Little playful men
"It's a little person! It's a little man!"
The guest looked up across the river.
"She's right grandpa! It is a little man!"
Grandpa Joe fixed his glasses on his face and leaned forward. "What odd little people. They're red..."
"There's two of them!"
"There's more then two! One, two, three, four, five."
"They look ghastly."
"What are they doing?"
"Where do they come form?"
"Who are they?"
Now everyone was crowded near the river bank and the little red men would giggle and grin as they worked.
"Aren't they fantastical?" Asked Wonka.
"They're no higher then my knee!"
"They're bald."
Every now and then one of the little men would jump up and down, giggling and laughing at the attention. The tiny wings on their backs fluttered and their tailed whipped around. One of them pointed across the river at Augustus and whispered to the others, then they burst into laughter.
"They're not real people at all." Charile said.
"Of course they're real people!" Wonka said, "They're Oompa-Loompas."
"Oompa-Loompas?"
"Where did they come from?"
"From the Earth, from the Oompa caves." Answered Wonka.
"The Oompa caves?"
"It's a deep dank cave far below the ground." started Wonka, "I found it when I was digging. It was some years ago that I started the new plans for the factory and my plans needed for more room. But with the lack of money I figured I could make more stories. Law states that I own this land, all the air above it, and all the dirt below it. So I started digging with a drill by myself. It was long hard work and I made little progress. And after some time I broke into a cave, the Oompa cave. That's where they lived. And oh how I felt sorry for them, the poor things were starving. Things don't grow much underground and they lived on algae and bugs. All with a beastly taste, but not as bad as the glow worms. Yuck!
"Then I found out that they liked sweets. It being the only thing I could feed them at the time, they ate it any ways. So I asked their leader if they could work for me in return for candy and a place to live (would you want to live in a cave?). Boy were they pleased. So I took them all up here and they helped complete the factory. Now they work on the candy and help produce them.
"They are wonderful workers. They all speak english now. They love to dance and sing. I must warn you though they are rather mischievous, always making jokes."
"Nooooo!"
The group turned and found Augustus splashing in the chocolate river, and then he went under.
"Augustus!" Screamed his mother. "Help him! He's drowning!"
Wonka hoped up and down waving his walking stick, "He's dirtying the chocolate!"
"Get him out!" She yelled.
Soon the large form of the boy popped up to the top of the river and floated slowly down with the current. The group stared at the unmoving body. Wonka pushed the guest away from the bank, "Lets just walk away, now, don't look kids." Then he called out in some unknown language, a small deep roar. One of the Oompa-Loompas came to him and bowed. He grinned showing off his sharp little teeth.
"Now listen to me!" Shouted Wonka looking down at the little devil, "I want you to take Mrs. Gloop to the office and tell her to wait for me. Give her some snacks as she waits. Get the others to fish the boy out and set the filter on the river."
The Oompa-Loompa exploded into a rain of laughter.
"Oh do be quite." said Wonka. "Good bye Mrs. Gloop, I'll be seeing you later. Good Bye! Good Bye!"
He turned to the group, "Good bye..." he said under his breath.