Hey! Pal!

Yeah, you.

Up here.

Not there. Here.

That’s right. I’m supposed to stay quiet and just keep an eye out for things but you look lost, pal. You really do and me and my buddies, well we don’t like seeing no lost things around here. ‘Specially at this time o night.

Should ya even be out on your own? You look pretty short.

Well sure, I guess everyone looks short when you’re looking at em from a tree. That’s a good point, pal. That’s a real good point.

Course, not everyone looks short from up here. Giants don’t look so short.

You ain’t seen any giants yet, have you?

No, course you ain’t. The giants moved on a long time ago. On account of the dragon.

Giants don’t get on too well with dragons.

‘Course when the Giants left then all sorts o other things moved in. Giants may not be the smartest bunch but they sure is good on the neighbourhood watch side o things. Not a lot of things is going to cause trouble when there’s Giants about.

We know.

We’ve seen it all.

Y’see, the Giants were a friendly bunch. Not clever, like I said. Did I say? I said. I remember saying.

So when they went things got kinda dark around here. I mean, sure, at night it’s always dark (you’ve noticed that, right?) but I’m talking about what we squirrels call undesirables. Take the Bears, for instance. Who wants bears in a forest like this? Not me. Not the Owls. Not the Foxes or the Deer or the Eagles. Those are regular Lantern Forest folk.

What?

You don’t think Giants are regular Lantern Forest folk? Why not?

Oh, right. Because you never saw no Giants in a forest before. Right.

Well let me tell you, PAL, giants are as regular a forest folk as you can get. The only reason the likes of you don’t see none is on account of the trees. That’s right. You can’t see the giants for the trees. When you’re a giant you get used to short folk like you staring and staring and not going away. And how would you like someone staring at you just because you was trying to catch a bit of sun or brush the dew off the forest canopy?

No, you wouldn’t like it. Not one bit. And because of all the staring, Giants would usually just stand still whenever they heard your sort. And you being… well how can put this without being as rude as a bear? You being you, you would see them as another type of tree.

Now, nobody gawps at trees for long. Not even your sort. And how do you suppose that makes the trees feel? Well that’s a story for a different time. I’m telling you about when the Giants left and the Bears… and other things… moved in.

Giants were fine forest folk. They would hide when stared at but the rest of the time they would keep the place running all smooth-like. If things needed sorting, like Winter lifting or Day breaking, well Giants were up for the job. They had the world on their shoulders, they did. And they never moaned.

Back when there were Giants about, Squirrels like me didn’t have to worry about these things. We just ran up and down trees taking the leaves off the branches in the Autumn and putting them back on in the Spring.

But then they left.

No-one is sure why but we all woke up when it was supposed to be morning and it was still dark and the giants had gone. There were rumours. Maybe they’d slept in, some said. They’d been working hard and even Giants need a rest every now and again.

But we searched, those of us with noses to look with. We searched and found nothing. Not a tree shaped Giant or a Giant shaped rock. Nothing.

All us true forest folk know is that when they left, other things came. Like the Bears and the Dragon and more of your sort. Not that you seem so bad. You just seem a bit lost. I have to stay here and keep a lookout but I’ll keep a light on so if you pass this way before then you’ll remember that you’re lost.

And if you see those Giants then tell them us Squirrels have been doing our best but it ain’t the same.

Not one bit. ‘Specially with those Bears eating everything.

I wonder if they’d eat the likes of you.

—

Lantern Forest is an idea we have been playing around with for a while. I wanted to create stories for children which were based around a set of loosely connected monologues, able to be read in any order. Characters talk to the reader and share their story as well as a view of where they are – Lantern Forest.

One day this might become an interactive book or the basis for something even more daring. For now, it is a lot of fun and yours to enjoy.

If you enjoyed this and would like to support my work then please…