Tamaqua And The Alphabets

• Diep Luu, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2007

Four year old Tamaqua felt like she had slept for hours when a small breeze woke her up. She was still wearing the fairy wings that she had received for her birthday. Tamaqua looked around and noticed that she was no longer at her house surrounded by presents but nestled in the twisted roots of a tree. She was dumbstruck by the magnificence of the forest and didn’t notice the appearance of an elf. He was uncannily tall with hair that seemed to flow like a loose leaf in the breeze. He greeted Tamaqua with a floor-sweeping bow and ushered her down the winding gravel path. As the elf did not talk, Tamaqua introduced herself. However, the elf already knew who she was and said his name was Pank. He reassured Tamaqua that everything was fine and that everything would be explained once she met the queen.
They reached the end of the path and Pank stood in front of a tree. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. Tamaqua was terrified but Pank swiftly reappeared half way through the tree. He produced a shriek of laughter at Tamaqua’s surprise and pulled her inside the tree. At the sight of Tamaqua and her fairy wings, a cheer erupted from the elves but Pank had whisked her away into the heart of the village to the Queen’s dwelling.
Sitting behind a desk was Queen Oak. She didn’t resemble the elves at all and had wings like Tamaqua. Tamaqua then realised that the sender of her wings was actually Queen Oak. The Queen explained that the people of Oak Forest were facing war against The Alphabets unless Tamaqua could help them with her knowledge of the outside world. Tamaqua hesitated but agreed nonetheless.
That night Tamaqua heard the distant chanting of The Alphabets:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Now we know our ABC,
We’ve come to fight against thee
Panicking, Tamaqua looked outside and saw The Alphabets’ first line, which consisted of letters A to K, marching towards Oak Forest.
When Pank called her down for dinner, she was in a grave mood as so many relied on her to save their families. The main course of their dinner was soup. Tamaqua quietly ate her soup whilst pondering the possible solutions to defeat The Alphabets when inspiration struck. The answer to their problems was soup. Tamaqua explained to the elves that the only way to defeat The Alphabets was to lure them into a pot of soup and make Alphabet Soup.
One by one, The Alphabets fell into the boiling soup. The elves had won! So that day, the elves had Alphabet soup for breakfast, lunch and tea and presented Tamaqua with a medal with an elf, wings and ABC engraved on it to remind her of her great deed. Tamaqua was flattered by the attention but longed to go home.
Tamaqua woke up with a start and realised she was at home covered by torn wrapping paper and still clutching her medal and wings.