After a while, it became very quiet in the house. Little Elf carefully slipped through the hole and stood looking at the house
he had seen the big girl playing with. He started walking through the beautiful little house, getting more and more excited.
"What a nice chair. What a nice rug. Oh, what a nice bed. I wonder if that bed would fit in through my hole?" Little Elf
pulled and pushed until he finally got the bed through the opening of the hole. He was so happy he jumped on the bed. He
rolled on the bed. He curled up and took a nap on the bed. Little Elf had found that if he traveled back through the hole,
he would come to a room where there was food. But there was also a very big creature called Cat. Cat was big and yellow.
He had sharp teeth and long whiskers that seemed to move back and forth whenever little Elf got too near him. He did not
look too friendly. "I'd better stay out of his way," thought Elf. Little Elf became very good at fooling Cat. He was tricky and
fast. Getting food took up a good part of his day; but he found where the breadbox was, and sometimes the children didn't
clean up their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They were little Elf's favorites.
Each night when it got quiet in the house, little Elf took something from the dollhouse and dragged it into his little hole. He
was getting quite comfortable in his new home.
Chapter Six: Discovery
“What happened to my doll furniture?" cried Emily. "Ben! Ben! Did you take my doll furniture?" Ben let Emily know he didn't
take her doll furniture.
"What would I want with doll furniture?” He said.
"Hey," said Ben, "This is a mystery. We have to solve it! I think it’s Cat," said Ben. Plans were made for Emily to go to bed
that night, but to keep a flashlight by her side to catch the thief.
"But I'm scared. What if the thief is big and not Cat?"
"Don't worry. I will run right in when you call
me," Ben said bravely.
That night Emily went to bed as usual. Well,
almost as usual. She was really a teensy,
weensy bit frightened. Just as Emily's eyes
started to close, she heard a sound. Her
heart started beating so fast. Was that her
heart she was hearing? No, she could hear a
tiny scraping sound. Quickly she aimed her
flashlight and pointed it at the small noise.
Now, whom do you suppose was more
surprised? Elf or Emily? They both just stared
at each other and didn't dare to move until
Ben burst into the room. "COOL!" he said.
Little Eli's knees were shaking so hard; he
had to sit down on the chair he had been
carrying to his hole.
Emily jumped out of bed and both children
knelt down on each side of Elf. 'What are
you?" Ben asked?"
"Are you a fairy?" Emily asked.
"What are you?" squeaked Elf? "Are you
giants?" Emily and Ben looked at each other
and started to laugh. No one had ever asked
them that before! It must have been
contagious, that laugh, because Elf started to laugh with them. They laughed so hard their tummies hurt.
Of course, they were good friends now. Ben and Emily asked Elf so many questions that he hardly finished an answer before
he was asked another question. How sad his story was. Big tears bubbled up in his eyes as he told his new friends he didn't
know where his family had gone. "Oh me, oh my, what am I to do?" He blubbered.
Ben said, "Don't worry, Elf, we'll help you find your family!"
“How exciting,” said Emily. “I have been hoping for an adventure.”
Chapter Seven: The Adventure Begins
Plans were made for another picnic. The mystery to be solved was somewhere in the Redwood Forest. An extra peanut
butter and jelly sandwich was requested for the lunch box. Mrs. Buffington even put in some extra cookies. Of course, she
hadn't met Elf yet, but she was a good mother and didn't want the children to get hungry. "Be home before dark, children."
Mrs. Buffington reminded them.
"We will," they both answered together.
Elf was their guide. He sat on top of Emily's shoulder so he could hold on to her braid while she walked. Elf had been hiding
under Ben's cap when they left the house.
“Very stuffy under there,” said Elf, as he held back a sneeze.
Emily said, “I wonder why Cat tried to jump up on you when we went outside the door?"
"That crazy cat nearly made me lose my cap," said Ben.
This time, the children walked much farther into the Redwood Forest than they ever had before. As they walked, they
noticed that the trees seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. The children startled a deer that had been taking a nice
little nap in a hollow. Off he ran, deeper into the forest.
"How did you get so close to the edge of the forest when you dropped into our lunch basket?" asked Ben.
"I can't remember," moaned Elf. "I just woke up
and I was sitting on that tree limb." His eyes were
getting misty.
"Now, don't start crying again or we will never
have our adventure,” said Emily. Of course she
was right, so Elf wiped his eyes on Emily's ribbon.
Looking around, he tried to see just where they
were.
"That's it! That's it!" cried Elf.
"What's ‘it’?" asked Ben.
"The Tree Circle," squeaked Elf.
"I see it!" said Emily.
"Look, all the trees are in a circle, and there's
beautiful green grass in the middle. Oh, look at all
the flowers growing around the outside of the
circle. Can you smell the fragrance coming from
them? It's all so beautiful," sighed Emily.
