan asked, "If you don't mind me for asking, how come you're smaller than me today? I know usually you get mouse-sized to play with Sniffles, but that's still a lot bigger than gnat-sized."
Mary Jane explained how she had made herself extra small so Sniffles could be the bigger one for a day. Then she added, "Right now I can't think of anything except rescuing Sniffles from that awful witch. I'm just thankful she didn't see you or me!"
Nathan laughed. "That's one of the nice things about being so tiny!" he said. "As small as we are, people can't even see us as long as we keep still and don't fly right into their faces! To that witch, you were just a speck on the ground!"
They were approaching the witch's cottage. Mary Jane had to think about what Nathan had said. Maybe she should grow, at least to Sniffles' size. How much help could she be, barely bigger than a speck of dust?
Nathan and Mary Jane landed on the window ledge. Mary Jane started to hide, but Nathan said, "Don't worry about hiding. She probably couldn't see us if she looked right at us!"
The witch was tying up Sniffles to her broomstick. "Think you'll get away while I'm grabbing the girl, eh?" she cackled. "Don't even think of it! I heard you talking to her in the garden. I know you two -- she'll come after me and try to rescue you. That's why I spoke so loud in the garden! The spell that let me into your world will only work once. But I won't have to go back, because the girl will come to me! I don't know why I didn't see her in the garden, but when she gets here I'll turn you both into cookies and be rid of you pests forever!"
"Pests?" said Mary Jane. "The nerve of that witch!"
"Quiet!" whispered Nathan, "she can still hear you if you're too loud."
The witch leaned her broomstick against a table so Sniffles' feet dangled just over the tabletop. Then she set flypaper around Sniffles, flat on the table and crumpled around him too. "Now, when your little human friend gets here, she'll get stuck like a fly! By then my potion will be ready, and I'll be free of your meddling!" The witch cackled an evil laugh as she left the room.
Mary Jane swallowed hard. She had to act fast, or Sniffles would be turned into gingerbread! But she couldn't get big again, because then the witch would turn both of them -- and maybe Nathan, too -- into gingerbread cookies! "Nathan," she whispered, "do you think you can fly around that flypaper?"
"No problem," whispered the gnat, "that witch didn't put it that close together. I guess she didn't think when you arrived you'd be so tiny!" Mary Jane climbed back onto Nathan, and they flew, very carefully, over to the broom.
"Mary Jane!" said Sniffles, excitedly but ever so softly, "am I ever glad to see you! Whatever you do, don't let the witch know you're here. I don't think she'll cast her spell until she's sure she'll get both of us." Then he added, "Hi, Nathan; sorry you got messed up in this."
"Don't mention it," answered the insect, "what are friends for?"
Mary Jane was worried. "We need to hurry anyway," she said. "I don't want to take a chance that she'll tire of waiting. Let me see if I can untie these ropes."
Luckily, the witch had only tied Sniffles' hands to the broom stick. But as tiny as Mary Jane was, the rope (really string) was as thick as her body! With help from Nathan, though, she loosened the knot enough for Sniffles to work it free. Sniffles shimmied down the broomstick onto the floor. "Thank goodness that witch didn't put any flypaper on her broom itself!" said Sniffles, wiping his brow with relief.
"She probably figured that Mary Jane couldn't climb up the broomstick in time, even if she did think of it!" said Nathan.
Sniffles looked around. "We're going to have to make good time, so Mary Jane, you ride with me now." Mary Jane hopped off Nathan's back into Sniffles' hand. "Nathan," Sniffles continued, "you lead the way, since you saw the route the witch took to get here. And don't fly too fast, or I won't be able to follow."
The threesome quietly made their way out of the cottage. Mary Jane asked, "Sniffles? Can you see Nathan okay?"
"It isn't as hard for me to see him. He doesn't look as small to me as he would to a human," Sniffles explained. "In fact, he looks bigger to me than you do now, and..."
"COME BACK HEEEERRRRE!!!!!" The witch's shriek pierced the air.
"RUN FOR IT!!" yelled Nathan. Sniffles quickly slipped the tiny girl into his vest pocket and ran as fast as his feet would carry him. The witch was right behind them, but they had enough of a head start to get back to their world in time. At least they hoped so!
Mary Jane peeped out of Sniffles' pocket. The witch was closing in on them; and she had a vial of potion in her hand. "Oh no!" she thought, "If she catches us we're goners!"
The witch came closer and closer, but suddenly she stopped cold in her tracks, as if she had hit an invisible wall. Sniffles stopped and turned around. The witch was shouting and screaming at them...but try as she could, Mary Jane couldn't hear her!
"What happened?" she asked.
Sniffles was smiling. "We made it back to our own world," he explained. "The spell she used to come here to capture me could only be used one time, so we never have to worry about her again." The image of the witch faded. Sniffles added, "In fact, the only reason we could see her just then is because we spent time in her land!"
Mary Jane hear a buzzing sound next to her. "Nathan!" she exclaimed, "thank goodness you got out okay!" She reached out of the pocket and gave Nathan a hug.
Sniffles sat down and held both his tiny friends in his hands. "And thank goodness you came to rescue me," he said gratefully, "because if you hadn't, I might have been dessert right about now!" It was a grisly thought, being turned into a gingerbread cookie, but they could laugh about it now that the danger was past. Sniffles got up. "So, why don't you come by my house for some tea? We could have a little party!"
"That sounds great!" said Nathan.
"Yeah, let's!" said Mary Jane.
At Sniffles' place, the threesome sat at a table sharing their experiences. Mary Jane had ridden in Sniffles' pocket to his house in the tree. She and Nathan were sitting on the table, drinking from glasses just small enough for them.
Mary Jane had something she wanted to say. "I think I found out that sometimes being big isn't important to do something right. If I had grown in the witch's cottage, even to human size, we would all have been doomed."
"Yeah, Mary Jane," said Sniffles, "because you stayed so tiny, we were a step ahead of the witch."
Nathan hadn't said much, but now he started to speak. "You know, when you're a gnat, most everything in the world is bigger than you are. Sometimes you start to thinking there's nothing you can do, just because you're small. But Mary Jane was even littler than me, and she saved the day! I don't think I'm ever going to think 'I can't' just because I'm small, ever again."
"Oh, Nathan," said Mary Jane, "I couldn't have gotten to the witch's land without your help." She got up and gave Nathan another hug. It was hard to tell with a gnat, but Sniffles thought he saw Nathan blush!
Nathan started to fly. "Well," he said, "it's about supper time for me, so I'd best be on my way." He flew off, waving good-bye to his two friends.
Mary Jane got up. "I guess I'd better go, too. It'll be my dinner time in a couple of hours."
Sniffles spoke up. "Aw, Mary Jane," he said, "do you have to go right now? Why not stay here and play some more? We can have a lot of fun in two hours!" He stuck out his finger in his friend's direction and rested it on the table.
Mary Jane took the hint. Grinning, she stepped onto his finger. "Why, Sniffles!" she said as he picked her up, "I think you like seeing me this tiny!"
Sniffles was grinning, too. "You're right, Mary Jane!" he replied. "It was fun, holding you in my hand... and carrying you in my pocket... and feeling you scamper down my arm. It's usually the other way around!"
Mary Jane laughed. She looked into her friend's smiling face, which was huge to her. "Well," she said, "I like being so small, too! I don't think I'd want to get this small all the time. But once in a while, it's fun to have you for my giant friend!"
Mary Jane and Sniffles had a wonderful time that afternoon.
THE END