Poetry and Short Stories

The Forest Friends and the Ogress

Olga the Ogress grunted and glared up at the afternoon sun.
"Why is it," she muttered, rubbing her eyes, "that day has to come so early?"
Olga wrinkled her nose, then sneezed and wiped it on one arm, smearing her face
with dirt.
"Food," Olga grunted, mostly to herself. "Time for brunch."
She picked up her club, swung it over her shoulder and ambled out of her cave in
search of a snack.

Danny the Deer and Ollie the Owl were visiting with Murry the Moose when they
heard Olga the Ogress crashing through the forest.
"That sounds like trouble," Danny observed.
"Yes," Ollie agreed wisely. "That sounds like Olga on a rampage."
"We have to find some way," Murry the Moose decided, "to discourage her from
coming down here. Any suggestions?"
The three friends thought for a moment, then put their heads together and began
to whisper.

Olga the Ogress strode along the forest path, swinging her club at the innocent
trees and bushes, singing at the top of her lungs and enjoying the weather.
"Come on out little snack!" Olga called loudly. "I want to eat you!"
Not far away, Sammy the Skunk listened to last minute instructions from Danny
the Deer, then nodded.
"Got it," he grinned. "You can count on me."
He eyed a nearby tree, then scurried around behind it.
"Ready?" Murry the Moose asked of Ollie the owl, who nodded.
"Ready here too," Danny the Deer chimed in.
"Then let's do it," Murry the Moose belled. "Get her!"

Ollie the Owl took off from his branch, winging silently through the forest,
until he spotted his target. Olga the Ogress had stopped for a moment and was
busy picking her teeth with a twig.
"Here I go," he thought, then dived.
Olga looked up just in time to duck and Ollie the Owl sailed over her large,
shaggy head.
"Come back here!" She roared, jumping to her feet. "I'll eat you for dinner AND
a snack for that!"
She swung her massive club furiously and chased maddly after the owl.
"Too easy," Ollie the Owl thought. "Let's tire her out a bit."
He banked quickly around a tree and perched on a high branch, just out of Olga's
reach. Olga rounded the tree a moment later and bellowed in frustration.
"I'll get you!" She hollared. "Come down here you annoying thing!"
She threw her mighty arms around the trunk of the tree and attempted to pull it
out of the ground!

Ollie the Owl watched her for several seconds, waiting until it appeared that
Olga was beginning to tired, then he fell out of the tree. Spreading his wings,
Ollie grabbed her hair in his tallons as he sailed past and held on just long
enough to give it a good yank.
Olga shrieked in pain, then screaming furiously she chased after him, completely
forgetting that she had dropped her club on the ground.

Ollie the Owl flew crazily through the forest, weaving around the trees, cutting
under low hanging branches and never quite allowing Olga to catch up to him.
At last, after several minutes, he turned on final corner and soared up into the
top of a mighty pine tree.
Olga the Ogress came into view just a second later. She was dripping with sweat
and panting heavily from the chase. Ollie the Owl hooted once as Olga stopped
beneath his tree to look up at him, then stared down at her with large round
eyes.
Nearby, Danny the Deer and Murry the Moose nodded at each other, then attacked.
Murry lowered his head, pawed the ground and charged, aiming directly for Olga's
back side.
Danny followed quickly behind him, sharp hooves at the ready in case Murry
missed.
Olga never heard a thing. She was too engrossed in glaring up into the tree at
Ollie the Owl to notice the thudding of Murry's feet on the ground behind her.
Murry's head connected exactly in the middle of Olga's overly-large rump and
sent her flying.

Olga the Ogress hit the ground with a resounding thud, skidded several inches
along it on her nose and lay there groaning. At that precise moment, Sammy the
Skunk peeked out from under a bush. He grinned broadly, then primly stepped out
into the open. Marching daintily up to Olga, he turned his back to her, lifted
his tail, and let her have a full measure of spray directly in her face!

Olga the Ogress lept from the ground with a shrek, clawing wildly at her eyes.
She dashed maddly about the forsest, crashing into trees, tripping over bushes
and bashing her skull against low hanging branches. The forest friends watched
in satisfaction as Olga fled gasping for breath from their domain.
"I think," Danny the Deer mused as he listened to the last of her clatter fade
to nothing. "That we have seen the last of her."
"I believe you're right," Murry the Moose agreed. "I think we have."
The Forest Friends grinned at each other happily, then went back to a nice, lazy
day of nibbling on leaves, secure in the knowledge that skunk smell takes a very
long time to wear off. A very long time.