Once upon a time there was a witty girl called Teardrop Teardrop. She was on the way to see her bashful Woody Woody, when she decided to take a short cut through Dream Island Forest.
It wasn't long before Teardrop got lost. She looked around, but all she could see were trees. Nervously, she felt into her bag for her favourite toy, Emma, but Emma was nowhere to be found! Teardrop began to panic. She felt sure she had packed Emma. To make matters worse, she was starting to feel hungry.
Unexpectedly, she saw a wicked lizard dressed in a yellow waistcoat disappearing into the trees.
"How odd!" thought Teardrop.
For the want of anything better to do, she decided to follow the peculiarly dressed lizard. Perhaps it could tell him the way out of the forest.
Eventually, Teardrop reached a clearing. She found herself surrounded by houses made from different sorts of food. There was a house made from runner beans, a house made from pizzas, a house made from macarons, a house made from sweets, a house made from sweets and a house made from lollipops.
Teardrop could feel her tummy rumbling. Looking at the houses did nothing to ease her hunger.
"Hello!" she called. "Is anybody there?"
Nobody replied.
Teardrop looked at the roof on the closest house and wondered if it would be rude to eat somebody else's chimney. Obviously it would be impolite to eat a whole house, but perhaps it would be considered acceptable to nibble the odd fixture or lick the odd fitting, in a time of need.
A cackle broke through the air, giving Teardrop a fright. A witch jumped into the space in front of the houses. She was carrying a cage. In that cage was Emma!
"Emma!" shouted Teardrop. She turned to the witch. "That's my toy!"
The witch just shrugged.
"Give Emma back!" cried Teardrop.
"Not on your nelly!" said the witch.
"At least let Emma out of that cage!"
Before she could reply, five wicked lizards rushed in from a footpath on the other side of the clearing. Teardrop recognised the one in the yellow waistcoat that she'd seen earlier. The witch seemed to recognise him too.
"Hello Big Lizard," said the witch.
"Good morning." The lizard noticed Emma. "Who is this?"
"That's Emma," explained the witch.
"Ooh! Emma would look lovely in my house. Give it to me!" demanded the lizard.
The witch shook her head. "Emma is staying with me."
"Um... Excuse me..." Teardrop interrupted. "Emma lives with me! And not in a cage!"
Big Lizard ignored her. "Is there nothing you'll trade?" he asked the witch.
The witch thought for a moment, then said, "I do like to be entertained. I'll release him to anybody who can eat a whole front door."
Big Lizard looked at the house made from lollipops and said, "No problem, I could eat an entire house made from lollipops if I wanted to."
"That's nothing," said the next lizard. "I could eat two houses."
"There's no need to show off," said the witch. Just eat one front door and I'll let you have Emma."
Teardrop watched, feeling very worried. She didn't want the witch to give Emma to Big Lizard. She didn't think Emma would like living with a wicked lizard, away from her house and all her other toys.