Ben said, "What does it mean, Elf?"
In a matter-of-fact voice, Elf said, "This is where
the fairies dance when the moon is full."
"But,” said Ben, "you're not a fairy. You're an elf?"
"Yes, but we live very close to the Tree Circle. In
fact, the dancing and singing were becoming a bit
of a problem for some of the older elves. Last full
moon, I believe, one of my great, great uncles
complained about the noise to the Fairy Prince."
"Oh dear," said Emily. "Do you think that might
have something to do with all your family
disappearing?"
"Keep going!" said Ben. "We need to find your
home."
"Yes, yes!" said Elf with excitement. "Walk around to the other side of the Tree Circle and look for a big giant tree." It took
the children a while to walk around the Tree Circle because whenever they got close to the flowers, the fragrance was so
powerful that it seemed to be pulling them into the circle.
"No, no!" said Elf. "Don't go into the circle or something might happen to you!" Emily, always ready for an adventure,
couldn't help but step one foot quickly into the circle.
"Oh, oh, what is happening?" cried Emily!
"You're getting smaller!" shouted Ben!
And, of course, she was. Ben tried to reach for her and he also fell in. How could such sweet children get into such a mess?
Emily and Ben threw their arms around each other. They were so frightened.
"Told you so," said Elf, who was now the exact same size that they were.
Now it was Elf who was very much in charge. "Follow me," he said, as he took them each by the hand, leading them on a
shortcut through the Tree Circle. When they started to walk through the flower border, Ben and Emily tried to pull back.
The fragrance was so powerful they could hardly breathe. "Make a run for it!" yelled Elf, as he pulled them both through.
Wow!" they said, after breaking through the border. "That was scary," said Ben.
"And wonderful,” said Emily.
"Just like a girl," said Ben. "Look at all the trouble you got us into!" Emily started to cry.
"You can't cry now or you won't enjoy your adventure," said Elf. He was really quite fond of Emily. So the little threesome
stood up tall (as tall as they could stand) and marched off to find Elf s family tree.
Chapter Eight: The Family Tree
There it stood: the Elf’s family tree. This tree was
so big around, Ben and Emily just knew their whole
house could have fit inside. Then they laid on their
backs; not Elf, of course, but Emily and Ben did, to
look up, up, up, trying to see the top of the tree.
Never had they seen a tree like this before!
"What do we do now?" asked Ben.
"We go in, of course," said Elf.
Walking over to the tree and then looking from side
to side, Elf quickly pulled the children behind a
big, green fern. Right in front of them was a door.
It would have been a very little door if Ben and
Emily were not as little as they were now. But
since they were so little, they could have followed
Elf right through the door. But wait! The door
wouldn't open!!!
"Oh, no!" shouted Elf. "A door spell has been put on
this door!"
"What now?" asked Ben.
"Follow me," whispered little Elf. “I know another
way in."
Crawling on hands and knees, Ben and Emily
followed Elf into a little hole in the ground, hidden
under some very sticky bushes. The hole led into a
tunnel. At the end of the tunnel, the children
popped up like little ground squirrels and found
themselves inside the Family Tree.
After pulling stickers out from their hands and
brushing off the dirt from their knees, they looked
up.
"Wow!" said Ben and Emily together. "This is
huge!"
They were looking at a big room with doors all
around and winding stairs right in the middle
going up, up, up. Looking at the first "up," there
was a landing. Off from that landing was a
walkway that led to a door. Each "up" had the
same kind of landing and walkway and door at
the end of it. Looking up at the last "up" (which
made the children's necks hurt when they looked
at it from down below), there was a glow coming
from that last door. Quickly, Elf ran up each
stair. Once he got to the very top, he yelled
down to the children to hurry. He needed their
help.
Ben and Emily, being young and healthy, ran up
every stairway, only stopping once to catch their
breath. The glow was very bright, now that they
were standing just outside the door. Then — yes!
They could hear voices coming from the other
side of the door!
"We need to open that door," said Elf. “I think my
family is in there! There has been a door spell
put on this door, too!"
Elf, Ben, and Emily pushed and pushed the door,
but nothing was happening. Elf yelled through
the keyhole and told his family who he was.
"What should I do?" he yelled in to them.
The three of them stood by quietly, waiting for
someone to yell back, telling them what they should do. After a few moments, a little piece of paper slid under the door.
"Please, Ben, read it out loud," said Elf. "I'm so worried that I can't hold the paper still."
Ben read, "Go find the Fairy Prince and tell him Great Uncle Grumble Lee is sorry for what he said. He didn't realize he had
his earphones turned up so high when the fairies danced last full moon."