04 We Are the Minpins

We Are the Minpins The very next thing Little Billy saw was a tiny face at the window. It had appeared suddenly, from nowhere, and it was the face of an extremely old man with white hair. Little Billy could see this clearly despite the fact that the whole of the tiny man's head was no larger than a pea.

This ancient miniature face was staring straight at Little Billy with the most severe expression on it. The skin on the face was deeply wrinkled all over, but the eyes were as bright as two stars. Now something even more peculiar began to happen. All around him, not only on the huge main trunk of the tree but also on all the big branches that grew out of it, other tiny windows were opening and tiny faces were peering out. Some of these faces belonged to men and others were clearly women. Here and there the head of a child was seen peering over a windowsill. The heads of these children were no larger than the heads of matchsticks. In the end, there must have been more than twenty small windows all around

where Little Billy was sitting, and from each window these amazing little faces were peering out. No sound came from any of the watchers. The faces were silent, unmoving, almost ghostlike. Now the tiny old man in the window nearest to Billy seemed to be saying something, but his voice was so soft and whispery, Little Billy had to lean right up close to catch his words.

'You're in a bit of a twizzler, aren't you?' the voice was saying. 'You can't go down again because if you do you'll be guzzled up at once. But you can't possibly sit up here forever, either.' 'I know, I know!' Little Billy gasped. 'Don't shout,' the tiny man said. 'I'm not shouting,' Little Billy said. 'Talk softer,' the tiny man said. 'If you talk too loud your voice will blow me away.' 'But … but … who are you?' Little Billy asked, taking care to speak very softly this time. 'We are the Minpins,' the tiny man said, 'and we own this wood. I shall come closer, then you will hear me better.' The old Minpin climbed out of his window and walked straight down the big steeply sloping branch, then up another branch

until he found a place only a few inches from Little Billy's face. It was amazing to see him walking up and down these almost vertical branches without the slightest trouble. It was like seeing someone walking up and down a wall. 'How on earth do you do that?' Little Billy asked.

'Suction-boots,' the Minpin said. 'We all wear them. You can't live in trees without suctionboots.' On his feet he was wearing tiny green boots rather like miniature wellies. His clothes were curiously old-fashioned, mostly brown and black, the sort of thing people wore two or three hundred years ago. Suddenly, all the other Minpins, men, women and children, were climbing out of their windows and making their way towards Little Billy. Their suction-boots seemed to allow them to walk up and down the steepest branches with the greatest ease, and some were even walking upside-down underneath the branches. All of them were wearing these old-fashioned clothes from hundreds of years ago, and several had on very peculiar hats and bonnets. They stood or sat in groups on all the branches around Little Billy, staring at him as though he were someone from outer space.